Good Hiding Places? Trojan Horse Project

[Doris]

Hi everyone

I'm beginning work on a Trojan horse piece and am currently at the planning stage still. After several months of staring at the same drawing I'm still stuck where I can hide the Spartan soldiers inside the body and also how to do it. I have this idea to store the soldiers in a draw under the base in a drawer but that's not really part of the story.

One idea was to create a sort of bandsaw box, waste out the guts of the body and stick the back piece/side of the horse back on, but still can't figure out how to do the lid or opening. Doors seems too obvious but how do you hide them or make them look less like there are doors there?

Here's a sketch of the horse itself I drew month ago to give you a rough idea of how it will look.

Hopefully someone can help

 

[Alexam]

How about making the drawer entry in the chest at the front of the horse and hiding the edges with bridal or martingale straps so they did not show or be obvious. Remember, it is opened from inside by the Trojans, but you could make a small slit in the rear where a narrow shaft/sword is inserted to get the drawer moving forward. In that way you would have the whole belly to store the me (or chess set?) The swoird could be hidden in the base from the rear, so that it simply looks like decoration from the outside.

Looks like a interesting and challenging project, so I hoipe you keep us posted with photos.

 

[bugbear]

Is this a sculpture, an ornament or a child's toy?

BugBear

 

[mickthetree]

Is it being made up like a rocking horse from sheets of ply laminated together? This would give you the opportunity to leave out centre sections creating a void. This could be shaped into a rectangle enabling a drawer to be concealed inside. I'd have it coming out of the bottom (I mean underside, not the backside of course!) with a catch to prevent it falling out.

HTH

 

[No skills]

Small magnets to hold the door on, make the cut line on the grain of the timber?

 

[Eric The Viking]

Fun project. How big will this be?

 

[Doris]

Wow that was a quick response by everyone! Many thanks for your suggestions

How about making the drawer entry in the chest at the front of the horse and hiding the edges with bridal or martingale straps so they did not show or be obvious. Remember, it is opened from inside by the Trojans, but you could make a small slit in the rear where a narrow shaft/sword is inserted to get the drawer moving forward. In that way you would have the whole belly to store the me (or chess set?) The swoird could be hidden in the base from the rear, so that it simply looks like decoration from the outside.

Looks like a interesting and challenging project, so I hoipe you keep us posted with photos.

That's a very interesting idea. I hadn't thought of them coming out of the horses chest. I always imagined the horses tummy for some reason.

Is this a sculpture, an ornament or a child's toy?

BugBear

Can I say all three? I don't like using the term toy for my items I make, but I could see a grandfather owning this and using it to tell the story of the trojan horse, but not leaving the child on their own with it. My first Noah's ark I made was an ornament but the general feedback from that was that people wanted to handle the animals etc, so my next ark I made larger and the animals independent from the ark so people could handle them. An heir loom piece maybe might be a better label for the project?

Is it being made up like a rocking horse from sheets of ply laminated together? This would give you the opportunity to leave out centre sections creating a void. This could be shaped into a rectangle enabling a drawer to be concealed inside. I'd have it coming out of the bottom (I mean underside, not the backside of course!) with a catch to prevent it falling out.

HTH

Its an interesting idea making it like a rocking horse. I have accumulated a lot of solid worktop offcuts over the years, mostly oak and walnut and so would be using these. Like a rocking horse the 4 legs would be cut separately from the body and head. But the body was to be cut from one solid lump. The drawer idea I will have to look into, perhaps making that separately with a solid piece at the front to hide it and mounting it between the two front legs?

Small magnets to hold the door on, make the cut line on the grain of the timber?

That was my orginal idea and then waste out the inside of the body. I think using magnets would be a safe bet too.

Fun project. How big will this be?

Probably 12" at head height, maybe a bit smaller.

 

[monkeybiter]

I don't think I would be able to resist the temptation to put a hinge on the tail and..........

 

[Alexam]

I don't think I would be able to resist the temptation to put a hinge on the tail and..........

Good idea for extra sawdust! :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[nev]

If the body starts life as a cylinder or similar, how about taking a(n orange type) segment out of the underside from tail to chest, and hollowing that and the body. it could be simply hinged with a dowel hidden behind the rear leg mountings and clip somehow with a decorative clasp at the chest (part of a harness feature?). the line across the body between front and rear legs could be the edge of a saddle/ blanket/ decor piece?

 

[Doris]

I like that idea too. Now i just have to work out which one to go for. The chest, the underside of the belly or the bum....

 

[monkeybiter]

:lol:

 

[NickWelford]

Great idea, Doris, but just one thing...... I don't recall seeing any pictures of Arks or animals....... Hopefully there will be pics of this project.

 

[AJB Temple]

I would think about a different approach. The horse is basically three pieces: front, back and torso (middle). Torso is basically a cylinder. Front and back could both be made to slide on a guide rail, giving access to the central cylinder (i.e. the front and back are both glorified drawers.)

 

[Doris]

Great idea, Doris, but just one thing...... I don't recall seeing any pictures of Arks or animals....... Hopefully there will be pics of this project.

The first ark I made can be seen here

https://gracesilverwood.wordpress.com/noahs-ark/

The second can be seen here

https://gracesilverwood.wordpress.com/2 ... on-2-2016/

I would think about a different approach. The horse is basically three pieces: front, back and torso (middle). Torso is basically a cylinder. Front and back could both be made to slide on a guide rail, giving access to the central cylinder (i.e. the front and back are both glorified drawers.)

When you say front and back do you mean the side of the body sliding off? Like a cutaway design? I can't picture it otherwise

 

[RobCee]

Another idea, which may be easier to hide is to have the rear end complete with legs hinged around the back/saddle. Also using magnets to hold it's feet down when closed.
Sort of like this:

 

[woodfarmer]

I just wonder.. would it be possible to make a saddle for the door ?

 

[AJB Temple]

No - mean the whole of the forequarters section and / or hindquarters section slides back to separate from the torso and reveal the innards. Think of the rear being a drawer basically, with legs sticking out of the bottom. You can easily have a sliding mechanism in both the torso and the wheeled base. I am not sure of the scale of the thing but I am visualising the tail as a handle that enable you to pull the two halves apart smoothly. The joints are extremely easily concealed in the natural contours of the horse.

 

[Emanuel]

I like that idea too. Now i just have to work out which one to go for. The chest, the underside of the belly or the bum....

The underside of the belly would seem to me that it would give you the most space and flexibility.

 

[dickm]

Yes, the underside (as in the original posting) looks the most suitable. Hinge at the back, front held on place by magnets. But if the body is going to be made from a single log, that wont work as no way to cut the "door". If the OP wants to use a single log for the body, it could still be ripped into three pieces on a bandsaw, the middle of the centre piece cut out to provide the recess and the lower edge hinged as suggested.

A vague memory of an illustration from a children's encyclopaedia I had in the 1950s suggests that the door in the base may have been described somewhere in classical literature. But I may be confusing it with the door + steps used on some small airliners