Tuesday 24th - Taping up and undercoating

 

 A slightly wet start to the day soon changed into a glorious autumn one.

The team made some really great progress today with SK 25488 with the preparation almost completed and undercoating started.

Although the Cotswold south end was chalked as complete, there is always that little bit more to be discovered and dealt with. Roger cleaned up a bit more on the centre door hinges before moving to the north half.

There was certainly a bit more attention needed on the south end door which Richard took care of. 

Meanwhile on he Malvern side Stu cracked on with further bits of tidying up. It was looking good - dare we hope that this is almost it?!

Pam had now arrived and took on the Cotswold side north end door. A lot of work has gone into prepping the four openers - they all work well and we want to ensure this remains the case.

Bob took on the sanding and then undercoating of the north end connection slider.

Hey, I like this! Stu is wiping down the Malvern side with thinners. That can only mean one thing - the prep is finished!

Meanwhile the Cotswold side continued to be a hive of activity.

Great! Rod's wonderful lining out tool is in action as Stu marks the positions of the top and bottom lines.

And the tape goes on to cover where the lines will later be painted.

Much later in the day Pam was determined to get some undercoat on the Malvern side.

And she stuck to it and completed the top section, even though everyone else had packed up and adjourned to the Mess Room.

Richard had also wiped down and taped up the Cotswold side south half, leaving just the north half to finish. It's always a treat to get to the end of prep and begin the repainting.

Not photographed was the work Robert did in making some new veneer back panels for the doors where they need replacing. Thank you Robert.

So, a very satisfying end to the day with 25488. 

On now to Tool Van 92 with Maurice managing to get a second top coat on the Cotswold side. It's surprising how long it takes when painting all those planks and ensuring the paint gets into the seams. We needed to get this side done in time for the Gala this coming weekend. The south end will also be done on Thursday for the same reason, leaving the Malvern side and north end for Maurice to paint on Saturday, out of the way of our visiting public.

Alan completed the accessible parts of the vacuum cylinder V19 with Underframe Black. This just leaves the base, or top when under the coach.

Phil S. has mentioned several times that he will get the battery boxes fitted to RBr 1675 if we can get the frames cleaned up and painted. As always there are far too many other things to do, but I was determined that we get this done and then the boxes can be mounted instead of cluttering the Workshop floor. Keith could only get as far as priming. With the cooler weather the green primer was taking longer to dry, so the remaining painting will have to done on another day.

However we could get on and clean up the connection U frames that Alan H. has rebuilt for FK 13326. Keith and Alan shared the work on the first one.

Derek was continuing the repairs to the Monster Van and today recreated part of one of the doors where the planking had rotted. Keith left Alan to continue with the U frame and primed the new wood.

 Keith then coated the U frame in green primer.

Not wishing to leave all the Gala preparation to Thursday, I rebuilt the barrier stands and took them and the relevant plastic chain sections to where they are used. The "What's going on in C&W" information notices were mounted on the display board. Then lots of tidying up and a major vac of the Paintshop to remove all the sanding dust. The internal displays will be less this time as we have the Tool Van where we would normally have these, but there will still be plenty to see.