Tuesday 5th - No bangs here!

Another "November the 5th" arrives but the only bangs were some mild ones in the Paintshop, though a few displays in nearby Winchcombe made themselves known while we were enjoying our end of day tea and biscuits.

Robert and Chris were now reinstating the Cotswold side planking on the MICA van.

 Chris redrills the holes.

Maurice completes the undercoating on the remaining door planks.

John did an excellent job making new brackets for the MICA van handrails .......

......... and demonstrating how they will fit on the van.

Later on Paul and Maurice were back outside adding more Dark Grey undercoat to the Open C wagon. It might have been a day of anticyclonic gloom, but most importantly it was dry! The drizzle attacked us as we were leaving for the day.

Stu did an epic job in RBr 1675, completing the second coating of Executive Light Grey in the corridor. I think he also added some second top coat on more of the corridor ceiling. The north end sliding door was also completed. Well done Stu!

Meanwhile it was more toothbrush, rag and cutting paste on both sides of TSO 4772, with Pam and Keith working on the window frames. There is still some way to go before the polishing is finished and there are a number of small paint repairs needed - will we have time?

What will help make 4772 a lot better is to repaint the blackwork - sole bar, headstocks, corridor connections and related attachments. Keith did the sole bar (I had previously taped over the transfers) and I later got well stuck into both ends, and what a difference all this made! None of it took long to do.

An unexpected job appeared last week in the form of the seat frames for the Bubblecar. Although the DMU has been sold, the Bubblecar is being kept.

Our regular contractor duly arrived and managed to get all the seat frames grit blasted and primed in one go.

We are always happy to help where we can, but the timing isn't good for the Painting Team with a number of us away and pressure to get 4772 completed as far as we can before 3850 arrives. And yes, there is a deadline for getting the seats completed, though I can't remember what Stu said it was. 

Maurice made a start towards the end of the day. These are like painting a metal scroll gate and anyone who has done one of those will know how long they take!