16/06/19 – Red, White and………..not yet!

So we begin the same way we spent the week,  looking at the weather forecast.  With favorable conditions until 16:00 we went for it.  Whilst Ross thinned down the paint in preparation for spraying Dave, Jake and myself prepared Test Car 2 for paint.  Masking tape applied where required, this being 3/4″ thick correct for the lining.  The white gloss that was left exposed was keyed and the resulting dust removed by tac cloth.

 

Once complete Ross started his task, the application of the BR Flame red.  3 Coats in total.

 

Whilst Ross and Jake took care of the external surfaces Dave continued with some tasks inside.  Once complete the vehicle will be available for public display and we have had some interpretation boards made up to tell the story of Test Car 2 specifically and some details of the DM&EE Test Fleet in general.  Dave added a board to the equipment rack that will be used to mount some of the displays.

 

Nick and myself turned to the Shocvan cleaning down and red oxiding were required and trimming down excess material.

 

This brought us to the exciting part of the proceedings, de-masking the Test Car.  This is so there is no risk of the tape damaging the paintwork and when the blue goes on all of the Red will require masking so its a clean sheet to work with.

 

If you haven’t guessed by now we are applying the DM&EE livery carried from 1974 until the mid 1990s:With all that can be accomplished on the Test Car complete the whole team turned to the Shocvan.  Measuring and cutting the new plywood sides.

 

These were then primed

 

And with everything then drying some final cleaning tasks in the Test Car and the removal of a few of the Vinyls on the other side.

 

On to Sunday and the test car has been left alone to cure and harden all attention turns to the Shocvan.  The primed sides cut previously were lifted into place one by one.  The large end sheets had recesses drilled for the rivets located in the vehicle ends.

 

The new ends replaced by the Locomotive department had holes marked and drilled.

 

Once all of the holes had been picked up the side sheets had sealant applied and they were bolted into position.  Although a short part of the update, in reality, this was Sundays task in a nutshell.

 

Finally, Dave continued with the interpretation displays within the test car.

 

This concludes this update and we are all looking forward to applying the Rail blue to the test car, of cause the Shocvan also marks the final van in our collection for the van train although our aim is still 17.