The grading, retaining wall, steps, foundations and frame are complete and the fence has been relocated. Two cross members will be added as soon as I get the measurements for the two interior posts that will support the roof center beam.  200 - 60 lb. bags of concrete were used to do the wall,steps, foundation's and fence posts.  We have decided to use Pre-Insulated Steel Framed Structural Panels to build the entire structure - floor,walls and ceiling/roof. Below is a mock up of the wall section that is made with steel frame injected with expanded polystyrene beads creating panels from approximately 6 inches wide to 48 inches wide, and a maximum height of 12 feet.  This is the roof beam that will support the 18 roof panels with a small pitch.  Above and below is a section of wall panels that show the upper and lower "C" channels that secure the panels and the tongue and groove  between panels that make them air tight. The studs are laid flat ...

We took the 60 Starliner to the Veterans Day Car Show in Kingman Az on Friday the 11 held in the Wal Mart Parking lot. There was a good turn out with about 100 cars for the fund raiser.  Hackberry Auto Body (Joe) Shelby supercharged Mustang that he bought wrecked and restored. He did the 69 mustang for us and is now working on our 65 Thunderbird.  Good verity of car's, trucks and motorcycle's showed up.  This rat rod is twin turbo charged.  Nice Pontiac convertible.  Karen and Charlie (dog) enjoyed the nice weather.

The 65 T-Bird went to Hackberry Auto body to get the engine compartment and other parts painted. I will get it back in about 2 weeks to install the engine and get it running.  All loaded up and ready to go.  This is at the body shop taking some of the body parts off. The engine compartment had been painted but we decided that we did not like the Chantilly Beige.  The Caboose project is coming along in the two pictures below I am fabricating the frame from 2-1/2 X 8-1/2 channel left over from another project.  The two frame rails are 36' each and I have 14' pieces of channel so each rail is made up of 2-14' with 4' on each end. They were laid out on the shop floor and splice plates were welded on each end and the support legs welded on.  The frame was set on two saw horses and painted.  The foundations are 2'X2'X2.5' blocks and a jack was used to get it level and at the correct height.  This is the second 14' rail fabricat...

While I'm waiting for the Thunderbird to go to Hackbeery Auto Body for the engine compartment to be painted, that should be next week, I will work on the Caboose project. We have picked out a color for the T-Bird that is "Blazin Copper" or burnt orange. After the engine compartment is painted it will come back to me for the engine installation and to get it running then back to the body shop for final body work and paint.  The three pictures below is the retaining wall being built that is 2 feet tall and 40 feet long.  The finished wall.  Stairs being formed and pored with stones set in the tops of each one.  Finished 5' wide steps and upper & lower landing slabs.  The wall and steps took 130 bags of 60 lb. concrete.  Next the grading will be finished then the 10 foundation's will be laid out, dug and poured with the steel frame. The plan is to have the finished floor at the same height as the top of the wall to make easy acce...

  For the past year when we go to Costco in Prescott, as there is none in Kingman, there is a Caboose right off I-40 near Ashfork  that my wife points out every time we pass it. This last trip she said that she has always wanted a Caboose and wanted to know if we could find one. When we checked into it they are very expensive and the cost to bring one to our property made it too costly for us to afford. During the search online we found a person in southern California  (Dogpatch and Western Railroad) that offers a kit with plans to build you own replica Caboose, so we sent for the plans and decided to build a Caboose. First thing to do is pick and clear a location and we decided to put it on the north side of the house behind the RV shelter.  The chain link fence was taken down and there was a lot of stored material that must be moved. The RV shelter is behind the tree.  These are looking from the RV shelter up towards the house showing what had t...