Spot the difference

December already and I'm still stripping fabric off the fuselage and removing interior components. On Saturday the main fuel tank was removed along with the last of the cockpit instruments and fuel lines (unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me to the workshop so there are no photographs to accompany an article (I'll put something together for the next posting and discuss removing the instruments and floor).

For Sunday I decided I needed to tidy up the workshop a bit. The problem with disassembling the aircraft is that you end up with a pile of bits scattered all over the workshop and if you're not careful it gets out of control. To begin with I've added a bit of extra storage curtesy of two shelf brackets so that I can put some of the timber, additional lighting units and wing bands up out of the way. This has cleared some of the floor.

Next, I've put more tools up onto the tool tidy at the nd of the workshop. Most of these tools had been lying around on the shelving, taking up space where I want to store any components taken off the aeroplane. This has given me plenty of storage space so that I can start to bag and tag the components (instruments, interior parts, fuel line fittings etc) as I take them off. Once they are tagged and bagged they are put onto the shelves where they will be stored until required.

Some of the stored parts will not be reused in the rebuild, but are saved so that I can use them as templates when re-manufacturing later.

So here are the Spot the difference, before and after pictures

2006 - Searching for premesis

Back in 2006 it was obvious that the main stumbling block was going to be finding somewhere to use as a workshop. There was no space at home and I didn't fancy using space at the local airfield as there would be too many distractions especially during the summer on a nice flying day. I tried advertising in the local Post Office's with no luck, then by chance I noticed that one of our local farmers was advertising a small workshop for rent.

It turned out that the workshop was unsuitable, being too small for my needs, but he did know of another farmer who had a barn converted into workshop space, and he was looking for tenants. A visit quickly followed and a gentleman's agreement struck. The barn would need some attention before it was ready to take IH so I set myself a budget and a timescale of 1 year to equip and setup the workshop.

The barn/workshop had been used as a dumping ground by a previous tenant so my first job was to clear the area an assess what I had.








Having cleared the space, I sealed and painted the floor white using a proprietary floor paint. This would give a better reflective surface making the workshop brighter as well as easier to clean.

It also keeps the concrete dust down.

The shelving was surplus to requirements at work so I acquired it free of charge. Once assembled, I screwed it to the wall for safety.


I gradually added a workbench, extra lighting, compressor and other tooling that would be required.

The compressor is a 3hp electrically driven (single phase) compressor with a 150 ltr receiver. This will be used to power a small bead blasting cabinet and my spaying equipment.

Each bay in the workshop is lit by two double fluorescent lighting units and I have additional free standing units which can be arranged around any work.

The workbench is 8' x 3' and stand elbow high for ease of work.

During October 2007 I started to put a frame around the workshop to keep the dust out and so that I could spay without affecting the rest of the work place. This is a simple 2"x1" frame with plastic sheeting stapled to it. Each frame is 2.4m long and can be removed in seconds to open up the area.

So by the end of October 2007, I was ready to move IH into the workshop.