Work in Progress

Bedroom

Thu, 14 May 2009 08:17:49 -0700

Revisiting the bedroom...installed lighting, electrical, and doors for overhead storage and under bed storage. We found this hardware for the doors under the beds. It is originally designed for a barrister book case, but we were able to adapt it to make the doors slide in above the compartment, right underneath the bed’s platform.

The storage compartment doors closed, held shut with 2 magnets each. Curb side...

...and street side. The last, unfinished door is going to get an A/C duct, and a grille for the return air.

Storage compartments, one door open, one door closed.. This shows the way the door disappears into the bed frame.

The Overhead storage above the beds are now also finished. Doors, lights, wiring, all done.

...doors open. Three sprung hinges per door allowed us to delete the typical lid stay mechanisms.The doors simply swing up towards the ceiling. The ceiling lights were spaced so they still shine down between the opened doors.

three lights per side will supply ample light. For flexibility, we installed a circuit that can dim the lights, and/or cut two of the three halogens. The dimmers are of the variety that cut amperage to the lamps, so they can be used as energy saving devices.

Same treatment for the street side.

Today’s Temps: Mid 80’s
Today’s Tunes: ipod - Dave Matthews Band

Bath

Tue, 12 May 2009 07:48:39 -0700

How time flies. Much has happened since the last blog entry,on different levels...the Airstream has seem tremendous progress. Other news and events can be looked up next door in the news blog. We’ll keep this blog for work in progress.
The rear bath is now pretty much finished, aside from caulking the seams and installing a shower hose.

A closet was fitted into the street side corner, next to the toilet. It has a somewhat narrow front, to accommodate the space available, but widens towards the rear to maximize it’s capacity.
The doors were fitted with finger slits that also provide ventilation. We carried this over from the bedroom cabinetry and from the designs in the front room.

A wide angle shot of the left side of the bath. ...under construction...

The finished shower stall, sans trim parts.

The upper part of the shower stall.

a birds eye view, from late last night...

..and one more of the shower stall.

Today’s Tunes: KROQ FM
Today’s Temps: mid 80’s in the studio, high 80’s outside.

Posterior Interior

Sun, 5 Apr 2009 07:14:05 -0700

Much happened since the last update. The rest of the galley installations are now done, save for the doors. THe street side upper storage cabinet and it’s lower extension are fitted and installed, The lower part of the cabinet is going to house control panels and monitoring panels. The tank monitor, solar control panel, and inverter switch all go inside this panel. There should be room left for a small assortment of essential tools and spare fuses and light bulbs.

The main power panel has both the 120V and 12V circuit breakers and fuses in it. We figured that this was an easy way to access it all, without having to crawl underneath a compartment or inside a closet. It is near eye level, and should be easy to manage, if there is ever an electrical failure.

The curb side overhead storage is now capped, and sports a thermometer and clock, mounted flush and accessible through the inside of the cabinet.

The bedroom now has overhead lockers. These will have simple doors that swing up towards the ceiling, much like the original design of a 1968 Airstream.
We altered the sizing from original, though. Ours are deeper, and slightly higher to make them more useful for storage of blankets, bedding, and clothing articles. The bulkheads are double wall, and feature maple end caps.

The curb side, sen from the galley.

The bath closet and shelf above the rear window are finished, but no doors yet. A bunch of wiring and plumbing has also been done, although there’s much left to do in that category. The hanging and storage closet turned out much roomier than I had imagined. It can swallow bulky jackets on hangers, as well as a full suit or dress-up attire. Room for shoes on the bottom shelf, which is elevated to create a space for one of the heater circulators below.

This shows the angled closet wall, in turn it creates the space for the floor mounted toilet. We decided to angle the wall out towards the rear, to create a larger interior. The plan worked. we now have a wall close to the back curve, to provide a space to hang towels, lights, and a mirror on a telescoping trellis. The upper part of the cabinet will be divided and sectioned to the client’s needs, once we’re under way.

This little ledge will provide a clean way to mount the window treatment underneath, and a place to set small items while stationary. We’re shopping for small accent lights to mount underneath this. Maybe MR16 type lamps could work there. The solid flamed maple ledge is hand formed and sanded to conform to the rear curvature. Since it extends into a moist area, we gave it an extra helping of acrylic sealant over it’s tung oil finish.

This is where we stopped last night just before dark...the bathroom ceiling lights are in, three of them, to be exact. Two of them swivel, the center one is stationary. They have a total of 50W, so we’re adding a dimmer to allow for energy conservation while off the grid.

As always, stay tuned for more from the Area in the coming days. We are getting very close to completion on this project. It will be road ready in just a few more weeks.

Today’s temps: high 60’s
Today’s tunes: Tool, Dave Matthews Band, Steely Dan.

More from the Studio

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 20:03:55 -0700

A quick update on the Ambassador progress...we’ve had a few setbacks with broken tools, a shrinking wood supply, and shipping delays. But, we’re back on track now.
The brake system is now all plumbed in and ready to be filled and bled.

This is the right front brake, the lines are visible right below the wheel housing.

Same wheel, different camera angle.

The television mount is also in place, and properly reinforced from behind the divider wall.

This is with the nit moved forward slightly. It fits this wall just perfect. It’s a 22in HD widescreen with built in DVD player.

..a nice articulating mount..will be locked in place for travel.

This is the panel in it’s flattest position, against the wall.

The refrigerator has seen some action this week. We made front panels to match the interior wood, and fitted the unit in it’s fully insulated compartment.

A nice fit, and a clean look.
We might change the panels to a stainless panel, at a alter time, should the client decide to change them.

and from another angle. My apologies for the poorly lit pics in tis update.

Almost time to move into the bedroom area. We’re using a laser to line things up and to make sure everything is level and tight, as much as that is possible in a Vintage Airstream.

Today’s temps: 75F
Today’s tunes: Old School R&B by Commodores, Earth Wind and Fire, and Tower of Power.

Galley

Mon, 9 Mar 2009 20:49:41 -0700

Made some good progress on the galley today. The curb side Overhead cabinet is up, but still lacking doors and end cap. I made a small heat shield today. It adds nice detail to the cabinet, all the while protecting the underside above the cook top from heat and moisture from the cabinet. One of the lights is inside the heat shield, right above the cooktop. The three lights are wired invisibly, underneath a false floor inside the cabinet.

The cabinet, upside down, marked and drilled for recessed lights.

The heat shield with light. It has a very slight curve to the wide part.

Here it is installed on the cabinet.

In place, ready for doors and an end panel.

I am going to assemble the refrigerator cabinet tomorrow, and hopefully construct the street side overhead cabinet.
Today’s temps: mid 50’s
Today’s tunes: Diana Krall, Katie Melua, Annie Lennox