Primer going onto CTA 9631

Thanks to Richard Schauer for sending along another update of progress on our CTA trolley bus, 9631, which is away at a contractor for exterior restoration.

Sorry for the delay in updates; this one will cover two weeks.  Last week I dropped by the shop to see whether the promised priming had occurred, and I found that it had- on the curb side only.  It was decided that the bus had had enough work done, and needed more detail work done, that a "test prime" needed to be done.  This makes the surface all one color (obviously!) which makes it much easier to see defects.  In addition, during filling and sanding steps, some of the rivets had gotten sanded down excessively, or had too much filler surrounding them; both caused them to appear too short.  The plan was to avoid replacing the unusual "inside-out" rivets as much as possible, but it became apparent that some would need replacement to make the rivet lines appear correctly.  The shop owner felt that it shouldn't be too difficult to get a rivet that looked correct.

This week, the surface defects had been fixed, but no rivets had yet been installed.  I met with the owners again, and late this week the remainder of the bus will get a test prime, and if the rivets are in, the curb side will get a final prime coat.  We also discussed the work that still needs to be done on the rear compartment doors and bumper area.