Chief Car Officer Jeff Bennett was the last one out on Saturday, He snapped this picture of Thee’s handy work. Thee was able to get the canvas laid out on 458 first thing in the morning.

So on Sunday March 13, 2022, when it was warmer Jeff  started to teach Thee the process of “stretching canvas”

We used CTA L Car 4288 as our south end anchor.

Turned out we needed a little bit more material to the north.

On the north end we used the massive old design canvas clamps. The longer cars really require some pulling effort. Here you can see Jeff Bennett is also trimming some burlap in anticipation of tacking the canvas.

Since the car is basically right up against the door on the north end of the car barn, we had to some interesting anchoring. A brace was put across the inside of the door opening and we used that. This way we can still close the door.

I think that next weekend we will need to use another car though. Just need more pulling power to get the canvas nice and tight. With any luck next weekend we may even start tacking. Just have to see how well we can get it stretched. 

Kyle is all set to spray primer this week on the interior of 458. He spent Sunday doing the final masking and cleaning. We have the compartment sealed off and heat running at 50 degrees, so hopefully Monday he can crank the heat up just a tad more and get one coat on.