# Workshop build epic



## Farmer Giles (25 Mar 2014)

Back in 2002 we moved from London to the north, selling our terraced house and buying farm "in need of repair". Every stick of timber except for 4 pitch pine beams were replaced and part of the roof, and the floor was flags on plain old earth so that had to come up and part of an old fire grate was used as a wall plate etc. etc. We also knocked though into the attached barn to make a bigger lounge and an extra bedroom for the planned family so my workshop space was no more.

I renovated a small outbuilding, again, woodworm and rot however it was too small, I couldn't get timber into a bandsaw and a table saw was out of the question. So in 2005 we had finished the driveway and I quickly put my claim in for a proper workshop before any more jobs came my way.

Here's the site before construction back in Feb 2005. The building was the old workshop downstairs, and upstairs was feed for pigs and chickens. You can see a vertical bit of timber in the foreground, that was to assess the approximate fall of the land.






This is the other direction showing the puny level/laser I used, I had to wait until it was dark to find the mark. This is not the only survey we did, but it was good enough for the high level diagrams we used to get planning permission.





Here's another view showing the slope of the site a bit more, I've always wanted a cellar so we thought we would use the slope to our advantage.





Next, initial construction.

Cheers
Andy


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## Farmer Giles (25 Mar 2014)

After a break for our first daughter and the usual planning delays, construction started in April 2008, the good news is that the 3 years allowed me to save up and I also acquired some stone and steel very cheaply. I got 90% of the steel for the same price as the remaining 10%. An old warehouse was being knocked down nearby and I got most of the steel at scrap value and a mate of mine was digging his field and unearthed and old collapsed outbuilding which provided most of the stone plus I bought some from a local mill demolition.

Can you see what it is yet? I haven't got any pictures of the excavation to hand, however this is a picture from the stone bit. Note we placed a lot of the steel on the container roof to hinder the light fingered persons, it made the container doors a bit stiff to close!





And here's a side view, the other side is almost completely into the hillside. The builder is trying to show he know how to use a level  





The doors are now cellars, the left one is my microbrewery, the right is general gardening tools etc. for now. You can see the steel before it goes to the fabricators









Next - the steel framed bits

Regards
Andy


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## Baldhead (25 Mar 2014)

Andy I really wish I was younger and fitter because I would have loved doing something like this, looking forward to the next instalment.

Baldhead


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## Farmer Giles (25 Mar 2014)

It took most of the summer and autumn to get the foundations dug for the stanchions and get the steel work fabricated however once we start assembling it then it went up in a couple of weekends. This is from late October, early November 2008. My job was digging the foundations for the columns, filling them with concrete and placing very large bolts into them in waxed cones to allow for "minor" adjustments later. All the fabrication and steel erection was subbed out.






The first floor is Kingspan metaldeck, effectively a big corrugated galvanised steel pan full of reinforced concrete, so the main workshop bit is suspended.

Mostly done, just need the roof and panelling on, and a big slab of concrete underneath, and the retaining walls etc. etc.





next - if I can find the pics, the panelling and roof

Cheers
Andy


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## Farmer Giles (25 Mar 2014)

Baldhead":2p0mp6bs said:


> Andy I really wish I was younger and fitter because I would have loved doing something like this, looking forward to the next instalment.
> 
> Baldhead



If I left it any later I wouldn't have done it either, we renovated our last two houses but it was nothing compared to this, we travelled from London every weekend for over 2 years to work on it before we moved into the house. We used to set off back to London at 2:00am Monday so we could slip past the M25 before it got busy, drop off the car at home then go straight to work. I took a 4 month sabbatical from work to finish off the main bits where we had contractors but the majority we did ourselves. The barn/workshop was mainly big heavy stuff and new construction so we had one builder and the fabricators/cladding guys plus a lot of help from the farmer next door who has loads of big machines but the rest we did ourselves. Good fun but hard work


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## Farmer Giles (26 Mar 2014)

I've found a couple of pics on laptop of the start of the cladding, the rest will have to wait until Friday when I get home.

The steel framed bit and the roof of the stone bit is covered in 50mm insulated Kingspan cladding, most of the downstairs apart from the first 5m will not be cladded as this is used for traditional barn purposes, tractors. trailers, over-wintering of animals et.c., the whole of the steel framed area will then be covered in "Yorkshire boarding" to make if blend in with other barns.

Roof in progress in April 2009










Cheers
Andy


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## Woodmonkey (26 Mar 2014)

Blimey that's going to be some workshop!


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## nathandavies (26 Mar 2014)

that's going to be a beautiful workshop. Hope you've got some nice big woodworking machines to fill it.


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## Farmer Giles (26 Mar 2014)

it is already filled! That was back in 2009, it was water tight by end 2009 and I've been filling it with stuff ever since. More picks to come.


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## Charlie Woody (26 Mar 2014)

Really looking forward to seeing more of this. It seems a huge project!


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## Farmer Giles (28 Mar 2014)

The next stages are harder to visualise as another ankle biter arrived and not long after we all went to work away for a year so the house and projects were semi-moth balled but some work did continue slowly however I have few photos, not as many as I wished. The cladding of the upstairs and a quarter of the downstairs was completed and retaining walls were added in block-work in preparation for facing stone.

Here's a picture of the side of the barn showing the block-work with ties sticking out ready for stone, unfortunately its Jan 2010 and its snowing heavily. You can also see the underside of the metal deck that holds the concrete 1st floor





This photo is looking the opposite way and shows the insulated cladding we used. This was confined to the roof and the upstairs of the steel framed part of the building except the first quarter of the downstairs.





The following photo shows the cladding only extending to both floors on the first 5 metre bay.





And now a big jump to today, all the barn retaining walls have been faced in stone and the cladding covered in Yorkshire boarding, effectively two layers of tanalised planks offset by 50%. The gap allows air to circulate but stops heavy drafts and most of the rain, perfect for animals. it also covers the cladding which is incongruous up in the Pennines and was a condition of the planning.





We finished the Yorkshire boarding in early 2013.

Next - the inside.

Cheers
Andy


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## Tierney (29 Mar 2014)

Very impressive.

DT


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## hanser (29 Mar 2014)

Very very nice!


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## morfa (29 Mar 2014)

Looks really nice.


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## billybuntus (29 Mar 2014)

Very nice and I do hope you appreciate the space (envious). I'd be over the moon with a quarter of that space. Most impressive.


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## n0legs (29 Mar 2014)

What a beauty of a workshop =D> 
Sir I am jealous.



N0legs is now going away to sulk


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## Farmer Giles (30 Mar 2014)

Thanks guys
I do appreciate the extra space however you will be surprised how it fills with junk rapidly!

Before we get on to the workshop proper, firstly the most important bit, the brewery. I've always brewed beer and until recently I was using a Burco "nappy" boiler and made 5 gallon batches. Well a mate convinced me I should move up to a "nano" brewery. Not quite a micro-brewery, its the size used by many for prototyping new beers. First clear out all the crud from one of the down stair cellars






Then paint it out and tile the floor






The fit the brewery, most of this is home made from 100 litre catering pots






Finally brew some beer and serve it via a tap on the barn wall using an old oak floor board off-cut






Cheers 
Andy


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## nathandavies (30 Mar 2014)

Bloody hell farmer giles. can we please see some tools and saw dust. (although a pint would be nice)


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## tbone (30 Mar 2014)

Very very very nice.


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## Farmer Giles (30 Mar 2014)

First some floor plans. At the moment its a mess, I'm in the middle of several jobs that will clear the workshop up, plus I'm about to give away a huge pile of old PCs and other IT stuff to a charity that will free up a large space and I have all sorts of junk to cull.

Current floorplan, with lots of junk missing,






And how it will be once I've moved the tractor downstairs, built a partition wall, finished the toylander for the kids and built a roubo bench and ........






May take a while  

The workshop is roughly divided into a metalwork side and a woodworking side, I've been working on lots of metal recently and not done a lot of woodwork since finishing the house, however I have a lot of jobs piling up and I'm in the process of fixing or replacing my woodworking tools.

Next - tool pics

Cheers
Andy


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## Lee J (31 Mar 2014)

that pint looks like a pint from my local, big head on that!


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## marcros (31 Mar 2014)

what is the tractor?


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## Farmer Giles (31 Mar 2014)

Lee J":qtnkatl3 said:


> that pint looks like a pint from my local, big head on that!



Yes, it was a bit lively, I had the CO2 on the carbonation (20 lb/in2) outlet not the serving (5 lb/in2) outlet on my gas board  It was during commissioning and I had to drink any mistakes so I wasn't too bothered


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## Farmer Giles (31 Mar 2014)

marcros":j96e34df said:


> what is the tractor?


Its a 1964 Fordson Super Dexta


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## marcros (31 Mar 2014)

my dad has bought, sold and played with of various types for as long as I have been alive, but I dont recall him having a dexter of any form. Mainly massey fergusons in the last few years, although there is a Massey Harris too. They normally stay for a few years and get changed for something else, a lot like woodworking machines really!


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## Farmer Giles (31 Mar 2014)

I've had this one for about 10 years, mainly in bits, its time I got her finished, that's what I shall be doing most of the summer while its spraying weather.


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## Grahamshed (31 Mar 2014)

Thats not a workshop, more like an airport departure lounge


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## bobblezard (31 Mar 2014)

A workshop with a brewery beneath - not sure if its genius or madness but I'd like to find out... A very impressive build and what a lovely spot too, enjoy the fruits of your labours


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## Farmer Giles (31 Mar 2014)

Thanks for the kind words guys, its been a long haul from a small shed in London and a garage in Doncaster before then. The reason it is so big was partially the fault of my neighbour, his logic is unquestionable " you can put a little 'un in a big 'un bit not a big 'un in a little 'un". So I extended it another 5m and funnily enough, it seem that most of that space is occupied with his stuff :lol: 

The main problems are the elements, even though I've insulated it, heating it would be a very costly and would have made the planning/building regs more complex as there are all sorts of pressure tests you need to do etc. Dehumidifying the workshop is also virtually impossible so rust and cold are major curses. However I have found that there are ways around it, or at least to minimise impact.

This is a milling machine I was in the process of renovating this winter






and a couple of days later, this happened literally overnight, big lump of cold iron, change in air pressure/humidity/temperature and suddenly you get condensation and rust.





Fortunately this was just light surface rust and I quickly removed it and covered it with a Dynax S50, a wax based product from Bilt Hamber that seems to work well however I'm experimenting with other stuff too.

I have built a cosy part in the stone part of the barn above the brewery ( no beer tap extended - yet). This is double insulated with kingspan and is kept reasonably warm with just a PC, printer etc. going, unless its really bitter outside. I work from here a day or so a week so and I also use it for electrical/electronic projects, I'm currently making my own heating controls with a raspberry pi and Arduino as I think commercial ones are pants. If its too cold in the workshop I come in here with a cuppa and work on something else. 





That's one of the reasons I'm building a partition in the workshop, and area with mainly woodworking tools with a wooden floor. I may put a small wood stove in here.

The last problem is security, it really galls me when stuff you have worked hard for is stolen, especially when you know they will be sold for peanuts. I have had one break-in but they got away with nothing as they couldn't get past the steel door. If they had they would have faced another plus several other security measures that I would rather not go into. I don't really have many expensive tools, most are ancient/refurbished and have little black market resale value however this wouldn't stop them. They broke through the Yorkshire boarding into the barn below, there's nothing to nick in there, at least not portable and the sliding door is unlocked anyway!

Next, the workshop in more detail.





Cheers
Andy


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## Random Orbital Bob (31 Mar 2014)

bobblezard":2s5ngu9r said:


> A workshop with a brewery beneath - not sure if its genius or madness but I'd like to find out... A very impressive build and what a lovely spot too, enjoy the fruits of your labours



That's it, stick a lap dancing bar in the cellar and a live music venue on the mezzanine and you'll have sex, drugs and rock n roll


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## Farmer Giles (31 Mar 2014)

Random Orbital Bob":2iwx4qm1 said:


> bobblezard":2iwx4qm1 said:
> 
> 
> > A workshop with a brewery beneath - not sure if its genius or madness but I'd like to find out... A very impressive build and what a lovely spot too, enjoy the fruits of your labours
> ...



I do have a drum kit in it, not that I can play or have ever shown any inclination to play, however my ageing parents thought it would be a good birthday present and their neighbours were getting rid of it. The kids make a din on it and I plan to move it somewhere else very soon however I don't think I can get away with getting rid of it just yet.

We had our wedding reception in the downstairs barn last year, we had a mates ska band playing and large quantities of ale and a very sunny day, brilliant!


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## Grahamshed (1 Apr 2014)

If the sex and drugs didn't kill me then the rock n roll certainly would


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## Farmer Giles (2 Apr 2014)

I found a few more pics of the barn/workshop build in progress.

Here's the first two 5m sections being built. In this shot you can seen how much the land falls away by the amount the foundation of the next two pillars become get higher. The foundations go well down and are twice as wide as needed, for the sake of a couple of extra cubes of concrete I have piece of mind. I had some old concrete drainage rings knocking about the farm from the previous owners, these plus some shuttering formed the concrete pillars as the land sloped away.









You can see the sections of metaldeck ready to be "shot" onto the beams on this photo.





Here's a shot the other way. There is an existing concrete base from the wooden stables that were here before I bought the place, evidently they had blown away a few times. I cut through the concrete base for the foundations, once the barn was built and the inside of the barn was levelled with hardcore, it was wackered down periodically but left for 2 years before we put a good 6" of reinforced concrete over the whole downstairs including the old base. At the deepest point the infill was about 5 foot deep and it settled about 4" to 6" over 2 years so the wait was worth it otherwise the concrete would have been flapping in the breeze at one end. It also allowed me to save up!





Cheers
Andy


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## PAUL_TDI (4 Apr 2014)

just WOW! i can only dream of having something as amazing as that when I'm older.

As you have technology in the building surely it would be fairly easy to get some good CCTV running hooked up to a hard drive?


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## Farmer Giles (5 Apr 2014)

PAUL_TDI":g2djceee said:


> just WOW! i can only dream of having something as amazing as that when I'm older.
> 
> As you have technology in the building surely it would be fairly easy to get some good CCTV running hooked up to a hard drive?



Thanks Paul  

Yes it would be easy wouldn't it :wink: 

The problem with CCTV is that they lead to very few convictions but they do have a deterrent and alarm value. I have motion detection set up, not on the camera as that is pants, but on the server and that can distinguish between a tree in the wind and a person/car better. That can then alert me and send pictures off site.

I have other anti theft measures but I don't want to go into too much detail!

Regards
Andy


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## Grahamshed (5 Apr 2014)

Farmer Giles":1tk1lj9b said:


> I have other anti theft measures but I don't want to go into too much detail!
> 
> Regards
> Andy



Woof Woof ??


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## morfa (5 Apr 2014)

Look. All these pictures of the building are nice and all, but. When. Are. We. Going. To. See. The. TOOLS!


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## Farmer Giles (6 Apr 2014)

I'm getting around to that bit, just creating a bit of tension first  I'm currently on a mini-break with the family so away from the workshop. Went to the national space centre yesterday, very good, kids loved it. I wanted to go to the pumping station next door but we run out of time. There seemed to be some kind of Trekkie convention on, more phasors, tri-croders and communicators than you could shake a stick at.

Workshop pics Monday, honest :wink:


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## Smouser (6 Apr 2014)

Cool workshop


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## Farmer Giles (7 Apr 2014)

Here's a general picture of the workshop from the entrance. it is a mess at the moment as I have too many projects on the go, too little time and I need to sell some kit plus I'm in the middle of sorting stuff out and dumping some old tat. You may spot that there are two RAS, I need to sell the Dewalt one. The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted a tow hitch on the RSJ on the top left. This is to attach a winch, there are several step up to the workshop entrance, I put ramp on this, strap heavy stuff on a pallet truck then wheel it up, using the winch as a safety measure. The lathe came up this way.





Here's another general view, you can see the RSJ used as a hoist carrier and the plate in the floor which can be removed to hoist stuff up from the barn below.





Clockwise from the door is milling machine and lathe. The milling machine is an 1960's Tom Senior light vertical and I'm just in the middle of rewiring it after rebuilding most of it. It should replace the Warco mill/drill in the next photo. The lathe is a 1950's Colchester Chipmaster, this needs a bit of TLC on the carriage but the rest is good.





This is the metalwork bench, its 50mm box section with a 10mm plate top. The Warco mill drill is very good drill, milling is average but so are my skills :lol:. The big red wheel on the right is the flywheel of my Rapidor mechanical hacksaw that I renovated last year, the design hasn't changed much since the 1880s although this one is probably from the 1950s.


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## Farmer Giles (7 Apr 2014)

Now it gets really messy, this is the back bit where I store stuff and I'm renovating a 1963 Fordson super dexta. The drum kit is going to be moved out and the piles of PCS and cabling gone plus all the long stock will be sorted and moved. The engine won't be on the stand much longer and the engine hoist folds up, I use this for moving stuff around the workshop. The new floor plan is on an earlier post.






Now to some woodworking tools  Here's my Axi morticer, Elecktra Beckum moulder with burned out motor and my extractor. I'm still considering what to do with the moulder however the plan is to replace my router table with one. The extractor may get moved into the barn below so there's less noise.





Here's my DeWalt PT, reliable and cost me 50 quid about 12 years ago from a mate who had to move into a small flat. Just used it to size some battens for a motorised toy landrover I'm making for the kids





Here's the trend router table, old Faithful mitre saw and Startrite band saw. The router table needs to go, I have a router to put in it, I never use it. The mitre saw was the mainstay of the house renovation, the blade needs attention but when bolted to a wheeled box like this is useful for all those jobs where you cant bring the work to the tools. The band saw is sometimes problematic to start, i suspect the start capacitors however I haven't got around to looking at it properly yet. I've just used it for resawing some oak and could do with a clean.


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## Farmer Giles (7 Apr 2014)

Here's my "new" RAS that I bought off a forum member, it came with a nice table however I had already started making a "Mr Sawdust" table so I'm trying that first.





Basically its two pieces of MDF with some steel bars epoxied into grooves routed in the MDF. The bars and not equidistant, they get closer near the fence and you need to make sure they don't interfere with the mounting holes on the RAS.





Here's my belt sander, not the best tool, tries to eat itself while centring a new belt and vibrates like hell.





Next is my horizontal milling machine, a 1950s Tom Senior M1 that I renovated last year. It has the vertical knckle head fitted at the moment but will be predominantly used in horizontal mode, this will be moved to the "metal work" side of the workshop once I have moved some stuff out.


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## Farmer Giles (7 Apr 2014)

Next is my small storage area, nuts, bolts screw, small tools whoever this is very much work in progress, I have only got the Raaco drawers and the Bisley drawers and the bigger metal drawers in the last few months and I'm slowly sifting through all sorts of boxes to tidy the away properly, I even bought a nice labelling machine. I just got sick of knowing I had the nut/bolt/screw/tool but couldn't find it.





And back to the entrance which is on the right. The bench on the right came with the house, its wooden but with a steel top and a vice. The bench on the left is the assembly bench made from an old kitchen worktop currently being used to sort out all the bits for the toy Land rover. The bike is my exercise bike that plugs into the PC on the top left, its a pain in the harris however I do need to keep fit, so I will be looking for a new home for this.





So you may be thinking, where's all his woodworking hand tools? They are currently salted away in various drawers awaiting me to partition off the first 5m of the workshop so I can create a nicer warmer space that I can put them. Basically its part of the grand plan that goes something like this

1.) Sell RAS and router table
2.) Dump loads of old PC stuff
3.) finish off kids toy car
4.) finish off tractor renovation
5.) Big tidy up and move stuff around a bit
6.) build partition and put down nice floor in that area
7.) build Roubo bench
8.) Start doing some proper woodwork without falling over stuff!

Cheers
Andy


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## Bluekingfisher (15 Feb 2015)

What? Selling that fantastic RAS I sold you  

A great tool but one I found had just the one use, cross cutting. Setting up,for other cuts just seemed so time consuming. I guess for a production shop where it could spend its day dimensioning timber into required lengths is where it should be.
I hope you find a good home for her.
David


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## Farmer Giles (17 Feb 2015)

Hi David
I had two, I sold its younger brother that was in more worn condition, it came out of a wood shop where they put an over sized blade on it. It was still serviceable and a friend in London had need of one but wasn't too fussed about precision.

I've made a "Mr Sawdust" table for yours but I've been sidetracked onto tractor renovation, pellet boiler and home heating control projects for now.

I'm looking after her 

Cheers
Andy


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## Indie Shed (18 Feb 2015)

I've enjoyed reading this thread, I wish my neighbours were as close as yours are, I wouldn't mind starting a new turning on the lathe at 10:30PM then!

Great thread and pics, cheers for sharing.


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## Farmer Giles (18 Feb 2015)

I'm glad you enjoyed it, now I've found my workshop I just need to find some more time......


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