So, we are closing tonight a show with probably one of the more difficult pieces I have worked on in awhile. Its the tree for Camelot... heres what it had to do...
-Roll on an off stage
-When onstage, it had to be completely solid with zero movement.
-Had to be climbable, including 4' out on each limb.
-pack in a truck
-twinkle with points of light
-and... look like a tree...
We decided to with with pneumatic actuating casters for this one. We bolted casters to UHMW (essentially cutting board material). Attachted to the UHMW we bolted an actuator that had 1" of travel and could lift around 200# at 100psi. We installed a tank that would hold around 120psi of air, enough to lift and drop the piece 6 times. The piece was plumbed so that air pressure both pushed the casters down and pulled them up.
More pictures are at the following places...
http://vansandtdesigns.com/portfolio/?page_id=275
http://vansandt.smugmug.com/gallery/...71527105_NTsN3
Oh... and it was a trussed elipse.. that was fun...
The trunk section bolted to the base and the limbs bolted to the trunk. The entire thing was covered in plywood. We then foamed the entire piece and carved it. After carving, electrics (MrsFooter) came in and installed about 150 strands of fiberoptics. Paints then covered the entire thing with this plastic like epoxy that is designed for zoo enclosures. The stuff dries like a rock and takes texture really well. Add some paint.. and its good to go.
Fiber optics
So, all in all we had four departments working on it, with about 20 people in total. It took a week and a half to build, totally 3 days for the base, 3 days to foam, a day to carve, day of texture, half day of fibering, and a day of paint.