2020 at the Hammond Barn

[Grant Bowker]

With the rotisserie made, the least "basket case" of Bob's 2B1 bodies was mounted, studied and analyzed for rebuild. It will need one section of floor replaced, the headboard replaced, side panels ahead and behind the wheel arches replaced and the tailgate rebuilt as well as upper sides being cleaned up for re-use. Then there are all the smaller details like fuel can holders (or chain lockers if you prefer) behind the wheels, mudflaps etc. A start was made by fabricating new fuel can boxes based on measurements taken from the rotted originals. A trial strip was made to check that after bending the body of the box could be removed from the brake and hold its shape. Since the trial worked out, the production "tubes" were bent and spot welded closed (actually welded after the end caps were bent and available for trial fitting). With hindsight, we made an error by bending both of the short sides to the same dimension rather than allowing for the extra metal thickness at the joint corner. Reinforcing strips were bent to fit around the open end.