Project: Smoke-Stacked - Part 4

I only have four new pictures to share in this week's update, but a lot more work has been done between the pictures.  This week, I got very familiar with the paint brush, as I painted the exterior of every piece that will be involved with the smoker.

Here's a shot of the two main barrels, after their first coat of paint: 

 

After a second coat of paint, it was time for reassembly.  This is probably the part of the build I've been looking forward to the most.  There is just something great about actually seeing what the finished product will look like.  Here is the bottom barrel, all dressed up, and ready for the dance. I've got the stove door, both dampers, the bottom feet, and the top barrel support feet attached.  

 After the bottom barrel was ready to go, I just set the top barrel on top, so I could get the two collars on, as well as hang the door.  I still need to cut some aluminum to fill the gap between the bottom barrel dampers, and the top barrel collars.  There is about a 2" gap to fill in.

 Here is a close up of the hinges I used to attach the door. Aside from a very small minor glitch I'll have to resolve, this system looks like it's going to work well.  I used some T-hinges, but had to bend the long part, to accommodate for the curvature of the barrel.  Thanks to me extensive history with video games, I am proud to say I had ample thumb strength to bend them,

The only things left, are to attach the handle, the 3" sections of aluminum I need to connect the two barrels, attach the exhaust collar, and then attach the stove pipe and topper.  Then I can load it up with bricks, bend up my piece of expanded metal for a firebox to sit on top of the bricks, then we will be really to light it up!