There are so many great restoration threads at Airforums.com. Many of them I’ve read over and over and pick up new ideas each time I go through them. I do have a favorite and it’s Carlos Ferguson's '62 Safari Scroll down to around post #42 and see what he did.
Carlos is an artist and I am a hack, so I harbor no illusions about doing anything as nice as he did, but I think I can do something that will make me happy and that’s a reasonable goal for me. I’m not doing the whole interior in birch. I love my shiny 13 panel endcap in the rear and am planning to stay shiny as far as the forward end of the galley, and then transition to birch for the interior from that point forward. Part of the reason is that my trailer has an ugly fiberglass endcap in front—it’ll get covered by 13 panels of 1/8” Baltic birch ply.
I used my rear endcap for making cardboard templates. The fit is slightly different as my sloping rear has a different shape than the vertical front. Here’s a rough first try:
Carlos used pop rivets on his but I’m thinking of using single use clecos (Olympic rivets). I really like the way the rivets stand out in the rear endcap and it seems like the solid head on the Olympics would be closer to the look of a bucked rivet. I think it’ll hold ok, going through two pieces of birch and then the fiberglass endcap. Tried a couple today:
Tomorrow I go back to the doctor and hopefully ditch the plastic boot on my ankle for a normal shoe. Can’t wait.
Steve, you are right about Carlos being an artist. I've reviewed his thread several times myself. His craft in right down to shower design amazes me. But you are no hack. I have no doubt your birch panels will be beautiful.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the pesky boot may be traded in for real footwear. Here's to normal ambulation!
Hi Dacia,
ReplyDeleteYeah, the copper shower. What an amazing piece of work.
Normal ambulation may be limping ambulation for awhile, but it'll seem pretty good.
-steve