Let's Get This Straight

I spent most of Thursday working on the running boards for the 453 again, in our nice warm woodshop.

Four of the six boards now have a coat of black on all surfaces, and will be moved onto the roof booth's scaffold next time I'm out, if not before.

Of the remaining two, however, one was too badly twisted to be usable.  This sometimes happens with long pieces of softwood such as these.  I'd spent some time over the past week or two trying to unbend it, without success.  Luckily, I had a spare plank left over from the 451 roof project, and it was nice and straight so I took the time to cut it to length, drill the holes, etc.  And after that was done, the final two boards got a coat of primer.

Meanwhile, we should see what the others were doing on the 306.  Here Fred Zimmerman continues to strip paint off the siding, down to bare metal.  This requires a combination of needle chipping and wire wheeling, and it's a very arduous and unpleasant task.

Gerry continues his metal work on the structure; here we see new arched trim pieces in place, ready for welding.

And John was doing Bondo on the side panels most of the day.  It's really going to look good.

Steve Sanderson was painting parts for the Electroliner in the little paint booth, and since he had the black paint out, he agreed to paint one of Frank's "cans" for the 18 while he was at it.  Thanks!!!

Finally, Tim and Bob were working inside 50th Avenue later in the day.  As you can see, the old floor is being removed.

It looked a little dangerous to me, so I didn't go in.  But Tim assured me that it's perfectly safe, except where it's extremely hazardous.   That's always good to know!