After the fantastic results using Gord's Aluminum Polish on the interior aluminum rails, I was so eager to take it to Bessie's exterior. I was slowed in part by the lack of a proper tool. A slow and adjustable RPM polisher is needed, not a car buffer, which is widely available and cheap. I finally found the tool I was searching for at an affordable price ($60). It took over 6 weeks for delivery, so I followed up on the order, thinking I was scammed. Long story short, the company I ordered from is thriving, but they were shifting orders away from the website I used as they are trying to streamline their efforts (like everyone else these days). So this marks the first time I shopped at a closing virtual "storefront". The order was sorted out and a couple weeks later, sometime mid-August, I returned from work to find my polisher had arrived.
I suppose I should be grateful for the imposed delay, as it forced me to concentrate on the other less aesthetic aspects of Airstream restoration, but I was stoked to finally have a weapon in my hands and some summertime still left to use it. It will be hard to polish in the rainy season, although that's a couple months away. In Oregon, the clouds like to spit on your face for half the year, but they only have enough punch for a rainy season for about 3 months. Yes, it's the drear and constant lack of a shadow that has Oregonians suicidal.
So I took the Gords and the polisher to Bessie. Sidenote: the polisher truly needs a name. It came with no instructions but a picture whose parts identification list was clearly translated from Russian. They figured I knew what to do with the tool I guess. Kinda love that. It would never happen in America. Instructions, manuals, warranties, directions "Do not use polisher on an infant" and the like. You know what I'm talking about.
I didn't have as much spare time as I wanted, but I managed to polish a flat section of Bessie. Here are the teaser photos. Can't wait to get a chance to do the entire exterior...
Noticeable difference, yes? She matches the reflective tint in her mirror now!
Man I was dirty afterwards. Yesterday (which is about a month after these photos) I managed to do a quick once-over on the endcap so that we can seal her seams and make her waterproof for the season. No photos yet, thus the teaser title. Stay tuned.
