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We are currently three weeks into a year long project that will be shipped and installed in Trinidad. For this project our crew will number ten - all that we can stuff into our shop and still get the work done. The bulk of the time for our team will be spent here in our shop and I'll be making lots of trips to the Caribbean to check on progress there and supervising the installation of our pieces. Near the end of the project we'll take a crew down for the final install, onsite work and the painting of about 300 feet of murals. It is going to be both exciting and challenging without a doubt.
As we get into the final stages of design after nine master plans and countless revisions (normal for a project of this size and complexity) the changes and additions are much smaller now. In the next week we should pretty much wrap up that phase of the project. The last good sized change (yesterday) saw the admissions building get moved about 30 feet into the park and an entrance courtyard being created in front. It will be inside a fenced area which meant we could resurrect a gate design I had done as the the first concept drawing for the project, almost a year ago. This idea had been first conceived almost a decade ago and I was anxious to incorporate it into the project if we could. It is going to be a fun one to build!
The parking lot in front of our shop is already getting very full with prefabricated armatures for features and signs. We'll load and send away the first containers in October. The sculpted concrete work began this week with seventeen benches first being done to establish the style and standard for the project. Once the crew was up to speed on that we sculpted our first medium sized piece yesterday...
The biggest challenge of this project is to create the pieces in such a way that they can all fit inside 40' shipping containers, (around 15 or so) travel safely to Trinidad and then easily be assembled on the site. Some of the pieces are quite tall (built in sections) and up to 30 feet long and weigh in at up to 10,000 lbs. 7'6 wide and 7'6 high is a very tight squeeze into a container. Our goal is to minimize our onsite work as much as possible.
Logistically this one is one of my most challenging yet with other components being fabricated all across Canada, the USA and as far away as Italy plus all of the onsite work and infrastructure being done in Trinidad. My job is make sure construction stays on schedule there while all the pieces arrive just in time and the park goes together as I imagined. The build is further complicated by the fact that we have built a temporary road into the theme park which will be dismantled as we build our way out. Once done there is no going back. One hiccup and everything will be delayed.
It is going to be FUN!
-grampa dan
[ August 30, 2014, 02:25 PM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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It looks like fun. Do you do anything to the concrete in terms of fillers to lessen the weight on a project like this? I have always wondered if using additives like those used in hypertufa would be beneficial. Supposedly hypertufa withstands freeze and thaw better than straight concrete as well as being lighter.
[ August 30, 2014, 03:42 PM: Message edited by: Kelly Thorson ]
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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Man, the things you can do with a little foam and mud.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3814 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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We do use an additive which contains fiberglass fibers and other additives to make it stronger. We have tried many different additives in the past, sometimes with poor results. These days I am pretty skeptical of miracle cures. Weight isn't nearly as big a concern as strength... once a piece needs a forklift or crane to lift it there isn't much difference. In Trinidad there are no worries about frost and here it isn't much of a problem either.
In our shop we put removable, heavy duty castors on everything we build making it easy to move the pieces around the shop as necessary. For this project we invested in over a hundred castors and will purchase even more as we proceed. As we load the pieces with forklift and crane the castors slide off to be used again.
I'll post more pictures as we proceed.
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Projects keep getting bigger, there is no end to what you can accomplish. This also puts an end to my plans to visit you early in 2015. You will be much too busy for any company. You will go down in history as one of the very best ever to imagine and develop such big projects. Absolutely the hero to all of us. Bill Riedel
-------------------- Bill Riedel Riedel Sign Co., Inc. 15 Warren Street Little Ferry, N.J. 07643 billsr@riedelsignco.com Posts: 2953 | From: Little Ferry, New Jersey, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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I see your crew in the first photo are all smiling - I can't imagine why! My projects are tiny in scale to yours, but I understand the feeling of fun and anxiety with new/challenging projects. What a thrill when it's all completed to actually view what you had imagined in your head at the beginning of the project. Super job - thank you for sharing it with us and can't wait to see more photos!
-------------------- Kathy Weeks Weeks-End Signs & Graphics Lake Elmo, Minnesota Posts: 249 | From: Lake Elmo, Minnesota | Registered: Mar 2009
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Those projects are so interesting! 10,000 lbs makes me think you ought to get a big seaworthy ship and take it from the west coast of B.C. down to the panama canal and over to Trinidad yourself, baby those pieces yourself!
Good luck in everything and I hope you enjoy all your trips to a nice warm tropical place!
-------------------- Deb Fowler
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Walt Disney (1901-1966) Posts: 5373 | From: Loves Park, Illinois | Registered: Aug 1999
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Dan, do you have stainless steel lining in a cast iron stomach to handle all that ulcer material you are bound to create, with all this construction? I hope you never lose that smile. Peace, Don
-------------------- Donald Miner ABCO Wholesale Neon 1168 Red Hill Creek Dobson, NC Posts: 842 | From: North Carolina | Registered: Apr 2006
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Doing work that is this much fun doesn't cause me stress. My days are full and my life is busy for sure but that doesn't have to mean stress. With many players on a job like this there are many calls each day and things to work out but it really isn't life or death. I just deal with one thing at a time and then move on to the next.
I have a wonderful team to help me out. I didn't do any of the welding on the cannons. little of the mudding and carving. I won't paint them either. That's the kind of crew we have... competent and professional yet very fun to be around and a pleasure to lead. They range in age from 22-36, most fresh out of university. The longest has been with us for five years with the bulk of them being here about one year. Peter my son, who leads the crew has fifteen years with the company.
We asked for and received healthy deposits, Draws are at the end of every month. We've built in healthy margins, both in time and money so there's room for things to go a little sideways once in a while as they often do. My days seldom go as planned and some days I get little actual physical work done but that comes with the work title and is t be expected.
I don't toss and turn at night wondering what I or the crew will do the next day, but rather decide each morning when I unlock the shop door.
The rewards are huge. Today I spent a couple hours with Phoebe up at Cultus Lake Adventure Park, our recently completed project. I watched (anonymously) as hundreds of families enjoyed themselves and created lifelong memories in the world we created there. I also enjoyed the park with Phoebe too and made some memories of our own.
Then I came home and went to my happy place on my lawnmower and as I moved around the large lawn I appreciated all we had and daydreamed about the exciting things we would do in the future to our property. After that I fired up the barbecue on our new back porch and cooked supper for our family as the sun set to the west.
It doesn't get better than that. There's no worries in Yarrow.
Life s great! There is nothing I would rather do.
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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When we sculpt our special mix of concrete we use a variety of tools. Once we are done we use a soft paint brush to get rid of the crumbles and smooth things out nicely. We are left with a very paintable surface. Anything we can imagine is now possible.
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Daily progress reports are found HERE in our company journal.
-dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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