Yesterday and today the two masts for the Viking ships were covered in concrete and sculpted by the crew. They'll be allowed to cure over the long weekend and then next week will get their colourful paint job. They look spectacular already and will look even better with the paint! They are massive and taper towards the top. As a point of reference the bottom plate is thirty inches across and the masts measure twenty eight feet tall.
Moving target
We've been looking forward to the loading of the target features for a while. This would be the first time we did a live load, which is loading a container while it was still on the truck. The driver is waiting and on the clock and so time was of the essence. Just the same, experience has taught us that everything needs to be checked and rechecked and the loading has to go strictly according to plan with safety being the top priority. We set the crane, hooked up the load and backed the truck into position. I was in the box with a two way radio to talk to the crane operator who would be working blind. We had two spotters and a helper to guide the load and watch from the outside. As the giant 11,000 pound feature came off the ground the wheels dropped off perfectly, as planned. The crane operator skillfully guided it into position and moved it through the container, inch by inch. It went perfectly smooth! The second smaller target, which weighed in at only 2,000 lbs was much easier and faster. In less than an hour the truck was on the way to port and within a few days the container with our features will be sailing to Dubai.
Can I get a lift?
As we made the final preparations for the features to be loaded into the shipping container tomorrow, one of the many things we needed to do was document how the monster pieces are to be unloaded, handled and then assembled when they get to Dubai. It's important and not a last minute thing for these hard points been engineered into the structures from the very start. Each piece has mounting points to keep the heavy pieces secure during the 11,500 kilometre journey. There are also lift points which will keep things balanced and safe during the tricky operation of locating the features. Finally the pieces need to be precisely reassembled onsite. The hardest part is that once assembled these mounting and lifting points need to blend into the feature and NOT be noticeable.
