After much haggling, a block of land was purchased and the hangar slabs (split level for office) were laid. Note the rain! you will see a lot of that.
Speaking of rain, after three days solid rain, the road to the property will usually flood.
The carport wasn't just for the car, it was sometimes the only shelter around ('till it blew away) Note the gumboots, a must!
The hangar kit arrives! Truck almost got bogged, then did a ten point turn before unloading. Small slab for water tanks.
More bl---dy rain.
First load of hangar kit parts.
It can get cold in Taree! That's ICE on the roof of my car.
More hangar bits arriving.
First bit of assembly, mount angles for arch frames.
Many relations helped with the hangar build. This is my Uncle Fred laying out the arch frames.
An assortment of relations and friends helping the layout.
My trusty little generator and me trimming the hold down bolts.
First aerial view courtesy Ole Hartmann and his Hornet.
My Mum waiting for us to pack up to go back for Tea.
For some reason ALL these diagonal braces were missing, fortunately there were a few extra lengths of channel to make them from.
Uncle Fred and Step father Keith begin bolting frames. This was August, cold even with the Sun.
Standing up the first frame, a scary operation!
Another view, temporary side bracing in place.
More frames go up and get braced together.
This bracket was drilled wrong? One of a few errors in the kit.
Uncle and Step father fitting diagonal bracing.
Major framing up
The next day and many of the roof purlins in place.
Another view of the purlins going up.
The office awning is added.
Another view of office awning.
The Hebel bricks arrive.
Hebel blocks stacked.
Windows, Shower Screen and Vanity from local building recyclers.
Second hand sliding doors for office.
Most roof purlins in place, all blocks delivered.
Roller Door delivered.
Keith makes a start on the blockwork.
Step father Keith (a retired stone mason) carves the blocks to suit the door frames and posts.
Mother and wife Heather doing the 'pointing' on the blockwork.
Another error with the kit, the back-end frame was 5" higher than the rest of the arches? Required a bit of 'cut and shut' to fix.
Our dog 'Pixie' checking the work.
Keith getting the blockwork well under way.
Brother in law Eric helped for a week doing gutter mounting.
The shower recess gets closed in.
The Tea Ladies (Heather in pink, Mom with jug) bring lunch!
Steel angle for custom door and window lintels. Note pallet of tiles for office area.
The first cladding goes on, the back wall.
Lunchtime of cladding day two from the outside.
End wall cladding up, small slab for compressor.
Cladding the Airport side of the hangar.
Cladding progress.
Interior view of cladding.
Some sheets needed a little trimming.
I hope OH&S isn't watching!
Sidewall almost done, Eric assisting.
The first roof panels go on over the office.
View from the top. (No I don't know why I took this either?!)
Roof cladding progress.
More roof cladding. Most relations gone by now and I left the brickwork 'till all roofing on.
I seemed to spend more time at the top of a ladder than on the ground.
Starting the roof panels proper. Single panels 9.2 metres long, lifted into place by pulling ropes up over temporary angles at eaves.
Was watching a storm approach and got down just in time for it to HAIL!
Only small hail, but a lot of it.
Eric, Heather and myself sheltering from the hail and rain.
Storm gone, back to work...
Damaged Hebel blocks found when unwrapped.
Progress continues.
Blocks shaped to fit steel structure and allow movement.
Aluminium window frames 'keyed' into the blockwork.
With everybody gone home, I needed to adapt to continue work.
Another aerial view, from a Skyfox, showing location relative to Taree strips.
Better aerial view of hangar progress.
Safety wire for under skylights.
Skylight safety mesh shaped prior to being pulled into roof.
First skylight included.
The hangar tanks arrive.
Second skylight viewed from roof.
5000 gal (22730 litre) water tanks (each).
View of other hangars at Taree across grass strip 12-30.
Starting to look like a hangar.
More roof cladding, weather getting better.
Plumbing for shower recess. (Not by me! was done before I could stop him)
At least the toilet bowl and fittings was new.
More plumbing and some brickwork.
Door lintel in place.
Other lintels cut to size and painted.
Major portion of cladding finished, lots more floor space now. Yes that's my car, a 1992 Subaru SVX, interesting car.
'Expanda Foam' for weather proofing.
PVC piping for septic system and gutter plumbing.
Still another hangar kit error, roof cladding ended up about 200mm short?
Starting on the blockwork again.
The 'Gap' that was never explained.
OOPS, stood in the wrong spot!
Working on the roller door surround.
Roller door opening from outside. (should have realigned this photo?)
Hanging on the guttering.
Custom made flashing to hide the 'GAP' (about $400.)
Wife Heather was living in Sydney during the week and coming up on weekends. Happy with progress.
Starting to do the gutter plumbing.
Gutter plumbing to rainwater tanks.
Starting to fill in more blockwork.
Shaping blocks to suit steel work.
One tank plumbed in, note it clouding over, tank was full within the week!
Gutter plumbing.
More gutter plumbing.
Back to shaping blockwork.
Junction of office and rollerdoor wall, with wall girt interaction.
Block shaped to suit junction wall girt.
Shaped block in place, this stuff is almost fun to work with.
A couple of days progress.
Shaping more blocks, can be done with hand tools.
Next days progress.
Yet another day.
Starting some internal walls, note meshing to join courses.
OK, the sun can show up the slightest inaccuracies.
That looks better! And a few more blocks.
My aeroplane arrived in the hangar on a trailer, unflyable due to an ignition fault.
Daily blockwork update, there was a lot of these..
More shaped blocks.
Just more blocks, and windows.
Another weekend and Heather doing some pointing.
Outside blockwork getting higher.
Some shaped blocks for the window lintels.
Still more blockwork.
Getting on top of blockwork now, notice 'eyebrow' blocks over doors and windows.
Wall's getting higher.
Raining (hard) again, trying to do some work on my plane as well.
Water, water everywhere! Back to wearing gumboots.
Tanks full.
Working on interior walls during the rain. Door lintel recessed into blocks.
Door lintel incased in blocks.
Wall getting higher from inside.
Last door frame being positioned.
Shaped block for awning rafter beam.
A series of shaped blocks.
Shaped blocks in place, should have adjusted this photo too!
Shaped blocks almost done.
Internal walls up to ceiling height.
Another view of internal walls, toilet and bathroom.
Finished doorway.
One interior wall left to do.
A letter box so we can start getting bills!
IS THIS THE LAST BLOCK? No not really, still some minor fill-ins to go.
This was a seriously messy job, routing for the electrical conduits. The beards getting longer!
Assorted light switch and power point conduits routed into the walls.
Must have been raining again!
Installing the septic tank.
Septic line from hangar with junction at house location.
Water pump installed on hangar tanks. Bit of an average job.
My flying mate Nigel turned up, so I put him to work! He loves playing with big toys.
Septic tank in place.
Hangar door track 'island' poured.
HUGE bugs appear around spring, quite docile and don't bite. I think they're some form of gnat?
Stating to build the reed bed.
Primary reed bed ready to close.
Rudi the plumber connecting the transpiration beds.
Primary reed bed closed and inspected by Heather and 'Pixie'.
Transpiration beds being filled with ballast.
Some of the plumbing at the hangar.
Aerial view of hangar and septic system.
Reed mounds nearly ready for reeds and grass.
Electrical conduits without a roof rack!
Office rafters going in.
More shaped blockwork.
Water proofing the shower recess.
More water proofing.
Planing woodwork for the ceiling.
Nice grain on plywood ceiling.
Ablution area water proofed.
Fitting floor wastes, ready for screeding.
Plywood wall plates to hold rafters to brickwork.
A drainage ditch added to stop flooding of the hangar.
Fill used to create a more level 'apron' in front of the hangar.
Ceiling rafters progressing.
Rafters awaiting installation.
The toilet in place and hooked up. Would flush and refill via gravity as no pump yet.
Electrical conduit in wall and filled over.
Floor screed in shower.
Floor screed in toilet area.
Mixing concrete for bathroom screed.
Starting screed in bathroom, but ran out of concrete.
Still screeding, and it started getting dark, had to use the car lights.
Finally finished screed work.
Started tiling in bathroom and shower recess.
I hate tiling!
Almost finished bathroom floor.
Underground power conduiting arrives.
50 mmØ conduits for the three phase underground power.
Some feature tiles bought cheap at a local second hand shop.
Tilework table.
Wall tiling in the shower recess.
Stack of kitchen cupboards and drawers for $100.
Feature tiles around vanity area.
Shower screen to finish odd tilework.
Dragging an old pallet to level the 'apron' area.
Starting to dig the under ground power trench.
Power trench running alongside fence.
House has turned up and power trench being dug.
Grouting the tilework in the bathroom.
Grouting the shower recess.
Dig a trench, and it will rain!
Trench split to house and hangar.
Power trench full at bottom of property.
Greg Davies helping to run out the underground power cables.
Greg and myself dragging 150m worth of copper cable, 4 lengths required!
Greg drags a conduit along the cables.
Power cables encased in conduits, ready to lower into trench.
View back to the hangar.
House and hangar conduits in trench.
Greg fitting some lighting conduits.
Power conduits entering hangar, white PVC for UV protection.
Power cables and switchbox in hangar
Power outlet in hangar, one of many.
Tube rails to carry hangar lighting.
Flexible conduit to carry lighting wire.
Another view of flexible lighting conduit.
Two of my earlier aircraft kits in the hangar corner.
Gas tank manifold for hot water system.
Hot water system.
Power cable from house and hangar come up to meter box.
Power cables and poles for meter box.
Orange conduits covered with white PVC pipes and set in concrete plinth.
Try to work in a trench, and it will rain again.
Meter box fitted to poles. Note the mud!
Concrete plinth for gas bottles.
Both light rails almost finished.
Hoisting light rail up to suspension chains.
First light rail in place.
Wiring the second light rail. All work cross checked by electrician.
Second light rail up.
These fellows are every where, quite tame.
Paul and myself sealing up the network wiring from the house.
Network conduit into the hangar.
This fellow flew into an office window and was stunned. Recovered about ten minutes later and flew away.
WE GET THE POWER ON!
Power connected up the pole.
Ready to unload an old compressor.
Septic tank and reed bed.
This cost more than we thought, but it's a good driveway.
Aerial view of house and hangar (and webname).
House and hangar relative to grass runway, main runway and local township, Cundletown.
My first fly in visitor, Bill Stevens with Greg Davies.
Filling power trench.
Starting to make the hangar doors, recently bought ride-on mower in background.
Door frames being clad.
More cladding, notice it's raining again, it's February!
Our new ride-on mower has been busy.
Making the upper door guides.
Positioning the upper door guides ready for lifting.
Cast iron V rollers for hangar doors.
Adding grease nipples to rollers.
Upper door guide winched into place
Second upper guide in place.
Upper guide bracing.
Beginning the gable cladding.
Gable half clad.
Almost done.
More custom flashing for eaves.
Barge capping in place.
Starting to make the door rails.
Welding rails.
Door rail work in progress.
Door rails completed, painted and bolted down.
My second fly in visitor, Jeff Owen.
Small adjustment required to door panel.
Door roller on track.
All 6 doors in place.
Doors finished.
View from inside.
Utility trailer made for ride-on mower, $60.
Mower and trailer in use.
No hangar is complete without a Windsock!
Back to internal work with the assembly of a vanity in the hangar bathroom, 'Let's see, panel L9 screws to shelf b7?'.
See, that wasn't too hard....
And to bring the bathroom online, a shower screen.
Tiles are added to the 'Office' area, including a layout of the airstrips at Taree. The missing tiles are away having the strip directions glazed on to them. The Blue tile is the hangar!
Now making the base boxes for the Kitchen unit bought many months ago.
Base boxes assembled, ready for cupboards and sink.
A bit of trimming and modifying.....
Note the temperature on the clock. It actually hit 41° a bit later!
I don't often get my gear off, but it was damn hot that day!! I'm drilling the bench-top hole for the sink.
'Kitchenette' basically finished and plumbing hooked up.
Another second hand kitchen unit has been bought to form the workbench in the 'Engine Shop'
This is the 'Engine Shop' and will also probably be the 'Model Shop' once the bench is installed.
This was my access to 'The Office' area for the first 12 months, time for a change.
Starting some new steps!
Assembling new steps
Steps being treated with deck oil
New steps in place
Starting to lay out a Briefing area.
Having converted most of the paddock from scrub to grass, I now start turning grass into lawn and need a catcher for the ride on.
The catcher works well and packs almost to the top. The plastic sheet on top is to stop all the grass dust blowing over me while mowing.
Finally got around to installing the Roller-Door using the same method as lifting the roof sheeting. Had to put the dogs in the car for their own safety.
Roller-Door finished and starting to paint the block walls.
Hangar starting to look civilised with a coat of paint and a flower bed.
Not even 2 years after being put up, my windsock has faded and fallen apart.
Making my own #2 windsock.
Briefing room up and running, note prop collection on ceiling.
A lot of kitchen just to make coffee!
Hangar is nearly always full of aircraft, as some go, others turn up.
