Soapy times at the Museum.

Strange for me to be at the Museum on a Monday unless there is an event but Rob had persuaded me to go in and help him wash the face shovel! Now a face shovel is not the type of thing that you sponge water on  and rinse off dirt before waxing the paint. After years of outside living the face shovel was as much a habitat for fauna and flora as it was a working machine! Cleaning it was going to take some serious work!

The main pieces of kit were the pressure washer (fed from a water container raised off the ground by the CAT to give the necessary pressure), scouring pads and brushes! In fact Rob managed to run over my brush with the CAT! Well at least he didn't run me over!

You can see what we started with - grime and dirt!

The pressure washer does its magic following a scrubbing with brushes and scouring pads!

Stages in cleaning the rear of the face shovel. Firstly dirt!

Secondly slightly less dirt!

Thirdly, a lot less dirt!

Rob, now happy with the job!

And from a side not often seen.

All in all a great job and the face shovel looks so much better for it unlike me!

Not satisfied with the face shovel Rob moved us onto cleaning the cab of Sundew which was once the World's largest walking excavator. More soapy times!

Pressure washer, brushes and scouring pads out again!

Getting cleaner but the paint does peel off so it will need a repaint! Another job to be done!

Rob perhaps was a bit too clean as he pressure washed the interior!!!

There is no doubt it does look cleaner now. Thinking that was it for the day there was one other job. A welding job!

Being a big welder and the job being outside it would have been easier if we had put it on the pallet to start with but we did learn our lesson!

I did some of the welds and Rob made them actually strong afterwards!

It should hold!

Man with the best job today? Derek! He rode the platelayers wagon down the line as it freewheeled down the 1 in 60 gradient - nice and no soap!!!!! That looks the job for me!