Tuesday 6th - Going green

It was a day to bring a cheer to everyone in. At last a change for RBr 1675 from the hotch-potch of colours so synonymous with coach bodyside preparation. Only it was greening up, a stage further back than the more usual greying up, and not one we regularly need to do.

 

With all the basic preparation completed on the Cotswold side of 1675 Stu got cracking with the green primer.

The last bit is completed and what a difference.

On the Malvern side Richard completes the filling at the north end where the filler has been used to ease out some lumps and bumps.

Further along the Malvern side Roger is in the finishing stages of the sanding down on the north half of the coach.

A while ago some of the cantrail on both sides was replaced where rusting had been bad. The decision has now been made to remove all the gutter, a wise decision as rust is in fact present along the entire length. Tony undertook the job on the Malvern side.

With his work on the Malvern side completed, Richard moved to the Cotswold side and began applying etch primer to the aluminium windows and doorway capping strips. Even this looked better as, while the capping strips are new and gleaming, the window frames look tarnished with all the old paint stripped off.

 Stu gave both sides of the south end a second coat of green primer.

Towards the end of the day I gave a final check of the sanding of the north half of the Malvern side and then gave the area a wipe down with thinners. It was getting late, but I managed to get half the area coated in green primer before we decided to call it a day.

The Cotswold side transformed, with half the north end already undercoated in dark grey.

Robert is well on the way to completing the floor boarding for the GW/SR van.

By the end of the day all four boards were leaning against the Paintshop walls, two on each side, ready for installing when this can be done.

For Maurice, top coating was the name of the game again, as more of the dark GW Grey goes on.

The south end looking really good.

Unfortunately further investigation of the doors reveals more rot than originally thought.

Probably the best thing will be to remove the thin ply backs and allow the main wood to dry out completely.

There are now new battery boxes for three of our running coaches, but there won't be time to be able to fit these before the new season starts. As such the boxes that would have been replaced have been patched up. The new boxes are being primed - Ian is doing the newest of the three - and then undercoated. They will be stored until they can be fitted.

The box "doors" are being primed by Keith.

 With the primer drying quickly, Keith was able to begin the dark grey undercoating.

The final two end supports for the white tank wagon are given their first top coat. 

And here is the final line-up of the display vehicles for Toddington. They will look good for our passengers as they pass by.

On board SO 4787, all the seating out of SO 4798 has been fitted. Tony is giving Dave a hand with respect to fitting the tables.

 It's definitely easier to have someone underneath to attach the table to its supports.

With Tony attaching the screws underneath, Dave keeps the table pressed firmly down.

The south compartment with everything now complete.