2012 – Issue 2 of 4

through one tin of paint and start on the second it makes you realise how big an area a
double-decker bus has. When the second coat of green and cream was applied it can be
seen how important the preparation work was. All the effort of filling, undercoating and
rubbing down took so much of Alan Poole’s time, but is not noticed. It is the final
painting that is so much quicker to do and this is what is noticeable after all; but without
the preparation would not look as good. The weeks went by with layers of paint going
on, fine rubbing down, then another layer, until we were satisfied with the finish. Then
the black enamel; the wings and front chassis legs coated, some new timbers fitted to the
safety rails with a couple of coats of paint.
The top deck floor has been another long job, all the floor strips took a lot of cleaning
then painting in between them was a long and laborious job, undertaken mainly by Paul
Gilbertson, with some help from Richard Evans. The roof of the lower deck has been
washed down, and generally looked good. The lights are recessed into the roof sides
with lighting tubes and ballast units, covered with flat pieces of plastic and some of these
covers are damaged. A piece of clear plastic was purchased and cut to size replacing
four with one end painted to hide the ballast unit and wiring, The rest have been coated
with frosting spray to match the other covers. The paint condition around and in one of
these lights is poor so more rubbing down, priming, and painting has taken place, as the
colour is off white, a mix to match had to be done, what a difference! It looks
magnificent.
Both headlamps, which were taken off some time ago, received treatment by Peter
Smith. All the layers of paint have been stripped off back to bare metal, one lamp has
22