Looking very much complete now, and great with the lights in, screen fitted and roof from my other Jeep fitted.

The last big metal working job on the Jeep was the rear bumperettes, which at some point in their life, have been cut down. After most of the paint was stripped away, I found that both bumperettes had the Ford 'f' stamp on them. 

The missing parts were marked out on sheet steel, and cut out with the grinding disc. The new parts were then clamped and welded at the centre. Because the parts are curved, the clamps were progressively moved out and the weld extended outwards.

The parts welded and the welds dressed with the grinder. To finish, each bumperette was given a period of electrolysis to remove the rust from the surface pitting, before being dried and primed.

Bumper and bumperettes being painted.

The bumperettes aren't on upside down! This is actually a common feature on Army Air Force Jeeps.

I searched the 100th BG website and archives for ages, and only found two black and white pictures of this particular Jeep. Those two pictures are both front views, as seen below.
Wartime pictures used with permission of the 100th Bomb Group Foundation -
www.100thbg.com

Two days after painting the Jeep rear bumperettes, the 100th Bomb Group Foundation news letter arrives from the USA. On the front cover, A4 size is a nice wartime colour picture of two Airmen with a hose, washing something, with a Jeep trailer and airfield construction equipment in the back ground. The rest of the picture is printed on the back cover, and what are the two Airmen washing? A Jeep. But not any old Jeep, the exact Jeep I'm copying!

This picture is a rear view of the jeep, and shows how the bumperettes are actually marked up, as opposed to the normal style of doing it! So out came the wet and dry, the bumperettes were rubbed down and resprayed olive drab.

Looking more closely at the star on the rear of the body, the outline of a Ford script logo can be seen. While my Jeep isn't a script Jeep, I am at least copying a Ford Jeep with a Ford!
 
Once the olive was dry, the white outer edge was painted, followed by re-stencilling the Bomb Group and Squadron markings. I also made two hardboard templates for the windscreen glazing. These were dropped off at Pilkington's, and should be cut and back in a couple of days.

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