How to Refurbish Airstream Emblems

As you can see, our Airstream emblem needed to be refreshed.

Here's how I went from the above picture to this!

First, removed the emblem but, in order to do that you have to remove the inner skin off the Airstream to get to the posts on the inside of the outter skin. The emblems are held on by posts that are attached with a type of nut then covered with vulkem to make it waterproof. Here's what it looks like-

Vulkem Covered Post

Post Without Vulkem

Back of the Emblem

My emblem had silicone around the edges also so I had to run around that with an exacto knife.

Once you get the emblem off, it's time to clean off the dirt and old paint.

I first covered the emblem with Citristrip paint stripper. The scrubbed and rinsed. This got alot of the paint off but not all.

Next, we polished the emblem with rouge and a polisher. This brought the letters to a beautiful shiny  finish.

Next up is painting. In order to protect the letters from paint you need to cover the letters with a thin coat of Vaseline. I used a Q-tip and my finger to keep the Vaseline only on the letters that you don't want paint on.

The Emblem Cleaned Up and with Vaseline

 Next, spray paint the entire emblem with white glossy spray paint for metal. I did two coats.

After the emblem has 24 hours to dry, scrape the Vaseline off the emblem. I used my finger nails and an exacto knife.

After Scraping off the Vaseline

Next, I used oil based model/hobby paint from Michael's to paint the red and blue areas. To do this, I dipped a small paint brush in the paint and dropped it in the square. The paint runs into the corners without having to use too many brush strokes. Allow the paint to flow on it's own and guide it with the brush. This will give the paint a thick professional look. I gave each color two coats.
 
Lastly, I sprayed two coats of glossy clear coat over the whole emblem. This gives the work you've done protection from the elements and a nice glossy finish!

I still need to do this same process for the Airstream Letters that go on the front and back of the trailer. I plan to use the same blue hobby paint that I used for this emblem to repaint those, I'll update when I get to that!