THE FOLLOWING IS A STATE OF THE WHALE SKELETON ADDRESS

by Lee Post

This could be the last week of assembling the skeleton. The bucket list of what is left is very short.

The skull is bottom side up. It has been consolidated, glued and repaired. A little silicone will get applied. The hyoid bones will be attached. A little coloring and de-coloring and it will be ready to flip back over again. At that point, the metal skull cradle, which is being fabricated, will be put in place. (It will need to be ground smooth and painted.) Then the mandibles can be fit into place and the metal bracket that holds them up can be bent, formed and painted.

There is some repair left to do on the mandibles and the top of the skull and the mandibles will get Gaye's color-magic done to them. The tail piece that Sam is working on will be attached.

Then some of the pieces will be suspended from the ceiling to get them out of the way. Some clean-up of the workspace and that is about it till January, when it all squeezes into the museum and we will see if we can get the skeleton suspended.

This last week saw the flippers get attached. The metal tail outline finished. The skull consolidated. The skull cradle mockup built (thanks to some very meticulous work by Marilyn Kirkham). Some more touch-up of silicone. The rest of the metal spacers in the ribs made. The rib bolts were peened over flat. Weights and measurements totaled.

The finished whale to the best of our accounting weighs 1743 pounds plus whatever metal goes into the tail and skull bracket. The length along the curve is 458 inches or 38 feet -2 inches. As assembled with the curve -a straight line length is 35 feet -3 inches.