Resin arrived … but has to wait

I finally got all the Jesmonite laminating material to start working on the sculpture - 1200kg of resin. Too bad it arrived too late to start building, as we'd need about 15° to work with it.


So this will have to wait for a while … the character mould project is on hibernation!

winterbreak? hibernation? weather can be a bitch …

After finishing the concrete a week ago (at temperatures around 25°) we are set to cast the statue, but currently temperatures dropped (to around 0°) and there's snow all over Radstadt …


So fingers crossed that weather will change again, as we'd need temperatures around 10°+ to work on the lemming!

first vandalism and first green

Just checked the construction site, and there was bad news and good news.


Bad news: some jackasses pushed the construction site fence down into the water … was pretty hard getting it out again. Not sure if they know about the consequences, but these little things are the reason that the skatepark won't get any additional concrete features – well done kids!


Good news: the first grass is growing, so the site gets a bit of green finally. And just in time before winter arrives!

concrete finished - the mould is done!

Today was not only the warmest day in October in over 50 years, it was also a brilliant day to finish concrete works in Radstadt. So thanks to Cradle Crew (Hannes, Alex and Alex) we managed to build the missing plattforms – yeah!


Plus, I started to paint the mould with some high quality concrete sealer. So it needs to rest for some days now (nights are pretty cold, so it'll take a while), and the next step is laminating the statue ;-)

the first seeds, and more mesh

Today we started with seeding, hope the grass will grow before winter - so fingers crossed for warm temperatures …


And we worked on the mesh for the missing plattforms. Next week we should be able to hopefully finish all concrete works!

back to work, back to digging!

After a 2-week-break to let the 'crete dry, we restarted building today. And we got a big digger (from Manfred Winter) to build up a solid wall for the missing plattform.


Thanks a lot to Hermann Maier from Gemeinde Radstadt for doing an awesome job! And thanks again to Herbert Heigl as well as Reiter Erdbau for supplying us with material!

a short break from building

… construction site closed for some days, the mould needs to dry, and I need to organise the next steps. I'm currently looking for someone to help me with the statue and get a proper timetable done to finish the project this fall!

flat and table - more concrete for Radstadt

Today was the third day in a row with concrete works, we actually finished the flat and the first two plattforms.


Next step will be the preparation to cast the lemming - but that's probably a really tricky part of the project …

tranisitons finished!

2nd day of 'crete in the mould and we finished all the tricky bits!


Tomorrow we'll try to do the flat and some parts of the plattform, and then the concrete needs to dry for a couple of days …

First concrete

We got the first two trucks with concrete from Harml today, and thanks to the great efford of Alex, Alex, Hannes, Roli and Philipp we finished all the prepared segments!


Tomorrow we'll try to do the other transition bits, and hopefully table and flat on Wednesday – fingers crossed!

20 years that moulded my character …

This week it's 20 years from building my first miniramp … and character mould project is definately something to pay tribute to my 2 1/2 decades of boardsports!


So in September 1989 my brother and me build a 4ft miniramp in our parents house, right under the roof. A couple of months later we improved it, and got a wider version. This miniramp fueled our skating for some years, including sessions with loads of friends and international pro skaters like Donny Myhre (Zorlac) and Chris Livingston (H-Streets).

Formworks for plattforms

We finished most of the formworks today, so actually we could start with 'crete anytime. But will have to wait to next week to start with that …

tricky sections - the ears

More formworks done the last 2 days, finally added some tricky bits …


The lemming's ears will be an important feature, for the statue as well as the mould. so expect something like two love-seats in the mould (hehe, bowl). We'll see soon if this makes sense, it's sure a challenge ;-)

some useless work?

We finished more piece of shuttering formwork … but seems this wasn't necessary?!? According to our concrete wizards, we don't need all these segments, but rather do it in one go. At least it looks nice, and you can imagine the final shape a little better now ;-)

mesh and some shuttering formwork

After yesterdays rain and a cloudy morning I went to grab more material: wood for the shuttering formwork. My mate Philipp came over from Imst at about midday to help out, and we could finish the first bits with the iron mesh - a very important factor for the concrete mould.


Tomorrow we’ll try to finish more segments, so we can start with the concrete next week …

with a little help from Tyrol …

Today Alex (from Cradle Skatepark/13 Weizen) showed up to support me with know-how and manual help – thanks dude! So we worked on getting the shape right to do all the shuttering formwork tomorrow.


Finally the plattforms look like plattforms, the transitions are pretty close to the right radius and we can start with the concrete next week (hopefully) … if the weather stays ok. But actually it did start to rain today, so we'll see!

Mounting the coping … yeah!

Thanks to my incredible Dad we mounted the coping within a day on location!


He came with the old family truck (anyone remembering that tour?) full of metal, we unloaded, leveled, welded and fixed everything … so hopefully starting tomorrow with the metal mesh and the transitions!


Plus thanks to Stefan who helped us on site today, helping hands are always welcome ;-)

Plywood Transitions

Before fixing the coping, we cut a couple of transition bits with the right radius … they will be needed as soon as we start with the concrete. Thanks to Alois Buchsteiner who helped us with these, always handy to have a carpenter supporting you with his equipment ;-)


So the mould will not be too steep, and it will casting the character easier!

Next step: rolling the coping

The next thing to do in order to keep going is getting a proper coping for the bowl. Ok, maybe I should stop talking about a bowl, as it's still a mould for a statue – therefore we don't really need one. Still, I'm getting one, just in case someone might skate the mould ;-)


Thanks Dad for getting the steel, rolling the pieces, welding them, etc. – we couldn't do without your help!

Helping Hands from the UK arrived!

Yeahhh, Nick arrived today to help (thanks dude!!!), and we got the first full truckload of building material from Baustoffwerk Harml – so the project hit the next level!


Leveling out the flat today, and we tried to find where the table needs to be fixed. More building will happen tomorrow, as Dad is working on the coping at the moment ;-)

I'm shakin’, I'm shakin’

Have you ever tried using a Rammax in a flatbottom with about 80cm of dirt/stones on a 1m diameter metall water pipe underneath? I did, and it feels like a permanent earthquake. So today had a lot of good vibrations … haha!


Thanks to Rupert Schneider for helping me out with this machine!


An important helping hand will arrive tomorrow, Nick from Rawstudio is coming over from London to help for a couple of days … yeah!

a fast day of diggin'

Wow, what a day. Thanks to my man Fritz aka. Bagger Freak we had a big day today. 12h diggin' on site, and it was totally worth it – the first time the construction site looks like a project, not a flat space!


We managed to get down the basic shape of the mould (or bowl - whatever suits you better) and if everything works in that pace – fair enough ;-)


And thanks a load to Jürgen Grüßer for helping us up with the digger (not even mentioning the free Diesel here!) and Christian Ebner from Bauhof Radstadt for his support – very important helping hand!