One of the centerpiece signs of our Trinidad project is a good sized sailing ship. Because each piece has to fit in sea cans for transport we are limited to seven foot six height and the same width (by forty feet long). The answer was to build the ship in sections. The biggest piece of the ship is now complete. We pulled it out of the giant MAGIC DOORS yesterday. It was a bit of a challenge as the ship weighed in at an estimated 10 -12,000 lbs.
Plan A was to build it on heavy duty castors and simply push it out. Unfortunately the castors failed in a spectacular fashion. Plan B was to replace the castors with heavier duty castors but these too failed before the ship was out of the door. Plan C was to jack the ship up, remove the castors and lower it onto old fashioned pipes which would act s rollers. It worked well. Our little tractor provided the pulling power and slow and easy was the order of the day. It came out without a scratch. From here a giant crane will do the heavy lifting. It will be lifted into an open top sea can in a week or two and then sent off to Trinidad. We now have enough features and signs completed to fill three containers with fourteen containers the total.
The crew did an awesome job on all the details.
-grampa dan
Posted by Rusty Bradley (Member # 6938) on :
Send that crew down my way when you're through with'um.
Posted by Neil D. Butler (Member # 661) on :
Coool! Are they sailing that down to Trinidad? I'd love to see it pass through the Panama Canal!
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
Just another day in the Land of Oz. Every creation tops the last one.
Posted by Dave Sherby (Member # 698) on :
Now all you have to do is hope that it will come out of the shipping container with as much care as it will have going in. The detail is spectacular.
Posted by Alicia B. Jennings (Member # 1272) on :
Gee, looks like lots of room for stow-aways!!!
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
Thanks all. You can be sure that I'll be down in Trinidad when the pieces are lifted back out of the containers and set in their permanent homes. There will be just as much care taken too as we really don't want to do a lot of repair.
Ray's comment sums up the feeling in our shop. We do our best to make sure every creation we make tops the last one - no matter what the scale. Peter and I lead a fabulous and fun team that does that very thing every single day.
Here's the gruffle tikis just finished this morning...
-grampa dan
[ October 23, 2014, 12:25 PM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
Oops double post
[ October 23, 2014, 12:25 PM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
Posted by Shirley Carron (Member # 2446) on :
Is the ship destined to be an actual ride at the theme park? I was wondering about the two holes on the side; if those were for transportation or mechanical attachment? Incredible work!
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
Shirley
This ship will act as the runway for the tenth hole of a mini golf. A six foot gangway will connect the ship to the dock on each side. Carpet will be laid on the gangways and through the ship to a cave on one side . The green for the hole will be in the cave. With a treasure chest of course.
We are building two other ships as well. The second will be situated in a splash pool and be safe for younger kids to interact with. The third ship will be a shipwreck with the pirate train going through the centre of the two halves of the broken ship. Golfers will interact with the stern portion of the ship.
-grampa dan
Posted by Raymond Chapman (Member # 361) on :
What...no windmill?
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
I've never built a windmill Raymond. But you can bet that if we did it wouldn't be your typical windmill. A few ideas immediately come to mind...
-grampa dan
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
Best to avoid windmills.... it may require Dan to wear a 'coat'.
Can't wait to see this fab gear in its new home!
[ November 07, 2014, 09:23 PM: Message edited by: Donna in BC ]
Posted by Ian Stewart-Koster (Member # 3500) on :
Thanks for the inspirations, Dan! Wonderful!
Posted by Deb Fowler (Member # 1039) on :
Thanks for sharing the inspirations, Dan!
I can think of about 6,000 stowaway ideas
Right Donna? I bet Cody could home school for a few weeks!
![[Smile]](smile.gif)