Friday, September 04, 2009

Impetuosity

I've been slowly working on my 47' van this week. Its been a series of ups and downs.

-The bogies were attached. I used nuts and bolts vs the recommended woodscrews on this one, and then realised after I had glued the nut on the top that I would not be able to adjust the bogies (if i had to) once the roof was on. Oh well, you live and learn.

-Was about to glue the roof on when I realised that I had not put the windows in yet. I found some thin clear plastic sheet. to do the white bars that are so prominent in most pictures, I scribed some lines in, painted the sheet white, and then wiped the paint off while it was still wet. I painted the window frames red first so that i would not have to The plastic was then glued into place with 5 minute araldite.

-Was about to glue the roof on when I noticed that I had not added any weight. Lead shot was added in and then covered in PVA.

Finally got the roof on, and then sanded it down to shape as it was a bit high.

-Was about to paint the van red when I noticed that I had not added the guards lookouts. Promtly got these on.


-Came home from the support group meeting last night, and painted the van red. Realised that I had not put the dog boxes, number plates, or mail slots on. scraped the paint off the right areas and sorted this out.

So heres where we are now up to.


Next step is to do the handrails and end railings, the roof ventilators and then the weathering job.

Also this week I've reworked the underframe of a Z15 I've had a for a long time. the truss rods were made from thin copper wire, and this took a beating over the years. I replaced them with some 1mm brass angle from North yard. Its now a bit more robust at least.

3 comments:

lalover said...

Thats looking very nice!

Amazing what a group session can do for you!

Motorised Dandruff said...

Tonight I've managed to solder up the end railings. no photo as the batteries are recharging, but its a triumph of skill and luck over common sense. I'm better at soldering than I thought.

sxytrain said...

The metal melting bug is catching on!