Trophy Room......Finally Finished......Last Pics

Define clean.......they all just got dusted before they went up.......should be good for another 20 years....NO? I'll hire someone to come and clean them sometime, hell I don't even know how to do it properly...........Would you believe that it is an entirely dust free and climate controlled room?...........Ya, neither would I..........Actually I discussed this with the builder but the cost was prohibitive, what with air locks on the 2 door sets and HVAC and dehumidification and temperature control and light control and double-double pane windows......just couldn't justify or come up with the cost at the time, and my boys needed a home..........
 
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That is simply spectacular. Well done and thanks for details both with respect to the hunts and allowing us to follow along from packing them up to placing them in their new home. It's probably a good thing you live where you do - otherwise I'm sure there'd be a few dozen of us showing up at your door with bottles of scotch and eager ears.
 
Truly amazing collection. Thanks for sharing the process here.
I have a question that may have been asked and answered already. If so, I apologize.
Did you have to take any special measure when building as far as wall studs etc? The weight of those mounts must be significant.
Again, sorry if this has been answered. I read as many of the posts as I could but didn't see the answer.

Thanks again and I hope someday I'm sitting beside you some wedding or party. Would love to hear the stories.

Mike

Mike.......the entire room was first sheeted with 5/8 plywood and then drywalled and the outer walls are 2X8 consruction, but that was because of the height and truss weight......which are 60 ft long. But no special considerations really other than the 5/8 plywood to hold the screws.
 
5/8 plywood sounds like a very solid base to me. Lots of thought went into that trophy room obviously. Love it. I see by your user name and signature you're an aviation enthusiast. Pilot? Own aircraft?
 
5/8 plywood sounds like a very solid base to me. Lots of thought went into that trophy room obviously. Love it. I see by your user name and signature you're an aviation enthusiast. Pilot? Own aircraft?


Both........been flying since my early 20s and have owned several planes. Right now I have a Cherokee 6, or properly designated as a Piper PA 32-300. This is a six place single engine 300 HP non retract. Previous was a Cessna T337B with 2 turbo charged 240 HP engines and full retract. Before that was a Cessna 206 with a Horton STOL kit and before that was a Cessna 210-5 AKA 205..........Last time I looked I had about 3000 hrs PIC time.

Not so much an aviation enthusiast as a necessity living in the far north and running a service based company. I have done jobs from 80 miles out in the Beaufort Sea down to Prince George and from the Alaskan coast to Yellowknife. Biggest part of a lot of invoices was travel, so the faster the better and with so few roads in the far north flying is a much more viable and economical option than driving. Plus I had many, many clients that were fly in only, so it was either charter or learn to fly.
 
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Both........been flying since my early 20s and have owned several planes. Right now I have a Cherokee 6, or properly designated as a Piper PA 32-300. This is a six place single engine 300 HP non retract. Previous was a Cessna T337B with 2 turbo charged 240 HP engines and full retract. Before that was a Cessna 206 with a Horton STOL kit and before that was a Cessna 210-5 AKA 205..........Last time I looked I had about 3000 hrs PIC time.

Not so much an aviation enthusiast as a necessity living in the far north and running a service based company. I have done jobs from 80 miles out in the Beaufort Sea down to Prince George and from the Alaskan coast to Yellowknife. Biggest part of a lot of invoices was travel, so the faster the better and with so few roads in the far north flying is a much more viable and economical option than driving. Plus I had many, many clients that were fly in only, so it was either charter or learn to fly.

I spent a few years in Northern Ontario flying, so I know what you mean.
Right now I'm flying a surveillance aircraft for the Gov. Transport Canada. You may have seen one of our aircraft up your way. The red and white Dash 7. We do coastal surveillance and ice reconnaissance as well as work for "other" governmental agencies.
Not quite sure but I'd say I busted 10,000 hours about 6 months ago. At least half of that is PIC maybe even 6G. And mostly Dash 8. Roughy 10 years experience on that type now. With some others in between. High performance jet etc.
We have been known to get up your way. I will be in touch if and when we do. Dinner and drinks on me as long as you keep the hunting trophy stories going. Maybe a bit of flying talk in there too.
How'd you like the 337? Ever have one quit on ya? I hear it's a ##### on one engine. 210 and 206 are sweet rides.

Mike
 
Yes lost the front engine twice due to bad fuel management and they fly just fine on one engine, you lose about 40 Kts and that's it. The T337B is rated at over 21,000 ft on either engine single engine performance. Most who bad mouth the 337 have never flown one, they are without a doubt the safest twin in the sky and climb quite well even on one engine. The rear is more efficient than the front but she'll maintain 140 Kts on the rear alone and fly just like a 250 hp single engine and climb at 800 fpm on the rear engine. I know this for a fact. Way better single engine performance than any SXS twin. And the aerobatic capabilities on both engines is amazing, it is the only aircraft I have flown that will do a 90* bank turn for 270* before the nose starts to fall in and being turbo'd she'd climb at 12-1500 fpm right to 12,500.......She was a quick airplane but not really suited to the flying I was doing and I rolled her into a ball at Fort Selkirk strip due to a wind shear and not reacting fast enough. She was NOT a STOL aircraft by any sense of the term and not well suited to the garbage strips I was flying into and needed a full 1500 ft to fly. My 205 and 206 would quite easily come off 1000 ft........as will the Cherokee 6, off the ground with pilot, 1/2 fuel and 150 lbs of tools in about 600 ft, she's a sweet bush plane.

By the way I don't live in Whitehorse any longer. I'm now in south central B.C.........just north of Creston on the Kootenay Lake.
 
That's certainly a ringing endorsement for the 337. Aside from its short field capabilities I guess lol. I haven't flown a Cherokee but did fly an Arrow RG. Nice, fast plane. Comfortable. Wouldn't want it in any northern strips though. Caravan and Beech 99 were my bush steeds. Will never fly a Caravan again unless I'm dying of something terminal and decide to end it all. Because that's what will happen anyway. Had one fall out of the sky on me in light icing conditions at night. Went right into an incipient spin and we lost 2500" before recovering. Had just cycled the boots and inspected the wings. Not a fun time. We were over the Gulf of St-Lawrence at the time. There's no way that aircraft should be certified for flight into known icing.
What type of work do you do? Sounds interesting.
 
Scaravan's a fantastic utility aircraft but its icing certification likely should be pulled. We had one we timed out to the spar limit believe it was at the last company, very tough and capable machine with reasonable operating costs. They hauled lots of medivacs and bodies with one in northern Alberta, including in icing / northern winter ops and while it was never stalled there were a few modestly interesting moments. 206 is a workhorse, 185's good, Beaver and Wilga are great ;) There's a 337 in the hangar I use and it looks like a neat machine but never flown one, owner likes it just burns too much fuel he says for what it does and expensive to operate maintenance wise. Not an issue for Douglas, especially when it was write off.

I think the ultimate medium Canadian bush plane is the Turbo Otter, light/med is the Beaver, light the 185 (& Wilga ;) ), and the ultimate general Canadian utility helicopter has become the B2/B3. If I could own a Beaver on floats and an R66 life is made.
 
Scaravan's a fantastic utility aircraft but its icing certification likely should be pulled. We had one we timed out to the spar limit believe it was at the last company, very tough and capable machine with reasonable operating costs. They hauled lots of medivacs and bodies with one in northern Alberta, including in icing / northern winter ops and while it was never stalled there were a few modestly interesting moments. 206 is a workhorse, 185's good, Beaver and Wilga are great ;) There's a 337 in the hangar I use and it looks like a neat machine but never flown one, owner likes it just burns too much fuel he says for what it does and expensive to operate maintenance wise. Not an issue for Douglas, especially when it was write off.

I think the ultimate medium Canadian bush plane is the Turbo Otter, light/med is the Beaver, light the 185 (& Wilga ;) ), and the ultimate general Canadian utility helicopter has become the B2/B3. If I could own a Beaver on floats and an R66 life is made.

A Beaver on floats and an R66 would be a great way to go about life. The Murphy Moose is an interesting alternative to the Beaver/Otter. They are gaining popularity and have several engine options. A friend of mine here in NB has a 180 that I'm hoping to fly a bit. Get back to the grass roots world of flying. 15 years in the airlines tends to drive you into a rut. ILS to ILS and 12,000" runways everywhere.
I guess in terms of VFR use I would say the Caravan is a good platform. With the right engine and prop combo on amphibious floats it would be a great machine. I just never experienced that myself. Flew an early C208B.
 
Moose would be more interesting if it was certified, it seems it may get there with its popularity. Bush Hawk XP looks very interesting too. A shame Sealand's floated Wilga 2000 import scheme never really gained traction as they're a hell of a bush machine in the light category, but airframe components are a real issue. If you wanna puddle hop in big rocks it and the Beaver as the best alpine float rigs out there.
 
A flying friend has a Moose on amphibs and has the M14 Russian radial engine. More power than anyone needs but is quite a handful starting out off the dock. With an air bottle start there is only 2 start attempts so if it fires up on the first attempt he has to keep the throttle up until it warms up and that makes for some very interesting maneuvering on the water. He says the Moose doesn't respond like a normal aircraft and he just herds it along..... I'm sure it's not that bad but those are his words.
 
A flying friend has a Moose on amphibs and has the M14 Russian radial engine. More power than anyone needs but is quite a handful starting out off the dock. With an air bottle start there is only 2 start attempts so if it fires up on the first attempt he has to keep the throttle up until it warms up and that makes for some very interesting maneuvering on the water. He says the Moose doesn't respond like a normal aircraft and he just herds it along..... I'm sure it's not that bad but those are his words.

Sounds a bit dodgy.
Turbine power rules. :)
I agree that without certification the Moose isn't as appealing. Hopefully it's in the works.
 
Not a fan of air start, the old Wilga is the same. Cold weather starts are the same in a few floatplanes, they don't want to idle low and you have too much throttle on to stay docked, or on the ramp. Just have to taxi and warm up, can be an issue if operating off a river and you're not certain it isn't going to sputter and die yet.
 
So I was able to maneuver my forklift into my trophy room today, without incident. Now I can finally work on getting my boys off the floor and up on the walls where they belong.

This is what it looks like now, and I'll post pics as I go so y'all can see it come together.

Its official! Your rich!
 
Okay, so this is what I have done as of today...........it's the African wall and it is complete except for my 6 of the tiny 10.


This was as of lunch time or a little later..........



This is the sum total of today...............







How did all that stuff on the wall taste? How did ya get away with the Polar Bear? Thought they were a no no.
 
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