Home base

A short video tour of the Flying Legend Au home base at Rylstone Air-park. Our hanger is located at the left hand side at the start of the video.

Click on logo to run video.

Enjoy..!

The Hangers End

With the building sagging 60 mm in the centre Mark and I lost another day with Maxi Shed sending measurements in a vain hope they would recognize the obvious design deficiencies. Without the boring details, the front of the building is a portal frame and the header is held level by the restraining moment in the connection between the roof beams and columns. 

To quote a line from the Australian classic movie The Castle - "Tell them they are dreaming". 

A quick site redesign of the building roof and using some of the material from the spare four [4] doors supplied we reinforced the roof by jacking the building back to where we left it then adding a lower chord at the front roof connection and trimmers to remove the unacceptable spring in the roof - another lost 4 days to Maxi Sheds.  

A weeks later I received an email from Maxi sheds stating the concrete was 35 mm to tight and it was all his fault but at least they wished us good luck - I was feeling the love.

Mick from AYR introduced me to a local builder willing to look at hanger construction and with another 62 hangers to be erected at the airpark it is a wise move for the locals to throw their hats into the ring. Damian meet me on site and after a quick talk was engaged to finish off the front doors and to flash the building. After a quick examination of the situation, we decided that to top hang was to invite more pain so the decision was made to install the bottom track. Eltrak were contacted and another $1100 was spent ordering track and wheels. The track fitted over the original bottom steel tacks that allowed the tracks to be fixed by lots and lots of self-drilling screws. The doors were easily modified to accept the roller assemblies and Mick rang to say that the doors were in and could be operated by a small child - woo hoo.

Finally, the site is at lockup and the last job for me is to paint the floors, obtain council approval to occupy. After that Mark and I will install the electrics and finally, I can begin the process of assembly of the aircraft in comfort.

So all good things come to an end and I can now retreat to bandage the wounds. A word from the now wise, shed erection is a spectator sport.

18 m x 15 m deep = 270 m sq

The start of the real story

More Hanger

Day 6 to Day 10: Work recommenced on 10th of February with more favourable conditions predicted with the temperature reaching about 30 degrees maximum during the working period, cool mornings and breezes so work progress at an even rate resulting in the frame being functionally assembled ready for the installation of the roof. 

The first half of the door runners were installed using portable electric hoists and straps to carefully edge the 12 meters 150 kg beam into its location.

The failure again of Maxi Sheds to respond to the request to supply a box missing connections bolts necessitated the hire and installation of Acro-Props to push the columns back into the vertical. A combination of the props and tensions rods pulled the shed back into the shape that it was left in on day 5.

Day 11:  With hope in our heart we return to start to install the roof. The work had been postponed for one day to miss the forecast rain - well the rain move forward a day to greet us. By 1 pm we had to call it quits as the 40 mm of rain predicted had arrived. 

The arrival of the rain was greeted by the farmers of Rylstone with great joy so we were the only sad sacks in town that day. The 19th of February was a lost day. 

Day 12: The sun was out and the first task was to fabricate and the erect the Spider from Mars. The roof sheets are 10 meters long and posed a real issue to put onto the roof frame for two men. A slide was fabricated from scrap timber and a sheet lifter provided the lift to align the slide to the roof angle.

The time had now come to put the spider and theory into practice. The Falcon was connected to the sheet after fitting into the spiders slide and the sheet was carefully moved across the roof - success and little physical effort. 

The rest of the day was spent trying to fit the roof sarking and mesh. Without the boring details, the day went to the combination of sarking and the wind. At the end and there were one sheet and a deep sense of despair. More beer and soul searching

Day 13: After discussing the problems over more beer we decided to use the sheet as a paperweight. A next sheet has raised the sarking dragged under the sheet. The 1800 wide safety mesh panel was cut in half and dragged under the sarking to allow fixing the sheet from the safety of the scissors lift. Victory but as slow as - it takes a day per panel to complete all the tasks and with 5 more to go there is only one way to finish - hard work..!

Day 14 to 15: Ditto - half a roof on, not finished but nailed to the rafters. The people who do this work for a living earn their money.....!

Back again:

Day 16 to 20: Starting on the 10th of March for more roof, mesh, foil and beer but we now have shelter from the heat and rain and somewhere to put the Tucano from Flying Legend as it is being packed at the factory on the 15th of March. Not that there is any pressure.

You will notice we have begun to sheet the walls and there is one uncompleted roof bay - you are looking at the need for desperate men to feel a sense of achievement. The roof is a nightmare of mesh and foil that requires the mesh to be tied to the frame, tied together and foil that has to be taped both sides - combined this creates a sense of a task that will never end, We both have glimpsed an insight of hell - never-ending roofing.....!.

Day 21 to 26: After many emails, the remaining connection bolts were finally extracted after 4 plus weeks from Maxi Sheds. To our shock instead of receiving the box of bolts that were requested they supplied a carton - enough to do the whole shed again. With them its either feast or famine. Back on the phone asking where the access door frame it was more - "I will get back to you!"

More beer..........definite pattern developing here.

The walls of this building are covered with an insulating foil that has two tasks - seal out the dust and prevent condensation forming on the inside of the roof and dripping on all below on those cold days. It is fixed to the purlins with carpet tape and after installation tapped both sides with aluminium tape. This creates a large aluminium insulated foil bag over the whole building. 

Mark continued to toil on the front of the building after the side wall was sheeted but it is beginning to look like a building. A call from Stratco that the door frames are on there way - at last but took many phone calls over 4 weeks.

Before leaving we aim to finish the opposite wall with the final job being the rear wall and doors. This will be in the next six days to put the building at lockup and I will never do this again.......!

I give up on Maxi Sheds and I guarantee this ends up in a Consumer Affairs as they have yet to refund the $160 for the express delivery of the brackets that arrived 2 days after the building - never again.

Finally, the solar panels, lights and fire system have to be installed but it will be undercover and I will have a hanger. Like all things in life, it takes money or time and striking the balance is an art I have to yet achieve but I built a hanger that is truly mine and I have the physical and mental scars to prove it!

This is for another week I conclude with the old adage "No pain, no gain" - how true but when does the pain stop.

Movement

Day 1: Finally the erection was to begin - very late but at least not never. Tess the Handyman and I arrived on site on Tuesday the 28th to a slab with the much-loved brackets fate sealed by trapping them in cement but with the same thought - "Hope these are all in the correct spots"

Bare Slab

After spending some time looking over the pile of metal that is to be a shed the columns were selected, assembled, erected and the Z's added. 

Tess and hindrance

Mick from AYR Concreting worked on the concrete apron and preparing an access ramp for equipment delivery. The temperature reached 38 degrees C but it was not unbearable with a cool breeze in the morning and by the end of the day we were quite pleased with ourselves.  

Day 2: Started with a good sort of the pile of metal that is the shed and ended with the roof truss assembled on the slab with the 9-meter beams moved there using AYR excavator. We were now so confident that the crane was ordered for 10:30 the next morning. The temperature had reached 39 degrees C with a cool breeze, again bearable.

A shed one day

Day 3: With the confidence that only the inexperienced can have the crane arrived right on time and we set up to lift the first truss and quickly all went the way of a bad No 2. The connection is 3 mm plate and is weak as paper with this kind of load when combined with the method of propping not working and the crane meter running. Steve and Dave the rigger suggested what we needed some straps and it was now time to listen to wiser heads and left in the car to pick up what was needed.

Franna Crane lifting the last beam

The next try was smoother with the Falcon now used as an anchor point - tow bars are very useful attached to 1700 kg of metal. It took about an hour a beam as each one has to have 2 x Z purlins to tie it back to the first beam but with a little overtime, we had all the beams up. The temperature reached 40 degrees C and there was a trend developing for the next day.

Fords Falcon acting as an anchor

Day 4: This was to be the day all the roof Z's were to be added. The day started with no breeze and it was predicted that it would reach 41 degrees giving something to really look forward too. All the Z's were up by 5 pm with the temperature forecast met plus some and we both had group thought at this point - beer - cold - lots.

The End

Day 5: All the bracing beams in the front bay were now installed and the Falcon freed from its shackles. All went well till the last beam was installed but after much checking, it was determined to be 80 mm too long. The rest of the day was spent installing all the tension rods with lots of wasted time watching the hips move back and forward as we tried to adjust the rods but just before leaving we believe that this is now in hand but that's for the second trip.

And a bloody good time was had by all.....!

The Brackets Revenge

Just when I thought that everything was fine an email arrived from Mudgee Council saying I did not have a building certificate. A check of the Development Application did indeed say I needed one and this was one day before a scheduled pour. The lost bracket time and lack of attention by myself has now come back to bite.

Rob rang me from the airport to ask what I was doing and I indicated that I was on it.

After all the problems Mick had borne, my failure to fully read the paperwork left me feeling I had just acquired a new life skill - the ability to walk under snail slime...!

The staff at the council were more than helpful in this and quickly emailed me a bill and all the forms that saved me hours of web trolling. A panic trip home, grab the paperwork scream back to work and start filling out the documents. Luckily, Maria, my wife is a legend in keeping the paper together and all the numbers were there.

A quick run to the fax with more pain for the credit card and it was all in Mudgee Councils fax machine. I rang the council and was told it had to be cleared by Friday or it would be next year - we had two days. I expected that and resigned myself to live under a canopy of snail slime for a while.

Rob Loneragan the developer of the Rylstone Air Park rang me to inquire to the status of the paperwork and I informed him that it was most likely not be finished this side of the New Year. Rob offered to speak to the council on my behalf and I was very thankful but not hopeful. The day at work went by and soon it was 5 pm and I decided to work back to clear paperwork.

Suddenly, I have mail and it's from the Mudgee council with a PDF of the Certificate of Construction, I quickly emailed Mick's office and all of us were now trying to contact Mick to say at least we had all the paper and the rest was his call.

It is only a week till Christmas and Rob Loneragan had in my opinion performed in keeping with the season a miracle of a biblical nature - bureaucratic approval in 8 hours....! 

Will we pour that is in the lap of the gods but in keeping with the Season, I now feel there may be hope for us all.....

A Merry Christmas to all.

The Brackets

It can only be said that decisions create our future and therein lies this story.

When ordering a hanger one has to select a method to bolt the shed to the slab, and at the time the default option was chosen over other types that involved bolting the legs onto the top of a concrete slab. The default option is a cast in the bracket and at the time of signing the pen wavered, but assurance was given that if they were needed early, it would be so.

Looking back now one can genuinely see the implication of that decision - I shall explain. 

These brackets create a point of intersection for the commencement of the two primary tasks in the project - the poring of the slab and erection of the building. Nothing can proceed if these brackets are not available. The DA approved plans require the building inspector to site the brackets to approve the concrete pour - no brackets, no slab. If you chose a bolted connection the link is broken - get the picture - no - read on.

In early November the hanger was ordered from Maxi Sheds in Queensland with the brackets only a few weeks away - no worries. Mick had me back on schedule by erecting the form-work, and all looked good. On the 12th of November, I had mail and was asked for the $165 for the delivery  - a little more just pain for the card but its all good.

The rest will take another month to reveal itself but creates a trail of uncountable emails - telephone calls  - cancelled pours - anger and finally total mental meltdown and leaves the writer purchasing Valium in the party pack..!

By late November the site is shut down, but finally, Maxi Sheds supplies a consignment note number, the brackets are in Mudgee, it's just down the road from the Airport. The contractors off to the depot to find a bag of bolts - no brackets - more emails to Maxi Sheds. 

Moving this drama to the first week of December and Maxi Sheds emails me to say the shed will be delivered on the 5th, but the brackets are still MIA. By the 9th noshed - more Valium - more emails and one feels they are now a cast member in Ground Hog Day. 

The shed delivery is now the 10th with the brackets. Finally, the shed arrives with all the hardware, but later that day a phone call gives me the words I cannot bear to hear - "no brackets". More phone calls, emails and I now am actively seeking something stronger than Valium.

Next day Maxi Sheds rings to say the brackets are on a truck to be delivered that day, but the following day an email from Mick says - "no brackets" - I am now a broken man......!

The resulting phone call to Maxi Sheds is not fit to be written down anywhere, but it went something like "I want @##%^*# brackets" -  BANG....!  

My wife entered the fray and rang Maxi sheds to see if the brackets would ever be delivered while the writer sat in a corner mumbling and munching on assorted tablets.

Maxi Sheds rang back later in the day to explain that the courier did not deliver to the address specified and he decided to give it to another courier but did not check if they would deliver to the address specified, guess the answer. Finally, the new courier agreed to provide to the airport, and on the 12th of December, we have brackets.

The moral of the story - NEVER chose cast in brackets and never take the word of the supplier that they will deliver before the shed.

Mick from AYR Concreting rode in to save the day and will pour on Thursday the 19th - Legend.

Postscript: The writer is now doing well in rehab and will be released for the pour.

Hanger Slab

At the same time I was trolling the web I spotted an advertisement for the Rylstone Air-Park and speaking to Ron Loneragan about Lot 49, and I was impressed by his plans and the future of the Air Park. The real game changer was the land is Torrens Title - I own the property. 

What do you do when you rent the land and are told to leave with the slab and building? 

Answer: Leave.

My wife and I looked at the numbers, and if we rented 3 bays it added up as an investment, and the Tucano had a home with friends. After much talk, design and finally quotations the money began to flow. In the end, we squeezed an 18 mm x 14.5 deep hanger from Maxi Sheds onto the block while still meeting the Council and Airpark rules.

Construction began in October 2013 using a local contractor AYR Concreting. Mick was a gem helping me pick up my schedule making up for lost time with the plans.  We were afraid the Council approval could take 4 additional weeks, and it was decided to set up the formwork before approval. And this was done in mid-October by Mick.

Big is it not..!

The Council surprised everyone and had the approval through in 2 weeks, so we were now back on schedule but had to get some critical brackets for the pour from Maxi Sheds. After more emails and more money they were to dispatched by courier in mid-November with the shed for delivery on the 29/11/13 - this is tight if not impossible for the building trade and erection is due to start on the first week of December - does not look good.