Thursday Report

As regards the 453, my usual project, today we have good news and bad news.  We'll take the bad news first -- it's not really all that bad.

The canvas arrived from our supplier and looks fine.

So I pulled it out and deposited it in the tub on wheels I got from Dave Diamond.  I wanted to start soaking the canvas, so I wheeled it outside and started filling it with water.

Unfortunately, it turns out the tub isn't watertight.  There's a metal handle about a foot off the ground and the tub leaks there.  So this isn't going to work.  We may just have to wait until there's a warm spell.  Meanwhile, I've left the tub (which I drained) inside the Lean-2 so the partly-wet canvas won't freeze.

But there are plenty of other things that can be done on the car.  I mixed some more solid epoxy and filled the two holes above the #1 end window we saw last time.  I also sanded down the filler from last time.  You'll notice this in a couple of pictures below.

And then I decided to start needle-chipping parts of the car to see how well it goes.  The old paint is rather thin and doesn't chip off readily, but it's still possible to make progress.

Especially if you can get expert help.  My old friend Andy Sunderland showed up and offered to help with the needle-chipping, as seen here.  He has had plenty of experience on other steel cars and does a very good job.

I got out the wire-wheeler and went to work on various parts that had already been needled.  Here we are at work in tandem.  

Photo by Jon Fenlaciki

Andy worked steadily and got quite a bit accomplished.  He was still hard at work when I had to leave.  Thanks!

And here are some parts of the end of the car that I wire-wheeled.  Notice the epoxy filler.

Well, that's enough of that.  Jon Fenlaciki was out for the first time since his knee surgery, and continued to work on the roof of the 65.  He can't kneel, so he manages to do the work lying down.  That's real dedication!

And Tim continues work on 50th Avenue; he's building a new door for the washroom.

Here we see the big mortiser at work on one of the door stiles.

John Sheldon continues work on the 36.  Here he is cleaning up screws:

which are used to assemble the rebuilt window shade tracks.  When finished, they'll look as good as new.

So that's our progress report for today.  We'll have more news soon.