Spring 2014
After all the ceiling lining boards were up, the flat mouldings round the edges and across the centre of the compartment had to be made and fitted. Graham was the star who cut them all to width and length and made all the mitre joints at the corners. After completion, these mouldings were then painted with intumescent paint prior to conventional undercoating.
A similar procedure is underway in the corridor - all the main sheets have now been pinned to the ceiling, but the edge moulding will have to wait until at least some of the matchboard panelling has been made and installed. Lining of the underside of the vestibule and toilet ceilings has been started
While awaiting the gangway removal and lifting operations, work continued with fitting out the compartments. The first items fitted were the teak picture frame surrounds which fit above the seat backs and add some strength to the vertically tongue and groove bulkheads. Thanks to our wonderful morticing machine, Don managed to manufacture all 14 picture frames in less than 2 weeks. The frames were cut to the correct length and screwed in place by Graham.
Various members of the Youth Group were given the task of assembling and fitting the seat support frames. These frames are at an angle as the seat slopes towards the back. Screwing these in place with the correct back-to-front dimension was a bit of a challenge, but eventually they were all fitted and the front teak legs (which are visible) are all vertical!
In between painting jobs, Bob continued fixing glue blocks to the lower framing on the south side of the vehicle. One of his painting jobs was first to needle gun the bellows retention strips, then prime the metal and finally undercoat them in a pleasing shade of grey. Another job was the needle gunning if the turnbuckle trusses, which were then primed in green.
At the end of March, the upholsterer brought back half the finished seat bases and backs as his workshop was becoming a bit overloaded. These were stored in the only guaranteed dry storage area we have, namely the west saloon of the NB Saloon 461. This is also the temporary resting place for the 32 armrests for 1002's seats.