Tag Archives: shellac

I’m finally able to see the finish line!  I still have quite a few things to do before I’m totally done, but I can finally look at the list of things left and not feel overwhelmed.

I took last weekend off because I went to my grandma’s near Austin and spent time with my family.  My brother and sister in law drove down from Kansas with their two kids and my parents were there as well. I don’t get to see all of my immediate family together very often, so I really enjoyed spending time with them.  The picture below is the morning sun rising over the lake from my grandma’s boat dock.  Pretty nice scenery to wake up to!

I came back from my grandma’s feeling refreshed and rested.  I had a busy Monday and Tuesday at work, but toward Tuesday afternoon I starting feeling a little sick.  By Wednesday lunchtime, I had to go home and was stuck there for the rest of the week thanks to whatever illness I had contracted.  I don’t know how I managed to get sick right after a nice relaxing weekend.  

By this weekend, I was finally feeling better, so I slowly got back to work on Junebug.  Even though I got off to a slow start, I did finally end up making quite a lot of progress.

First, I went by a metal fabricator in town to see if they could make some new pieces for the door frame out of my pre-polished aluminum skin I had leftover.  They said that they could, but unfortunately it would cost me around $400.   Yikes!  I decided I would pass.  I then spent several hours trying to fabricate my own pieces.  They looked pretty good, but today I made up my mind that I’m just going to strip the paint off the old pieces and polish them.  It was too hard for me to get the new pieces to look exactly how I wanted.  Oh well..

I finished the wood part of the new door this weekend.  First, I needed to glue a few more support pieces to the frame.

I then shellacked the interior part of the door.  It’s going to look so pretty!

Natural without shellac

After one coat of amber shellac

After 3 coats of amber shellac and 3 coats of clear shellac

I then stripped the paint off of the hinges to the door and screen door.  I still need to polish them so they shine like the new skin.

While I was stripping paint, I also started stripping the paint off of the drip rails and the baggage door.  I had to pull all of the old skin out of the garage so that I could actually find the stupid drip rails.  They were buried under all of the crap in my garage.  I can’t wait until I can clear it all out and actually park my car in it again!

Pile of old skin. I think I’ll take this to the metal salvage place when I’m done to see how much money I can get for it. Some of the pieces are still good but others, not so much. There’s no way I could sell it to someone for their camper.

I chopped up some of the old pieces of wood I won’t be reusing and am putting them in the garbage. I had to get rid of some of the clutter in the garage.

Here are the drip rails – paint stripping in progress

I will have to coat the drip rails again with more paint stripper next weekend and scrub them.  I’m hoping one more coat will do the trick.

Still a little paint left but I got most of it.

It was hard to get the paint out of the awning rail so I might end up just leaving a little there. I don’t think it will be that noticeable.

There were already some scratches on the baggage door, so I went ahead and scratched it some more with my wire brush while I was getting the paint off. It will just have a nice brushed aluminum look!

Next, I cleaned the jalousie windows, polished them, and then installed.  They turned out really nice!

It was so hot outside, I decided to do the window cleaning inside.  I turned my bathtub into the cleaning area.  It made quite a mess, but I cleaned it all up later.  I got most of the grime off but the window screens are still rusty.  I figured I can replace those at some point if it bothers me.

I was really pleased with how shiny I was able to get the jalousie windows!

Before installing the window, you have to apply putty tape around the back edge of the window to seal it water tight.  After screwing it down, I came back and cut the excess with a razor blade.  Fingers crossed it sealed properly!  I don’t want any leaks in my “new” camper!

I also started peeling back a little more of the protective film.  I needed to remove it from the window before installing and then I guess I got carried away.    I also finished installing the taillights.  I haven’t checked them again to make sure they work.  I hope one of the wires didn’t come loose when I was securing the covers or something horrible like that.

After installing the windows, I moved inside and finished making the bed and benches (mainly the benches).

Finished making the frames for the benches.

I already did one cutout a while back, so I just needed to finish the cutout for the other bench.  I used my oscillating tool to cut out the shape after tracing it onto the wood.

And after applying 3 coats of amber and 3 coats of clear shellac, they’re all done!  Now, I just need to finish making the cushions for the tops and secure the benches to the floor.   I laid down on the bed today to see what it felt like and it was pretty comfortable!  I can’t wait to spend the night in Junebug again!

I still need to add the mirror behind the starburst cut out.

Next weekend, I will be connecting all the new wiring and hopefully hooking it up to some electricity!  I really hope I don’t burn down my camper in the process.  I will be doing quite a bit of studying online before connecting anything to a power source, that’s for sure!

I’ll leave you with a cute picture of my cousin Anderson and Baxter.  He loves Baxter so much and tells everyone that Baxter is his dog that I just keep for him.  He’s such a sweet kid.   I’ve promised him that we will camp out together in Junebug as soon as she’s finished.  He’s excited and so am I!