Thanks for the input Perry and Lazy, its still a work in progress.
I think it would be okay for a few months with a good primer and two coats of paint, but would like something more permanent.
The upside for grafting will be that two or more colonies are right there in easy reach -no bending. It is amazingly simple to do the queen rearing over a queen excluder. There are two of these horizontal hives, will use one for NUCs, possibly mating NUCs and the other for growing the queen cells.
The way I designed the rims and enclosures will be a downside Lazy because it will be hard to get a hive tool in except from the front, but we'll see how much I regret the design real soon. Wanting to get bees in there within a week or two. Thinking about some preliminary grafts to harvest the royal jelly in readiness for the serious grafts as soon as one can see pink-eyed drones in the brood nest.
Perry, I'm wanting to improve the quality of cells and will work on conditions that produce well nourished queens. Randy Oliver recommends one of
THESE lighted magnifiers. Visibility is really good using these and the built-in light has promise.