For a Friend - Chicago Bears Mini-WSM

This is my 2nd mini-wsm build and I had more fun making this one than my first one (the one seen in my avatar pic). My friends are big Chicago Bears fans so I thought I'd help them let everyone know. Long story, short...I promised I'd make this for them so here it is. And I took pics to share with you all, and hopefully to inspire others to build one of their own! Let me be the first to admit that painting is not my strength here. But overall, I'm happy with it.

Completed product:


Logo closeup:


Thermometer, and temp probe hole (closed):


Name on the back (like a jersey). You can see where I messed up on the paint on the lettering.


Now for the details...let's start at the bottom!

Vent control, using a 1/4" steel rod. Bolted on both sides of the vent tabs, and bent the rod entirely so it doesn't jut out. Bending the rod like this also prevents the cover from getting caught on the rod. The end of the rod is about half an inch away from the bottom of the bowl. Also marked the ash catcher for open and closed positions.


Ash blocker. Nothing special here. Just used a can of chicken breast. It actually was too big (height) so I snipped off the lip and sanded it down. Now it fits. Also didn't bother making a standing charcoal grate. From using my other mini, felt it wasn't necessary. Besides, this way, it can hold more charcoal.


And now, to the pot. I cut out a 10" hole on the bottom (used party plate to trace circle). In my first mini, I cut out tabs to hold up my pan. But this time, I wanted to try something different.


View from the top.


As mentioned, I wanted to try something different to hold up the diffuser (pan). After thinking about this...a lot...I realized I have the steamer tray that could work! But first, I needed to cut out the lip. I also wanted to make sure the diffuser was sitting slightly higher to let heat/smoke through. So I bolted on 3 nuts to raise the pan.


View of the side. The steamer rack is about half an inch high, and with the bolts, the diffuser will be about another half inch from the bottom of the pot.


To be continued....

Because I cut off the lip to the steamer rack, I can rest it all the way at the bottom (upside down). I also drilled some more holes for good measure.


Closeup view of the tray. Sits nice and snug.


Diffuser/pan. 1" aluminum pan.


Pan on the upside down modded steamer rack. Remember, the pan is now sitting about 1/2" above the steamer rack.


Bottom rack now sits on the original notch for the steamer rack.


Top rack, about 4" from the top of the pot.


The Weber 6605 rib rack fits perfectly in the mini.


Bolt for top vent control. Pretty vanilla, but gets the job done.


Another view of the finished mini.


Thanks for looking! Will probably fire it up in a couple days to get the seasoning process going. Feel free to ask any questions if you have any!

Your a better friend, I made one for my Hawaii friend, it's nice but not that nice lol

Nice build

Awesome friend you are Yong! Very nice work!

Great idea using the bolts to elivate the diffuser. Top looking Mini, well done.

Good lookin Mini, nice job. How did you go about doing the 2 color paint job?

Painting this was a pain, but a learning process. I had to paint in layers. Made some mistakes, but was still fun.

Good looking mini! I like the one in your profile pic too!

Great looking Mini! Your friend is going to be the envy of every tailgater and where ever they choose to smoke/grill!

Nice job buddy.

Yong, your paint looks great. Remember, its a smoker, not a Porsche.

Bob H. said:

Yong, your paint looks great. Remember, its a smoker, not a Porsche.

Click to expand...

Ive seen some Porsche that have worse professional paint jobs than his non-professional job.

Haha, thx guys. My friends are using their smoker for the first time this weekend. So excited or them!

Awesome looking mini. What size is the diffuser? Im having a tuff time find in the right sized pan. And wen you do the steamer tray like that, do you think it will be a pain to clean all the drippings off?

Matt F said:

Awesome looking mini. What size is the diffuser? Im having a tuff time find in the right sized pan. And wen you do the steamer tray like that, do you think it will be a pain to clean all the drippings off?

Click to expand...

The diffuser is 10"x1", aluminum pan. Purchased from Amazon. And I don't it will be any harder to clean than any other method. I try to wipe down every now and then, but I never fully scrub to bring back that shine.

Yong-

One of the best paint jobs I have seen! Great job!

Can you tell me how you did the logo? Did you paint one color then put a decal on it? I am about to paint and I'm concerned about the decal not wanting to stick on the dried paint. What are your thoughts?

Tommy B said:

Yong-

One of the best paint jobs I have seen! Great job!

Can you tell me how you did the logo? Did you paint one color then put a decal on it? I am about to paint and I'm concerned about the decal not wanting to stick on the dried paint. What are your thoughts?

Click to expand...

Tommy I did a two color paint job on a recent build I did, and the problem I had was the decal lifted some of the red 1st coat when I removed it. Had to fill in part of it by hand. So what I did on the back side was use the outer part of the decal as a stencil and masked off the rest the pot, then sprayed the design on top of the black. The decal will stick to the paint but give it plenty of time to dry before applying and removing it.

Tommy B said:

Yong-

One of the best paint jobs I have seen! Great job!

Can you tell me how you did the logo? Did you paint one color then put a decal on it? I am about to paint and I'm concerned about the decal not wanting to stick on the dried paint. What are your thoughts?

Click to expand...

Thanks!
I'm not sure if you're talking about permanently using decal for a design...but I'm wary of using decal, unless it's meant to withstand high heat. Last thing I want to deal with is melting vinyl down the side of my mini.

With that said, I did a two-color paint job, like Doug did with his mini. The hardest part for me was when the two colors are directly touching each other, as you can see in the "Bears" and "Kim".

My first attempt, I messed up. In the "Bears" letters, I first tried to put on a base of orange (after spraying on primer), then stenciling in the letters with painters tape directly on the coat of orange to make the "Bears". I then painted over those stenciled letters in blue. My hope was to simply peel off that tape to reveal the orange underneath surrounded by the blue. But when I originally used an xacto knife to stencil in the "Bears" on top of the orange paint, I cut into the orange paint too...so when I peeled off the tape, the orange peeled off too. That sucked.

On my second attempt, I sprayed on the orange as a base again. But this time, I stenciled/cut the letters separately and just taped it on the side. I had to eyeball the centering and spacing. It took me a few tries to get it level and looking right. I did something similar to the "Kim" where as well.

On some parts, I didn't put the tape on firmly enough and some of the blue bled into the orange. On those parts, I sprayed some orange paint into a disposable cup and used a paintbrush to touch up the edges.

Yong and Tommy, sounds very familiar! Doing two colors on top of each other is a pia. I didn't do 2 colors this time, but something I tried on mine last week was to give the pot a light sanding with some 600 grit sand paper (could have used 400) just to buff the surface. Then cleaned it real well with lacquer thinner, then a 50/50 mix of vinegar/water everywhere except where my design was going to be. Because I wanted the original aluminum finish as my design.

Yong said:

My first attempt, I messed up. In the "Bears" letters, I first tried to put on a base of orange (after spraying on primer), then stenciling in the letters with painters tape directly on the coat of orange to make the "Bears". I then painted over those stenciled letters in blue. My hope was to simply peel off that tape to reveal the orange underneath surrounded by the blue. But when I originally used an xacto knife to stencil in the "Bears" on top of the orange paint, I cut into the orange paint too...so when I peeled off the tape, the orange peeled off too. That sucked.

On my second attempt, I sprayed on the orange as a base again. But this time, I stenciled/cut the letters separately and just taped it on the side. I had to eyeball the centering and spacing. It took me a few tries to get it level and looking right. I did something similar to the "Kim" where as well.

On some parts, I didn't put the tape on firmly enough and some of the blue bled into the orange. On those parts, I sprayed some orange paint into a disposable cup and used a paintbrush to touch up the edges.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I am planning on doing a two color design. The main color of the pot will be Blue and the design will be white. I had a custom decal made from a print shop to use as my design. I am not going to leave the decal on the smoker just use it as a guide as I am not a creative person!

Here is my plan
1. Prime, which I did last night
2. Spray two coats of white in the area I am painting my design.
3. Lightly sand any rough spots.
4. Stick the decal over the white.
5. Paint the rest of the pot blue.

After it has dried for 2-3 days I am going to very carefully peel off the decal to reveal the design. Do you see any potential problems using a method like this? I am using high heat engine paint. Did you paint a clear coat over your final paint job?