1964 Avion T-21 Sportman

[BigBlueSkyAvion]

Hello everyone!

I’ve had my camper for 5 or 6 years now. It’s been a side passion project to get it up and running as a somewhat ‘tiny house on wheels’ sort of thing. It’s going to have a solar panel system, 110 gallon water storage, composting toilet, wood stove, tankless water heater! The whole set up! I finally have a good workshop situation and momentum and I’m hoping to have it done by November!

My biggest struggle atm is trying to figure out how to buff it. It has bad stains from a brown/black tarp being wrapped around over the winter or maybe two. It also has shinny sections which I am guessing is from the tarp again. Then there are the water marks. It’s a hot mess.

It’s anodized, that I understand. I did read somewhere that anodization only last 10-20 years so now I’m wondering if it still is actually anodized? It seems like I should be doing a careful sanding and then buffing?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

[KYAvion]

I have not tried this myself yet, but check out:
https://www.facebook.com/jim.vititow/vi ... 088208969/

Another option might be https://www.toonbrite.com/

[BigBlueSkyAvion]

I have not tried this myself yet, but check out:
https://www.facebook.com/jim.vititow/vi ... 088208969/

Another option might be https://www.toonbrite.com/

That was sooo helpful! Thank you!!

[BigBlueSkyAvion]

Hello Again!

So I tried out the method in the first link. What to seems to of happened was a mirror finish was achieved (which I wasn’t expecting) however! There are still the water marks visible. As my camper is so old I’m not surprised that it shined up as much as it did. The anodizing is from the early 60’s. So that’s fine. I don’t like super shinny but that’s just something I will have to deal with.

What I don’t want to deal with is the water marks still being there on top of the mirror finish.

What shall I do? Go in with a high strength compound? I’m doubtful even that will get out these old stains.

[KYAvion]

I’m surprised it took it to a shine like that since the compounds aren’t that abrasive. Did you use the pads he talked about?

Were you using an orbital buffer similar to this one?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002654I46/?c ... _lig_dp_it

Or a unidirectional one?

[BigBlueSkyAvion]

I used this one. I didn’t know that there was a difference in these tools.

This is how large the patch is

[KYAvion]

I’m not sure either since I’ve not done this before, but I suspect a rotary polisher may be more aggressive than an orbital one. What pads did you use with the C4?

I did purchase these three products and applied some by hand awhile back, and they did seem to make an improvement. I was especially surprised at how much the wax helped.

We’re you using pads similar to these?

Again, I have not done this myself yet (other than just a little bit by hand). I just saw the video and it looked like it’d be worth a try.

[KYAvion]

In any case, that’s a major improvement in your finish!

[chrsei]

My 1965 Avion was somewhat similar but not quite as bad. I think the anodizing has worn off or was polished off in several places. I used starbrite that took the shinny areas back to more matte and then coated everything with ZEP Wetlook floor urethane, that helped to even out the surface more. It's not perfect but looks good if you don't think about it too much.

If you want it perfect you need to remove all the anodizing and polish it shinny. It seems that oven cleaner can remove anodizing quite well- see here https://avioncamper.wordpress.com/2012/ ... continued/

[KYAvion]

What starbrite product did you use?