February 8

A really good month for progress! Firstly the cab area has been completed as can be seen. The front mud guards have been repaired and fitted, the foot hold and electric booster panel all repaired and fitted and the inspection panel and all its holding fittings is also now back on. The lower deck panelling is all now being fitted and is the current job.

RT8 is also now off its long term axle stands. The rear brakes have been relined, completely overhauled and put back together, allowing the wheels to be fitted and the vehicle to stand up on her own 'feet' again.

Also completed was the lower deck flooring, the wheelarches have been fitted and indeed the bench seats are now in place as well.

As mentioned before the lower deck offside panels are the current project but before these can be done, the brackets that hold the 'life guard' to prevent people or animals going under the bus need to be fitted. Alas RT8's were beyond repair so all new ones are being produced, such as this one now fitted at the rear.

And lastly the plans for the next month... Firstly the aforementioned brackets will be fitted, the remaining panels, mudguards and then life rails, will see the outside of the vehicle completed, with the exception of the engine bay area, bonnet and front NS mudguard. Of course there is no pointing in fitting those until the engine is in. So on completion of the bodywork attention will once again switch to the mechanical side, with first the wiring loom going in and then the engine and radiator. As can be seen the fully reconditioned engine awaits ots top cover of black paint that will be done this week in preparation for its fairly imminent refitting. Whether that happens before the next update is unclear, so best you pop back and see in roughly 4 weeks! Until then cheers for now!

Start of the New Year

So a Happy New Year to everyone!

Well its funny when you do projects like this there suddenly seems to be a point where things are moving quickly and you can sense a change in momentum and for some reason that seems to be the case now. Maybe its because engineers are also now working on the bus in servicing the last of the brakes and getting ready to put the engine in fairly shortly.

So a good place to start with a view of the offside rear stub as all the drums and pads are off as it is serviced and bought up to standard. Interestingly the guy working on this (Bernie) has worked on RT's for years and has never seen the same brakes or half shaft on any other RT, including even on RT8's nearside. Clearly they were updated to the latter post war type in their service life but the offside of RT8 remains as it was built. Fortunately everything is in good shape and the pads themselves are the same so for once one of the oddities is not going to cause us an issue.

The nearside was done sometime back and whilst the wheel has again been removed to assist in fitting the wheelarches as soon as the offside is done the wheels will go back on and she will come off axle stands and stand on her own 'feet' for the first time in a long while.

Looking in from the platform, the wheelarches and associated bench seats are now in place and fitted. The remaining floor boards are now going down which will complete all the flooring on RT8. It will then be treated again before the slats are laid but this will not be an imminent job, even though they are now all cut and ready to be fitted.

Looking at the nearside you can just see the inspection panel to get to the diff for topping up the oil level. Also you can see the seat frame which makes up part of this whole unit, which due to its weight and size is a fairly cumbersome part to fit. Another little known fact is that the seat frames on the 2RT2's were painted green, whilst on the post war variants they were brown. Interestingly this practice seemed to last through to the end for 2RT2's as all RT8's were green (if it looks brown its surface rust I'm afraid!) and a few other frames we acquired that also came from 2RT2's were also green and had never got even a light coat of brown.

This coming month will see the last of the floor boards laid, then the external panels around the wheelarches and the last remaining glazing done. The brakes will be finished and the wheels refitted and if all this is done and then being able to roll we may well move her into an engineering bay and get the engine fitted and run up to make sure all is OK in that department.

Of course to see how much we complete of that you will need to come back next month and see, sometime hopefully around the 7th should be the next update.

Cheers for now

A bit late in posting this month as our running day last Saturday took up a fair bit of time last weekend, but was a good event and blessed with some great morning sunshine, but onto RT8...

Starting with the nearside view, the last of the beadings have gone on as have most of the lower deck panels and as can be seen the rear wheels are off so the wheel arches can be fitted and the last of the windows go in. The wheel arches are one of those jobs that have been put off as they are awkward, heavy and fiddly but alas the time has come...

Onto the offside and a similiar story in that most of the uppder deck panelling is done and the wheels are off. One of the great things about doing this is finding out about all the small differences on a 2RT from the post war variants. In this case its the stencil holder... RT8 arrived without one as late in their London lifes they were removed but when new they were fitted in a one piece panel, thus not being in their own small panel and having the beading around them as on later variants. So we have done the same and adjoined a stencil holder to a panel through welding and have made a one piece panel of them as would be accurate for the period we are aiming for circa 1943-44.

The front has been another benefactor of recent work and is now largely complete except for the glass in the destination displays. This has been one of the most difficult parts of the whole reframing to match up accurately but does now appear to be correct... was it R. J. Mitchell who said 'if it looks right it probably is right'?

Another view of the offside but i'm afraid with it being so close to the wall it is hard to get any really decent shots but I think you can probably get the general feel for where it has got to.

And finally a view of the wheel arch area currently being worked on. With any luck these should be done over the Christmas period which will then allow the last window pan on each side to be added. the missing panels, mudguards etc. all of which will make the nearside look very complete and she can then come down off axle stands and be back on her own 'feet' again.

Well this is the last update of 2009 which I optimistically thought would be the year she would've been running again. However, you cannot rush such a large project without cutting corners and we are not going to do that here, so its going to take as long as it takes, (although I do honestly think 2010 will be the year she is back) which of course will be exactly 70 years after she entered service in 1940.

So Merry Christmas to one and all and see you early in the New Year, which of course I hope will be a happy one for you all.

Cheers for the year
Steve

Update Nov 6

So here we are again....

Thought we'd start with some interior shots, as whilst no work has been on going here lately the addition of the windows has made the interior come alive and really look and feel like an RT. Above of course is the lower deck, whilst below is the upper, just to confuse you all!



The focus has been on panelling the bus up this month and the nearside upper deck is just about finished. There are one or two more vertical beadings to go on, then the beading that runs above the lower deck windows. Once these are done the offside will be taken to the same point.

Once the offside is also complete (to the lower deck windows) it will be the turn of the rear wheel arches to be fixed in. Completion of this will allow us to panel the area around the wheel arch which in turn means that the bus will be a solid structure with only the open platform allowing the cold winter air in, which of course will enable us to heat the bus so that interior finishing and painting can be started.

The fuel tank will also need to come off again and be cleaned again as despite the previous efforts some more residue has built up and no one has a wish to suck that into the fuel system the first time she starts up, so cleaned agin it will be and monitored again to make sure it remains clean.

A better angle to see the wheelarches from which have been sized but not fitted and will present some awkwardness in fitting, but in the scale of whats already been done, nothing to scary I guess.

Of course thats all a month away, so wish you all well for now, be you a follower, regular visitor or new to this blog, just to nice to know people are interested and out there!!

Update Oct 8

So the scaffolding has now all gone as the panels, beading and windows are all completed on the upper deck. Work has then been of finishing the fuel system, the front bulkhead, mud guard area and the canopy.


As can be seen from this angle the near completed front area has really taken on the look of an RT and I know that the team will be glad this part is finished as the great looking curves are pleasing on the eye but awfully hard to recreate properly!


And as mentioned the last parts of the fuel system have been put in place along with the last parts of the front bulkhead.

Next month will see us finish a few parts of framework that for some reason beyond us do not feature on the drawings of the time, and then start the panelling up process and fitting of window pans and glass. All things being equal next month should be another good visual step forwards

Cheers for now

Firstly, thanks for the comments last month, nice to know not only are there regulars out there but new people are finding us which is terrific and makes writing this worthwhile!!

This month, I am pleased to say we have a far more visual update than of recent times....

As can be seen the scaffolding around the roof height has gone and come down to the waist rail. All the window pans are in and the beading and drip guards are either on or going on.

The nearside from the rear looking forwards shows quite clearly the drip guards and beading. The larger over the roof beadings are also now all fitted in place and have added sealant around them to ensure the all damaging rain cannot get back and have another go at the wood!

The front nearside looking back and quite clearly now its an RT. Interestingly the first RT's had enlarged vents that took air in just below the beading line across the front above the windows, which protrudes quite away out although not obvious to see in this picture. These were later blocked in by various means as they were in reality to effective and blasted air, rain, cold draughts and even mud in. LT ordered them to be modified, whilst some may have received genuine modifications others received the 'make do and mend' type fix of World War II and have copies of 1940 ear newspapers wedged in!

Finally, a nearside view as the last of the roof beadings and drip guards and horizontal beadings go on. It has been possible to use almost all of the original beading as whilst twisted and warped it has been possible to straighten most of it up.

This month will see us utilise the scaffolding and start panelling up the rest of the upper deck, which should hopefully make for another nice visual update the first week in October, until then cheers for now

This month has been a month of preparation for the next big visual improvement...

Firstly, the long awaited scaffolding arrived and RT8 was entombed in it. At the moment the level is around the roof so we can refit the roof panels back, whilst working safely. This will also allow us to be able to seal it all properly, so that god forbid should it ever rain won't have drips coming in.

A slightly unusual view of an RT from the back lookiing forwards gives a good idea of the job to be done. At this stage the panels are just lying in place and have not been fiited whilst everything is measured up to make sure the beadings will all fit and join everything together.


And the same view but looking from the front back...

And as I mentioned before, the time has been used preparing the items due to go back in. The top deck windows and pans can be seen here in a before and after stage. The before is with the 'pink' paint thats still left, whilst the grey panels are the completed item. All the winding gear is taken apart, overhauled, greased and replaced where necessary leaving them winding as smooth as when they were built. Once the roof is fitted the standing level of the scaffolding will be lowered to allow the windows to go back in. The plus of making the bus enclosed again will be as the weather turns colder it is easy to keep the interior of the bus warm so work can continue.

Next updates should hopefully be a little more photogenic!