AIRSTREAM REBUILD - Ep. 9: Paint removal & shell cleanup

Let's make it shine! This Airstream got painted by one of the previous owners, most likely to hide some repairs and scratches. I found that completely stupid since the trailer is made of aluminum and the paint was entirely burnt by the sun. I was originally looking at polishing the trailer to a mirror finish but realized relatively soon that below the paint the trailer had been deeply scratched and sanded. Therefore, the decision was made to go for a bushed metal finish that is easier to maintain and is actually achievable on this trailer. The paint must have been applied professionally and of good quality as the only thing that was taking it off was aircraft paint remover and sanding at 400 grit. Once the paint was gone, I used Eastwood SCT Contour to brush the shell to 180 grit with a fleece wheel. The first brushing wet with WD-40, the second one dry. This the most time consuming step so far. This took about 113 hours & $1171. Rebuild total: 404 hours, $12094. Aircraft paint remover: https://pilotshq.com/products/prc-des... Brushing tool: https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-con... Really good tool to prepare large surface areas. A bit on the heavy side but manageable. Fleece wheel: https://www.amazon.com/Sinus-Fleece-W... Sander: https://www.redtoolstore.com/products... Sanding discs: https://www.mcmaster.com/8261A159-826... 0:00 Removing big red numbers 0:40 Applying aircraft paint stripper 1:33 Peeling the paint off 2:19 Sanding paint residues 3:04 Applying more aircraft paint stripper 3:21 Peeling off last bits of paint 3:39 Wet brushing 4:26 Washing 4:53 Dry brushing 5:40 Before/after comparison Music: Prisma - Aim To Head