From Scrap to Roar, Introducing Bertosaurus Rex
All week, you’ve been guessing. And now… here he is.
Meet Bertosaurus Rex, our latest scrap-built Bert, and the newest cast member of the Adventures of Weebert stories.
Bertosaurus isn’t just any sculpture. Hidden inside is a secret Bluetooth speaker, meaning he can roar like the dinosaur he was inspired by… or play music for a dance party in the workshop.
The inspiration for Bertosaurus came from the very first part we mentioned on Monday, a vintage ham radio antenna splitter from WWII. It was too good to hide away, and from the moment Andy spotted it, the rest of the design began to take shape.
Here’s what he’s made from:
Feet: cut from waste plywood, with Meccano plates for toes and dome nuts for toenails.
Legs: helicopter overhead panel dampers, with quick-release air valves attached.
Body: a helicopter gearbox oil pump housing.
Tail: flexible metal hose from a boiler pump, finished with otoscope parts.
Arms: radio-controlled servo levers.
Head: the vintage WWII ham radio antenna splitter.
Eyes: lenses from a set of binoculars.
Ears: Bakelite carbon brush holders.
Mouth: a trumpet mouthpiece.
Mohawk: a combination of scrap helicopter tail rotor tension torsion straps and vintage Meccano. This part was a challenge in itself , there were several versions before Andy found the one that looked just right.
Building the Mohawk was almost a mini-project within the project. The first attempt was too neat, the second too spiky. It wasn’t until Andy combined the helicopter straps with the Meccano pieces that the whole thing came alive. Suddenly, it wasn’t just a head, it was a statement.
Testing the Bluetooth feature was a moment I won’t forget. Andy switched it on, pressed play, and suddenly the workbench was filled with a deep, growling roar. Then, just for fun, he swapped to music, and we had the unusual sight of a dinosaur bopping along to an old rock ’n’ roll track.
Bertosaurus’s adventures are only just beginning. Later this year, he’ll be making a special appearance at Coleham School’s Musical After School Club in October, led by the brilliant Katriona Wade. If your child attends Coleham School and would like to meet him in person, make sure they’re signed up for the club.
But that’s not all, Bertosaurus will also be stepping into the world of Weebert’s adventures, where I suspect he’ll be just as noisy as he is in the workshop.
So, what do you think? Was your guess anywhere close?
with love
Lotty x
