The Astroliner

[Plainsgirl]

My chassis (my very poor avatar) is in my driveway ready for attention. I have cleaned out my garage, I have found an amazing man in the US to draw up a plan for a more 'contemporary' design to suit my vehicle and I have found two wheels plus a spare to fit the hubs. Now all that is needed is to finish about 3 days reno work in my house and I AM FREE TO START MY BUILD. I am beyond excited. It's so hard working full time and fitting everything in..as you know! The only thing is the timing as we are going in to an early winter here so my garage will be cold BUT my Hub got a new job today (more $$) so I will lash out and buy a heater. Soon it will be all systems go. I have followed your build (and Dales') from the get-go because you guys are so inspiring. Watch this spaaaaaace!

[dales133]

Good stuff I was going to ask how you were getting on but I got beaten to it! Be sure to post your progress

[Atomic77]

Ahhh the magic of the internet. Bringing like minded people together from all over the world! Well good luck on your build...just jump in and do it. Your imagination is the limit and you can do anything you set the mind to. And we'll be here to cheer you on!

[dales133]

Hey Micheal are you around by any chance.... I need some help with a shore power question urgently!
I've just paid for and inlet but I'm unsure of a plug to suit.
Let me know when your on if you have time

[Atomic77]

Sure. What do you need?

[dales133]

Just wanted to check what shore power you went with and the part number for the female plug for it.
I just got one off ebay

[Atomic77]

So you're good? Or still need to know?

[dales133]

I'll wait until it arives now mate but if it isn't to much hassle a close up pic of the whole plug and pin configuration of the female bit would be awsum thanks

[Gpike]

Michael,

If you get a chance, I would appreciate a description of your homemade portholes. They look great and I am interested in your process. Intrigued by your taillight ideas as well, I would like something different on my own as well. Hopefully I will be able to dig my chassis out of the snow this weekend, and get started!

Thanks

[Atomic77]

Michael,

If you get a chance, I would appreciate a description of your homemade portholes. They look great and I am interested in your process. Intrigued by your taillight ideas as well, I would like something different on my own as well. Hopefully I will be able to dig my chassis out of the snow this weekend, and get started!

Thanks

After hours of tireless searching, looking for vented porthole windows, I finally gave up. I really had my heart set on vented portholes. It wasn't that I couldn't find them... I did. But I found most of them in Europe and either couldn't afford the window, the shipping or both. I did find something here in the states, but it was really designed for a house... so the walls would be much thicker than the 1" walls on my Astroliner. My brother suggested I just have some glass cut and use a weather strip from JC whitney. Which I tried, but just couldn't find the rubber strip that I needed. I went to an auto glass shop and had a 16" glass cut from tempered, tinted glass. I needed a rubber weather strip with a 1/4" groove for the glass and for the wall which seemed to be almost impossible to find. I finally found them in all shapes and sizes at RockAuto.com
Here's a link to get you started. Remember the sizes vary, depending on the wall thickness and the glass thickness that you decide on. I hope this gets you going in the right direction. http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinf ... d=2&jpid=0
As for the tail lights... I am using new, LED 1965 Chevy Impala housings retrofitted with 1960 Chevy El Camino Beehives. More on that to come so stay tuned. They are still a work in progress!
Michael

[Gpike]

Rock Auto. Why didn't I think of that? The beer fridge in the garage is plastered with their magnets.
I hear you on the portholes, all I could find were marine ones, and I didn't want to sell the house to afford one. I have been trying to find the "right" taillights, but may end up with slapped on generics until final assembly. Imagination is only taking me so far with this one!
Thanks for replying, and I will be watching.

[dales133]

Rock Auto. Why didn't I think of that? The beer fridge in the garage is plastered with their magnets.
I hear you on the portholes, all I could find were marine ones, and I didn't want to sell the house to afford one. I have been trying to find the "right" taillights, but may end up with slapped on generics until final assembly. Imagination is only taking me so far with this one!
Thanks for replying, and I will be watching.

I was looking for small windows for my build and was open to any shape realy and marine ones were best suited but same thing...bloody ludicrous prices

[Atomic77]

Well, we finally got the exterior Luan installed and believe me, it wasn't easy! What a nightmare! We started at the back and things went fine until we got to the curve at the front and it all fell apart after that! Literally! Well, just one sheet actually. That sheet was a total loss as it completely blew apart...But again, live and learn. We utilized some huge straps to sinch it all down, which really helped a lot. We had to have something to keep the staples from blowing through. You would be amazed at the stress on a piece of 3/32" Luan! I believe we are now over 50 tubes of glue...

[Atomic77]

I've been working on my tail lights so I can get the final little bit buttoned up on the rear of the Astroliner. Since it will have a vintage feel and a Space Age theme, I really invested in some late evenings doing research on 50's and 60's vehicles. For some reason the Chevy's have turned me on the most and when I saw the '65 Impala lights, my heart skipped a beat. The angle of the rear deck lid where they mount looked almost exactly the correct angle for my camper. After some thorough investigation, I realized I was correct on that assumption. I did further research to see if they made an updated assembly in an LED version, and they do! I knew these were the ones that I had to have. But even after I got them in the mail, there was just something about them that felt incomplete. Even though I appreciate LEDs in regard to their low energy consumption, the 40 little dots in each light just look unnatural to me. There's something about the warm glow of a bulb that feels more organic. Maybe I'm just picky, but it just didn't feel right when it was lit. So I found a way to diffuse the light and make it look more correct in a vintage way. I've been in love with the Beehive look for so long, and '56 Cadillac taillights were my true love... but way too long for this application. So I continued searching further until I found '60 El Camino lenses. I ordered some lenses, and with a couple nights of modification I was able to retrofit them to the Impala housings. I now have one of a kind lights that give you that wonderful vintage spaceship feel that I was going for. The next step was figuring out how to mount them. It took several steps, joining several pieces of 1/8" Luan cut out in steps and layers. The final step was a little filler to do some French work to replicate the dished area that the Impala had on the deck lid. Its subtle but very cool I think. Now I will mount this part into the rear of the camper and mold it in for a one-piece look. Groovy Baby!

[dales133]

Nice work dude those lights look awsum.your flying along now when do you plan to have the exterior done