Progress January 2023

Final Week

During the week, all the parts drilled and trial fitted last weekend were removed, de-burred and cleaned up.

More bits for Project 2 were positioned, marked out and drilled,

the painting of Charwelton’ bunker was finished and the Lobo tower dismantled so we could gain access to the rear buffer beam and start painting that.

In addition, No 65’s tanks received a rub down, second undercoat followed by the first top coat.

On Sunday, it was back on Project 2 with the floor panels and ‘S’ shaped joining piece in the middle being carefully aligned with the aid of jacks, packing pieces and a laser level.

Once happy with the positioning, the ‘S’ panel was bolted into position, welded up, the whole thing turned over and the end panels bolted into place.

At day’s end we were almost back to where we were a few weeks ago before discovering that the main side panels’ pre-drilled holes were in the wrong position.  Hopefully the replacement panels will be delivered on Monday and we can crack on.

Finally, here’s a shot of the new gradient pins for 4253 made for us by Automation Technologies.  These are used to join the side rods together and have now been sent away for case hardening.

Week Three

Tuesday started with the end panels that were riveted together last week being cleaned up and painted and the final bits of welding and grinding completed on the top panel.

More painting was undertaken on Charwelton as well as the coal hole door being cleaned up.  On Wednesday we had the 4253 workers dinner for the first time in two years which included a toast to absent friends as we have lost a depressing number of our colleagues over that period.

On Friday, the project’s outer panels were taken down and moved outside to make way for the replacements which, hopefully will be received soon.  A complete line of pre-drilled holes in the originals were found to be in the wrong place when, half way through trial assembly, sections were failing to line up properly.

Others carried on with giving Charwelton’s bunker a second coat of paint plus putting the first undercoat on No 65 Yank’s water tanks after rubbing them down.

On Sunday, the project’s floor panel was turned up-side down and placed on trestles so we could finish shaping and welding up the S shaped panel that connects the different heights of the two sections.  This involved clamping and holding bits in position so they could be tacked together.

removing it to be welded up fully

and then refitting to check alignment.

At the other end, a large doubling plate was clamped into position and the fixing holes all drilled

after which most of the holes then needed countersinking to eventually accommodate flush rivets.

Week Two

Apologies for no update due to technical difficulties

Week One

Apologies for no update due to technical difficulties