Vertical Drum Smoker - Part 1

I've been wanting a meat smoker for a while now but the really nice ones I like are a lot more expensive that I want to spend.  I noticed a quite a few DIY smokers on a number of websites.  I considered a several different designs, but finally chose to build a Vertical Drum Smoker.  It is also called a Ugly Drum Smoker, or UDS.  I'm not going to call my an Ugly Drum Smoker because my wife told me it can't be ugly if I want to keep it in our back yard.  So, I hope I can make it look pretty nice.

Here is the first photo of the drum I bough yesterday.  I wish I had been a little more careful picking out on with fewer dents, but this will do.  This one originally contained apple juice concentrate.

Note, I removed the photos because there were stored on Google+ and I'm still evaluating their recent changes to the terms of service.

Here it is with an electric hot plate smoking a few apple wood chips on a cast iron skillet.  I'm toying with the idea of making this one run on either charcoal or with an electric element.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to reach 225 degrees with this electric hotplate.  I'll have to test it again later.

I've started removing the paint and sanding the exterior so I can give it a fresh coat of heat resistant paint.  I was going to take another photo, but I ran out of daylight.

Tomorrow I hope to finish sanding and if I'm lucky, I'll get a coat of paint on it..