I have been cleaning, and cleaning, and cleaning… The walls had the requisite 50+ years of grease, dust, and … rodent contributions. I scrubbed endlessly, but it was well worth it.

It proper Airstream renovation fashion, the next step was to take three steps backward. I can’t prime and paint until the window frames and hardware are cleaned and polished, so that the polish residue doesn’t spoil the work. That also meant scraping away layers of gunk that accumulated between the window exteriors and the interiors. Ew. So I did that. Then the main front window kind of fell apart. I’m reasonably certain I can re-attach the glazing, but in the meantime, it is a very clean and polished and disintegrated window.

Polishing the window frames and hardware was a grueling process in itself. They aren’t built to be polishing-friendly. So many corners and unreachable crevices. The length of time that it sat unattended meant every exposed bit of aluminum was badly oxidized and pitted. Most of it had to be sanded before I could polish. In addition, two of the stack windows had been replaced in the past, and attached with cheap screws that had corroded and rusted. The good news is that I got that fixed and placed my first rivets!