Twenty-eight complete - eight to go!

Peter and I drew up a concept drawing for NEBs Fun World bowling alley last fall. The concepts mapped out the overall look and some small sample pieces set the standard for the textures and colours for the crew. Then we began work. The bowling alley is more than 300 feet wide with fifty-two lanes. To facilitate the shipping and handling of the pieces we broke the long wall into twenty-six pieces plus five pieces up each side of the lanes. The tricky part is to maintain a consistent look throughout the project, even though the bulk of it has already been shipped. The time form the first to the last piece will be a span of five months. None of the pieces are identically the same but each piece flows into the next for a consistent look. To make sure everything matched we numbered each section and photographed them. We then referred to those photos as we worked on the adjacent panels.  

We won't see it all together until it is all installed but we are confident it will fit together seamlessly. The first two side wall panels were moved from the shop into storage today. The crew did an awesome job of painting them!

Stuffing it full!

This morning, Peter and I got the jump on loading the semi trailer soon to be bound for NEBs in Oshawa, Ontario. We gently but firmly stuffed the trailer with the last twelve of the arch pieces for the front of the bowling alley. After these pictures were taken we pushed breathing to the front of the trailer and blocked it into position for the journey. This leaves just enough room at the back of the trailer for the arches, beams and posts which will loaded first thing tomorrow morning. The trailer is to be picked up at 1:00 pm. The shop will be strangely empty by lunch time tomorrow. But that emptiness won't last long as we switch gears for the next few weeks and begin serious work on the PNE project.

GREAT JOB!

While the crew sent us progress pics of themselves eating cookies and playing cards, the truth is they were indeed working very hard! Peter and I returned from Florida this afternoon and I couldn't resist going out to the shop to take a look. The many pieces were all finished and looking fabulous! The skillfully applied paint and glazes brought the pieces to life! The crew did a GREAT JOB!

All of the pieces for the front of the fifty-two lanes of the bowling alley are now complete along with the first two of the ten arches for the sides of the alley. Tomorrow morning we begin the loading of the second semi trailer which will begin it's journey to Oshawa, Ontario on Monday afternoon. I can hardly wait to see all of the hundreds of pieces fully assembled! It is going to be exciting!