Conservation & Heritage Issue 50 Winter 2025/Spring 2026 - Flipbook - Page 88
Macalloy’s involvement
with Fern the Diplodocus
Macalloy engineered and supplied bespoke curved post tensioning bars with custom
adapted couplers which run through the Diplodocus structure from head to the tail.
Our team offered off site training on how to install and tension the bars. The Macalloy
threaded bar system not only supports the weight of the structure, but the PTFE coated
bars provide low visibility and anticorrosion properties.
The project required that the Diplodocus would be
exhibited permanently in an external environment, exposed
to all weather conditions, requiring minimal visibility to
the internal structure, and, most significantly, avoid the
appearance of being “propped up”.
The entire procedure took about two years, beginning
with high resolution 3-D scans and ending with a complete
dinosaur cast in bronze.
The Macalloy bars have various features that make them
completely unique to the project.
•
Macalloy worked closely with Structure Workshop, a
London-based engineering firm, to ensure we offered exactly
what was needed to complete this one-of-a-kind engineering
challenge, as nothing like it had ever been attempted before.
•
Given the specific requirements outlined in the brief, the
design team were initially unsure as to whether the project
task would be achievable. However, Factum Arte working
with London-based engineers Structure Workshop and
Madrid-based foundry Fademesa, worked together alongside
scientists from the Natural History Museum to design and
create the Diplodocus cast.
•
Precisely engineered, smaller sized bar systems were
used to ensure an accurate fit inside the delicate bones
at the end of the neck and tail.
Special adaptor couplers were designed to link smaller
bars to larger bars, whilst maintaining its structural
capacity.
They were made with a curvature to match the contour
of the dinosaur’s spine.
Compared to typical post-tensioned bars, the Macalloy
bars used for this project were significantly smaller. Each
component was unique, and the entire production was fully
customised.
Image © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London
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