June, July and August 2011

Since our last diary entry things have been taking shape quite nicely. Steve and Pete have stripped the engine which has subsequently been into Steve's works for his usual meticulous attention to detail. After a hot degrease, hot chemical wash and inspection it was then wrapped up and returned to the workshop.

With the glorious weather in late June/early July we decided to award ourselves with a couple of weekends off including a trip to Oulton Park (to watch the British Touring Cars), East Lancs Railway diesel weekend and Totally Transport vintage vehicle rally at Blackpool.

After letting our hair down, the serious work began on the final preparation before painting - oh how we have longed for this day! After a thorough degrease with panel wipe fluid a coat of etch primer was applied followed by a good flatting back to remove any foreign bodies. At this point any imperfections which had become apparent were filled and sanded before a second coat of etch primer was applied - followed by another session of flatting back. Then CDK received her 1st coat of primer/undercoat followed by, yes you've guessed it, more flatting back by hand! Finally, a second coat of undercoat has given us a splendid surface ready for the application of the gloss top coat. This whole process has taken many days spread out over a couple of months and has been extremely labour intensive and time consuming - after all a 12 metre coach has quite a large surface area. Careful attention was also made to humidity levels before painting as recommended by HMG Paints (Manchester) who supplied the paint - very good it is too with fantastic obliteration/coverage properties. We are hoping that the extra time spent on the preparation and undercoat stage will deliver a very high quality finished article. Why are we painting CDK by hand? - because she was never spray painted while in the ownership of Yelloway and we don't feel a sprayed finish would look right.

At this point I (Steve) must point out that due to a medical condition, paint fumes and me don't like each other so most of the painting has been / will be done by Richard.

          A fantastic finish has been achieved, well done Rick!

Another job being attended to is the re-skinning of the emergency door which has been contracted to Trailways in Walsall. A coat of Duralac anti corrosive paint was applied to the outside face of the framework to help reduce any reaction between the aluminium skin and the steel frame.

Test fitting of trim to the front panel	'Duralac' anti-corrosive paint applied to the emergency exit door framework

And finally, while Richard was slaving away in the hot summer temperatures Steve enjoyed another weekend away, this time at Snetterton for the BTCC Racing, he even made the PODIUM!