Wes Needle, Mark Burrows, Robert Burrows (Mark's son) and I were on site today. Wes carried on sorting 50030 No.1 cab desk panels to make them fit properly, including fitting new hinges, Mark and Robert painted yellow gloss over the new steel on the cabsides and No.1 cab front, to protect them over the winter. I painted the fire extinguisher tubes in the gen compartment red and glossed about 3/4 of the Thin Man's passage. I couldn't do it all as I was in danger of rubbing on what I'd just painted. The picture shows the one side of the gen compartment completely finished.
Part of our problem is that working outdoors we are very much dependent on daylight and as the hours of daylight get much shorter, so the amount of work we can do in a day on site gets less. We have decided to postpone the power unit lift from 50030 to next year because of this: we believe we need to complete the operation in one day both for cost reasons (only hiring a crane for one day not two) and practical reasons (getting the roof hatches back on and making the bodyshell weatherproof again as quikcly as possible). We have received an offer of help with the process from our friends at the Fifty Fund for next Spring including splitting the main generator off from the power unit which we have accepted gratefully. We strongly believe as a group that this complex operation needs to be planned and carried out meticulously and not rushed on a day of limited daylight hours and we felt thst delaying for a few months was the best option when we have already spent 15 years on our project!
