Small Jobs, Big Improvements.

 

As a reminder that the clock was ticking, we hung the clock in the kitchen area. The time on the clock is correct. It was another late night.

We picked up some pre-finished shelves from a Habitat Re-Store and cut them to fit the pantry. The mini fridge came from a local online auction. I installed 5 deep cycle batteries in the rear booth seat, and mounted a 2000 watt inverter to the back of the booth. A set of Harbor Freight jumper cables with the clamps cut off provided the heavy duty wire from the batteries to the inverter.

All of the small hardware for the mirrors, surface mounted lights, grab handles, etc. were painted .

I used a heavy duty industrial black paint, and the silver is the same high temp silver we used on the stove top. Two of the black handles were mounted by the mirrors to aid in cleaning the windshield. I bought another pair that were similar to mount on the doors.

All of the clips that hold the windows in were painted gloss white, as were the brackets for the pantry shelves.

Wifey found a local vendor who made vinyl decals. After many unsuccessful attempts for her to find the same font that the bus originally had for the SCHOOL BUS, I ended up designing it in Google Sketchup and sent it to her. They turned out perfect!

We chose "Here's To Us" because of a song by Halestorm that resonates with us. Here is a link to the video: Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC0DNLDXJW8

 

Once the freshly painted hardware was installed, it was time to tackle the front bumper, which had some pretty bad rust, and I didn't have time to clean it up before we painted the rest of the black on the bus.

I used a 4" grinder on the worst parts, and a wire wheel on the rest. I then sprayed primer on it.

I then used industrial high pigment fleet paint, which was very thick, and covered the bumper nicely.

I gave the wheels the same treatment, as they were also pretty rusty.

They turned out just about as nice as the bumper.

It's all coming together, and really looking good!

The Ohio State color scheme was a happy accident.

The actual inspiration for the colors was a shirt we bought Logan for his 6th grade band concert.

The Thomas badge was polished, reinstalled with pop rivets, and then the background was freshened up with a Sharpie.