Our first build - a vardo

[noseoil]

Incredible job on the build! Yes, the finish & details can take as much time as the build itself, but it's always worth the extra effort when it's finished. Looks like you will have some weight to haul as was mentioned. Any idea of the weight so far? If it's getting close, you may need to travel with empty tanks & top them off once you're close to your destination. Really enjoying the progress pictures & paint.

[Vedette]

Wow! Wow! Wow!
What else can one say?
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[Ned B]

Huzzah! What a wonderful build!!

[lgatlin]

Thanks all, for the kind words. We're making really slow progress at this point, and it's going to stop for about a month because we're taking off to go back to the midwest to visit the family for the holidays. But I have been painting the sides --

First, I draw with a light colored pencil to get the basic lines in. In this first picture, it's going to be a green man under the window. I've searched and found images online, then redrew or manipulated them to fit my design and spaces, then projected them onto the side with an old overhead projector I saved --

Then I painted an off-white base coat so I could use less coats of the colors. It gets it down so I can see it easier and so it won't wash off with the rain --

I forgot to take pics before I started adding the yellow on top. getting in all those lines in the beadboard takes time!
Then I can go back in and paint all the details, clean up the edges, and when the whole side is done, I'll give it a coat of varnish (acrylic). I finished one of the two tall panels on the side this week -- (the back one)



I'm hoping to get the other tall panel done this weekend, and with any luck, at least block out the three lower panels. Right now the other tall panel is partly done --

still rough, needs all the detail work. Here's a couple of close ups of what the finished panel looks like --



So -- just ornamentation right now, but it's getting there. We are looking forward to getting started on the interior at the first of the year. Between having to make a bunch of Christmas gifts and finishing up the end of the grading term for me, we haven't been able to work on the building aspect, although I can step out and paint for a half hour now and then. So I won't be posting for a bit but when we're back, it'll be with interior details!

[dales133]

Looking great.
Merry xmas and looking forward to some updates in the new year

[steve cowan]

I've never seen anything like it! You are an incredibly talented painter.Can't wait to see the interior done.Great job.

Steve

[felixx]

And the award for most artistic trailer goes too....

Seriously, this is beautiful. I admire your talent!

[rebapuck]

You have gone over the "kick it up a notch". You are at least 50 notches up. It's beautiful.

[aref_naa]

First off, I just wanted to say that this vardo is looking -amazing-. I've poked around the forums for a while, and last time I saw this build it was mostly frame still, and it's come a long way.

I did have one question, though- I'm kicking around the idea of building something similar, but I don't yet have a tow vehicle. I'm hoping to avoid a full-size pickup- do you have a rough idea of what your vardo weighs right now, or what you need to tow it?

[lgatlin]

I did have one question, though- I'm kicking around the idea of building something similar, but I don't yet have a tow vehicle. I'm hoping to avoid a full-size pickup- do you have a rough idea of what your vardo weighs right now, or what you need to tow it?

We haven't weighed it yet, although we may in the next week or so. So far, it's empty inside, just a shell. Right now, we're in the middle of planning our electrical.

Funny story: when we planned and measured this all, we mis-measured the space between our house and this tree we have. So tomorrow we have tree trimmers coming out to take the tree out (it needed to go anyway, but oops). So we haven't been able to get it out of the yard to check for weight, but we can do that soon.

I was hoping to be able to work on in through January, but got a grant at the last minute and had to spend January working on proposals. I did do some painting this week, the paint job on the one side is complete now, and as soon as they are done taking the tree out this week, we're going to move the vardo back into the driveway so we can get the interior going. These are the three half panels in the center under the window (I took the pic on the far left as the sun was going down, so the color is off)

This is the side for my husband -- my side will have the same kind of images, but California stuff instead of Indiana stuff.

So anyway, I'll hopefully have some updates soon -- maybe we can get it weighed and get those interior fittings started.

[dales133]

Very nice as usual.
Be interested to see the weight myself,and the interior fitout

[S. Heisley]

Beautiful work, as usual.

The 'oops' tree story is both funny and sad. ...Poor tree. Oh, well.... We all have to go sometime.

[lgatlin]

Got a little hiccup done, by having a tree removed --

so we can eventually remove our little Stardust vardo from the backyard....

Then we added a fantastic fan. Had a little challenge because the place we wanted it had a curved roof section, but we cut some curved pieces and it's nice and tight. This is before I touched up the roof paint job, but it's nice and watertight. Nothing like cutting a 14" hole in a roof you've worked hard to make watertight. We were really impressed with how rigid the PMF roof was -- the piece of roof we cut out was hard as a rock. That's reassuring.


We''ll have to make a custom interior fitting, since it sits at an angle and it's deeper in some parts than the interior piece that was provided.

We also mounted a 100w solar panel on the roof. We are getting our electrical mapped out this weekend, so we thought we'd start at the rooftop. The solar panel sits on the trolley top, and is bolted through the roof. We won't get it hooked up to the battery until we get all the wiring done, but at least it's up there out of the way. It sits up just a bit, we were worried about it adding height to the roof.

I mapped out the remaining side of the paint job this morning -- this will take me a week or two to paint here and there. This time the focus is on California (the Indiana side was for my husband).

just for comparison - this is the other side, complete:


This afternoon I am also going to start laying out the interior furniture and get it cut down to fit the angles.... Feels good to be getting back to work!

[Wolfgang92025]

Beautiful, just beautiful

You going to get a lot of attention on the road with your trailer.

[PKCSPT]

WOW