Appia furgoncino - A fettler's voyage

[simonandjuliet]

I have already polished up the perspex using the fine polishes used for headlamp repairs, so it is the damaged paint between the layers that is the problem. Unfortunately I do not have a spare Aprilia one so the next option is a good second hand one - see "Spares Required" !!

I have seen a nice one in Italy , but it is still attached to a lovely chrome grill , so expensive ....

[simonandjuliet]

Fluted piece cleaned up as well, not perfect but not rusty - down to the copper in a couple of places. Bubble-wrap and store until the next wing fitting .....

[simonandjuliet]

Whilst Dog is finishing off the prep on the wing, I have started to clean up some of the bits.

In order to get the wing fitted correctly we have fitted the filler strip and joint trim, so they needed cleaning up first. The filler is an aluminium strip that slots (is glued) into a thin plastic sheath, then these fit over the wing mounting threads. Once the wing is loosely fitted then the joint trim is slotted in from above, and on the wing side, before the thin metal tabs are clamped in place when you tighten up the nuts

The tabs slide along the trim, 8 in all

Some before and after shots of the trim, filler strips and interior cover plates. For the aluminium I start with a very fine "scotchbrite" roloc disc on the air-sander and then go over it with 000 wire wool. This gives a nice even, satin finish. Final coat of resin polish to protect it

The plastic strip was cleaned off using the stripping disc at VERY slow speed, then a final clean with a "scotchbrite" pad soaked in rubber and yinyl cleaner. I find this softens up the plastic and makes it less likely to snap

The long green strips go on the "B" posts - quite a different colour before cleaning !

[DavidLaver]

Very nice...

What's the cleaner?

On the gasless mig (anyone) - does this ring true?

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/gasless-mig.htm

David

[tzf60]

Looking great, Simon - the cover plates have really smartened up.

[blueboxer]

I'm really enjoying this thread. Keep up the good work.

[simonandjuliet]

Thanks for your comments , gents.

Picture of the rubber/vinyl cleaner along with some other products I use. Please note that I have nothing to do with Autoglym, no shares, no great aunt working in the sales dept etc . They are easy to get, cheap on eBay and they work !

Plus a couple of pictures of the ally trim showing it with/without the wire wool stage. I prefer the satin look achieved with the wire wool, but with just the polishing wheel it is quite a lot shinier.

On the underside, I don't bother with the wire wool, just the resin polish for protection

[simonandjuliet]

Sorry, forgot to mention gasless MIG

I definitely get the splatter, but it cleans up easily. Penetration is good on 0.8 - 1 mm x 2 thicknessnes, goes all the way through.
Not good on very thin or rusty metal, oxy-acetyline much better. Doesn't produce the prettiest weld but for me the upsides outweigh the downsides on a day to day basis.

I weld forward with gasless Mig, somewhere between 45 and 90 degrees to the metal, so it keeps the pool of metal hot, and you add to it, rather than pulling the tip away from the heat

Also , I use 0.8 wire because I usually weld thin steel

Overall, not perfect, but very practical,easy to set up, low distortion, economical and reliable but welds do need some tarting up afterwards !

7 out of 10

[simonandjuliet]

I don't know if anyone else followed the lifting of the Dornier from the English Channel, but it gave me an idea for renovating the wing trim for the Appia !

The aluminium trim was quite corroded with lots of crusty deposits, just like the wings of the airplane ! Previously, I had tried to clean up the deposits with a scraper and/or the scotchbrite disks, but they were very difficult to remove and the result was not good enough

Consequently, I made a shallow bath from some thin strips of wood and plastic bent around screws , following the form of the trim. Lined it with thick plastic sheet and then filled the bath with lemon juice - On the Dornier, they used citric acid of unknown concentration, I used all the Jiff lemons (and one lime) that I had in the store cupboard !

I dropped the trim pieces in and left for about an hour, checking regularly to make sure nothing was going awry (I had already done a test last night so I had a good idea nothing drastic would happen), then I removed one trim at a time and scraped at the deposits with a hobby knife.

Result ? - the deposits had been significantly loosened and came off easily , leaving a rough, clean surface. It meant that the rotary disks were then much more effective and polished up the metal nicely.

All that is left is to strip (chemical stripper) the paint off the outside of the trim before etching and painting to protect and preserve them.

[DavidLaver]

Museum conservation work...

A bit more info:

http://www.finishing.com/412/51.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_and_restoration_of_metals

David

[chugga boom]

simon it was a cracking program and a great idea, well done i'd forgotten about that part

[tzf60]

Simon, did you manage to get the juices back into their containers.........!!!! 

[lancialulu]

A great example of cathodic corrosion?? Also lemon juice seems to be good to clean up skin!!!

[Parisien]

A great example of cathodic corrosion?? Also lemon juice seems to be good to clean up skin!!!

...always read a post twice............

I thought it read......catholic corrosion.....not that big of a Freudian slip really......


P

[tzf60]

Simon,
PM sent re grille badge.
 
Tim