When they were finally ready another crane lifted two guys up to the top while the other crane lifted the statue. Then they lowered the pole you see through the steeple to secure it.
That's it. James didn't really want to watch and was choosing this time to throw a major tantrum so I didn't get to see them lower him onto the steeple but it was still really cool to watch the rest of it.
Something I never realized or really thought about. Angel Moroni faces East, but not the trumpet it's his chest. I guess I just always thought it was the trumpet that faced east.
Doug's comments: There are actually 2 parts that had to be put up. First was the steeple. It slid down around a steel tube that is part of the structural steel. Then the statue which is from the ball up was put up. There is a post that comes out the bottom of the ball that slides into the steel tube. There are 4 notches we had cut in the steel tube and 4 plates on the post that fit into these notches to keep it positioned the right way.
There are also 2 cables that run from the statue through the steel tube. One of these is a stainless steel cable that will be anchored to the structure of the building. The other is copper and will be tied into our lightning protection system. If you look at that last picture you see something sticking out of the head. There was a bolt in that location to hoist the statue then once it was in position it was take and that lightning rod was screwed in.
The statue itself is fiberglass molded onto a steel frame. The fiberglass is then covered with gold leaf and then sprayed with a clear coat lacquer to protect the gold from pollution. The entire statue is about 350 pounds.
5 comments:
That is really cool, too bad James was not interested. I was like you Natalie and thought that the trumpet faced east, that is some interesting facts about it. This temple building has been a really awesome experience for you guys, I am glad that you were able to share some of it with us.
Wow! That's awesome. Doug, did you take the pictures? Were you in the basket when they placed the statue? They were such great pictures.
What a neat experience. Well, even if James wasn't interested he can still say "I was there when they put Angel Moroni on the Draper Temple" and if I were his friend I would think that was pretty cool:-)
By the way, when is the open house going to be?
natalie,
those are great picts. thanks for the neat post I really liked it.
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