6/5/2024

Started the week with more paint stripping and a coat of red primer on the aluminium face of the trapdoor.  I also gave the cylinder head lifiting ring another coat of primer and found a new bolt for it, having lost the nut from the original.  I collected the three remaining droplight panes of glass from K.W. Glass on Monday evening.  On Tuesday I undercoated the panel just to the rear of the drivers, the rounded top of the dash and the trap door.  On wednesday I assembled one of the droplight frames with a new pane of glass and had a problem with the bracket breaking away at one end of the lower horizontal, I probably wasn’t careful enough riveting the corner.  At this point there was little I could do as the glazing silicone was already setting so I strapped it up in the right position and filled the hole with silicone in the hope it would all set in the right position – which it appears has worked ok.  Had I glazed it using rubber as per the original method I might have been able to repair it, however that seems unlikely.  I started to polish the newly-painted switch cover with a view to cutting back the gloss a little but discovered some flaws in the paint so repainted the sides.  I rubbed down the trapdoor and gave it another coat of undercoat, another rub down then some cherry undercoat and its ready for top coat.  I applied chrome wrap to the droplight frame I had assembled earlier in the week, with the usual difficulties.  I chipped one of the otherwise-perfect long pieces, much to my annoyance.  I filled the chip with chrome paint from a marker pen but I may replace the whole piece if there is any wrap left over.

28/4/2024

Removed the grab handle from the corner of the cab by the route number winders then continued stripping paint from under the canopy, a back breaking, stomach-stretching task.  Started to polish the handle but it is very pitted, however after a lot of sanding it came up very well and I’m pleased with it.  I also removed the main label from the spare switchbox cover and cleaned it up.  It is yellower than the original but the lettering is intact.  I removed the trapdoor from the canopy ceiling as it really didn’t want to close, and started to strip the paint from it.  Seems in better condition than I thought but I removed a couple of mm from one edge to make sure it fits well as it was refusing to close when I took it off.  The steel strips from around the edges looked rough but turned out to be saveable, which will save some time and material.  The brass hinge was the likely culprit for not closing properly as it was binding and bent, so I straightened it as best I could and worked it back and forth with wd40 to free it up, then silicone lubricant.  I also removed the cylinder head lifting ring from the overhead beam, stripped it and gave it a coat of red oxide.   Last job of the week was to paint the grey parts of the trapdoor and its metalwork.

Fornt view after paint stripping around front canopy.

21/4/2024

Started the week by painting the visible bit of the outerpanel at the top of the cab side window opening and preparing the triangular window glass for installing  in the cab.  As I had some topcoat left over I painted the emergency door step and the top and leading upright of the cab door frame.  Next I started work on refurbishing the interior light switch box, removing the labels and cleaning them by knocking the awkward, tiny steel rivets.  A job to do in between others!  Next I fitted the fire extinguisher holder in the cab and polished up a fire extinguisher and placed it in the holder.  At the end of the week I started stripping the remaining original paint from under the front canopy, a difficult, slow job but i made good progress.  The last job of the work was completion of removing the labels from the switch box cover, ready for paint now.