BBC

Have a look at this BBC report on the project.
BBC Report

Stainless Steel added

The stainless steel has all been added, many holes drilled and many rivets have been used. It does look very good, my fingers are now cut to pieces.

Painting the bells

Today I went to see the truck, I can tell you that it looks AMAZING already, and it is not even half done yet. There is still so much to do. Kiera, Ciara and Sarah from the Youth Team, came to help with the painting. Haider have given them tasks to do, first it was to paint the bells, he was very particular, every 20 bells the colour would alternate, red, yellow, blue and green.

Then Kiera was tasked to do the dividing panels on one of the sides of the truck, using masking tapes to mark the spaces. Ciara and Kiera then coloured them in. Meanwhile Sarah painted the back of the TAJ (the jutting,  almost canopy like top the truck) red.

Here are some pictures of the hardworking team members.

Truck Moves into the Exhibition Space

The truck was moved from the small workshop where I had been painting the cab and building the body , to the Special Exhibition area within the museum. Haider Ali and myself drove the truck out of the workshop through the museum entrance and across the grass area before backing it into it's location within the exhibition area. The taj has now been constructed and painting the body will start very soon.

Haider Ali

Haider Ali the Pakistan Truck Artist has arrived in Luton from Karachi. He will be starting work on the truck from today. He will be helping me rub the cab down with very fine wet and dry paper to give it a good shine before we drive it from the workshop to the gallery to decorate for the exhibition.

Two top coats of Crimson Lake

I have now applied two coats of Craftmasters crimson lake enamel paint to the truck, one more coat to apply then a rub down with very fine wet and dry paper followed by the application of a metallic finish to the front wings. This will be followed by two more coats of clear lacquer. Total coats of paint will be ten in all, which will achieve a really deep shine.

From Blue to Red

Secret cave update, after scrubbing, now it is time to under coat the truck. This week we plan to then reconstruct the back.