From Micro Obsy to Dual Pier Observatory - via Hard Work, RSI, Back Ache & Melting Credit Card!

[ArmyAirForce]

July 6th - This morning, the roof rear panel had all the excess cladding planed down flush with the top and bottom rails. Additional screws were added and then all the screw and nail holes were filled.

With the prospect of the walls being outdoors for a while before the roof is fitted, I decided the inside of the walls could do with some protection from the weather. The shed came pre-treated, but it looked like a light sprayed coat.

On my old observatory, the plywood roof hadn't been treated and after a few uses, the evening damp got to the wood and I got mould starting to grow. With that in mind, I wanted to give the interior walls some additional protection. I had some brown shed paint, left over from waterproofing my wartime canvas ridge tents. I started painted the first coat this afternoon.

[ArmyAirForce]

Bits of shed are spread all over! The rear wall was still standing up in the workshop, while the end panels were in the corridor. The front wall was stuck behind the ends, so will have to be painted at a later date.

The roof end and rear walls were also still in the workshop and were painted in there, while the door is standing up near the workshop door. The paint was quite thin. I don't recall, but I may have watered it down a little for painting on the canvas tents. As a result, the inside walls are going to need at least two coats. This will also darken the inside of the observatory to help reduce stray light from reflecting inside.

[ArmyAirForce]

July 7th - Today was all about painting. I started with non-observatory stuff; finishing painting three jerrycans for my Dodge truck. I'm away for the weekend with the truck and wanted to take the cans for accessories to the display, so the painting was finished first thing and left in the sun to bake dry.

Last night, my daughter helped me to move around some of the panels, so I could get access to the rear of the front panel. That allowed me to paint all the panels today. In the corridor, the front panel and the right hand end.

In the workshop was the rear panel, left end, door and the roof ends and rear walls. With all the panels accessible, the inside of the front wall was given its first coat of paint. I then moved on to all the other panels for their second coats. By the time I'd done all of those, the front wall was dry enough to give it a second coat.

I'll get home from my military weekend on Sunday evening. On Monday morning, I need to check over all the panels, plus the base and be sure I'm ready for the main wall assembly. That's because wifey is free to help on Monday evening, but probably not for the rest of the week. So if everything looks ok, the plan is to get the four walls and the door assembled on the base on Monday evening.

[andy fearn]

3 minutes ago, ArmyAirForce said:

July 7th - Today was all about painting. I started with non-observatory stuff; finishing painting three jerrycans for my Dodge truck. I'm away for the weekend with the truck and wanted to take the cans for accessories to the display, so the painting was finished first thing and left in the sun to bake dry.

Last night, my daughter helped me to move around some of the panels, so I could get access to the rear of the front panel. That allowed me to paint all the panels today. In the corridor, the front panel and the right hand end.

In the workshop was the rear panel, left end, door and the roof ends and rear walls. With all the panels accessible, the inside of the front wall was given its first coat of paint. I then moved on to all the other panels for their second coats. By the time I'd done all of those, the front wall was dry enough to give it a second coat.

I'll get home from my military weekend on Sunday evening. On Monday morning, I need to check over all the panels, plus the base and be sure I'm ready for the main wall assembly. That's because wifey is free to help on Monday evening, but probably not for the rest of the week. So if everything looks ok, the plan is to get the four walls and the door assembled on the base on Monday evening.

Enjoy the weekend, and good luck with the build on monday.🤞

[ArmyAirForce]

July 11th - It's been a busy day here on possibly the hottest day of the year so far. With Lynne working from home, she was available as an extra pair of hands for the next big step forwards for the observatory. So around 09:30hrs, the four main wall sections were carried out to the observatory site. Starting with the left end and rear wall, they were clamped together.

With the left and rear firmly clamped, the right end was next. Nothing was screwed together straight away. I did lots of measuring to check on how square things were.

[ArmyAirForce]

The front wall was the last piece to be lifted into place. Its right edge wasn't quite square and its overall length was one quarter inch shorter at the top than the bottom. It must have been the same factory worker who made the floor!! It needed a full height tapered strip of wood adding to the end to bring it back to square.

Viewed from the workshop patio, the observatory isn't too obvious and doesn't stand out like a saw thumb. Lynne was concerned it was going to stand out too much. It still needs its roof height adding, but it continues the row of outbuildings down the left side of the garden.

[ArmyAirForce]

As I mentioned in the earlier post, it was a really hot day. By around mid day, my thermometer was reading 30°C in the shade and 35°C in direct sun. I was melting fast and drinking gallons. Those tiny little black bugs, the ones that look like over active chocolate sprinkles, were very annoying too.

Here's the front wall squaring up wedge, just visible along side the panel upright. A spare piece of the shed framing was cut and planed into a piece tapering strip reducing from 1/4 to 1/8 inch thick. With everything remeasured and appearing to be the same lengths, all the wall corners were screwed together.

[ArmyAirForce]

These two panoramas were taken with the camera approximately at mount height. One is centred on the back wall and one the front. The angled walls should give a pretty good all round view.

Left wall, rear and right wall - my view from ENE through South to WSW

Right wall, front and left wall - my view WSW through North to ENE.

[ArmyAirForce]

Now that the walls are up, it gave me a better indication of the space inside. I think I'll cope!

The door was brought out next and the hinges fitted to the door. While they are plated, they may yet be removed one at a time and painted with Hammerite or similar. At present they are just screwed on, but would be more secure with some countersink bolts and nyloc nuts on the inside. I still want to be able to remove the hinges for future observatory repaints.

[ArmyAirForce]

The "Pinetree" sign was bolted on next, making it officially the "Pinetree Observatory".

Pinetree was our old house name, in turn named after the code name for the U.S. 8th Air Force Headquarters. That was as a result of a previous hobby, running a model team flying very large radio controlled U.S.A.A.F. aircraft around the country ( see below ). The bombers span around 17 feet while the fighters are about 7 feet, all powered by 40cc to 60cc petrol engines.

The sign came with us when we moved and as the new garden had a pinetree just opposite to the observatory, it seemed appropriate.

[ArmyAirForce]

To help reduce flex and fatigue on the corner screws, some half inch plywood triangles were screwed into the top corners to reinforce the joints. I may still need some metalwork across the front wall to stiffen the wall where the door opening is.

With the triangles all fitted, all the tools were taken back to the workshop. I was exhausted, but we weren't done or the day. Over the weekend while I was away, a new long reach petrol hedge trimmer/chainsaw/brush cutter and strimmer arrived. The hedge along the back of the observatory was in desparate need of a trim. After all, that was my Southern view! So we spent the rest of the day trimming the near side, filling two wheelie bins!! We still need to do the other side yet. After that, a nice cool shower. I could have stayed in there all night and as I'm writing this at a little after 21:30 hours, it is still 25°C inside the house.

[ArmyAirForce]

So I'll leave the thread for today with two last general views of the day's work.

[malc-c]

Looking good.   I don't know what it is but most of the builds seem to occur when there is unusual period of hot weather.  I started building mine in April to avoid the hot weather of the summer, but we had around three days of really hot weather whilst I was constructing the frame !!  But 35c is dangerous, so please take care

Seeing the size of those planes I'm guessing you were a member of the LMA? - Been a long while since I went to a model air display, but do remember seeing a large bomber (possibly B17) at several events back in the late 90's and 00's.  

[ShrewView]

Its looking really good and you did really well in that heat. It'd be too much for me to work in I'm afraid.

Love the colour too.

[ArmyAirForce]

49 minutes ago, malc-c said:

........I'm guessing you were a member of the LMA?.......

Yes, I was in the LMA from 1988 to about 2009. There were a few B-17's on the circuit. Mine was scratch built, first flying in 1995 with its last flight in late 2004. The others appeared around 2000 and were from the moulds made for the Memphis Belle film. Mine was usually seen along with John Deacon's B-24 Liberator.

[ArmyAirForce]

42 minutes ago, ShrewView said:

........Love the colour too.

That was chosen to minimise heat build up while also looking nice. I also found some silver heat reflective bitumen paint to coat the roof felt to further reduce heat absorption.

[ArmyAirForce]

July 12th - After the heat of yesterday, it has cooled down today - 24.5°C indoors. I decided to have a more chilled out day and worked on the roof wheels. A small 1/16 inch plywood shim was added to the bottom rail of the roof end panel to drop the wheel a little lower. The four main wheels were then screwed to the first end panel.

The aluminium runner and roof end panel were carried outside and balanced on the observatory wall to check a few clearances. Overall, the fit was good. There's a couple of small areas to trim, both on the roof panel and on the walls to allow the runner to fit across the joints between the end and front walls.

[ArmyAirForce]

The 'L' shaped runner sits with the upright on the inside of the wall. Any rain that gets under the opening end and the runner, will flow down the runner like a gutter, rather than coming inside.

Once back inside, the second end had the main wheels fitted. I turned back to the first panel again and fitted the smaller guide wheels to blocks at each end of the panel. These will run against the runner upright, keeping the roof square on the runners as it rolls. The other side was completed next. I needed to do a little sanding of the inside edge of the cladding where it could potentially rub on the runner. I was part way through that on the first panel, when my 3 week old powerfile died. The rubber drive wheel has detatched itself from the motor shaft. I'll be taking it back later when I pick my daughter up from school.

[malc-c]

The observatory is looking great, and very well engineered.

OT, on the subject of the LMA, when going to those shows the one thing that really stood out was the commentary, which if I recall was Dave Bishop of  DB sound.  He was like the Murry Walker of RC ! - it would be the curse of something when he would say "OK now ladies and gents, boys and girls, now watch this as they do ..... " only for it not to do whatever they was supposed to do !! - His comments about the residents of the old care home at the back of Northwheeled loving the sound the pulse jets of ghost squadron (are they still going ?) buzzing them at 200+ MPH. - Fond memories.   Not been involved in the hobby since around 2003.  Is Dave still doing the circuit these days ?

[ArmyAirForce]

1 minute ago, malc-c said:

......ghost squadron (are they still going ?) ............Is Dave still doing the circuit these days ?

I think John Greenfield is still flying, but not sure if the rest of the guys are still doing shows. I think DB retired for commentry, but he was a real character and always entertaining!

I still have all my aircraft, but haven't flown for several years. Between my military vehicles, astronomy and a little plastic modelmaking, I don't have a lot of spare time!

[ArmyAirForce]

July 13th - When I dropped into B&Q yesterday, to return my failed powerfile, I bought another couple of small wheels. I decided I could to with another couple of central wheels on the end walls, to stop the ends bowing in towards the runner.

With those done, I turned my attention to the rear roof panel. All the filler over the nail holes was sanded and it was given a first coat of paint. Later in the day, it got a second coat applied.

[ArmyAirForce]

Between the painting, I started the roof front wall; the fixed part that will hopefully stop the roof sagging over the opening front flap. Three cladding planks were separated from the remaining spare parts and were nailed and glued to a 2 inch square lower rail. Tomorrow, I'll add the 2 x 1 inch top rail. The whole lot was clamped to one of the aluminium roof runners to help to keep it straight during assembly.

After some plotting and measuring on Google Earth, I went out to the observatory and plotted my North direction on the floor. My phone compass agreed with my plotting. This was so I could get the pier adapter mounted.

[ArmyAirForce]

Drilling the pier caused a few problems. Concrete is hard, but I had a hammer drill and a number of masonary bits. My main dislike about my drill is that it has a keyless chuck. I hate them, but when I bought it, there were no other options available. One day I'll replace it with a proper drill.

I had some 10mm studding to fit into the pier. The drill bit was too big to drill through the adapter, so I used a small drill to mark the centre of the first hole. Of course, the keyless chuck couldn't be tightened enough to grip the drill against the hammer action!

With the hole position marked, I switched to a half inch drill and started drilling, though with the same problem. Eventually with some parrot nose pliers, I got a bit more grip with the chuck. It was hard going through the concrete, but I got to the bottom of the hole!

I dropped the studding through the adapter and into the hole, to hold the adapter in the right place to drill the next hole. Going back for the small drill, I then found I couldn't get the chuck to release the half inch drill. After much struggling and percussive maintenance, I got the big drill out. I tried to fit the small drill, only to find the chuck jaws would only close a small amount and then wouldn't go any further. Back to the workshop, WD40, hammer, some bad words and eventually it freed up.

Eventually, I got all four holes drilled, vacuumed out and with the studs tightened on the adpater, the studs were glued into pier. Once fully dry, I'll probably remove the plate again and give it a clean up and repaint, as it has some surface rust from the last six years in my old observatory.

That was the last job of the day and I packed up all the tools after that. I should be able to mount the planetary scope now, although without the roof, it can only be temporary. With it fitted, I'll get an indication of how big the opening flap needs to be in the front panel, to allow it to clear the scope as the roof slides back.

[Swoop1]

Really nice to follow your progress again Stephen.

Re your keyless chuck on your drill, might you be able to source a replacement keyed chuck for it?

 

[ArmyAirForce]

9 minutes ago, Swoop1 said:

.....Re your keyless chuck......

That's a possibility, but I need to see if I can get the old chuck off first. I think I'll wait until the other pier is drilled before I think about pulling it to bits!

In other news, I had a test fit of the scopes for roof clearance purposes this morning and also grabbed a cheeky and quick first light on the Sun! Pics later.