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.
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.
Various car problems and unwellness have prevented much progress since the last entry. Having prepared the rain deflector ready for fitting, a number of other jobs needed to be done before it could be attached to the bus. Mounting the short piece of specially-shaped rain deflector above the rearmost nearside window (see previous entry) necessitated the prior painting of this window frame with final body colour as it would be inaccessible after. The remaining nearside window frames also needed this treatment so I took the opportunity to address the cosmetic filling over the welded corners and other small finishing details of these, then gave them two coats of red undercoat before painting the top horizontals in body colour. The non-opening window (second from the rear) needed some filling to the top horizontal so as I write this is awaiting its final coat of body colour.
The S-shaped moulding which trims the corner panel to the rearmost nearside window was fitted yesterday and had some cosmetic filling applied today.
The window itself needed some cosmetic filling to improve its appearance and alignment, which I did today and finished with a thin coat of red oxide.
In between filling jobs on the windows, I have gradually been attending to the cosmetic appearance of the nearside rear lower corner which is now almost ready for sanding.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
