New Year, Same Old Project (and Another)

 

This is the project’s 7^th year. If you had told me that this would be the case when I started, I wouldn’t have started (maybe). But good results take time, and – as I said is a post a couple years back – the time passes anyway. Besides, if I hadn’t spent the money on the van, I would just have invested in more dodgy oil stocks and lost my shirt (that a topic for another time). Of course, that’s the psychology of a people with gambling or substance addictions – relativism.

Last week Santa brought me one of those really nice Morris J-type models done by Phil Knight a couple years ago (www.thepartsbox.com). Actually Santa bought the kit that features the body, but not the wheels and all the other little bits. It’s okay, I’m a little pre-occupied at the moment of the full-scale versions, but I’ll get to the 1/25 scale model in time.

Things I’m really interested in are being done on the van. The brakes, fuel, and other sundry plumbing are being done. You can see it on the rear axle in the photo above.  Wiring is about to start. The front fenders are nearing a paintable state and the back ones are having some final metal work done and then they’ll be in a similar condition.

Before Christmas I painted a black box that will attach to the side-seats. It’ll add some stability, and it’ll give me a place to puts things that’ll otherwise slide around the floor of the van. I also built a wood frame that I may install behind the driver’s seat – it’ll be a bulkhead, but really, it’s just an excuse to have a place to secure the driver’s seat belt, plus the fire extinguisher and some other things.