I haven’t had much time to spend on the bus recently but did get back to it yesterday and today.   Some new tools arrived today, a set of diamond-tipped hole cutters  and a very small plug cutter and these have made it much easier to extract broken screws and nails.  I made good progress today in removing said broken screws etc along the nearside framing at waist level and in the side rods and window pillars, the new tools making the job much quicker than hitherto.  I should be able to finish repairing and painting the frame soon though there is still the metalwork to be made and fitted and the bottom of the side rods and the bottom rails need to be cut.

Last couple of days have focused on replacing the rot in the no.1 side rod/window pillar, a new piece of ash was cut and shaped and glued, screwed and pegged in the cut out.   This needs to be sanded to profile to match the rest of the side rod.  Other work has been drilling out old screw holes and filling with dowels in number 2 window pillar.   The entrance steps will need to come out too as some of the metalwork has been badly patched.

As we enter the new year I continue to marvel at how good this bus looked when I first saw it and how bad it actually is!