First job of the week was to refit the mouldings over the wheelarches, securing the piping I fitted last week. In between that I gave the kick panel and tank filler splash panel two coats of clear lacquer. I’m still in two minds about fitting these, at least until a coat of undercoat has been applied to the panels to which they are fitted. Work was interrupted by the digitisation of the of the tapes of the bus, received on Monday from John Corah. I started to chromewrap the uprights for the half-drop windows but it did not go well at first, the results best described as adequate. Dependent on material and time I may do them again. I also started to prepare the painted window frames for assembly by cutting the nylon material neccessary for receiving the screws that hold the window parts to the frames. I started to do the curved corner pieces for the frames, I bent four and fitted two.
Trial fitting of silver kick panel around driver’s step.
Offside rear wheelarch after filling and painting in undercoat.
I started this week by finishing off the filling and sanding of the N/S panels and these have been primed again. I then took the N/S rear wheelarch moulding off so I could attend. to the plastic piping that I have been dissatisfied with for a long time. Luckily I have enough to do that and the O/S, as long as I don’t cock it up again. By the end of the week I had refixed the piping on both sides and attended to the mouldings, priming and filling the damaged areas. The four O/S half-drop window frames have been fettled and painted and are ready for assembly. Final job of the week was to remove the chrome from the remaining window uprights so these are all now ready for “chroming” and reassembly of the windows which will be the next major job.
Work started in the first week of 2024 with trimming and painting the first of the four O/S half-drop window frames and trial fitting and painting (twice!) of the splash panel and bezel for the tank filler. Next to receive attention was the moulding that fits around the O/S wheelarch. This needed paint stripping then a lot of fettling to get it presentable, it might have been quicker to make a new piece but possibly more difficult. Priming the N/S lower panels last week revealed a few dents and ripples that were attended to with new filler bought for the purpose. This was mostly complete by the end of Saturday 6th but some remained to be sanded before priming again, hopefully on Monday next week.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
