Before Too Long

Restoration of heritage rolling stock requires many diverse skills, and the 3801 Limited team called on the wood turning expertise of Michael from the Men’s Shed at Engadine. Michael used his workshop lathe to turn up several timber discs which will form the bases for the light fittings prepared previously (refer “Lights and Vents” blog update). As the car ceiling is curved, Steve ran the discs through the band saw to cut the angle to match the pitch of the ceiling.

01_Discs

We under coated the discs ready for installation.

02_Discs

Todd kept things moving along inside the car, cutting the holes through the metal sheets for the vents.

03_Roof

Before test fitting 2 of the vents to check that they fit and see how they will look.

04_Roof

We use a flexible gap filler to ensure a smooth transition between the joints in the metal sheets. At times, it’s a tedious job, but the results are worthwhile.

05_Roof

After the BBQ lunch, the work group got busy manufacturing a batch of rubber washers to replace life expired ones. These go between the glass light shades and the metal light fittings. We use two different sized Wad punches, one to cut the outer edge of the washer, and the smaller cuts out the inner hole.

06_RubberWashers_01

To put that another way, here is step 1:

07_RubberWashers_02

Followed by step 2:

08_RubberWashers_03

At the end of another successful work day, we can cross more jobs off the to‐do list. It is amazing what a dedicated team of young and old volunteers can achieve in their spare time.

09_Roof

Can’t wait for next weekend. More updates soon.