My first "All to myself" space

[m151dave]

I recently moved from Wichita, Ks to Midwest City, Ok. In Wichita I had a two car garage, filled with family stuff and, go figure, two cars. No real space for me and my stuff to work in. A wood working shop of sorts in the basement, all projects limited to what could go through the basement door and up thw flights of stairs.

NOW, here in Oklahoma I have a smaller house, just the wife and me these days, with a two and a half car garage and best of all a separate 35 by 35 foot steel building on a concrete slab. MANCAVE!

I finally started getting rid of all the packing boxes and decided a steel building in Oklahoma in the summer is freaking hot! So to give me a climate controlled space for my smaller hobbies I decided to build an enclosed shop area. This would house my military collection, RC hobby stuff and all the tech manuals for my 1972 M151A2 1/4 ton truck that I restored.

I did most of the construction by myself so managing the build in reasonable steps was important. The shop was laid out for 11x22 feet. This incorporated a wall that already had a long bench built onto it and another wall with a lot of shelves already built onto it.

The remainder of the 35 foot shop will be used to house my jeep, wood tools and other stuff.

Entrance to the shop
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I built the wall in 8 foot sections so I could handle standing them up and shooting the nails into the slab by myself

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I covered the walls in chipboard on both sides



Installed the beer fridge



Installed the door and took a break


I put a window AC unit in the wall and a drop ceiling




Established boundaries






moved in some fixtures. I ended up running a couple of lights down through the middle of the room and two additional twin bulb fixtures over the bench. The extra lights have their own switches which were already there.




I still have to paint walls, but have started figuring out where things will go. I took a set of old bifold closet doors and re-purposed them into shelves. It was a cheap and easy way to have shelves plus the added benefit of getting the doors out of my hair out in the main shop.

I also re=purposed an old cabinet into a drill press stand. Adding casters to the bottom and the wiring on the back. I think it worked out pretty hood




This is my jeep, I bring it home from Kansas in a few weeks.

 

[sean Buick 76]

Very cool space, and I like the signage as well! Please keep us posted with updates!

 

[m151dave]

Very cool space, and I like the signage as well! Please keep us posted with updates!

Thank you.

I am a network engineer at Boeing and have been tasked with closing the network down in Wichita as we prepare to sell the facility. People know I like unusual signs and they give them to me. The radiation sign started it all years ago, we closed the stress lab and threw the sign away. I have magnets attached to the back so I did not have to drill holes in the door.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Awesome, thanks for posting.

I like the idea of a dropped ceiling, did one myself in part of my shed.

Regards

 

[m151dave]

Awesome, thanks for posting.

I like the idea of a dropped ceiling, did one myself in part of my shed.

Regards

thanks! I did it for ease of install. I have never done a sheetrock ceiling before and since I was doing this on a budget and by myself I went the drop ceiling route. Since I am air conditioning, insulation needs to be added above the tiles, but that will have to wait for another payday.

 

[HSpencer]

Great Shop!!! Super ideas and nice. I love all those "Area 51" warning signs!!!
Keep the pics coming!!!

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

 

[m151dave]

Started putting away more of the collection. It suffered a bit packed in the moving storage boxes.









I used simple 1x4 pine for trim on the doorway. Nothing fancy, no miters to complicate the build. I sawed strips out of the particle board to hide the joints where the boards butted together. Not sure that I will paint it. I am more interested in function than decorating. I also do not want it so fancy that I am afraid to work in it.

Hopefully this weekend I can start unpacking all the RC aircraft and tools.

I picked up two 12 outlet power strips that used to be inside a network cabinet. But I was not able to get the clips that held it into the rack so I will have to drill holes for mounting screws. I just need to miss the wires when drilling.

 

[Radio Ron w4ron]

I like your jeep, and you pilot helmets.
I also spotted a manpack radio on the shelf,
are you a ham?
What radio do you have in the jeep?

Good job on the shop so far, will be watching.

 

[m151dave]

Thank you Ron. The radio on the shelf is a PRC-77. That is what I have in the jeep as well, mounted in an amplifier base. Both work great. Yes I am a HAM KC0NZN

 

[PanelDeland]

Nice place Dave. The signage reminded me of a friend who has one on his wall "Rubber Tired Vehicles on this roadway only". Since the statute of limitations is up(several times) We were cruising down a country road where this sign was. He mentioned that someday he wanted to get that sign to hang on his wall. I stopped shifted to reverse and backed up. We stood on the trunk of my junker and took it down. That was in about '74. When I visited my Aunt about 3 years ago, he and his wife were living next door. That sign was still on the wall of his den.

 

[m151dave]

Today I put in my air lines. I used 3/8' air hose which I received for free, the ends having been cut off. But two 50' lengths were enough to get the job done.

I do not paint with the system, just air tools and stuff. I ran the air line to five different places in the shop. Pressurized the system and checked for leaks. All good.

Also painted some walls in the space I built in the main shop. I also scored a nice stand for my grinder which frees up bench space. Arranged all the shop tools so that they can be used without shuffling everything around.

All since Thursday! Been a good week.

 

[m151dave]

Added the call box phone and used a 6600 punch block I had laying around to split the phone line for the extra loud ringer and two other phones so I do not have to run to catch a ringing phone





This is a planer that my father-in-law left me. I have never had the space to make proper use of it.





Finally got space freed up to spread out the shop tools a little bit. Still have a lot of cleaning up to do. We really let it get out of control when the movers stored everything in the shop space.



As you can see, the tools suffered a bit in storage. Lots of work to do.

 

[m151dave]

Finally got my jeep to it's new home

 

[sean Buick 76]

I love all of your updates!!! You have a lot of cool stuff!!! I subscribed to your thread so I will get an e-mail each time you post... This way I will not miss any of your posts!

 

[m151dave]

Thank you Sean. I just want to share some of the fun I have. My wife supporting my interest certainly help.

I have had the jeep for many years. It is an un-cut M151A2 1/4 ton truck. When I was in Wichita, I was the exhibit director for the Vietnam displays. I was able to get out with almost all of my equipment and that was the foundation for the collection I started.

I founded a group with the museum called The Last Patrol which is a Vietnam reenactors group. We built a first generation Vietnam gun truck named Business As Usual. If you are on facebook search for the Kansas Museum of Military History. There is a chronicle of the build. We used only the tools and materials that were available during that period to forward area troops. The finished product has been review by some actual gun truck crewman who told us we got it so right it even smells like they remember. We took that as a success.

I am no longer in Wichita, Boeing Defense having moved my to Oklahoma City. No more friends at the museum or family, just me and the wife. So we are starting over with developing activities to occupy our down time. The shop build and now my jeep will keep me busy.

Unfortunately the jeep did not start at the Museum when I picked it up today so I have to tear into it and see what has gone wrong. Evidently no spark. Could be the coil, could be several things.

Again, thank you for the kind words. I will be sure to post the developments on the jeep as I do the troubleshooting and get her running again.

 

[m151dave]

Made a sign for my shop. My wife had bought me a sign that said mancave on it, but the Oklahoma weather made short work of the vinyl image that was attached to the metal. So I sanded it down and primed it. Then painted the whole thing yellow. After that I made a mask for the letters and applied that to the sign and sprayed the whole thing red. Remove the masking and then ypou got yourself a sign.

 

[HSpencer]

Love all your military items. That "***** 77" radio brought back lots of memories. You have a very cool shop and collection!!

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

 

[carap]

Welcome to the great state of Oklahoma. Pretty cool collection you have.

 

[m151dave]

Welcome to the great state of Oklahoma. Pretty cool collection you have.

Thanks! I really like it here

 

[m151dave]

Love all your military items. That "***** 77" radio brought back lots of memories. You have a very cool shop and collection!!

Best Regards
Herb Spencer

Thank you

 

[Lone Star Blaze]

Midwest City ?

who in the world would want to live there

 

[m151dave]

Midwest City ?

who in the world would want to live there

You and me I guess

 

[Lone Star Blaze]

You and me I guess

It's not a bad place I like it I have lived in worse for sure. Out of all the places I have lived only 2 others rank up there with MWC. Both of those were in Texas. I have lived several places in the OKC metro and this is the best so far by a long shot. We are currently looking for a new place in the Norman & Noble area because we want a few acres and MWC is pretty much landlocked. We have a great fire dept. and ambulance service. Sadly twice we have had to call them for my dad when he was in town visiting. Most of my neighbors or are quiet and keep out of other peoples business.

 

[m151dave]

It's not a bad place I like it I have lived in worse for sure. Out of all the places I have lived only 2 others rank up there with MWC. Both of those were in Texas. I have lived several places in the OKC metro and this is the best so far by a long shot. We are currently looking for a new place in the Norman & Noble area because we want a few acres and MWC is pretty much landlocked. We have a great fire dept. and ambulance service. Sadly twice we have had to call them for my dad when he was in town visiting. Most of my neighbors or are quiet and keep out of other peoples business.

I am out on the NE side. Nice quiet neighborhood. We have an acre and a half. We love it. Not to far from my job. I love airplanes, growing up in Wichita I was always around them. My Dad was in the industry, Boeing and Lear Jet, so I don't mind the aircraft flying overhead. We are happy.

 

[Lone Star Blaze]

My Father worked for Boeing in Seattle late 50's- early 70's. My kids love the planes I'm just now getting used to them. Don't mind them I just rarely saw a plane outside of an airport terminal growing up in middle of nowhere West Texas so having a Awacs buzz over my head while mowing the yard took some getting used.

 

[m151dave]

There are a lot of different aircraft to see overhead. Love that. My Dad helped to build the first Lear Jet. I got to see it fly for the first time. Will always cherish that memory. My favorite is the B52. I restored one for a museum in Wichita, I grew up with them. They are big and badassed and long lived.

 

[Lone Star Blaze]

I don't know many of the planes,just trying to figure why I have meet Canadian troops stationed here but never seen a Canadian plane I'm not big in to planes old trucks and motorcycles have my heart. I like DC-3's and that's about it. My boys can tell you all the planes it's crazy what they have soaked in, in the year and a half we have been in MWC. My oldest is looking in to joining the Civil Air Patrol.