Tuesday 22nd - Make a mess then paint

 Make a mess then paint, that was the plan for today! With a good number of people in, the plan was to focus on the tool vans, spending the morning sanding more of the paint off No.92, then sweep/vacuum up and spend the afternoon painting No.4, so as to progress both projects and to save anyone getting too bored/dusty.

Maurice got stuck in on the Malvern side, along with Ian who I managed to forget to photograph...

Richard took on the South end...

And Stu finished off the Cotswold side.

At the North end David cleaned up the headstock...

And there was a small amount of sanding to do on No.4 as well on the door handles which had a lot of flaky paint, which Roger took care of.

Taking advantage of the dusty conditions, Keith also sanded down another chair.

Yes it got very dusty!

It wasn't just tool vans today, other projects did move forward as well. Stu put a first top coat on the next section of the Royal Mail coach early in the morning before it got too warm.

Robert spent some time on the top door liner.

While Ainsley was sort out some internal battening...

Later drilling the steel door pillar to accept a liner.

Dave splashed a bit more green on the S&T coach.

And spotted this rather lost looking homing pigeon. It had green rings on both legs - no idea what this signifies.

Dave and Pam spent some time cutting up rags

It was a good spot to watch the well filled trains today, quite a crowd watching the Std 2 pass Foremarke on the former's penultimate operating day with us.

I also found and outside job doing the other 2 axleboxes on the second tank wagon. As it was a rather messy, oily job I didn't get my camera out until I'd finished, but just to record I did it!

So, back to the tool vans, and after lunch we had a big sweep and vacuum up, then everyone got their paint pots and brushes out. David red oxided the headstock he'd cleaned up on No.92.

Later on with the dust gone and the paint dry Robert fitted some more replacement planks on this end too.

Stu cracked open the undercoat dark grey on the Malvern side of No.4, while Ian had the underframe black out...

Along with Roger at the other end.

Maurice had the GWR brown out to gloss the second panel on the Cotswold side, while Dave applied the pink on the end.

After Stu had zoomed along and got both panels in undercoat grey, Pam primed the last bit of unpainted wood, the door on the Malvern side (it had of course had several coats of the epoxy primer first like the rest of the van).

Dave caught me with the gloss red tin out for the end I'd undercoated on Saturday.

By the end of the day almost every section had had a coat of paint of one sort or another such were the number of people wielding paintbrushes. Another coat of brown to go yet though before I can put the big yellow letters and number on.

Another end of day shot showing progress with the Royal Mail model railway coach, the one big section yet to be touched is out of shot. The weather has not been conducive to progress with this generally but it is coming together now.