Author: Daryl Smith

OK y’all, I’m back.

Went up to the site today, and was told that because of all the rain,the ground is too sodden to pour concrete on, nevermind actuallypouring it IN the rain.

Also: the mesh has been removed becausethe curved bit of the wall -ride foundation moved as it was setting,causing it to be a bit out of line. So they are redoing it. Nae bother.

ATTENTION: please spread the word that going into the site andskating / biking on it is VERY UNCOOL. The shuttering for theconcrete (discussed in previous pages) is being damaged by people usingthem as ramps. THEY ARE THIN AND NOT BUILT FOR THAT.

WAIT UNTIL THE PARK IS DONE!!

THEMORE DAMAGE AND DISRUPTION CAUSED THE SITE, THE LONGER IT WILL TAKE TOCOMPLETE. THE LONGER IT TAKES TO COMPLETE, THE MORE CHANCE WE WILLSUFFER FROST DAMAGE AND HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL NEXT SPRING TO FINISH IT =IF THE COLD WEATHER SETS IN BEFORE THE POURING ISFINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If it’s YOU: DON’T BE AN ARSE. YOU ARE MESSING IT UP FOR YOURSELF AND EVERYONE ELSE.

If you know that your pals are sneaking in, tell them NOT TO, and WHY.

As soon as the first transition goes in, there will be a night guard to keep watch.

Thanks, from everyone who actually wants this thing to get built.

All is well, the Mystery Objects, were, as I suspected (yes, thankyou Nick) concrete shuttering for the wall ride. And the radius size ofthem IS in fact 1600mm. It’s kinda hard to tell stuck outside the fenceas the light fades.

Anotherbad photo, I was in a rush, sorry. But the sizes are fine and that bitof ’crete you see holding up the mesh is done beautifully, and it’sonly the interior gubbins… so all bodes well.

Yetanother blurry photo of the street drop and a bit of the latestpour. Er. It’s looking a bit tight in places innit? Ohwell, that’s a lack of funding for you. It’ll be interesting…

Avery sketchy sketch of the up-coming pyramid hip.The angles are allwrong, but hey, I’ve gotta get to work in 20 mins. Maybe I’ll fix itlater.

It’ll be 1m high, at 25 degrees steep. not a 90 degree hip, butmore relaxed at 120 degrees. I don’t think we will have the roomto hit it properly, what with the squiggle the park has to take. Butperhaps in the future another few square meters of concrete orpaving can be laid down to make the ’angle of attack’ a bit better.

Stay tuned.

Bad light again…BUT HEY WHO CARES! THERE’S ANOTHER BIT OF PLATFORM IN THE PHOTO!

WHA-HEY!

TheMystery Objects again…. I MUST ask them tomorrow what these thingsare for. Cuz if the wall ride is too tight in the corner, it won’t bepleasant at all…. I’m sure they WOULDN’T recycle bits ofshuttering from other skateparks just because they are VAGUELY the samesize … would they?….

I also hope these things last thevandals. They are only made of thin ply. I keepseeing big holes in the fence where the little blighters riptheir way through.

Got up to site late… Bad Light X Wee Digi Camera / large space = poopoo.

sorry.

New shuttering and mesh in today.

Closer, but just as a bad shot.

TheMystery Objects, I guess they were delivered today. I assuming they arefor the wallride shuttering, but they don’t look big enough to me. I know thecorner is a 1600 mm radius, and they look more like a 500 or 600mm radius…hmmmm curious….

Not too much more to see here, but I’ve streched it as far as I could 🙂

Here’s the mini street drop… the bank will be mainly 20degrees at about 550mm high. In case you are wondering; that crowbar isNOT at the correct angle, it’s just there.

Iconfirmed the fact that the mesh for the wallride was still to beextended upwards. Apparently those panels are 2.4 meters wide, so thereis another 600mm still to go on top. As roughly indicated by thislovely blue line. The outer corner will be rounded though.

They will do the pour in two stages, to get the right height. Sez ’The Dude Onsite.’

Lookingover the street slab/wallos platform. You can see the amount that theKeyhole has got to be scooped back to; Those guys are standing eitherside of the edge of the platform that they are pouring next.

That edge again…

Think of the reef hip-bump at Perth, then make it bigger and moreblast-over-able. same big roll-over lip for ease of landing. See modelon ’Plans’ page.

er…

Added 3 more shots of the model to the plans page.

Only slightly photoshopped.

Here’s today’s ’stitched’ photo. The flats were looking nice and smoothtoday in the sun. Rick and I were talking about the top flat that youcan see here, and how it looks like it slopes away to the left, butwhen you go stand next to it, it seems fine. A bit of a NopticalDelusion metink. Even is it DOES slope, it won’t be big deal. It mayactually help the flow when coming back up the way.

As you can see, the reinforcement for the wallride has gone in. But itstill looks a bit short. It should be 3m high from the inside, and itlooks more like 2.5m now. A shot from the other side, below.

From the East.

Ashot of ’Wallos.’ You can see that the next bit of flat they aresetting up the shuttering for, is curving away, and the ’Keyhole’ has alot of shaping still to do. That back bit, the bit closest to town,will be 20 degrees, so still a lot to scrape away…

Ok, it’s pretty much the same shot, but you can see the shuttering a bit better.

Here’s a comparison shot of the model:

Tiny shiny people, styling on bits of plasticine…

A bit more flat going down…

So much for Gordon’s theory about all the verticals going in first! 🙂

I think we may have to start worrying about concrete damage soon…

Weshould get a wee campsite / vigil on the go, above the site, to guardit at night. It would make great publicity too!

(I’monly HALF-joking…!! who’s up for it? We would need to get thecouncil’s permission, but it would save money on security / repairs!)

Here’s todays bunch:

Here’s the park site from the window of my workshop, honestly.

How stoked am I?

Hint, use the wacky masonic symbol, in planting, on the hill as a landmark to guide you there. the sloping path you see to the right of the phone-mast; connects to Lochee Road, with a nice stone gateway In fact there are 3 entrances to the park, leading up from Lochee Road. And you can’t miss this hill… it’s rather prominant in Dundee.

peas.

Aaahhh…lovely. Concrete setting in the sun. Taken from.. yes, that same oldspot. So, that’ll be the first of the platforms going in. It’s part ofthe ’street’ bit too. But what the heck, we’ll just call them’platforms’ shall we?

Nota lot new to see here, esp at this resolution, but it’s a nice day, anda well stitched photo, and that’s the dude who told me not to worryabout the standing puddle in the ’flat-bottom’ (see last post; and wedo agree on that term, don’t we?) they will sort that all out later andit’s just concrete shrinkage “could happen anywhere.” It’sactually in a pretty cool spot (right next to a drain) so I’m honestlynot worried anyway anymore.

Wow, this really has turned into a blog…

Justto quash any rumours (sorry, I know thats a bit authoritarian, andtakes all the fun out of MAKING the rumours) So far we arethinking of just doing a quick bit of ribbon cutting and flesh-pressingin the cold December winds for posterity and the local papers, thenhold a proper bash /opening / official hootenanny come spring. (orsummer if there is no let up in the rain like this last spring.) Sorryto sound so gloomy, I don’t feel it at all.

Shall we agree on the term; ’stoked’ ?

The fence was battered down again (vandals on Saturday night), so I went into have a better look. Here’s the mid-point. I’m a bit worried about the pooling water. I know the main puddle is where the drain is, and that it’s probably covered to keep rubble out of the pipes. But the other spots… well, I guess it’s not too bad. It seems pretty smooth and will probably dry quickly in the most part.

Here’s the same point but a bit further up; you can see the drop of our Wallos ’sample.’ A mellow 550mm drop @ 30 degrees.

The exposed brickwork is from an old barracks block, associated with the castle.

Looking up the same bit…

Top o’the park. Looking down the main ’street’ platform, towards the blocks/ledges. Gonna be a nice view once it’s built…. amazing sunsets no doubt.

Looking back up to the point of the last photo, wall ride will be where the blue tape is. …My bike in the distance…

Here’s the terraced garden, where we will grow beans and tomatoes, and lounge near the fountain while sipping iced drinks under the hessian umbrella…

Just kidding, duh. The ’keyhole,’ under development. They terrace like that as they buildup the layers of compacted gravel. Then cut back into it to form the banked walls: 5 foot deep, ranging from 20-40 degrees; some of which is intersected by a 9 foot transition on the hip point, but all of the rest is tempered with a 500mm radius bottom ’sweetener.’

The garden still sounds cool though…just NOT in the middle of the skatepark.

View from outside of the Fence looking down ’Wallows’.

All those puddles have gone by the time Maggs took these photos later that evening… except…

…this one. Which will need some attention me thinks. Dunno if aquick skim, at this stage in the concrete curing would hold. I should hope the contractors will observe this continual puddle, and do something about it…

Panoramananamama, mmmmm! More flat poured.

Looking down ’wallos’

More of that lovely flat… Don’t worry, they still have to carve theslopes to the correct angle. It’s not gonna be that steep!

Goosh and Garry, checking the progress.

A view of the flat poured yesterday.

From north, a bit of flat and a lovely bit of plant

Pouring the roughcast foundation for the wallride.

View from park through trees.

North-East Corner View.

Mesh in ready for flat bottom pouring.

North-East corner view.

North view.

mesh mesh mesh

From the ’keyhole.’ Some dodgy photo-stitch work breaking stuff up a bit on the left.

The flat bottom marked out!

The photos above looking up the ’wallows’ bit, and below a comparisonshot of the model.

Witness the Pitness

lovely plant.

’Mesh View’ 8-09-05

from north.

North-East view.

Nice view of ground being prepared and levelled.

View from above between the trees.

View through the fences.

View through the fence on North side.

View through fence on East side.

The Clachan truck arrives!