I had plenty to do today, too much really - as always. But with the help of Bec, Donna and Sarah we made good progress on our other projects which had deadlines. To reward myself I decided to sneak in a few minutes of work on the excavator. The sculpt was already mixed and left over from the parade float so I quickly filled in the screw holes and then added the front and back cab window frames. Then by simply rolling the sculpting epoxy into balls of various sizes I pressed on the rocks onto the dirt pile. It didn't take long.
After supper I snuck back out to the ship for a few more minutes of fun. While I could have used some PVC or acrylic rods for the hydraulic cylinders I knew this sign would always be indoors. Wooden dowels were on hand and worked swell. a few pieces of 1/8"metal rod were bent to shape and glued in place for the hydraulic hoses. Some bits of an old plastic face shield were cut to shape and pressed into service for the mechanical linkage on the bucket. A piece of 3/18" steel rod formed the exhaust pipe. Since the primer bucket was handy I also whipped in some primer. The sign is now ready for paint.
Now I am really getting pressed for time but at least I will be able to give our students a better idea of how a sign like this comes together quickly when you break it down into little bits.
As always doing this project has given me five new ideas...
Stay tuned for the fun has just begun!
-dan
