Making of a Man Cave - Valkyrie Accouterments

[ptgb]

Worked this weekend to organize the garage and to add items to make it my  Valk "Man Cave". Moved all my Valkyrie paraphernalia.






Picked up a scanner cheap on eBay, mounted it last week. Now I can hear what's going on with the jack-booted thugs, the hose draggers, and the evidence mangling technicians (EMTs). Also note the addition of my VRCC decal.






Hung this sweet, massive, poster that I had purchased from a fellow Valkyrie enthusiast about 4 years ago. It is 60"x45" so we couldn't put it up in the house. Picked up some plexiglass to protect it and put it up on the wall.






The major project of the weekend was my real-life, "States ridden" map that I built. I took it live. First, I printed out a US map that was six pages across and six pages down. Taped it all together and then cut out all the individual States. I then traced the cutouts onto a 1/2" piece of plywood.






Here is some of the other States and Great Lakes that didn't fit on the big board.






Spent the morning cutting out each State with a jigsaw and piecing them together.






Here are all the States in pieces parts put together like a puzzle. Laid this out on a piece of birch plywood (got birch cause it's flat and smooth) and traced the outline.






Cut the birch plywood to shape.






Used the internet "states ridden" graphic as a template for the colors. Picked up seven different colors and divided up the states according to the graphic.






Painted each group of states their assigned colors. Plus painted the Great Lakes dark blue.






Painted the birch plywood USA, black.







Here is all the states put back together with their colors.







Used construction adhesive to attach the States that I have ridden in. It is drying right now and will be mounted on the wall later this week.






All in all, a very productive.... yet tiring day. My whole body aches.

[eric in md]

   great work  now you have to get riding ..

[ptgb]

 great work  now you have to get riding ..

Yeah, that's the sad part. The batteries aren't even back in the Valks yet. This is the latest in the year, ever, that I have not had the bikes out.

...Gonna be fixing that very soon.

[Misfit]

 

[oxfordhog]

Nice work! 

[Oklahoma_Valk]

Wow. Very cool.

[saddlesore]

This may be a dumb question but is there a key to the colors?

Also, save that stuff for rainy days, ride in the sun.  

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

I love the garage Pete     Cool work on the map also.

[Willow]

Too cool!   

My envy is deep.    

[ptgb]

This may be a dumb question but is there a key to the colors?

Also, save that stuff for rainy days, ride in the sun.  

The colors used were directly from the "Visited States Map" website.

http://www.visitedstatesmap.com/

There is no significance to the colors used, other than using the website as a color template, allowed the colors to be distributed without adjacent States being the same color. The hardware store didn't have purple in the Kylon Fusion, so I went with maroon in place of the purple.

As far as saving work for rainy days, luckily, today was a washout. But honestly, yesterday was sunny and 70's, but I was out there moving stuff from the old garage to new. Sigh.

[Hoser]

 great work  now you have to get riding ..

Yeah, that's the sad part. The batteries aren't even back in the Valks yet. This is the latest in the year, ever, that I have not had the bikes out.

...Gonna be fixing that very soon.

Well, that's easy to figure why.  You gotta set down the tools and get back on the road.  You do realize that I am intensively jealous of your man cave, don't you? I'm thinkin of burning mine down, now!            Hoser

[henry 008]

very cool pete, cant wait to see it in person!

[BobB]

Nice touches on your man cave/garage.  I love the neon sign.  Below are the doors to my basement workshop where the Valk spends the winters.



     

[mmurffy03]

u need this one

[six2go #152]

" and the evidence mangling technicians (EMTs). "

Man O Man, Fudgie's gonna love that one. 

[ptgb]

u need this one

Why, yes I do.... selling?

[#2944]

ptgb, Nice "cave" and great map ideas, be a good winter project a few months from now.

Hoser, your garage is like mine.... lots of character, eheh a story behind every nail in the wall, stain on the floor and shelves full of half used "just can't throw that aways"....
Zots

[mmurffy03]

I just got this off craigslist a month or so ago but if ever a space deserved one it would be your cave

[Spirited-6]

Too cool!   

My envy is deep.    


I agree with Willow. You are amazing with your skills and drive. Reminds of me 40 years ago. I enjoy watching you work.  Keep up the great work for us old guys to enjoy.

[Big Rig]

So what would one of those maps go for? 

[Hoser]

ptgb, Nice "cave" and great map ideas, be a good winter project a few months from now.

Hoser, your garage is like mine.... lots of character, eheh a story behind every nail in the wall, stain on the floor and shelves full of half used "just can't throw that aways"....
Zots

Boy, you got that right!  Paid off today, though.  I spent and hour digging thru my nuts and bolts bucket, and found a perfect match for the bolt than snapped on my kick stand a couple days ago.  I am still looking for a kickstand spring that was lost during the event. Hoser 

[Jess from VA]

Assume the worst, it probably did something sneaky like bounced off the floor and back up under the bike somewhere..............

As usual, you'll find it in the last place you look.   

[fon1961]

Awesome!

[big d]

Pete, your garage is turning out great. And fantastic job with the map, just love it.

[T-Bird]

I like the cabinets you have with the sliding see through doors. Where did you get them? They look like they maybe are from a lab.

[ptgb]

I like the cabinets you have with the sliding see through doors. Where did you get them? They look like they maybe are from a lab.

Yep, they are lab cabinets. I found an ad on Craigslist in Harrisburg, PA for wooden base cabinets. It ended up being a lab furniture distributor. He was trying to get rid of the wooden bases that have been in their warehouse for awhile. They are high quality solid plywood laminates. I got them for about $40-$50 each.

When I drove there to buy them. He only had one wooden wall cabinet. I asked if he had anymore. Didn't, but he said they had those metal ones in the warehouse from an "in stock" program that they had, but it didn't take off. He had about 20 of them.

He quoted a list price of $295 each... I offered him $400 for three of them ($133 each) and he accepted. They are about 14 gauge steel and are very high quality. Came with mounting brackets and everything. I should have bought a couple more for other areas, but I ran out of room on the trailer and in the truck.