The Colossus of George Washington
How the Colossus is built
Our 10-foot Washington, scanned and scaled up five times: a steel frame inside, aluminum panels outside.
Phase one is underway near Austin, Texas. About the project
Six steps
- ISculptOur 10-foot Washington, sculpted in plaster over a frame of wood, wire and foam, then painted.
- IIScanThe finished statue is 3D-scanned into a digital model.
- IIIScaleThe model is scaled up 5 times, from 10 feet to 50.
- IVFrameA structural steel frame goes inside. In the engineer’s preliminary layout, columns run up the legs to a plate at the hips, a tapering pair rises to a plate at the neck, ribs reach into the head and tubes run down the arms.
- VCladAluminum panels are cut and formed from the scaled model, then fixed to the frame.
- VIFinishThe panels are left bare aluminum, sealed, where the 10-foot statue is painted.
Frame, then panels
Steel
A steel frame goes up first.
Aluminum
Aluminum panels cover the frame.
50 feet
The finished statue.
Illustrated from our 3D model. Frame layout is indicative, not the engineering design.
An old idea
The Statue of Liberty is built on the same idea: a copper skin 3/32 of an inch thick, held by flat metal bars to a frame Gustave Eiffel designed around a 92-foot central pylon. The Colossus has an aluminum skin on a structural steel frame.
Questions
What is the Colossus made of?
A structural steel frame, clad in aluminum panels. Not stone or bronze.
How tall is it?
Phase one is 50 feet, the figure alone: 5 times our 10-foot Washington. See it to scale beside the tallest Washingtons in America.
Where will it stand?
Near Austin, Texas. About the project
Is the statue you sell a model of the Colossus?
No. Our 16-inch statue is modeled on the 1939 New York World’s Fair Washington. The Colossus scales up our 10-foot Washington, a different sculpture. Every 16-inch statue sold helps build it.
How can I help?
Buy the statue, put a name on a brick built into the monument, or donate.
Help build it.
Statue and brick sales help fund the build. So do gifts to our 501(c)(3), which are tax-deductible.
Follow the build
Updates as our monuments go up, and first word on the next one.