Plane hobby takes off in Manchester
Retired IT director Adrian Hazeldine invested in a purpose built workshop at his home in Cheshire from Rubicon Garden Rooms, a Flintshire based company.
A model flying enthusiast is reaching for the skies thanks to Greater Manchester-honed aviation technology.
Retired IT director Adrian Hazeldine has invested in a purpose built workshop from Rubicon Garden Rooms, which specialises in using hi-tech wood fibre composites to simulate wood and slate.
The 20 square metre building at his home in Prestbury, Cheshire, stores the collector’s precious remote controlled model planes - many of them replicas of military planes, with wingspans of more than six feet.
The workshop is the perfect fit for the hobby because the technology behind the structure was developed using the 20 years of engineering experience Rubicon’s founder John Lyon picked up working at plane manufacturer Airbus at its Broughton site while training with the Engineering Enterprise Federation, based in Manchester.
John Lyon’s previous company also fitted out the Queen’s Flight, BAe146, which was based at Woodford, and worked with Manchester University in developing lightweight armoured doors for plane cockpits, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Adrian’s love of model flying took off three years ago after he retired from his job as an IT director with an insurance firm.
His hobby was beginning to take over his home until he hit on the idea of creating space in the garden.
“I wanted a purpose-built room and began researching what was out there,” said the member of South Cheshire Remote Control Society.
“Most seemed to be made of timber, which I didn’t really want as they would take a lot of looking after.
“I came across Rubicon Garden Rooms and their products really appealed as they are incredibly low maintenance and well insulated.”
Adrian, who has three children and four grandchildren, is married to Tracey, who is also delighted with the investment.
He said: “I previously had my model flying stuff in the house and frequently across the kitchen table as I’m not the tidiest of people.
“So it is a great relief to Tracey that everything is now contained in the garden room.”
The new building is five metres by four metres, with double doors, workbenches around three sides and a central island unit.
Adrian had a design in mind when he approached Rubicon to build his garden room and was delighted when this was translated into reality.
“I knew what I wanted and this was completely understood by John at Rubicon,” he said:
“Building the garden room was a challenge due to the layout and uneven nature of our garden.
“But it all worked well in the end and I now have a light, well insulated, low maintenance room which I really enjoy being in.
"I'm absolutely delighted with the outcome."