British Rail 12 ton vented wagon conversion

[Farside]

Yes, lots of work yet. I'm going to attempt to remove the white gloss from the original interior panelling, get back to the elm. Then panel one end. The other end is going to be . . .

A shrubbery!

 

[Robotstar5]

Yes, lots of work yet. I'm going to attempt to remove the white gloss from the original interior panelling, get back to the elm. Then panel one end. The other end is going to be . . .

A welding bench?

 

[colnerov]

A naughty step.

 

[Wildefalcon]

No. Really big hint:

It was part of a HST.

 

[Wildefalcon]

Back to the panels.
They're old, and they've set into not quite straight pieces of wood. I'm not going to even contemplate steaming these straight, so it's probably going to be the thicknesser. But I'm worried that the thicknesser will smash out the partially fractured parts. So, thinking of gluing them in first.

 

[Wildefalcon]

I've enough to do the job, but they're all coated in gloss paint. Euch.

I'm wondering if these could be professionally chemically stripped?

I've made enquiries locally, see what comes back .....

 

[OJCar]

No. Really big hint:

It was part of a HST.

 

[Wildefalcon]

No.

 

[Wildefalcon]

I've put the worst of the planks through the planer, many times. And it's okay. It's thin. But it's okay.

 

[Wildefalcon]

And the plan?evolves? "We" have sort of decided to paint the rather than strip and varnish, as the colour of the natural wood is too dark and red to match tone with the floor. Too many colours and tones so will be impossible to pick a wall colour.

Which means I just have to plane the back of the planks so they fit flat. Which is a lot less work. That's good.

 

[Wildefalcon]

The planer is great! It's hard on the brittle elm, but it's okay. Rather noisy, though.

One side planed to 90% good, and the otherside ready to go.

I'll finish with the belt sander, trial fit and then fill/trim/repair.

Followed by lashings of magnolia....

 

[Wildefalcon]

First fitting of the bash planks:

 

[Wildefalcon]

Patching damage is slow work, I'm using glue and offcuts. The final tidy will be with 2k ronseal wood filler.

 

[Wildefalcon]

The damage in some cases means there's nothing for the bolt to attach to. So I'm trying this as a repair. A bit glued to the back. I'll sand down when all is dry.

 

[Wildefalcon]

And in other cases there are large cracks in the wood.

I've cut them out with the jigsaw and glued/clamped them.

Hopefully it will work..

 

[Wildefalcon]

Glue mostly set. This should take some reasonable clamping force, once dressed up.

 

[Wildefalcon]

More planing and fixing, all the panels are ready for filling and sanding. I need to get some screws for the end panels, nice stainless long slot screws.

 

[Wildefalcon]

Sanding isn't too bad. The Makita belt sander may be an awkward lump, but it's very effective.

 

[Wildefalcon]

More colour debate.

 

[Wildefalcon]

Filling is progressing. I'm using cheap stuff, so this might have been a waste of time, it might all fall out.

But if it works, then it will be much easier to work with than the two part stuff.