1892 Thomas of Gloucester Showman's Wagon
1st task is to start the laborious process of sanding down to identify any areas of rot and damage. Many layers of paint in various colours testify a long history. This wagon was once a rather striking yellow!
Many of the ornamental carvings have been almost obliterated by multiple layers of paint and removing this takes many hours of painstaking work.
The gables are rotten and have to come off to remove the canvas roof covering, which falls apart to dust as we remove it.
New gables and fascias need to be fashioned from Ash, we will need to steam the gables to match the profiles of the roof line and make a steam box for the job.
The cratch has also suffered from some rot and we fashion new parts from pine to match the original.
Many of the ornamental carvings are missing parts, these become apparent once the paint has been stripped and the 1st coat of primer applied.
All this has to be carefully repaired prior to the 2nd primer coat.
When we are happy with the restoration of the carvings and wood work we can apply the 2nd coat of primer prior to deep base undercoat.
The gable brackets will be finished in gold leaf, as will the gargoyle rainwater outlets. 24 carot gold leaf is very tricky to apply, but it comes up well.
The lock has to come out for a complete overhaul. Scraping off years of grime from the ring ready for re-greasing before we can saand, prime and undercoat.
All the iron work is sand-blasted clean and then painted with red oxide primer ready for finishing
Top coats of Craftmaster deep gloss next. We build up several layers and its really coming together now.