Designer Times
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Now comes King Kong. Do I continue my hand drawn layouts, or do I try to use CAD for design rather than just drafting? So with a deep breath, I began to generate new layouts on the creepy IBM with the arcane AutoCAD methodology.

After about 20 minutes it dawned on me....yeah, I could generate designs that would become files for drafters to complete without having to start afresh on new sheets of paper. Oh my gosh....this is sooo cool! Of course the future would be filled with ever faster easier software that would become a totally natural initial design tool for me.

UST's design team had developed a show scenario where the whole 30 foot tall King Kong was not completely visible from the passing trams, but had his face right at eye level with the guests. His arms appeared to shake and tilt the tram bridge.....in actuality, Kong's arms were supported from the bridge cables. This gave a simple solution for the whole King Kong structural and animation concept. I would place Kong's center of gravity just below his hip support bearings so that when his power is off, he would bob upright safely like a hanging weight. I designed heavy weights to place on his feet to obtain the low CG. Now we could animate him with pneumatic cylinders, thus saving a lot of cost and complication. No worry about a toppling 7 ton beast during a power loss.

The arms would become what's called "free animation" since the upper and lower arms would hang from the bridge cable and the shoulders. Any movement of the bridge and upper body and you'd get natural arm swinging in scale speed to his giant size. I could also get free animation of his entire body midsection by hanging a large body shell from (4) long hang struts to give the look of tons of flailing meat. No power required.

The shoulders could be large sculpted body shells which could raise up and down, thus giving motion to the arms and upper chest. With (660) pounds of King Kong sized gorilla fur covering the three major body shells, just these simple elements would animate virtually the entire body mass in a realistic natural hanging flesh motion. Adding body turn, forebend and sidesway motions would move the entire Kong thru some really large distances making the big guy come alive with very little pneumatic power required. King Kong had no visible fur covered legs since he was implied to be standing up close to the moving bridge with his feet out of sight far below.

The structural framework of Kong was mostly bolted structural steel parts that were quite easy to manufacture. The upper body was a welded steel tube frame with conventional cylinder mountings and bearings. The bigger you build an animated figure, the easier it is to design and build since you have so much more interior "air space" for access. In fact, (8) co-workers and I went for a ride inside the figure during it's later testing. I even rode way up inside the head many times, once even during a live show. With Kong's loud voice roaring away and the various motions, you'd almost get seasick since you were getting churned madly about.

UST already owned the previously tested Kong Kong head, which we rebuilt for more permanent show use. We built the entire figure in several major sub-assemblies for ease of installation at UST. All the lower supporting framework along with the legs and hip frame were installed in one day. This went very quickly because of two main factors. All the construction drawings came from a CAD file that I had generated, thus avoiding anyone drafting up something from scratch. Then we pre-fitted every part to each other on the shop floor before shipment.

Next, we installed the main body assembly, added the finished head, then the costume department clothed the King in his giant fur suit. This costume job was a first of it's kind. Normally you just dress the figure when it's a human or modest sized animal. King Kong's tremendous fur weight required that the fur sections be supported at many places, otherwise it's weight would tear it apart. We all worked out the many little support and motion accommodating battens and such right there at UST. If you got this wrong, you'd have a torn costume in a very short time. I'm grateful that Sequoia had such a brilliant costume staff that made King Kong into such a life-like beast.

We did not have any unusual problems in final testing of the completed Kong animated figure. All the structural, power, pneumatic and servovalve animation systems were simple and conventional. Only the massive size was what was ground breaking and new. During the last few days before opening day, UST had a film crew come in to make TV commercials, so the King got to be a real live actor since our animation control system could be manually operated in real time to fit the TV script.

One night Jonathon Winters "interviewed" King Kong with all but a small crew cleared from the set. This encounter was vividly memorable. Winters, prepped with a fortification liquid, encountered the King. As Winters made comments, Kong would respond.....instant reaction by our programmers. Winters would then react back. For twenty minutes the two would banter and pantomime with more than a bit of Winters style sarcasm. I was flabbergasted to see the range of King Kong's expressions....what an actor! I don't think Winters was too happy with the King by the time the TV shot was over.

We had a press day for journalists to also "interview' the King on the set. David Hartman brought his young daughter to see King Kong run through his programmed show segment. When the King started, the girl jumped into her father's arm and hid her eyes. This was the first child to see the whole Kong in action. I knew then we had a hit. The next day, Universal VP's Jay Stein and Sidney Sheinberg placed me between them in the front seat of the first tram to go thru the first full show. "The @#%*ing thing had better work, Gurr". It worked just fine....all I got afterwards was a gentle OK nod from the guys. Then I stood outside the exit door to watch the guest reactions after their inaugural first trip thru the whole King Kong Attraction. Some kids were crying, some grandparents were clapping and chattering. I just got paid way better than any money.

oOo

Next Month: King Kong Attraction - Crashing Helicopter