1968 Travel Queen Resto Mod - 7. Finishes & Finishing

Some time back ago, DW picked up this Copper High Heat paint, typically used for fixing up old outdoor grills I suppose.



Originally she was thinking "new color" for the avocado green range (she's a copper girl). Me? I feel strongly both ways. New color choices vs traditional, classic pieces, and their associated colors - each have their benefits.

Now I don't see a robin-egg blue range working out very well, what with all our other color choices. The spare range we trashed (it was terribly dirty and still installed in a previously mouse infested cabinet - it went away) was a tomato-soup red or orange. Now that's a color that MIGHT have worked! But Lil' Queeny's range was avocado, and that works quite well with our other colors - I think. So does DW, and she didn't like the plastic off-white trim stuff either, but she eventually caught my vision.

However, the range hood was a bit ugly, not being appliance porcelain or epoxy surfaced and all. And she just felt better using "high-heat" on the vent hood and the stove cover. So that's the way we went. As it turned out, the same color choice also worked well for the metal frame around the fridge face.

Let's start with the folding stove cover.

You can see the pitted chrome plating if you look close. I've never tried to re-finish a plated surface, so this is an experiment. I started by simply laying down a 220 scratch - you can see that done on the left side.





I couldn't remove the chrome nubs (I think they are used in preventing a flat surface something-or-other covering up the oven vent opening), because the studs on the reverse were a bit flared and the nuts wouldn't spin. So I just taped them.





And here's the finished product. Now of course the painted surface simply won't hold up to being used as a counter top. It will get ugly quick. I intend to fasten some sort of grill to the tops which will fold and stay out of the way, but which will protect the painted surface. Ideas are still gelling.



And the vent hood, the chrome trim ring came off and got some steel wool attention, while the rest of it received a sanding with 220 grit.



And the finished unit.





Then it was on to the fridge. I had been scraping rust from the surface of the magnetic door seal. Got it back to white and in pretty darn good shape! I was quite pleased. And it still seals really well.

But here's what happens after many years of use, often without proper cleaning and storage upon return from those weekend camping trips.



And we have to keep in mind, this appliance came out of the parts camper, which wasn't treated as well as Lil' Queeny, I don't think.

Now on this one (away from heat use), I primed first with this red primer.



These are the primed hinge brackets. Two for the hinge pins, and one for the opposing side "hold-close" pin.



The color choice turned out pretty fine. It's amazing how well it goes with the stained and finished birch paneled walls.



And with the door mounted.





Now before we end today, let's just give info on one more finished surface - the tiled stove surround. Originally it was plastic laminate, countertop stuff, or what many call Formica (using a trade name). We used these 12" square sheets in our home, so I had the tools, the experience. The thinner 1/8" glass tiles are half the weight of 1/4" tiles - and that's important. Now if I can just get it to stick to a "moving down the road" wall surface. We'll show that when completed over in Chapter 10. Galley & Greatroom.

After posting the progress of painting the color band on the access doors over in Chapter 13. Exterior, Skin & Openings, I realized in past I had placed that subject (color band on the camper body) here in Chapter 7. Finishes & Finishing. Oh well. I'll finish up that here now.

Here are the access doors, Chestnut done. Now I'll let this cure for a few days and mask the brown in prep for white on the two larger doors, and of course the same thing for the entry door.

Post to keep thread alive.

Edit: Whoops, you can't do that. Come to find out it's called bumping. So you live and learn and try and work within the suggested system.

Here goes.

I went out into the garage today and looked at all the finishes on the camper. Awesome they were! Looking forward to getting back onto the job.

(There. Fixed.)

I know, I know, I'm simply irreverent. Sue me.

It's been a good week to leave Lil' Queeny's new color band to cure; I've stayed occupied with Mom's visit. But I have gotten out into the shop for a little work here and there.

Another finish to reveal has been the interior window frames. These are the pieces that both cover the rough opening edges, and hold the screens for the windows that open.

Why now? Well - I plan to enlist these to assist my masking efforts in painting the exterior body color; a frame to lend support for the paper.

The frames are made of extruded aluminum - like the rest of the window metal, but with our interior color scheme we didn't want the detraction of the original aluminum mill finish. DW suggested early on, after she came around to actually LIKING the cream plastic trim (she hated that at first), to paint the aluminum window trim the same color as the interior plastic molding.

I've never been big on covering a perfectly serviceable non-rusting metal with paint, but I kind of liked her suggestion for the matching color, even knowing that some of the window aluminum would be visible as well, but that would be behind the screen, which would act as a visual boundary.

The first step was to clean the pieces. I have tried a variety of aluminum polishing techniques to ease labor, but haven't cared for any of them except the results from standard old-school elbow grease. Adding a bit of lubricant to 0000 steel wool seemed to work best, the lubricant being in the form of mineral spirits, Naptha, or some such.

I even tried the 24 hour soak in an acid bath (we had a bunch of remaining Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi from a party we had two and a half years ago. It didn't work; I dumped two cases down the drain).

But here's the stack after cleaning.



Sparkly! It wasn't too difficult; you just have to put in the time. But it tells me the exterior windows can be done well, although they will be much harder with more metal and harder areas to get to.

That was all before Mom got here. Later, I'd sneak out a little at a time and the first step was to get the self etching primer on.





And upon drying, the color. This was again a Rustoleum product in spray can. Antique White Gloss Enamel to be exact. The tone was almost a perfect match to the interior cream trim, but the finish was wrong. The plastic trim originally had a gloss finish but became satin or matte through use of steel wool to clean years of discoloration and buildup from it's surface. So I toned down the gloss enamel with a Matte finish Clear Coat Enamel.



And it would have worked too! Had I followed the instructions. Aww but alas and alack, I felt hurried. Why? Stealing moments in the garage while Mom is visiting? I know, but it's just me. That's an example too of why I work alone. When someone is helping me, I feel I have to keep moving, and end up rushing or not thinking it through fully, or whatever, because I don't want to use up their time.

Someone helping generally ends up costing me greater difficulty. Like the extra electrical work I had to do after my neighbor buddies helped me with kitchen demo. Yes, they wield a Saws-All very well - no doubt about it.

So the instructions (checked later) say to use the matte clear coat within - I think - one hour of the paint coat, or to wait 48 hours. And to use 2-3 thin coats instead of a heavy. I ended up spraying AFTER one hour, but WELL before 48 hours, AND I sprayed a relatively heavy coat too! It can be hard to see clear coat go on if the light isn't just right, so I purposely laid it down heavy enough to see the nice full coverage.

It lifted the antique white. But I walked away and let it dry unmolested.

Next day, upon close inspection, it actually was a pretty cool look. Most of it was just a very light and even alligator skin effect. But, there were some "worser" spots.





Also, I had painted one frame that I hadn't intended to paint, that of the bathroom window, which due to that room's color choices, I had wanted to leave in the aluminum mill finish.

Those frames that had the bad effect (about 4 smaller areas) got some smoothing sand paper and were resprayed correctly - and those came out just fine. The worst frame was one of the three same-size small windows (cab-over side windows and bathroom), and so it got the paint remover.



Which worked very well. It's now back to mill finish, and the rest are finished too. I didn't get pictures.

Tomorrow I'll show the added screens over in Exterior.

I decided to paint the color band first - for several reasons. The most important is that because it is smaller, it's easier to mask completely when it comes time to paint the white body color. Also, I have pretty good confidence that once cured well, it will allow masking tape removal without peeling, being an oil-based hard enamel product.

And I had it and I was ready. :)

I haven't masked like this in a long time. And when I have in the past, I've gone Mr. Cheapo. I know, that's kind of surprising isn't it! I usually use newspaper and basic yellow masking tape. But DS left us a masking roller tool with some tape and paper so we tried it. DW has used it recently in the house and I tried it on this job. We both like it. And the paper is pretty darn inexpensive. Like everything, there's a learning curve, but this one shot heavenward like a home-sick angel. Well okay, after that one wall.













Of course, first I sprayed the whole camper down with air and swept up the floor with the garage doors open. Then I damp wiped the color bands and nearby those with lacquer thinner so the tape would stick. Then after masking, I wiped down again with lacquer thinner. With the non-OEM white feathered out like it is, the thinner did not raise it, and it was also just damp, not wet. Those were kind of tests and by this point, I'm still not sure there will be success, especially on that V-nose, once the oil-base spray sets on the surface.

After that final wipe down it was spray time. The self-etching primer says to apply in 2-3 thin coats for best results. I can't remember the re-coat time (for primer) now, but it was pretty quick, maybe it said a few minutes.









While the primer was wet, and even when initially dry to the "look" but not yet overnight, you could see the feather-edges underneath, as a sort of tiny ridge or build-up. I was nervous and wondered if what I was seeing was the primer raising that edge of old paint. But it didn't bubble it or raise it in obvious ways, so I turned of the lights and went inside for the day (help keep the dust down). The instructions said I could cover in top-coat after 3-4 hours and that was going to put me too late. I'll paint the next day.

The next morning I found NO evidence of that feather edge visiblity as I had the day before. The whole surface looked excellent. I was happy. This primer is sandable, which means for a perfect finish you can use it as a slight filler and sand and spray until ready for top coat. I don't have wet sanding facilities, which is a drain in the floor, so I chose against sanding (small water flow while using, say 400-1000 grit wet/dry sand paper).

And because I wanted that sprayed texture, for my paint to stick to, and there wasn't any visible dust settled on the surface, I chose to spray the paint over the primer with no further prep.

The paint (different from the primer) says to spray two or three heavier coats at a moderate speed. That's for the hammer effect, and it's a learning and experience curve. Too heavy or too slow and you get an increasing chance for runs and much larger "fish-eyeing" in the surface. The fish eye effect is, I think in part, the "forged" portion of this "forged hammered" effect product. Too thin of a coat or too fast of a spray gives not enough paint to create either a hammered or forged effect and rather, makes kind of a "plain paint" effect.

I learned a long time ago how important it is to spray left to right (or right to left), or up to down or zig to zag, but you don't just get in there and shake your hand willy-nilly and spray where you THINK you want paint. Keep it moving at the right speed, and evenly, and in the same "this way to that" pattern you chose when you started. And start spraying off the object and keep spraying until leaving the object at the other side, then release the spray. That's important. Usually spray straight on, but generally there's an angle in one way or another and it is the far angle edge that gathers more over spray than the near edge. Use that fact. In other words, build your lay down pattern from near to far and cover those over spray areas with a nice even fresh coat of intended spray, keeping a wet edge that you run your new line into as you make a next pass. That will give you a nice smooth finish, even with a spray can.

And then there's the real world and you just get better with age, until you turn vinegary. Like not always having control over your arm movements when they choose to spaz out on you. Then you just tell people "I meant to do that". ;)

I sprayed two heavier coats, following the diamond pattern rows as my "left right" spray pattern, so they would get some good overlap - with about 30 minutes between coats. The instructions ask for recoat within 30 minutes to 2-3 hours. If longer than 2-3 hours, wait seven days. That tells me the subsequent coats are interacting with the first coats to accomplish the hammered effect.

Then I let that sit for about four hours, and sprayed three coats of
clear. The clear said not to use over a couple of products, I think "Bright Coat" and "Aluminum", but the "Aluminum" mentioned was a Rustoleum paint CALLED aluminum, or something like that. I figured what it meant was that it's not for a silver metal finish paint product because of whatever is used in that paint to look like silver metal. I had already test sprayed this stuff on the chestnut and was satisfied.












After several hours I pulled down the paper (saved it for wood-stove tinder because we recycle) and opened the doors.









Now I'll let that all cure up good and hard for about a week before I do anything to the surface, like wipe dust or mask on it.

Mom's here for a little more than a week too, so my posts and work will be curtailed. I'll be back in one thread or another one of these next days.

It really feels amazing to be nearing such a choice as the exterior colors for Lil' Queeny. That will be the subject of today's post.

And there are so many choices! Is this part of the project more of a restoration? Or is this where "modification" kicks in?

I've always been an OEM kind of guy. It's a general predisposition, but reinforced by one of my favorite and most influential teachers - my High School Auto Mechanics Instructor. That was probably the ONE class (well two - a Junior year single period, and a Senior year three period vocational course, because it consisted of the first period in the classroom, and the next two in the shop) that I took in High School which has saved me the most money over the years, but helped bring about the most busted knuckles too.

So while looking through the original sales brochure that came with our first donor camper, and seeing that cover shot...



And then finding Lil' Queeny in those very colors!



And even this morning - I found this online from the Winnebago 1968 full lineup.

Third photo down.

AND the fact that the choice would go nicely with my truck... well it was almost a no-brainer to go original and I never really gave it much thought - until now.

Upon deciding the other day to go with the Diamond Vogel brand 100% acrylic-binder water-based coat-all Finium product - still the name I might give our next dog, I walked over to their color palette wall and held my scrap-metal sheet up to pick out these two.



And they just felt bland. I held them against the sample metal in outside light and discovered the tone in red-circled pen to be the closest to the original gold in direct sunlight, while the other two in black pen were closer while viewed at a different angle. None were just like the truck, it felt darker, believe it or not.

And with Finium coming in gallons for the smallest amount, I wanted to be able to use the remainder on something. Not Lil' Willy - as joked about before. He's always been my Lil' blue Willy and he'll always BE my Lil' blue Willy. And I just wasn't sure gold would work right on his trailer either.

But what other color would work? Could I bring myself to customize? Of course I could! This was MY project! I could choose whatever I wanted.

Okay let's see (this is the organizer in me), there's the primary colors: red, yellow and blue. Black is out and so is white, I mean as the secondary color band. Red! uhhhh, hmmmm, well you know, that's not really the kind of people we are, and blue? Yeah, I love blues! But they have to be the right blue on the right things to really work - like Lil' Willy - and 1968 Camaros... No, I don't think Lil' Queeny needs any blue. Yellow? Yeah that's more like it, but it has to be muted and earthy, not a Smiley face Jeep yellow in THIS case. Okay might come back to that, and that's what the gold is, really.

What about the secondaries: purple, orange and green. Greens are great! And Lil' Queeny has interior greens, like the avocado range (but we're changing the name to sage to keep in fitting with the whole Wyoming theme). Might come back to a green. Purple? Naw. Orange? Naw.

And the extra will go on Lil' Willy's trailer. I didn't want black on that - too hot in the sun. I tried white once and really disliked white on a trailer. To be frank, I am kind of having a hard time seeing that trailer in anything other than it's original red - as oxidized to orangish. And the statement is pretty cool too, red, white and blue! (Lil' Willy is pretty patriotic, what with his military heritage and all).

I went back into the old photo archives.



What kind of red could I use that would work on both?

And I thought about Lil' Queeny's own Gypsy sort of heritage and I searched gypsy colors online and there were lots of red and purple tones, none of which I really liked - except maybe crimson! Might crimson work? It's not maroon (I really dislike maroon). It's no-where near pink and while close to purple it's really not purple. It's not "in-your-face candy-apple-red", (not that there's anything WRONG with that - but there's a time and a place). Hmmm, Lil' Willy will still probably lose his top someday and the replacements are only available in black and that means he'd have to lighten a little in his blue as it becomes the contrasting lighter color. Crimson, black and medium blue? Hmmmm. :/

Then I tried to name the red tone for a Wyoming connection, as we're doing for all of our color choices, just because we can.

And I looked back into some more photo archives and I re-found this one.



And once again I fell in love.

This is a Ford restored, original "White" (manufacturer name - not color) Jammer bus, one of several being used today in Glacier National Park for tours on "Going To The Sun Road". I have a real love for these things, and for the Yellowstone Park version in (you guessed it) yellow!

But why are they red? What is that red? I went searching. The buses are colored for the ripe Mountain Ash berry found growing wild in the park! Perfect! Those grow around here too! We can name that color on Lil' Queeny "Mountain Ash berry". And do the Travel Queen logos in the same color (those were originally very close to that tone), and with the new clearance lights and tail/stop lights? That would be sweet!

I broke the news to DW. (She hates red). But especially after she realized I was talking about the color band and not the whole camper, her look of disgust faded and she became supportive.

Alright - decided.

We slept on it and I thought about it through the next day. And after I'd had about 24 hours to entertain the idea, I'd had my fun and concluded this just wasn't the right choice. Red tail lights and logos are one thing, but the color band? The two tone effect? In red for this outfit. No - that dog don't hunt.

What else? I looked again at the store color samples and again they felt bland. I wanted something special, but with an understatement (as my inner Christopher came out). And I pulled this can back out from under the bench.

Here's that Rustoleum thing again.



I like the hammered finish. Along with the right white, that might be kind of cool. I didn't want the copper (although I considered it) or the black or silver. Brown was too dark, as was the Oil-Rubbed Bronze. All available in the hammered.

I had bought this can of "Chestnut" recently when I had been re-furbishing Lil' Willy's heater housing and had been considering a new finish, closer to the original Harrison Heater hammered Tan, but went back to black as I had done years ago, because it just works better on Lil' Willy.

Might this work? Prasma Bob said it would probably lift that non-OEM white. But the side bands had never had the white on them, just the gold. Prasma Bob thinks it was anodized. That's a chemical coloring process that I know little about, but it has something to do with table salt - or is that iodized?

And the color band pieces on the back-wall were white, but from access door metal and probably not the non-OEM white found elsewhere on Lil' Queeny. Only the V-nose had that. And if it was problematic, I could SAND that stuff off completely.

I tried it out on several scrap pieces, some with access door white and some with non-OEM white. And I did no further surface prep, just to give it the best chance at failure. It didn't fail. Even on the non-OEM white.





I liked it!

And how would that look with the truck?



I also looked for this stuff in quarts, so I could practice with my sprayer. It wasn't found at any of the three home-centers. Nor was the Chestnut in spray cans! They can't stock EVERYthing. So it was back over to Walmart to get a total of three cans of this stuff, but while at the home center I picked up three cans of Rustoleum self-etching primer for the prep coat.



This is something that came up in my "how to paint aluminum" research before the professionals gave me several OTHER (sometimes conflicting) options. I probably didn't absolutely need a self-etcher, as I had done the sanding, but I still thought it the best available choice, and I wanted a good primer base for this application.

I tried it out on several surfaces (bare aluminum, old-painted, fresh painted, etc.).





And what about a clear coat? Especially that front V-nose was susceptible to the ever-present mosquito splats, and road tar and flying rocks and future scrubbings.

I tried some stuff DW had (two types) and chose this one after finding it was compatible (didn't mess up the underlying hammered finish, fresh 30 minutes old, or several days old).



I suppose we could get TWO dogs. Finium and Rustoleum. Yeah - that's the ticket!

Alrighty then, let's get this baby masked.

And just for kicks. Someone here who is good with Photoshop (that wouldn't be me) might take the upper pictures of the Jammer bus and the truck and camper, and place appropriate color bands in the Mountain Ash berry red. Then we'd all know if my choice against red was good or bad. :)

After yesterday (that marathon typing thing in the morning, and then another long day in the shop, this time sanding the UNDER side of the cab-over bunk and front wall) my arms hurt - really badly, so I'm typing this with my toes and will be making it short. And I think my teeth are loose - all of them. (Ibuprofen being bery, bery good to me.)

While still here in Finishes & Finishing, and covering recent poisons handled routinely by the American do-it yourselfer (it's POISON I tell you, POISON!), I figured now might be a good time to re-iterate the importance of proper equipment, not that I have any, let alone use it, but you know me - I'm a cowboy!

Actually, it's really pretty simple - the main thing is the mask. They're cheap and have replaceable filter cartridges, and can regularly be cleaned by blowing out with air (compressed air for jobs like this is a MUST!). This is a 3M respirator from a home center and is designated NIOSH, which is either an industry term about being up to OSHA standards, or is a bad word uttered my the Orcs of Mordor - I forget which.



Next, the eye protection. By the time I got my first corrective lenses (mid-20's) it was pretty easy. No, glasses aren't the best for side protection, but if you're invincible like Superman or something and the HUUUUGE majority of your work is face-on, then they do (especially poly-carbonate) offer pretty good protection. BUT, once you get into bi-focals that never seem to work after you leave the Optometrist's office, and you lay them down more often than not, do yourself a favor and get used to something that works for you. These are just a cheap basic clear lens safety goggle. They're not going to be the best for large or high-velocity projectiles like 9MM or Boeing-757s, but they do fairly well on the kind of dust and small chips that tend to fly around where I'm working.

Next, ear protection. That depends on the job and decibel level. Every since I got that neat little old-school paint sprayer compressor running, I turned off the Sam's Club Big Max "oil-less" compressor in the corner and never looked back. Man I hate that thing! It's like Jim Carey's most annoying sound in the world times 7 times 70! And even with ear-cans I can't hang out in the shop when it re-charges. But for this sanding work I use disposable-foam ear-plugs left here by DS, just to keep down the higher decibels of the sander itself, and the tax-relief commercials on the radio.

And finally, gloves. Something stylish, in a complimentary color, but not too expensive.

Here's a guy I call Primer Grey Dave. I found him down at the modeling temp agency.



Tomorrow we'll head back to Exterior, Skin & Openings.

When I first went looking for information on how to paint Lil' Queeny's aluminum skin, you wouldn't BELIEVE what came up when I Googled "Paint Queeny Skin" :o

So I regrouped, and rephrased. At first I fell for it, and was just certain I indeed had at least five terminal illnesses with only 30 days left to live, and I thought, "man - I gotta shift into high gear". Then I caught my typo. Third time's the charm!

I searched "Paint vintage RV aluminum". What surprised me was that I didn't see a lot of hits on "Zinc Chromate". But a quick Wikipedia check for same, brought this up under the heading "Toxicity".

Recent studies have shown that not only is zinc chromate highly toxic, it is also a carcinogen.[13] Exposure to zinc chromate can cause tissue ulceration and cancer.[1][3] A study published in the British Journal of Industrial Medicine showed a significant correlation between the use of zinc chromate and lead chromate in factories and the number of cases in lung cancer experienced by the workers.[14] Because of its toxicity the use of zinc chromate has greatly diminished in recent years.

I said, "oh".

You see, back when I painted our FIRST RV in a friend's aircraft hangar (a 1954 13.5' canned ham starting with "S", but it wasn't Shasta - and I painted it bright white by the way - and Lil' Willy is a 1954 Willys - by the way too), I used Zinc Chromate primer on the bare aluminum spots. We bought that camper from an earlier neighbor for $100 down and $50 monthly payments until the grand total of $350 was paid off. Oh man - I gotta dig out film photos and post some of that someday. But, maybe because of the toxicity, I don't remember anything else about that paint job except that my buddy was so mad because I got some over-spray on his hangar floor (he was immaculate, with an epoxy white floor. He waxed the Cessna Skylane after every flight and parked with the wheels on carpet pads. We were chess partners).

No, no Zinc Chromate hits, but just about everything else under the sun! Professionals, and public and promos, Oh My! Try it, you'll see what I mean.

But spraying or rolling and automotive finishes and home aluminum siding, and water based and oil based, and expensive breathing apparatuses, and self-etching primer in a can and concrete driveways and paint on people's bodies - again!

I did watch one YouTube video that was pretty good (the same apparent professional who taught me to talk the talk of "scratch"). He recommended the MD-500 (about seven times in a row) even while showing the product MD-550 and MD-650 on it's right.

Now how am I, a do-it-yourselfer, supposed to remember stuff like MD-550? Especially when you are supposed to add up to hundreds of potential hardeners and additives and artificial sweeteners with names like F334NJ, 5FFF67, KLM-712, and BOEING-757?

I'm a home center kind of guy. I understand words like Valspar, Rustoleum, Sherwin-Williams and Behr (even if they CAN'T spell it right).

And you can name your DOG Rustoleum! Can't do that with MD-550 for crying out loud. That's just wrong. I mean picture this - you have to park the RV and take the flight for that one event. You take your dog to the kennel. You tell the first worker, "his name is MD-550" and you put it down on the paperwork. The worker says, "okay Em Dee Five Fifty, come with me" and all is good. Then the next shift comes on and looks over the paperwork for the new tenants and comes to YOUR dog and says, "here's your supper Em Dee Five Five Zero". and your dog looks blankly at the worker and goes to bed hungry because he thought it was for another dog! Same thing happens the next day AND at exercise time. Two weeks pass and when you get home your dog hates you! As Johnny Cash might say, "Cause he's the dirty rotten scoundrel who went and named me Em Dee Five Fifty".

So I was confused. Better talk to some professionals. My first stop was the airport Fixed Base Operator, the ones who employ aircraft air-frame and engine mechanics. Maybe one of them was skilled in painting aluminum. "No", said the lady at the counter, "we ship that kind of thing out".

Well after a few other thoughts and stops I swung by this professional paint supplier in town called Diamond Vogel. By this time I was really needing to find some facilities (that whole age thing you know?) and as I ran by the counter girl into that first door on the right I hollered, "I need to paint aluminum!" and clicked the lock.

By the time I got out, her and the other guy had this data sheet printed out for me and were espousing the grand benefits of a product called Finium.



It's a primer and top coat all in one - and my heart sunk. I thought, "the professionals are going to suggest a one product solution? For aluminum? Bare metal? Primer and paint in one? Water based?! Oh for crying out loud!", said my inner traditionalist. I wanted to shout, "don't you have any Zinc Chromate!", but I remained polite, if not somewhat dismissive. :R (Don't be mad guys, just keep reading.)

I wasn't going to go next door to Napa because the LAST time I was in there this counter-woman chewed me out, for nothing! It's not like I needed to use their bathroom or anything. BUT, the Diamond Vogel kids (I say that respectfully, because when you get to my age you start to call everyone kids - trust me, you'll do it too), mentioned it as an alternative and I was on empty, so I went over. The first guy told me after I described my conundrum, that I need to talk to Chuck. I waited in line and when it was my turn I told Chuck what was going down.

Do you remember that scene in Monty Python's Holy Grail when God comes out from behind the cloud and the choir starts singing? Well as Chuck spoke, that's what it felt like. A new day was dawning - and it was smiling on me!

Yes it was going to be kind of expensive, what with the recommended primer coat...



and the top-coat...



and the additives and sweetners, and the new equipment, but it was STILL gonna be less than three new access doors - or about the same. And to top it off - the data sheets he showed me said Imron. Imron - you know? "The wet look that lasts"! Granted it was Imron Industrial, but I found out later that it just makes it more durable than fleet truck Imron (you know - Kenworths and Peterbilts and stuff) at about half to a third of the cost!

Now anybody who was anybody in MY High School has heard of Imron (although we always pronounced in Emron - I think because an "Emerald image" popped into our heads during discussion), but the top of the line paint job for a High School car was Imron - not that any of us could afford it. But if you "talked the talk you could walk the walk" buddy, and in High School that was key.

My first paint job was enamel acrylic - I think. My brother-in-law did it. That is to say the husband of foam-rubber hair-do sister #1. Dark midnight blue metallic! Instant girl action!

His brother owned a body shop and for insurance reasons, I couldn't help. So I didn't get to remove the destroyed vinyl top, fill any of the damage, or sand down that terrible, awful, pitted hood and trunk paint. But the brother-in-law enjoyed it - I think.

It was a 1968 Camaro. I know! Lil' Queeny is a 1968! Still my all-time favorite car of all-time. Even if it was an Amoeba motor. For those of you who don't know, the Chevy small block V-8 was a Mouse motor, the big-block V-8 was a Rat motor and the inline six (mine was the smaller 230 CID) was an Ameoba motor. But it was still spunky. I mean, I could jump on the freeway on-ramp with four of us on board, in the rain, coming from a miniature-golf outing or something, and brody it out almost 360 degrees - on accident. But that was after the accident.

The accident was only 30 days after the paint job, a beautiful dark midnight blue with gold metal-flake, ohhhoho. I had been sitting in class all day watching the snow fall in the mountains - first of the season! When the last bell rang I drove home, grabbed my boots (I wasn't completely stupid) and threw them in the back seat. First day requiring snow tires or chains for the season, but that wasn't going to stop me.

By the time I got far enough up the canyon to not be able to make any more forward progress, I made a real slick three-point turn and headed back down. I got this handled! And how you gonna know how your wheels handle in less than perfect traction situations if you don't experiment? Just a bit of gas, there we go, back wheels break traction, turn slightly into the skid and it straightens right out. Except it didn't straighten right out. Then next thing I remember were rear-deck speaker covers hitting me in the back of the head and I was nose-down in the creek. Against a tree.

Well, I got a ride down to the canyon mouth where there was a phone booth and called the sheriff; they'd meet me right there. Then I called my other brother-in-law, husband of foam rubber hair-do sister #2, and he had a tow-truck owner friend who owed him a favor.

Brother-in-law #1 was more than gracious, so was the Deputy (he didn't ticket me for the snow tire thing). Everybody was so understanding. They knew what this meant and how I was punishing myself; even Dad didn't say much.

But I did get that car back on the road for only $100. No kidding, for a '68 Camaro! Front clip with one good fender (the one I needed and the front cross pieces) $40 (from a guy who had installed a Rat-motor and a Super Sport front clip, and who had a nice paint job AND a golden retriever named Camaro. Now that's a cool name for a dog!, $20 for a hood, $10 for a fan and $10 for a headlight and spray cans of primer grey and miscellaneous.

But the paint job was lost. And you know what primer grey does. Yup, the girl action dried up - after only 30 days. But that's okay, now I could afford that dirt bike! And I had to get a truck to haul it right? Yes - you guessed it - a 1968 Chevy half-ton long-bed with a 327 mouse motor! :) Cherry Red! (Not Imron). I actually sold that Camaro to buy my first Jeep. No Way! I am not shifting you! A 1968 Jeepster Commando, shackle lifted about four inches! With N78 Dayton Knobbies! Ohhhhoho.

Yes there's a recurring theme here. 1968 and 1954 must be my magic numbers. Well that and 11, but we don't have time to talk about that right now. I really should play the lotto.

And now, Napa Chuck was telling me I could have Imron on Lil' Queeny - and afford it! He showed me an aluminum hood scoop that had recently been sprayed. Beautiful! "But", said Chuck, you have to mask really good, this stuff gets on EVERYTHING!" I said, "Chuck, my garage is attached to the house. And I have a wife. And I'd like to keep her". He said, "Can you wait until summer?" Well you know my driveway isn't paved and it is Wyoming after all and that whole wind thing and if you don't like the weather wait 10 minutes and it will change, and it changes in both directions.

He said, "C'mere" and we walked over to the large metal door into the next room and he says, "this was rolled". And my pointed ears perked, like a dog's, and I said, "Rolled?!" Em Dee five fifty?! errr Imron?! Now that's a cool name for a dog. "Here Imron - c'mere boy".

Well suffice to say, I was hooked and I had my plan.

Still, you don't just speak with one or two professionals when you've got a project like Lil' Queeny and my next stop was over to the Auto Body shop. But Bob wasn't there, it was lunch time.

So I called Bob up on the telephone and he said, "Hello, this is Bob speaking", I said, "this here the Bob got the pickup truck for sale?" No wait, that was something else.

But I did talk to Prasma Bob and he listened carefully to me and he talked about the two-part epoxies and additives and artificial sweetners and stuff. And there was lots of good advice and help and information and I was feeling really fortunate to have found my professionals. Soon I mentioned the Imron products to Prasma Bob that Napa Chuck had talked of and he said, "oh yes, I've sprayed lots of that" and the 2.8 primer and the 3.5 top-coats were affirmed as excellent choices and he mentioned the over-spray problems and didn't know a lot about the rolling properties (because he a sprayer), but was not against the concept and even agreeable in my situation and he said, "because you don't know what that non-OEM paint is, you can put some lacquer thinner on it to see if it's affected" and I remembered once already doing that and finding that it lifted some of the bright white and my heart dropped.

And it was at this point that I learned what catalyst means.

(I might be technically wrong here, but) catalyst, hardener, activator - they are all basically the same thing. These are added to oil-based (automotive grade) paints to harden the surface, making it more durable, chemically resistant, less or un-affected by oil-based products placed OVER it. If my lacquer thinner had raised the bright white on Lil' Queeny, that probably means it was non-catalyzed and any oil based product I put over it will probably bubble it, lift it, ruin the new layer. That old stuff had to come off.

Okay, there's sanding (and it looks like Zinc Chromate was used between the original coat and the bright white - you remember that - toxic right?). Then there's aircraft paint-stripper (messy and can you ever REALLY get that stuff out of all the crevices - if not, the seam paint will fail), or wipe-off with the right thinner, but the ease of that depends on the previous paint and its properties. Of course that was the factor for any removal process and to this point I had found the bright white VERY durable, in spite of not being catalyzed - well, except that whole peeling thing where the base was bent over or slammed with staples.

And there was a lot of surface to address!







I slept on it.

The next morning I tried out the thinners to see if it really did lift the old stuff and yup, there was enough of it to be concerned.

I took a piece of sample metal in to talk with Prasma Bob in person and we figured on several remedies, none of which were easy, and I showed him that Finium data sheet that I got from Diamond Vogel. Now this type of product is outside the realm of Bob's expertise, but he said it looked pretty good and might well do the trick. He also directed me over to another fella I call Wyoming Auto Ben, who had recently mixed up a bunch of similar stuff for a big industrial job that had gone belly-up so they didn't buy it and it might still be on sale!

Well here was another professional (Ben) who was so helpful, and listened (they all listen better than my doctor). Ben looked at the Finium data sheet and said, "oh yes, this is good stuff. We've got it on the building here". And he showed me the wall where the contractor had ONLY power washed the galvanized (which is apparently a more difficult surface than aluminum) to get the peeling off, no sanding or feathering, and that it was now two years old.





I had two more professionals to consult; dear daughter and dear son.

DD had worked at Diamond Vogel a number of years ago, at the counter and in the warehouse and had taken the courses. I called her and told her my situation (I didn't mention the non-catalyzed thing, just wanted to know how to paint aluminum) and she thought for a minute and suggested the two-part epoxies route, like Prasma Bob. She didn't recall Finium and thought it might be a new technology and product.

Then I texted DS (who is a painting contractor, currently and recently operating out of California) and he said "I really like the Diamond Vogel "coat all" for a base and encapsulation. I think it's a good suggestion".

Finium uses an "advanced, self-linking acrylic technology to create a revolutionary, direct-to-metal, semi-gloss primer-finish", and shows resin type as "self cross-linking 100% acrylic".

And did I mention it is water based, environmentally friendly, economical and can be tinted to any color?

I haven't yet decided whether to spray-on or roll, but having either option is beneficial, and because you don't thin it, and you don't have to add any sweetners, I could more easily experiment with my current sprayer. And it has a good shelf-life so my second color (Lil' Queeny's color band) can be used later to paint Lil' Willy's trailer!

Sorry Chuck, maybe I'll get Imron in a next life. And thanks to everyone, Napa Chuck, Prasma Bob, Wyoming Auto Ben, and of course DD and DS. By the way, DS says to give a hearty shout out to his friends Cody and the gang at Diamond Vogel! And said, "let's get some Diamond Vogel stores out here in California", he's tired of trying to make do with Benjamin Moore.

Hmmm, can you name a dog Finium? "Here boy!"

For the past two months or so, I've been posting almost exclusively over in Part 13. "Exterior, Skin & Openings".

Like the "Galley & Greatroom" or "Structure & New Wood" before this, there's been a lot of work to do, and then share.

But today (and tomorrow), while still discussing issues related to the exterior aluminum work, I'm getting into some topics dealing with the finish, so I figured I'd come back here and "reactivate" this thread, so to speak.

When I started sanding the aluminum sheet-metal, it was a combination of "by-hand" and using a little Black and Decker Cyclone with hook & loop paper that DW bought many years ago for a furniture refinish project. I test drove it once and wasn't all that impressed, so kind of went back to by-hand, bench sander and belt sander and wire brush for my paint and finish prep - mostly soft wood and around the home projects.

But after trying to get the non-OEM finish on Lil' Queeny scuffed by hand, I soon realized, especially with my aging arms (and that chronic shoulder thing - some of you know what I mean), that just wasn't going to cut it.

So I tried her little unit again, and it actually worked pretty good. I sanded on the bench, I sanded on the floor, you remember (over in Exterior in January). But after getting the metal on the camper frame, it was very apparent that the sanding had only just begun. There was much more to do.

Wally World sold the paper (for the B&D Cyclone) in 5 sheet 80 grit packs and 1 sheet 80, 2 sheet each 150 and 220 packs, at around $4 a pack. That was ridiculous and was going to add up fast!

So over at one home center I went down the sanding tool aisle to see what I could learn.

From a strictly economic standpoint, the best way to buy paper is in the full sheet packs. The stick on, the hook & loop, that sort of stuff, is great for a small jobs, but is cost-prohibitive for jobs that are going to go through a lot of paper.

And it's hard to cut full sheets into circles for a disc type sander without waste, what with being the sometimes mathematician that I am, it made sense, something about eating Pi.

What else? Well you know the tool shelf had quite a selection of these little electric units called "1/4 Sheet Sanders". I figured that meant you could tear normal size sheets into quarters and those would fit the sander, but I wasn't certain. That would be an assumption, and you know what that does. So I delved deeper. Sure enough, that's what it meant!

I looked at pricing (including packs already sold in quarter sheet size), and to quote a great man, "I put two and two together, and added twelve and carried five; come up with twenty-two thousand telephone poles an hour". Yup - cost effective, even if I had to buy a new sander.

I didn't want the most expensive, nor any of the cheapest. I looked close at the mid-range units and settled on this little Porter Cable with the dust bag attachment (same brand as my large pneumatic finish-nailer, purchased a long time ago for our first hard-wood floor - it's been a real dependable guy).



At the same time I got this 25 pack of 220 grit paper for my finish sanding needs (I was yet to be introduced to the whole peeling paint thing talked about over in Part 13.).



Now sandpaper is sandpaper is sandpaper right? Wrong! I know, that's what I thought too!

While getting that metal bending brake over at Harbor Freight the other day, I picked up some paper in various grits because I knew the home supply was getting low. And now I broke it out and gave it a whirl on the sander. Besides it was red! It MUST be better than that General Purpose 3M stuff right? Red for metal maybe? (You know how that whole do-it-yourselfer mind works).

It sucked! It was only then that I started reading the labels closer. I found both types were aluminum oxide, supposed to be an excellent cutting grit. I did some Internet searches to see what I was SUPPOSED to be using. Well, maybe not the best professional choice, but general purpose would work.

I don't know where the red stuff is made, but I got it at HF so that should be a clue. The 3M on the other hand is made in Canada (hello brothers to the north!). And the Performax Brand (a Menard's Home Center brand I think), which is what that 1/4 sheet pack is, was ALSO a good performer, and it says that it's made in USA.



Not only did the HF Warrior stuff break down and not cut well after about 15 seconds, the paper tore up terribly fast. This picture shows two destroyed sheets compared to one sheet of 3M on the sander. The 3M sheet shown did about three times as much surface area to get to its present condition as did those 2 pieces of red Warrior! And it did the area better.



This window opening is where I used the poor quality red stuff - two sheets, and notice the dark grey residue (aluminum?).





The better 3M did this window and the whole wall area of the cab over.



And that was the heavy 60 grit! What would become of the 150 and 220?

Now at this stage of the game I was still learning (well - I'm STILL learning; that's kind of an on-going thing, but I learned some stuff I know now that I didn't know then). For do-it-yourselfers, we often don't know what we don't know as MUCH as knowing what is known, or can be known, but that we don't know! And of course, that all depends on what the definition of is, is.

Like - maybe 60 grit is too course and 80-100 would have been the best to start with. That's because too deep of a scratch requires more material removal to smooth it down for the finish sanding. More work, more material removed - you get the idea. But by the same token, while speaking with a professional, I probably shouldn't worry too much about the metal thickness being adversely affected, and I DID have those heavy layers of non-OEM bright white paint to work with, its peeling where bent over, etc.

And another thing I'll share with you (be careful with how you use this information, as you don't necessarily want it getting into the wrong hands). While watching a YouTube video of a professional painter painting aluminum, he said to get about a 180 to 220 scratch.

And we can use that - I mean if we want to sound like we know what we're talking about. You can throw that around at the water cooler and probably come off pretty cool!

"Yeah, I put down a 220 scratch and then washed the surface with (insert prep wipe of your choice here) and then got my first finish coat put on." And you kind of want to say it all non-nonchalantly-like. Hey! If you talk the talk, you can walk the walk! ;)

Tomorrow we'll talk the talk about paint.

After working on steaming and bending the front cap for Lil' Queeny's cab-over bunk, and while letting it dry into its new shape, I steel-wooled and cleaned up the cream colored cabin trim that covers paneling joints. These are the areas with grey plastic runners stapled along seams and joints.



Here's my stack. Some of these won't be used, specifically the ones that came out of the bathroom/wardrobe/closet room, now becoming a wet-bath.





Polishing up the trim with steel wool, I moved inside and used a hammer and flat surface punch to seat all the staples good, then snapped the trim into place.











I left incomplete the two strips for the cab-over bunk until I get the front wall cap finished and fastened. It was beer-thirty.