Michigan Electric 28

Roof slats, roof slats, and more roof slats….

Since the Northern Illinois mosquito population decided to hold a meeting in Barn 4 last Saturday, Jeff Brady and Ray Schmid thought it would be better to avoid them by working on cutting the ME 28 roof slats in the woodshop.  Between the high humidity, heat, and the numerous mosquitoes, it was a good decision.

Jeff planned ahead and brought out enough five foot basswood planks to create all the thin roof slats required to cover the car ends with two layers.  We needed to produce over 300 slats.   This was a slow process to begin since you do not want to rush the table saw setup or you will have 300 unusable slats with the wrong dimensions.  But, once the setup was verified, Jeff and Ray stayed at it all day making the saw dust fly. 

Pictured below: Jeff setting up the table saw.  Ray and Jeff making the first cuts.

Pictured below: Jeff measuring the thickness of the thin slat.  Jeff holding up the first good roof slat only 300 more to go!

By day’s end, the count was nearing 250+ slats. 

Additional time was taken to clean-up the Woodshop and put away all the tooling and finished slats.   The remaining slats will be cut next week. 

Pictures by Ray Schmid    

There has been a lot of hot news this summer concerning the ME 28.  Mainly because this summer has been so hot.  Working on the roof of the car in a hot car barn has slowed our progress somewhat.  The good news this week is that we are about to fasten down the last roof panel.  It could have been completed this Sunday, but after fastening one curved panel Norm Krentel and Ray Schmid were feeling the effects from the heat.  Even using a fan didn’t seem to help as the temperature in the car barn reaches 100+ degrees on the ME 28’s roof.  So by mid-afternoon it was time for Norm and Ray to go into the woodshop to cool down.  The remaining center panel was cut to fit and just needs to be screwed down next Sunday to officially finish the roof panel installation. 

Pictured below - Norm (top) and Ray working to finish the roof panels.

Next is the fabrication and installation of the basswood strips to create the curved end portions of the front and rear roof ends.  Two layers of wood strips cut and nailed to fit will replicate what was created by St. Louis Car Company when the car was built in 1913.  Jeff Brady has been working to prepare the carlines to properly contour the basswood strips as they are bent over the ends.  Next week the process to ready the strips for installation will begin.  We are all planning to have the roof ends completed and ready for canvas before winter.

Pictured below - Jeff shapes the end carlines.