Hello Bill, There is a decal on the top of my can of Met-All aluminumpolish
that reads "... Dip Clean Rag in Regular Household Flour And Wipe AwayBlack
Residue. The Flour Acts As An Absorbant To Speedily Remove Black Residue..."

It seems to reduce the number of buffing pads needed.
At the Sarasota Rally, there was alot of talk about using a dual headed
orbital buffer. Have you heard/or had any experience with one of these?
Jim
'61 Bambi

Bill Scott wrote:

> Hey Barry, I changed the subject line because with all the forwardsand
> convolution, the fur was starting to fly and I'm not really interested
> in a cat fight.
>
> You have to remove that old broken down plasticoat completely,beforeyou
> start any polishing. Ultra-violet radiation is the chief culpritof the
> breakdown. This entire plasticoat problem has caused many a sleepless
> night for Airstream engineers and Executives.
>
> The old plasticoat comes off fairly easy with a local hardware store
> product that is basically a paint stripper. There are several brands
> available, I've used Savagran Stripeeze semi-paste formula and /orBix
> spray on stripper. Its a little messy. Follow the directions. keepit
> away from plastics. Remove your marker lights or mask them carefully.
> Sometimes your windows have been replaced with acrylic or lexan plastic,
> if so, mask carefully or the stripper will eat them up. Don't breathe
> the fumes, but do wear eye protection. Neoprene gloves are helpful.
> After you apply the stripper, let it do the work, sometimes you might
> have to re-apply a second time in stubborn spots where the plasticoat
> was extra thick. If you're unsure or lack confidence, pick a smallout
> of the way spot to experiment. Its not a hard job, just a littlemessy
> and tedious.
>
> Bud Cooper and I gave a very small and informal polishing seminarat the
> Region 9 rally in Witchita Falls last week. It went quite well, andlots
> of folks came by to watch me struggle with that buffer. Many people
> asked about getting their rigs polished. We referred many of those
> people to go see Airmark because they were supposed to be at therally.
> Unfortunately,
> they were unable to attend because of committments in Atlanta.
>
> One thing to be careful about, many old-timers are really full of
> Old-Wives tales. Several old-timers came over and started tellingme
> the best way to "Polish" my Airstream because they ONCE polishedan old
> 53 a few years back. I heard some of the Whackyest tales and screwball
> remarks. Just a few that I would like to dispell: "Why I used Flour
> to help get that black stuff off." ........"I used Easy-off ovencleaner
> and then used soft and scrub and it just shined like new". I hadto
> laugh under my breath, but many of those old timers actually believed
> what they were saying. Someone always comes along with a "Betterway of
> doing the Job". I always ask them to go get their trailer so I could
> see the results..........That usually shuts them up . Do NOT , Isay
> again, Do NOT use oven cleaner, or flour, or any other CRAZY oldwives
> tale product. Good luck with stripping the plasticoat, and let meknow
> how it goes.
>
> Bill Scott
> 61 Bambi
> 66 Tradewind
>