2022 at the Hammond Barn

[Bob Carriere]

No ........Not dancing.

Grant is working on fabricating a jig to do the bottom "hoop" holders so they will all be the same style/size.

Meanwhile, I am house bound, packing for next week at a cottage......

[Grant Bowker]

In the photos above, you may have noticed that most of the hinge parts mounted on the lower body (tose at teh rear and near the wheel houses) are basiclly strip curled into a tube and welded to the body. but that those at the front of the body have longer tails (like the hinge parts mounted to the upper body). Bob and I had been puzzled why this one location was different from the others but because the body we hve been copyong had these longer hinge parts at the lower front, we reinstalled them on the ropro panels.
When we started to consider making and installing the strap fittings that secure the lower end of the hoops, we realized that there would be signiifican interference between the strap and the longer hinge parts. so it was "take a step back", remove the brass tarp tiedown pins close to the front hinges, remove the extra length on the hinge parts (and re-weld securely), dress up the lower body panels, reinstall the tarp pins and then start moving forward again. jigs wer made to help in bending the hoop securing straps, the straps were bent and welded in place.

[Ganmain Tony]

Agree with Graffiti..

Absolutely superb!

Well done lads.

[Grant Bowker]

Bob just happened to have some appropriate flathead steel rivets in stock (maybe a gift from Gilles Chartrand?) so the footman loops that had been picked up at the Weare Rally (it was nice to see Phil Waterman again) were riveted in place. Square bar stock was formed to make the pivot loops for tailgate retaining hooks. Then Bob fired up his samll hand-cranked forge to form the end of the bar to a round section. the rounded section was bent to complete the hooks and they were fitted. The forward hooks to hold the dropsides in raised position were trimmed to length. It definitely feels like progress is being made. Some of these parts will end up being painted separately from the main part of the body to better reach all sides, to ease handling and to prevent the parts getting glued in position by the paint...

[Grant Bowker]

If three quarters of the work when painting is in the preparation, Bob still has a fair way to go before adding colour to the 2B1 body. Scuffing to promote adhesion...
If anyone's wondering, the screw jacks at the front corners are more for stability than weight carrying - they do make the body much more stable and comfortable when climbing into it to work.