Wooden structure with foam sides to allow carving of 3D curvature. Rough cuts of foam made prior to carving are shown here.

Wooden structure with foam sides to allow carving of 3D curvature.

Steel-framed with 3D curvatures on onstage (walking surface) and offstage sides. Surfaces were created by CNC-routing layers of plywood, with a v-carve toolpath on the visible edge to remove as much material as possible. After lamination and attachment to the wagon, the layers were fully smoothed with specialty grinder discs typically used for carving the seats of wooden chairs or other sculptural wood objects.

The wagons were extremely heavy as a result of the plywood layering, so air casters and plumbing were installed for ease of changeover.

Schematic for plumbing of +36" wagon air caster systems.

Sub-parts of wagon, railings, and stair carriage were welded together prior to cladding.

The bottom surface of each stair-step was covered with CNC'd plywood. The pieces were CNC'd with hole patterns for various diameters of cotton rope be slipped through the ply and knotted prior to applying the stair tread pieces, which sealed and hid the rope knots in the unit. See set photos for rope dressing. Shallow troughs for LED tape runs were also CNC'd into the stair-step bottoms.