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Skykits Under Construction         

Construction began September 2, 2008 on our new 21,050 sf manufacturing facility at Henry County Airport (KPHT) Paris, Tennessee.  Finished cost of building, taxiway and apron will be in excess of two million dollars.

We would like to share the growth of our new facility with you.  At each stage of construction, new pictures will be posted here. Please check back often.

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

09-10-08

  Here are the folks at Bowman Works Inc. of Eads, TN placing the concrete.  The large white machine is a Laser Scree.  A laser emitter set up outside the picture is sending a signal to the two receiving units at opposite sides of the boom keeping it perfectly level as it is dragged backwards over the poured concrete.  You'll be able to play billiards on our floor.

  Doesn't this look like fun!  These are ride-on gasoline-powered trowels.  They spin and slide all over the floor removing any minor imperfections or high/low spots and making it perfectly smooth. 

  Here's the finished floor.  The lines are saw cuts every 10'x10'.  Bowman poured 21,050 sf of concrete, finished and saw cut it, all in one day.  The runway is in the background behind the row of small trees.  Construction will begin in a few weeks on the new taxiway and apron to our building.

09.16.08

  The first of six trucks unloads steel for Skykits' new facility.  Seeing all this steel gives us a better perspective on the size of the building.  It's going to be BIG!!

  Truck number seven arrives late in the day from Minnesota bringing the big doors.  This is the 60'x16'.  The 32'x10'6" for our showroom has already been unloaded.  These are one-piece hydraulic doors by Hydroswing.

  Our own Stonehenge.  By the way, this is typical Paris, TN weather - a few clouds in blue skies.

09.19.08

  You can see on the far side of the picture that the guys have installed the "girts" on our Stonehenge.  You can also see that they are now assembling the roof trusses and "purlins" prior to lifting the completed truss into place with a crane.

  Here's a closer shot of the trusses being assembled.

  I need a wider-angle lens to get the whole building in the shot.  To give you an idea of the building size, that portion where the fellows are standing is 120' wide and 145' long.

09.23.08

  They've started to put the trusses in place.

09.24.08

  Looking at the trusses from below.  That's 27'6" at the peak.

 Here's a shot far enough away to get the whole building in.  Notice the two fellows walking the beam which is about 6 inches wide.  They offered to let me try it but unfortunately I had an immediate appointment for a root canal.  Now, to find a dentist.

09.29.08

  Here is the last truss for building "A" being bolted together.  There are actually three buildings, A, B and C, each with a specific function. 

  Building "B" is now under construction while the tension cables are being installed on building A.

09.30.08

  Work has begun on the taxiway and apron.  Completion should be in sixty days.

  The track hoe is removing trees which are within the safety area of our taxiway.  That's a Citation jet just rotating from the 5000' runway.

No Date

  See anything unusual in this picture?  Hint: We have another project which is in the planning stage - animal and bird observation/conservation is part of it.  It's especially for, and only for, owners of Skykits airplanes.  Watch for an announcement in 2008. 

10.14.08

  This is a view of all three buildings, A, B & C,  with the steel basically completed.  Each building has a different roof design providing an interesting exterior presentation.

  The fellows are putting up the insulation and siding on the East wall. The R19 yellow insulation comes in large rolls which are visible lying on the cement.  You can see the white vinyl backing on the completed North wall.  In front of the fork lift is a 10'x10' overhead door opening to allow completed aircraft sub-assemblies to be taken out to the state-of-the-art paint booth installed along the Northeast side of the building (to the right of the fork lift).

  Here's a view from inside building B which is our showroom.  This is the 32' door opening which lines up with the taxiway.  That dump truck just brought another 10 cubic yards of fill.  There are 14,400 cubic yards of fill required to bring the taxiway and apron up to the necessary height for our facility - after which they'll lay down 8" of gravel and 4" of asphalt.  

10.29.08

  The truck is dumping gravel into the spreader on the bulldozer so it can be laid down evenly.  You can see the South side of the showroom.  Those window openings are 7' high and 16' wide.

  The roof is going on.  This is a standing seam roof with snap seams.

11.28.08

  The taxiway is almost complete - all that's left to do is the seal coat and stripe painting which may wait until Spring.  This is a picture taken from where Skykits' taxiway joins the main taxiway.  If you fly into our facility, you'll taxi straight up to the 32' showroom door.

  Here's a picture from the left side of the apron.  You can see how the showroom juts forward of the main hangar by 20'.  The 145' long left (North) side of the building has seven 3'x5' windows to let in light but keep solar heat to a minimum.  Only trim panels remain to be installed.  The building shell should be complete in a few more days.

  From the right side of the apron you can see the three different structures that make up Skykits' facility.  The showroom building "B" has a lot of glass but its double-pane lowE and the building is air conditioned so you'll be comfortable when viewing our airplanes.  The double door in the right-hand building "C" goes into the builder assist room and allows finished components to removed and taken to building "A" for final assembly.