The Engines Room in the trail of its Golden Age

Back from the yard, Guido Vanderhulst gives us some fresh news !

The work on the De La Vergne compressor is finished and we have to say that the Old Lady is beautiful... so beautiful!

The final part of its restoration was completed last week by Abdeslam and Luis. The second layer of varnish was applied and has already dried. Besides, as we mentioned before, our technicians found out that the balusters of the compressor were made of brass but had been covered with black paint, which was obviously removed. Now it has its original brass colour and looks superb!

A golden coating was also applied on the inscriptions of the machine.

The Old Lady has recovered its youth!

In the meantime...

In parallel, Momo has been working on the marble panels and its electric dials of the electric board. He sanded all the metal parts and also made replacements for the missing or broken glasses. The background of the dials has been redesigned by Emilie, on the basis of the scanned dials, and will be placed as soon as Dino finds a good craftsman able to remake the missing dials – they're about 30... (See previous posts!). There is 3 different models ( with the labels Volt, Ampere and Kw) broken down in 3 different sizes.

Besides, during the last meeting with the representatives of the Municipality and of the Brass cultural centre, we decided to opt for brass caps nuts for the lower part of the panel and smaller ones in iron for fixing the upper controllers. The ones the panel had before were also in iron but most of them have disappeared. We also wait for other estimations, but always keeping in mind that caps nuts exactly like those no longer exist. We trust Dino, though. He ensures an accurate research!

This Monday (15/02/16) we started cleaning the panels with the special product that has been approved by the heritage authorities. The technicians are well protect behind a powerful mask and also make use of special glasses and gloves. We have also took care of the ventilation of the space.

The gas pipes are having their last cleaning in order to remove the remaining peeled parts. As the main pipe was cleaned too far, it will likely receive a layer of aged yellow, which looks similar to the original paint if heritage authorities agree. An artist will be in charge of this task. The protective varnish will be applied after with the help of a paintbrush.