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Jarrin's Folly
6/12/2006 12:05 PM

Lots of white panels. It'll look much cooler when it's all lit up. I hope.
Lots of white panels. It'll look much cooler when it's all lit up. I hope.
06Aug28: Major problem. The trailer is too massive for my Jeep to safely tow. I am forced, after being fourty-hours behind schedule, to abandon the mutantvehicle for this year. :(

While last year's mutant vehicle was fundamentally successful it did not exceed my hopes and it was very expensive to transport. My plan for this year's should remedy these problems nicely as it involves driving my Jeep down to the playa and, once there, reconfiguring it into art (Wranglers are wonderfully modular that way).

06Jun21: Primary construction is complete!

06Jun29: With only two days until the pre-registration deadline I decided to completely rebuild the observation deck support structure. This means (a) I won't have a very complete mutant vehicle to show to the BM DMV, I'll have to describe it as best I can and (2) the entire system will be more secure, more stable and much betterly designed over-all.

06Jul27: I have made a significant breakthough in the panel mounting design. I have yet to build a prototype/proof-of-concept but I am confident this is going to work - and it's going to look cool!

06Aug15: I finally finished rebuilding the railings. The Jeep has been services and is ready for final implementation. I'll spend the next week dealing with lighting and panels. I hope it was all worth it - in the end.

06Aug20: Six days until we leave and I'm finally started the process of attaching the plastic panels. Go go craftsmanship!

06Aug27: So far behind schedule I can't even see it. We should have left yesterday and I'm still not finished. I've done everything I absolutely need to do here and have left the rest to do on-playa (where they can be plenty of time during the hot day). This will be the last update before I return. Hopefully I'll have something positive to report in two weeks



Image Gallery: Beginnings
The very beginning of the observation deck atop the Jeep. After a week, though, I'm considering a redesign of the support structure. I think some of the shortcuts I'm taking are foolish. It's hinged, see, so that I can lift it up and enter the Jeep through the back (as the sides will all be covered with... something). Me on top of the skeletal structure of the MV. Now for the hard part: the art. Except that on one of my runs to gather stuff from my basement to bring out to the garage some thief riding down my alley decided to swap his shitty bicycle for my comparatively nice one which was hanging, unlocked, in my open garage. Seriously: it happened in the five-minute span of me being in my house. The second attempt at a rear stairway. The stringers are now made of welded 1x1 box steel and the steps are some scrap lumber. All in all this is much lighter and stronger than the first version. I may yet put better steps on but these will work for now.
See all 9 images.

Image Gallery: Version 2
Test mounting of a fluorescent light fixture. After having done this is I had a flash of inspiration as to how the entire siding system could work. Yay me! I built a solid step at the bottom of the stairway. You could even jump on it without it breaking. I did! Third version of the railings are pretty solid. Hurray! A panel test - a quick mock-up of the semi-opaque plastic panels with some shop lights behind them. Stupid stuck bolts. It was so stuck that IT BROKE MY HAMMER!
See all 9 images.

Image Gallery: Exterior
Installed the fluorescent light fixture - but didn't wire anything. I've run out of time. I'm going to have to do final wiring on-playa. Almost nearly panel complete. Got some side panels up now. The top panels have been completed. The rear of the vehicle.
See all 13 images.


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