Part Eighteen: "Worth a Thousand Words"

At the very end of 2017

We are really excited to be making more progress!  Right now our focus has become cabinetry.  We are continuing on with our effort to stay away from 90꠶ angles, using angles and curves wherever we can.  It's definitely more interesting but the level of difficulty goes way up!  

So the next step is the Galley Cabinet.  There's not a lot to say about it really, so here's the pictures and I hope they will speak for themselves! 






The cabinet started out with the framing.  There was a lot of figuring out with the curves and locations of the drawers and such.  The most notable part of the cabinet is the curved corner.  We wondered for a long time if we would be able to pull it off!  So here we go!













    






We were unable to find the right materials to use for the curved corner.  So after much deliberation and frustration, we ended up making our own Bending Birch.  It really helps when you have good friends like Kent Smith who has excellent wood working tools!  Thanks Kent! 






After assembly we installed the Galley Cabinet temporarily into the coach to test fit and make any necessary adjustments

 



The time, labor and headaches were all worth it when we were able to see it in the camper!  It's truly a piece of art!

After a lot of labor and love, we finally arrived at the final product! We are now happy with the fitment, so the Galley Cabinet was removed and put back in the woodshop to apply layer after layer of beautiful lacquer to bring out the rich Birch figuring!



With the finishing completed, it's time to bring it back into the Astroliner to have the countertop fitted and installed.  This has been one of the most exciting things we've done to date!










As I like to say... "It's my new favorite thing!"  We're all very pleased with the way it turned out and we hope you like it too!  We made the decision early on to get all the walls and cabinets built, then come back at the end to do all the drawers and doors. We're hoping that will eliminate any accidental bumps and bruises on the finished surfaces.

Well...that's about all for now! But get ready, because the next installment will be all about the Dinette area and building in the curved bench seating!

Until then...
Happy Creating!

Michael and Carrie

Part Seventeen: "One Way or Another"

Winter, 2017

Hello again!  It's been a long time since our last post on the Astroliner project!  Truth is, we have a lot going on with our family and updating this blog has been way low on the list.  Our oldest daughter is working on having her second child, the next daughter is getting her drivers license and the two boys are keeping us continually on our toes!  

Personally, I am continuing my journey, recovering from Stage Four cancer.  At this time I now have the "all clear" and am happy to be a Survivor! I am now working through the aftermath of the treatments and the devastating effects it can cause on the human body.  Some things may pass in time, others may never go away.  Either way, I'm alive and I'm healed thanks to many answered prayers!

So hang on, and here we go! It's time to continue the progress on the Astroliner!  We are going to get this thing built one way or another!

 When we left off, almost 9 months ago, I wasn't in the greatest shape. My dad and brother were helping to keep the project going while I continued to recover. Since then, a lot has happened! All the interior walls have been completed and we moved on to cabinets and other interior pieces.




























































We will continue with the corner "nook" cabinets. It has a lower compartment that is accessible from the outside hatch and an upper compartment that is accessible from the inside.

























Once it was all built, we disassembled it and sprayed everything with clear Lacquer.  The cabin continues to become more and more beautiful as the Birch is installed.

With the lower cabinet completed, we moved on to the upper cabinet. As always, nothing is easy with the curves and angles! But we always seem to figure it out!






























As more and more things are built and installed, we began to install LED backlighting in specific areas. Indirect lighting has always appealed to me, so I wanted to find good places to put it where we could.

Alright! The corner nook Cabinets are finished. We now have three new spaces for storage!  This area took quite a bit of time to design, build, finish and install.  But, we are excited it is completed and we are ready to move on!  In our next segment, we are moving to the Galley area to start the process of building Galley Cabinets!  The cabinets will be very unique and feature rounded ends.  You won't want to miss it!

Don't forget to follow this blog for updates and drop us a line sometime!  We would love to hear from you!

Until then, Happy Creations!

Michael and Carrie