Giant Papercraft Trojan Horse

Step 13 Building a frame

During the first night that the horse stood in the Lab, the cardboard slightly buckled under its own weight, causing the horse's head to sag noticeably to one side. While this gave it a fiercely inquisitive, almost challenging, expression, I thought that it would be a good idea to reinforce it with some manner of internal frame.

I assembled most of a simple frame from beams of wood and sheets of plywood, either screwed or bolted together so as to allow it to be separated easily into two halves for transportation. To support the head, I made a simple mechanism consisting of two PVC pipes under tension, which allowed the head to be nodded up and down by pulling as thick cord at shoulder level within the horse.

The design of the internal structure was determined by the following factors:

• It had to support the head and back of the horse.
• It had to be partially disassemblable so that we could get the darned thing out of the door.
• It had to be mountable on a rolling wooden platform for transport to Christmas parties and sieges.
• I had plans to turn the inside of the horse into a standing desk and workspace afterwards.
• I also had vague plans of using the horse as a kind of portable bar, where punters could stick their heads (one at a time, please) into the belly of the horse and be greeted by friendly bartenders with cocktails inside. This may yet happen.