31/1/2019

New stock of dowels arrived in the post yesterday so today I spent making sure I had filled everything that needed to be filled before frame painting can commence.  I probably need to do a final look over tomorrow.  Removed the detachable section of below-the-floor side rod so as to have a pattern for the carpenter to make replacements.  Four per side seem to be required.

27/1/2019

Ran out of 6mm dowels today although most of the nearside frame has now had all the screw and nail holes filled.  There are one or two minor repairs remaining on the window pillars and the cantrail screws need addressing then painting of the upper frame can be completed.   The lower side rods will need to be made soon as will the wheel arch sections.

26/1/2019

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 but it should not be too long before we can panel some of the nearside and start repairing the windows.