A satisfying amount of painting was done in the car over the past few days. I won't dwell on the details, all the sanding and surface prep and so on, but you can see the results.
A first coat of the middle color in the first section, and a second coat of the lower color on the smoker bulkhead.
First primer on various parts of the second section, and several window shade tracks. All the window shade tracks later got first finish color.
And then first finish color on the lower parts of the first section, including the corner seats with their fancy turned legs.
And first finish on the lower parts of the ceiling in the first section, and parts of the second.
OK, now let's see something really exciting: hot riveting! Tim and Gerry riveted together the new metal parts of the east platform for the 24 on Tuesday.
We're not doing enough rivets to justify the use of a furnace, so Gerry heats each one up with a torch.
Once it's red hot, his assistant (the project manager) deftly moves it into place with blinding speed.
And at the same time Gerry picks up the riveter and peens over the end of the red-hot rivet:
Tim has to drill a few more holes, and the assembly now looks like this.
Meanwhile, the contractor was working on finishing the new floor sections on the baldy.
A recent acquisition, NJ Transit #4 has been temporarily moved outside, making better pictures possible. This car will be restored to its original identity as a Twin Cities car.
Henry Vincent is hard at work tallying up the hours worked by all the operating crews. He also does this on a regular basis for all the time sheets filled out by volunteers. Whew!
Lettering the 810.
This week's mystery. What is it?
The mystery item looks like something from the AC line department , I don't recognize it as a car part...
ReplyDeleteRandy Stahl
I have to ask. You post about needle chipping a lot. How is this better than sand blasting??
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting question. There are many factors to consider, such as the size and weight of the item, how much paint and/or rust needs to be removed, and so on. For small items that will fit in the cabinet, sandblasting is certainly the way to go. For larger items, such as the underbody equipment on a car, we generally go with needle chipping because it's a lot easier. There's no setup time, all you have is the needle gun on an air hose. And cleanup is a lot easier, since you don't have all the piles of sand to get rid of; whatever gets knocked off by needle chipping just tends to fall straight down, I guess. (Frank should be writing this for me, he's a big fan of needle chipping.)
ReplyDeleteIn any case, it's sort of a matter of taste, and opinions differ. Ed Blossom was famous for sandblasting everything before repainting, even wood cars. I guess it wasn't as destructive as one might think. If you ever came across a car that had sand in every nook and cranny, you'd know Ed Blossom had been there.