Elephant plans

For a few years now I have been imagining the possibilities of musical animals.  My vision is for a small herd of animal shaped frames, each of which has  several built in musical instruments and noise making modes.  The animals I imagine are large enough to be played by two or three musicians at once.   When I saw a call for proposals for the performance event "Bathing With Elephants and Other Exotic Reveries", this seemed like the perfect opportunity to embark on this project.   I put forward a proposal and they accepted my crazy scheme.

So I am now committed to constructing and performing with a Musical Elephant.

The frame for this beast is based on a wooden mammoth skeleton model, within/around which I am planning to eventually include instruments which are either based on traditional African instruments, evoke the spirit of Elephant, or which become obvious to include once the frame develops and I discover what sounds it makes.  At this stage I am intending to include a Marimba, Kalimba, a Side Blown Tusk Horn, Split Log Drums, Trunk Trumpet, Kundi, possibly a membrane bagpipe and a bass string running to the tail.

Thanks to Ivan, Nicolai, and Cath I now have Mahogony for the Marimba, a pair of excellent fibreglass tusks, and a small wooden Mammoth skeleton to base the frame on.  Mammoths and Elephants are very similar at the skeleton level, and the frame does not need to be anatomically correct, so this is perfect for my needs.  I also have some large sheets of plywood and other various other tools, bits and pieces so construction can begin.  

There is an Elephant in here just waiting to come out.

Some items still need to be acquired, spring steel for the Kalimba, broken cymbals for the ears and/or a large sheet of thin metal or PVC  for the head, which will be modelled loosely on the Eames Elephant chair.

Scale Model Elephant.

This is the 1/10 scale model, the tusks have been cut down to make it less Mammothy.  

Most excellent tusks.

Here are the actual tusks, which are hollow and made of fibreglass, and will work perfectly as a sideblown horn.

Using photoshop I have modified the scanned plans from the original Mammoth to fit on sheets of 2440 x 1200mm plywood sheets.  The sheets are 25mm thick and two sheets will be laminated together for the structural elements (legs, backbone).

Long bones, hips, shoulders and backbone.

Ribs, spare ribs and default head.

Now I just need to transfer the plans to the plywood sheets and start cutting...