finished the painting (almost)

Today I had a lot of plans but achieved not very many of them. I had intended to switch out the roof vent but realised that as the paint was relatively fresh, it wouldn't stand up to much wear. Rustoleum takes a month to achieve full hardness. Thus I finished the painting on the front with one bit missed - the bit behind the right front wheel and I still haven't done the surround to the emergency exit window. 

Meanwhile I did find my reflective tape. I had some not quite amber tape that was sold as red. That's the thinner tape. I also had 25 feet of two inch red tape. I spent quite a while sticking that into place. The thinner tape was unsticking itself at one point so I'm assuming that if it stays on a week, it'll stay on for life. The older 50mm amber tape I had applied, I just couldn't peel off so I stuck red tape over it. I guess I'll have to go over it and press the tape every few days. The heat should bake it into place. At least that's what seemed to happen with the amber tape.

I do have white and amber tape left but I just ran out of time to put more tape in place. I wanted to do all my marker lights today but ended up doing just the corner markers. 

Looking at the red markers, the old ones had become rather abraded and opaque so it was definitely time to replace them. Now they look quite smart.

It was exactly the same story with the amber markers. Once the lenses were replaced the markers looked smarter. One corner marker seemed to have a dead bulb so I'll have to see about replacing that bulb. I might have a spare bulb in my pile of supplies.

I did replace two of the amber turn signal lenses. When I got to the third, I dropped a screw and could not find it - even with my magnet. Fortunately I know it's an 8-32 screw a bit between 3/4" and 1/2" so I'll probably have to trim my 3/4 screws or put a nut on them before I put the screw into the hole. Some of the screws are so rusty that I had to break one of the old lenses in order to get it off and undo the screw.

I simply ran out of time today. Tomorrow I have a crack of dawn start for work. Remaining to do...

• Complete the application of reflective tape
• Complete changing the light lenses/units as needed
• Apply the "Keep back 300 feet" sticker when that arrives. 
• Complete the couple of extra bits of painting needed.
• Rework the right wiper mount
• Complete installation of the second house battery.
• Some small internal stuff

I had not mentioned the 300 feet sign before. It transpires that one is available on eBay so I bought one. I could do my own with paint and cardboard letter cutouts but this is just easier. Meanwhile I have been investigating signage for the sides. My current hot favorite is "Ft Mildred Prison Lunatic Asylum".