Roy wrote:

Would appreciate some advice. I have two shallow dents (about 1˛ oblong and about 3˛ apart) in one of the lower upper front panels on my Ś56 bubble, apparently placed there by some metal piece hitting the panel. In addition there are some deep scratches (shallow gouges) within the dents.

Hi Roy & Everyone in Airstream.net Land, :)

Since you have SKIN OFF inside, you should be able to remove the dents. You'll need the following:

First, you need someone to give you a hand - this takes 2 people to perform!

Sand Bags - 2 each - 6 x 12 =} 1 ea. 12 x 12 inch Aluminum Sheet - .40 to .062 - OR
2 Bags of No. 10/No. 12 Shot - at Firearms Re-load Center.
1 Strong Magnet
One Short - 2 x 6 (12" long)

Go inside Bubble with Magnet. Place it in Center of Dent. Have someone on outside, find Center with a 16 Box Nail Head. Once this is found - place a Bag 'x' on it. Have your helper place aluminum sheet over dent, place Sand bag on Top and apply about 30ft pounds pressure. Place YOUR Sand Bag over Dent, put 2 x 6 on Center and hit with hammer. A couple of hits should remove Dent.

A Heating pad - taped on surface for 30 minutes BEFORE, should help this operation.

It's NOT a good idea to use a torch. You can burn the surface and burn a Brown tint into it Permanently, that WILL show Big time - after Polishing!

Scratches - Depends on depth. Do it with Sanding block. It is NOT good to use your hand. Get yourself some 400 w/d sand paper and some PURE Spring Water in a spray bottle. Start sanding Left to Right. DO NOT use Circular motions. Remove top of scratch (Red Crayon scratch), work area until you see scratch start to disappear. Then, get some 600 w/d on Block - Left to Right again, (Keep WET!). DO NOT let Paper load up. Continue until scratch is gone. Put some 1000 w/d on Block, go Left to Right again - until you see NO Sanding Marks left.

It's ready to Polish now. Get some Supershine and proceed to put a luster on it that you can Shave in! ;-)

And yes, be happy to include your Bubble on our return this Spring to finish up the West Coast Polishing Tour. When we get the dates firmly set, Sharon will contact you to find out which works best for you, the leg of the Tour going out, or the leg of the Tour coming back!

Here's what your Bubble can possibly look like, when we get done with her: http://www.airmarktools.net/detailing/airstream/tours/california/carr.html

If you have any questions regarding the procedures above - please feel free to call me at: 1-800-726-8435.

Later,
Jim

P.S. From Sharon - if I somehow screwed Jim's up any of above instructions, (I've Boo-Booed before! :-\ Luckily, NOT to badly or often!) I will post ANY corrections around 12:30-1:00pm Central Time! Hopefully, I didn't boo-boo!