It was a busy day in the shop as we worked on the PNE project. Today's goal was to attach the galvanized mesh and also create and mount the sign to ready the piece for the sculpted concrete tomorrow. With the entire crew pulling together we made it with seconds to spare.
The bug has landed
With the welding finished on the operator's booth and ride sign it was time to 'fly' the iron flutterbye into place and start on the application of the galvanized lath. As we bolted the flutterbye into place the immense size of the piece became readily apparent. This is going to be a n amazing feature once we do the sculpting and painting! With the giant mechanical bug in place we determined the scale of the leaves. We plasma cut the pieces and then welded the stems into the center. To form the leaves we used an anvil and hammer. Peter was more than happy to help out as he loves to use the anvil at every opportunity. (To read the story of Peter and the anvil click here)
A little quick surgery
Today, it was all about welding up thousands of feet of pencil rod, carefully forming up the tree and globe armatures. In photographs it is extremely hard to see the result as it is very much like a wire render in a computer program - largely see through and yet defining exactly what is to come. We finished the bulk of the tree and then stood back to carefully analyze the result. It appeared a little bulky in a couple of areas compared to the concept design. This meant a little surgery was in order. We pared back the offending sections and then welded in some new rods to better fulfill the vision. By noon tomorrow the wiring will begin and soon after the sculpted concrete will follow.
