Since the last entry, all the roof sheets have been fastened back to the nearside cant rail with the exception of the rearmost window which is still awaiting its glass.
When that job was complete, I replaced the rainstrip over the entrance door.
The paint around the front destination screen was stripped and the window beading and glass removed so that the interior of the destination box can be repainted, the blind installed and the lighting rewired.
The beading was replaced from the front destination box to the rainstrip above the door, this was a reclaimed piece which I’m not entirely happy with but will have to do.
The vertical beading between the front fairing and the entrance door was replaced too, with a new piece and finally today I made a plywood template for the replacement glass for the front destination box.
The paint is now all removed from the roof, the four ventilator covers (which are made from chromed tinplate!) and around the front and rear destination/route number boxes. This job was completed late yesterday. Today was spent fitting the fairing above the door and making a start on reattaching the lower edge of the cant panel/roof sheets above the nearside windows.
View of the roof in bare aluminium looking towards the rear from the front.
Following completion of the door arch top fairing panel and application of a coat of primer and undercoat to the inside of the panel, I stripped and straightened as best I could the drip rail that mounts above the entrance, noticing that it has a slight curve from end to end to ensure that water runs off and doesn’t stand in the rail. There will need to be a bit of fettling once it’s on the bus, prior to final paint but for now it has had a coat of primer.
Having reached something of a hiatus with the final window still missing off the nearside, I decided I might as well strip the paint of the roof. This was the job for all of this week and by today a good three-quarters of the roof has been stripped. The roof panel beading needs attention with rusted screws popping out everywhere but otherwise the roof is in fairly good condition. The exception is the nearside corner at window level which was full of filler. Digging this out revealed an enormous dent. I am as yet undecided whether to attempt to pull out the dent as much as possible or rivet a plate over it.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
