You are now ready to Start to Polish.  

If you have chosen this method you should look at  Tom's Page (This will open in a new window which you can close to return here. Choose polishing techniques from the frame on the left)  and/or watch the Swift video.  The following information expands on the information on Tom's page and on the video.  Tom's technique varies slightly from the Swift video.  My technique varies slightly from Tom's.  The technique you develop when you polish will probably vary a bit too!  The basic process though is the same.

The basic polishing steps are:

1. Remove oxidation, filiform and some scratches with a slow speed drill,  a wool bonnet and Nuvite Polish (AKA Compounding).
2. Remove the swirls/scratches left by step 1 with a Cyclo random orbital polisher with 100% cotton sweatshirt material covering the pads.  Use Nuvite polish.
3. Polish to a mirror shine using a Cyclo polisher with 100% cotton sweatshirt material covering the pads.  Use Nuvite "S" polish.
4. Cleanup any black residue (especially around the rivets) with Glass Wax.

We met Tom when we were looking for the sweatshirt material after watching the Swift Video.  We found he was a local person with his beautiful airplane at an airport near the airport where we keep our airplane.   He asked if he could follow our Airstream project as we began our polishing adventures so you will see some pictures of our 1964 Globetrotter on his pages.

The modifications to the Swift method presented here is mainly some details specific to Airstream, cloth holding methods and detailing.

Choose the links on the left for Polishing details.