Saturday 27th November 2010

Only a few jobs remain before the bus is ready for paint.  Meanwhile attention has turned to other matters.  Vinyl graphics for the outside of the bus are being prepared by Sign Graphics of Folkestone.  It will of course look fantastic and designed to look very attractive to potential visitors with a 1940's period feel.  It is tempting to show a mock up, but you will just have to wait for the real thing!

Inside the bus, plans are underway to install an unexploded bomb at the front of the bombed out street on the upper deck.  Even better, once viewed it will explode with new sound & light effects.

Technology for the sound effects for the rest of the bus will be updated with new speakers, a single new amp and MP3 players.  All this will replace the present space consuming 3 amps and 2 large CD players.

Although there has always been space for a TV screen in the air-raid shelter one has never been fitted as it was thought that it would spoil the effect.

Plans are now underway to remodel this area and project images directly onto the corrugated sheet.  Watch this space for developments.

Wednesday 17th November 2010

The new radiator surround and front wing have now been fitted making a vast improvement to the front end.

The old front wing was in an even worse condition then thought.  Once removed, the large chunk of filler fell out revealing the scale of the damage.  The outer rusty rim has started to disintergrate rendering this part suitable only for the scrap bin.

Another unseen area to recieve attention is the roof.  It currently has a lunar appearance, but the good news is that all the joints have been cleaned and sealed to make it water tight and ready for paint.

Further repairs are needed to the rest of the front wings and new light units need to be sourced, following which the bus will be ready for its new coat of paint.

Fiday 5th November

With progress well advanced on the bus I made a trip to Swansea Bus Museum where I acquired a brand new fibreglass radiator surround together with some other second hand parts from scrap buses.  We calculated that it would be easier and cheaper to go to Wales and buy a new part rather than attempt to repair the original that had been messed with and badly repaired years before.

In addition I was also fortunate to obtain a new nearside front wing which will replace the damaged and rotten old one.  The other wings could also do with replacing but will have to make do with a repair for now.

When delivering the new parts to Faversham I was pleased to discover that the cab had been reassembled with new metal and that they were still hard at work stripping and cleaning all the fiddly places in preparation for new paint.

Tuesday 2nd November 2010

It was time to catch up with the bus after three weeks at South East Coachworks in Faversham.  They have  been busy, as the photos below hopefully illustrate.

The nearside frame steel work has undergone some repairs and the panels refitted.  The offside has received the same treatment where some new panels were also fitted.  A new panel between the decks can be seen at the back of the bus fitted with two small vents.  These supply air to the newly installed air-conditioning system, which replaces an inadequate old extraction system and its ugly large vent.   Even though it is November we tested this system out and are confident it will solve the problem of a sauna like top deck.

Both rear corners have been renewed together with the skin of the emergency exit, which used to shed rust every time it was shut.  I have been commissioned with finding some new light fittings to replace the old rusty ones.  Please get in touch if you can help.

The cab floor has also undergone a substantial amount of work with repair sections added.  The offside steel window frame has been removed and is awaiting a new one to be fabricated.  The old driver training window behind the cab has also been removed and replaced with a new metal panel.

The big task still to come is to replace the radiator surround and repair the nearside front wing.  This was all badly repaired following a mysterious accident some years ago and now needs attending to properly before the bus is repainted.