[A/S] Painting an Airstream

["Carol and Oliver Filippi" <ofilippi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There is no reason why an Airstream cannot be painted with good results - if
that is what you want to do.  Any competent automobile body shop with a
large enough spray booth should be able to do the job.

My suggestions for an excellent job are as follows: [Note: a competent
painter should be able to understand my instructions, and agree with them.
if not, e-mail me directly and I will try to help you sort out his comments]
These instructions are essentially the way aluminum aircraft are finished.

1) The surface must be physically AND chemically clean.  This means removing
any clearcoat and corrosion.  Paint remover will take off the clearcoat.
Chemical cleaning is done with a phosphoric acid base etching solution
called Alumaprep  followed by a conversion coating called Alodine (two
varieties, clear and green). The green variety is probably a better choice
under paint.

2) Apply a good primer.  I would recommend an epoxy base primer (epoxies
have the best adhesion of all the primers.)  Dupont Corlar is an excellent
choice.

3) Topcoat with a good enamel.  The best (glossiest and most durable)
enamels are catalyzed polyurethanes.  Dupont Imron is one of the best ones.

Note that many other automotive paint manufacturers (besides Dupont) make
quality finishes.  Another major supplier is PPG (who has a Dietzler line of
finishes).  PPG is the current source of Alumaprep and Alodine (they bought
the product line from the Nelson Chemical Co. who developed it many years
ago.) Dupont has comparable products under their own label.  Other firms
include Sherwin-Williams automotive and industrial finishes, Martin-Senour,
and R&M.

Note that automotive finishes are among the highest quality finishes
available [and epoxy primers and polyurethane finishes are not cheap].
There are also some specialty companies who make "Aircraft" finishes.  These
companies evolved from the early days of cotton cloth covered aircraft
painted with airplane dope.  They now handle urethane painting systems
similar to the automotive ones described above.

If you want to be really creative you could go for the "Hot Rod" paint jobs
and the special paints used for "Custom Colors" like pearlescent and candy
apple.  PPG/Dietzler markets these, as does two "Hot Rod" specialty paint
firms; House of Kolor and Metalflake (both are available from auto body shop
suppliers. Custom color systems used to be nitrocellulose lacquer based and
had mediocre durability.  However, these finishes are now formulated in
catalyzed urethane topcoats and epoxy primers.

Have fun!

Oliver Filippi