Hi Nat!
Gareth (Gasket), the OP here (don't worry Lemster, I'm still keeping an eye on the forum).
Lovely to hear from you - the alert actually popped up while I was watching episode 163, was a freaky coincidence! After watching over 100 hours of the uncut channel, ever since episode 1 (drawn in originally by Gordon's Escort, 6-years ago now) it's strange to be able to be able to say 'hello' but great to have the chance to say thank you to yourself and Cal for posting so much amazing content. The level of thought that goes into each of your builds is truly staggering. Course, after so much time I do feel programmed to believe every conversation in polite society should be started with a mug of Roundstone in hand
I build cars myself (Land Rovers and Range Rovers mainly but looking to track over into pre '87 BMWs) with a similar obsession to detail. We've nearly crossed paths over on the LR4x4 forum in the past. I'm currently working on an interesting RRC: I have an exceptionally late LHD 1993 2-door TDi from Portugal that is being married to a 1993 RHD V8 in parallel to a nut and bolt restoration to make the ultimate, final edition 2-door. I just need yourself and Stu to neglect Churchill for a bit to focus on your own RRCs so that you can inspire me to LS3 it

- I've been working on a very rare cross-bolted 3.5L RV8 for it up until now (reliability over the modest power gains in the larger capacity units).
We're finally breaking ground on the new workshop build after Christmas (a series of contractor let downs delayed it until now) - not massive at 100m2 - but effectively a miniature pro-spec restoration shop on our property (lift, air, mill, lathe, TIG, MIG & Spot), so no rates to worry about and ideal for one customer and one private project at a time. The plan is to showcase the two builds (RRC and a patina'd SIIA) I have in progress at the moment in the magazines and to try and drum up enough interest from them to win a single big commission per year rather than trying to do odd car jobs around work. I work in engineering project management for the majority of the time and am looking to reduce hours while I build up the shop side and to run project consultancy in parallel to the workshop. I mention this as some of the videos you've done (like on the Basecamp/Xero combination) have been great from a startup perspective too.
I didn't mention in my old post, but effectively the blast area is just used for medium sized things that don't fit in the cabinet (which in itself is a modified cheap-o unit with a metering valve and the suite of YouTube mods becoming quite effective), so things like axle casings and bulkheads. It's also handy for re-blasting things with surface rust. For anything bigger, like a body shell - I'd absolutely agree with you - my 40CFM unit wouldn't touch it in a sensible timeframe - I've considered an old road compressor too but my Mrs would kill me. For chassis I tend to acid dip at a place up in Preston (they get hot dip galv after so less worries about future paint damage) but I'll certainly need to outsource for blasting the shells of the RRC and BMW projects.
So, aside from the info on the Metco gun setup (which is a wonderful insight and gives me a good eBay search point to assemble a kit) - sincere thanks for sharing your work over these last few years. The builds are amazing and the knowledge I've gained on previously unknown processes is invaluable but the community you've built up in and around the workshop is a bit special - what a dream of a job your guys have.
Gareth.