Nicest paint booth ever!*

*Not necessarily the nicest ever. Don't sue me.

Still its pretty nonetheless. At its heart is a regular old stove top exhaust fan unit where previously I had made a box under it with some thin MDF. It worked fine with a dryer hose run out through a blank board sandwiched in the window. Ugly and functional.

Here we have gone all hoity toity. The exterior is thin plywood glued on to the existing MDF and trimmed out with some wooden craft moldings exactly like those I used on the shelf on the computer desk. Some glue and a little time with the brad nailer and its done. The top has a flap on hinges to provide access to the fan controls and otherwise look pretty, and the bottom is a top-secret hidden compartment with the face being held in place by some stout magnets. I will keep paint, jars, airbrushes, and other stuff hidden in here.

Whats left to do,(when it warms up some), is to run a more permanent and attractive hose up and out through a 4 in. hole to exhaust outside via a standard dryer vent fixture. I am also thinking about something to block off the front of the booth when its not in use, the inside is just so ugly. Hey, I think a 27in. flatscreen would fit nicely in there!

This was the last of the major projects. (Huzzah!) I have a couple of smaller more or less set dressing type projects but I could start modeling in here anytime now if I wanted, but first I'm going to get all the paint dings and shiny screw heads covered while I still have my steam up. I figure once I start working a model then that's it for room work and we can declare the festivities closed.

However, can't get too antsy yet, there's still more to do...

A - Door - A - Bull

Right then. Here's the finished "door" for your viewing pleasure. Door to all you Land Lubbers out there, but its a "hatch" to us salty sea-going types. This was a living room project, Marsha's favorite. I put up a couple saw horses to work on gluing all the trim parts and rivets in place in the only open space we have inside. When that was finished I still had to wait for a warmish day to spray paint the thing outside.

It was primed a dark grey then given an overall coat of rust. Then I over painted with the final color that matched the porthole mirror I purchased at the USS Razorback museum last summer for just this purpose. Hiya co-tripper Jeffty! Some of the rust color kind of bleeds through giving a more three dimensional look to the finish. I am happy with the result.

The handle is supposed to look a little like a "dog" which is navy talk for the handles around the edge of water-tight doors to seal them tight against the sea or foul weather. Its kind of a neat design in any event.

The final major project, the re-facing of the paint booth and its associated exhaust piping, is well underway and will be operational soon. I am putting in a dryer vent style fitting for the exhaust and I will need a warm day for that since it requires a 4 and a half inch hole in the house. Then its on to final touch ups and details.

Alas..(or Hurray!) The end is near.