Nearing the final stretch of assembling his first kit airplane in the 24 x 24-foot basement of his Tacoma home, Harold Smith ran into a problem that brought the project to a screeching halt.

It had come time to mount the wings to the fuselage and there was no way that was going to be accomplished in the workspace Smith occupied at the time.

"It was like the ship in the bottle thing," said Smith, who had to remove the sliding glass door of the basement to get the fuselage out.

If the project was going to be completed, Smith had to find a new place to work.

And so in 1991, he became one of the first tenants to purchase a small condo hangar at Thun Field in Puyallup. Nearly 20 years and three kit airplanes later, the 71-year-old Air Force veteran and retired Alaska Airlines mechanic has transformed his condo hangar into the ultimate aviation man cave.

"If you spend a lot of time out there, you want to make it a comfortable workspace," Smith said.

Not to mention a place where a spouse can come spend some time as well.

"It's our living room away from home," said Toni, Harold's wife of 48 years. "We could stay there all night if we had to."

The loft of the hangar is insulated, fully furnished and carpeted wall-to-wall. Aviation memorabilia and artwork don the walls and a small television with rabbit ears sits in the corner. A small kitchenette with cupboards, a mini fridge, a microwave and a propane- powered burner make it a perfect setting for heating up leftovers.

Downstairs in the workshop, there's everything an airplane builder could ever need: tool boxes filled with tools, a table saw, drill press, arc welder and an engine hoist. Smith also installed a heating system so even the coldest days winter offers up are no deterrent to completing a project.

But perhaps the piece de resistance of the hangar is the fully functioning lavatory out of an Airbus 320.

Since there are no plumbing hookups in the hangars, porta potties are stationed at the end of each block of hangars. Toni wasn't crazy about using them, so Smith put out word he was looking for a lavatory out of an aircraft. After a fellow pilot spotted one at an airport in Hoquiam, Smith flew up there and purchased the unit for $100. He wired it for power and added a vacuum system, which allows it to flush and fill a small sink with water for washing. The lights and elevator music even come on once the door is closed.

"It was a fun project," Smith said.

Smith's latest project is building a Titan T-51 kit, a ¾ model scale of a P-51 Mustang that will be powered with a 168-horsepower motor.

"It's good therapy," he said of building airplanes. "It keeps my mind active. I'm always learning something and trying to solve different problems. I call it a jobby - a combination job/hobby."