In January this year we launched our new venture – Craftmaster Restorations. Managed by Jamie Allen who has over 15 years experience in road and rail heritage vehicles, we are able to offer a number of expertese through this company. We are over the moon to announce the launch project of our new venture – Burrell Scenic Showmans 3827 ‘Victory’. That’s right, steam is returning to Thursford. The work is being lead by Jamie Allen (Director of Craftmaster Restorations) who commented “It has been an absolute honour and privilege to have been asked to tender for the Victory Project and even more so that it has been entrusted to me to return it to steam. I would like to thank the Thursford Collection for entrusting us with their flagship engine.” ‘Victory’ was delivered to us in late September and we’ve been undertaking all works necessary to return her to steam, […]

As we’re now well into 2021 it’s high time for an update on the various works going on around Craftmaster HQ. Like many, we’ve been struggling a little to find motivation of late but the prospect of getting out at some point in the summer is providing us with just about enough energy to plough forwards.We’ve been mainly focused on our ERF Showmans Tractor which is finally nearing the end of a twenty year restoration. The Doors were dropped down at Joby Carters yard pre-lockdown ready for Signwriting. The lorry had a very ornate finish and Aaron Stephens has been painstakingly recreating the Signwriting from the original panels. We’re looking forward to him visiting us to do the rest of the lorry later in the year, meanwhile we’re busy trying to get the painting finished.The switchboard from the lorry is next on our list and will take a bit of […]

A day late, but its time for our monthly restorations update. We’ve mostly been active on our 1946 ERF Showmans Tractor and brining that along, we’ve been restoring it since 2001 (you can’t rush these things!). The new grill is made of a mix of aluminium and steel so has presented a challenge for painting. We’ve trialed our Anti Corrosive Grey Primer (for the Steel) and High Build Undercoat in some aerosols with encouraging results and its currently sitting in the Mid Red waiting a rub down and several top coats of Ayres Red. We’ve also been working on the wiring which is now nearly complete, the gentleman doing it for us sadly passed away last year and its been quite a job to work out what needed doing. The front lamps have been reconditioned internally by us (lots of elbow grease) and the bezels are off the Ashford Chroming […]

As many of you know the family that run Craftmaster are the proud owners of a number of Veteran and Vintage Vehicles, and as anyone who owns an old vehicle knows – they take a lot of upkeep.Previously we’ve tried to run a restoration blog on here focusing on the Scammell we’re working on, but we’ve sort of stopped with that for now as others things demand our attention.

The plan is to post a monthly update on the work going on around Craftmaster, we’ll also include details of the suppliers we use, as many of them are excellent sources of parts and like us share an interest in keeping the past alive…