World War II Spitfire aeroplane being built from scratch in Queanbeyan shed

But in the middle, taking pride of place, is the aeroplane he's been building from scratch.

Ever since he was a child, Mr Paul has had a fascination with World War II Mark I Spitfire planes.

"I thought it was the best plane in the world. A lot of people would still argue it is the best plane in the world, the best plane ever designed," Mr Paul said.

But to buy one nowadays would cost about $2.5 million, "and that would be a fairly cheap one", Mr Paul said.

"Apart from that, the running costs, the maintenance of it to keep one of those things airborne is astronomical. I think they use something like 50 gallons of aviation gas an hour so just to keep the aviation gas up to it would probably be more expensive than what most people could afford."

So Mr Paul decided to build his own, an 80 per cent scaled replica of the real thing. Instead of running on a V12 engine like the original, his will run on a V8.

"It doesn't have quite as much drag, being smaller, and it doesn't have the same top speed as the original one but it will have a very similar performance otherwise."

Mr Paul said while most people bought kits to build experimental aircraft, he just purchased the plans.

"This is what they call scratch building. It's obviously the hardest way because you've got to be dedicated or slightly insane," he said.

"It's more of a journey than just a normal project like building a boat. I've been 10 years on this now, and I would like to be looking at, say, in another five years, getting close to flight testing. But we'll see."

He said it was a huge learning curve, particularly laminating, steaming and bending timber.

"Having an eye for detail is very important. You must be accurate and true otherwise this aeroplane will not fly straight and level properly," Mr Paul said.

"The truer you can build the frame, the wings and the tail, that combination must line up very well, at least within half a degree."

Mr Paul started his career in the construction industry as an apprentice joiner, and did building work in his younger years before becoming a building inspector.

He's now retired, and he needs to be to dedicate the time to his project, which he expects to take between 2500 to 3000 hours to complete.

Mr Paul is part of the Sport Aircraft Association of Australia and said the help other members of the group had provided him had been invaluable.

"To do something like this wholly and solely on your own, I think you're setting yourself up for failure," he said.

"There are, I have to say, a lot of these sorts of projects around the country that have stalled for that very reason. [There are] other reasons too - some people, their health just gives up as they get too old, which could very possibly happen to me."

Mr Paul said the Sport Aircraft Association inspectors had "a wealth of knowledge" that had helped him along the way.

Experimental aircraft are inspected in stages prior to the final flight.

"Having built it under the experimental category, it is a category authorised by CASA to be built by amateurs and flown accordingly," Mr Paul said.

"There are some restrictions on it to start with. After a while, after you've flown certain hours, you can fly pretty much anywhere with it just like a normal aircraft."

Mr Paul said he knew of one other person building this style of plane in Australia, and at least three in Canada. He's been keeping in touch with the Canadians, sharing parts and knowledge.

"We send each other photos and suggestions," he said.

"There's great camaraderie with other people doing similar projects."