For the project in Trinidad we are building a giant mechanical KRAKEN (a submarine of course) that was used by the gruffles in their high stakes pillaging. It's final home will be on the edge of the bumper boat pool and will be a perfect spot for a group photo, within the grasp of the giant octopus arms. The KRAKEN will be about thirty-two feet long overall. The tricky part is to build the mechanical beast in such a way that it can be coaxed into a shipping container and then after it's long journey be easily pulled out and reassembled onsite. The concept design was done some months ago.
We've never built a KRAKEN before but how hard could it be? The first step was to engineer a sturdy steel structure that is up to the task. We began that job today. We cut and welded some pretty heavy duty steel tubing and then cut and welded a bunch more. Even more steel was cut and bent and then welded into place, gradually working with smaller and smaller sizes of tubing. Once the basics were done we hoisted it all up in the air and put the frame on some heavy duty dolly wheels to make it easy to roll around the shop or outside if the weather is nice. By the end of the day we had the makings of a good sized KRAKEN. You may still have to use your imagination a little but I can see it clearly.
Tomorrow I'll start in on the pencil rod to more clearly define the final shape. This is very FUN stuff!
-grampa dan
