WWA Info Exchange

Alrighty then. I am officially humbled and overwhelmed by this example of 3 dimensional poetry. You and your wife rock!

I do hope you cover it with a tarp for delivery to keep those Texas size bug spatters off it.

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I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

Zulu, that is a remarkable example of craftsmanship dedicated to perfection! Makes me proud to know you! What does your signature (I D Plaque) on this beautiful carriage say? I want to be able to tell folks....before I show them so they know I know YOU.

THANK YOU for letting us ride along this journey with you!

Don

This says it all.
Zulu

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Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

No Delivery yet. The Alamo can't come up with the $200 necessary to rent a forklift. I'm pretty upset with that.
I estimated delivery at mid July on June 14.
They are working on it.
In the meantime, the carriage is loaded and ready to go on the trailer.
These pictures don't show how it is secured but it is and wrapped against the weather as well.

More when it happens.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

That's just sad. Probably too late for them to set up a "GoFundMe" page.

_________________
I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

Hey Zulu,

Looks great! as per your usual.

I'm curious about the light blue paint job. Is there a historical context? Were the gun and carriage originally French?

Looking forward to seeing the completed union of gun and carriage.

Cheers,
Tom

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"There is no path to peace, peace is the path."
Mohandas K. Ghandi

Tom,
The gun was made in France in the early 1700's according to Texas A&M so it was over 100 years old at the battle.

It was a naval gun.

This was pulled from a Spanish Ordnance manual by the Curator of the Alamo and sent to me.
He is the one that personally picked the Benjamin Moore paint color. It is called Colonial Blue.
Zulu


"The Spanish painted their ordnance in a blue grey and not as some authors think grey. The pigment was cobalt blue and when exposed to the weather for years it has a tendency to fade to a grey. The cobalt blue was derived from cobalt oxide mined in southern Spain that was sintered with silica (sand) at 1200 C. It was a very stable colour and was popular too in the Spanish Naval Regulations from 1772. The metalwork was painted black. "

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

D-Day
0330 tomorrow morning I will be pulling out of the driveway.

Headed to the Alamo with the carriage in the rain.

I'm going rain or shine.

Pictures later.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Wow! Finally able to get back in here.


THE GRAND FINALE!!


Left home at 3:30 sharp Tuesday morning.
Got there at 7:04.
Drove through several rain storms but was dry when we arrived.


Worried the whole way because I was told the forklift had 48" forks and didn't think I could make that work.
Actually, they were 72" and had all the capacity I needed.


Everything went very well.

The pictures tell the story.
Note my lovely assistant in the middle of everything!! She is remarkable!



The Alamo Conservator was quite happy.


Drove 200 miles home. It was a long day.
I'm a proud Texan.



Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Cannot say enough about your knowledge, skill, and work.
The canon and carriage is a wonderful addition to the Alamo.

Thanks
Duan

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Duan Packard
Kerrville, Texas

dum vivimus, vivamus

Hey Zulu..... this has been a fantastic build you've shared with us...and I, for one, THANK YOU! I will go see it within the next week or two.
BTW: Had trouble logging on for a while but Jim took care of it for us. Gotta send him a few bucks for his trouble!

Don

Congratulations on a job well done, my friend. Time to maybe take a week off with your "assistant" at some nice resort.

I expect you'll have some other museums knocking your door down to build something for them. Smithsonian next?

_________________
I bring to life, I bring to death:
The spirit does but mean the breath:
I know no more. (Tennyson, In Memoriam)

Absolutely fantastic!!!
Thank you for sharing.

Tim

Short film clip on the Alamo Facebook page. You probably have to be logged in to see it.
You would think that after 8 months of dealing with her,
she would know how to pronounce my name.
Zulu

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAlamo/ ... 515388440/


Edit
My lovely assistant converted this to YouTube.

https://youtu.be/tnzHLQIq1Z4

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

San Antonio news link on the carriage delivery.
Zulu

https://www.kens5.com/video/news/local/ ... 0yKlEtT8x0

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

What a FANTASTIC accomplishment!! Zulu....makes me proud to know you. Your craftsmanship really stands out in this video....fit & finish is superb. Sad that they kept harping about 'team effort' .....I didn't see any of that 'team' helping you hoist those huge pieces around! The metal work was striking! Very fine.

Thank you so much for sharing this build with me! I'm gonna go see it very soon.

Don

Thanks for the comments everyone.

I was on a "high" all last week. It was really a great experience.
I think the gun and carriage has really added something to the front of the Alamo.

See it if you can!
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com