We had an extremely busy week in the shop. Matt & I manned the welders and laid down hundreds of feet of weld bead to permanently join the pieces. The biggest assembly was the metal gantry and cross beam. Matt completed the final welds this morning. We then pulled the completed assembly out of the shop and began fabricating the base structure which will support it. Matt did the measuring and cutting and I did my best to keep up welding the many pieces together. Once a minimal vertical structure was in place we lifted the gantry up on top. We kept the forklift in place under it as a safety measure. Then we measured and cut the balance of the uprights and the many cross braces needed to make things safe and sturdy over the long haul. We managed to complete the structure just before quitting time. The gantry was then carefully lowered and a shipping pallet started for it to be mounted to. Next week Matt will weld up the pencil rod armature for the rock work which will be sculpted over the base structure. I’ll start the fabrication of the large submarine. Stay tuned…