# Giant Statue - Kickstarter help **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 12, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664 "2015-08-12T15:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/21 "2015-08-14T13:29:22Z")
Just build a second one next to the first one. Paint them gold. Get McDonald’s to sponsor it. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/22 "2015-08-15T02:38:13Z")
Hologram is the way to go, son. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/23 "2015-08-15T02:47:56Z")
Thought I remembered the croquet mallet idea from my childhood, and I did! … Here it is printed in a 1960s issue of “Aluminum Light,” a magazine for metalworkers: “The citizens of East St. Louis, Illinois, across the river from St. Louis and the giant 600-foot-high metal arch, are jealous. Recently they decided to get even: they’re going to build a huge man with a croquet mallet.” Might want to see what their plans were and how they were intending to fund the project in the pre-Kickstarter/pre-Internet era. What could possibly go awry? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/24 "2015-08-16T10:34:09Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Just build a second one next to the first one. Paint them gold. Get McDonald’s to sponsor it. Along the lines of what I was gonna say… it’s a cool idea, but small contributions from Kickstarter et al. wouldn’t be enough. Need some big investors, and who better than corporate sponsors? Of course, it’s gonna have to be called something like the Taco Bell Guy Holding a Croquet Mallet™, and have the guy in a sombrero, or the Verizon Guy Holding a Croquet Mallet™, also holding a cellphone to his ear with his other hand, or the Olive Garden Guy Holding a Croquet Mallet™, and he dispenses free bread sticks, et cetera. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/25 "2015-08-16T12:03:14Z")
If you are willing to have Kim Jong-un as the model, please contact the North Korean Embassy for disbursement. Also it would need to be painted gold. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/26 "2015-08-16T14:39:26Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Thought I remembered the croquet mallet idea from my childhood, and I did! … Here it is printed in a 1960s issue of “Aluminum Light,” a magazine for metalworkers: > > “The citizens of East St. Louis, Illinois, across the river from St. Louis and the giant 600-foot-high metal arch, are jealous. Recently they decided to get even: they’re going to build a huge man with a croquet mallet.” > > Might want to see what their plans were and how they were intending to fund the project in the pre-Kickstarter/pre-Internet era. What could possibly go awry? Well that is cool! It certainly precedes my formation of the idea. I can’t pinpoint when I first thought of this but I think it would have to be fairly late in the 60s at a minimum. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/27 "2015-08-16T16:32:12Z")
**engineer\_comp\_geek** closed the _[How tall would a 630 foot object appear from 3 miles away?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=765009)_ in GQ at my request. Here are some posts from that thread: > [@kunilou](#): > > Here’s a view [one mile northeast of the Arch](https://www.google.com/maps/@38.628028,-90.1662864,3a,75y,259.22h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1suMv_7C8YeR2FVV7JtP8qeA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DuMv_7C8YeR2FVV7JtP8qeA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D100%26h%3D80%26yaw%3D256.30539%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en). > > And here’s from [two miles](https://www.google.com/maps/place/The+Gateway+Arch/@38.6332066,-90.148028,3a,75y,283.31h,93.98t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1srL6I_Tq-yja6FjUOYmQy2w!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DrL6I_Tq-yja6FjUOYmQy2w%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D100%26h%3D80%26yaw%3D347.96112%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0x79ed2889c696a834!6m1!1e1?hl=en). > > At two miles, the light tower appears to be about three times the height of the Arch, roughly what you’re looking for. The Illinois Department of Transportation specifies that that a highway interchange lighting pole will be 30’ - 50’ tall, so just get yourself a lighting tower and put a mallet head around the base. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@TriPolar](#): > > > > So it’s 0 feet tall at that point (for practical purposes). Looks like it’ll have to be close to the river to even see the arch. > > > [@Omar Little](#): > > > > Cost for the real estate just went up significantly. > > Spoken like a man who’s never seen East St. Louis. 🙂 > > Other than an almost-dead coal-loading terminal and a casino boat, the IL side of the river across from St. Louis is a deceased industrial wasteland that floods whenever the river gets a bit more full than normal. > > High-end real estate it ain’t. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@TriPolar](#): > > > > Still pretty small at 3 miles. So the idea is that the arch will look maybe 16-18 inches tall relative to something that appears to be 5-6 feet tall. I can play with the earth views and figure out what kind of distance is involved. Then it’s a question of a full sized statue or something smaller but still proportional to the arch. I was just guessing at the 3 miles, it’s pretty far east of the river. For a full size statue it would need to be pretty close to keep the apparent proportions right. > > If you want the guy look right from any/every point of view, rather than just from one privileged spot, he needs to be full-sized proportionally. e.g. if a real croquet wicket is 1 foot tall and the Arch is 630 feet tall, a statue of a 6 foot man needs to be 6 \* 630 = 3780 feet tall. And assuming a croquet ball is 4" =1/3 foot in diameter, his ball needs to be 630 / 3 = 210 feet in diameter. > > And if you want the ball to be 5 scale “feet” from the wicket (a reasonable distance in croquet), and the man is addressing the ball from maybe a scale foot further back, the ball will be 5 \* 630 = 3150 feet (or 0.6 miles) back from the Arch. And he’ll be standing (5+1) \* 630 = 3780 feet (or 0.75 miles) back from the Arch. > > Or you could save a lot of money and just assemble a man-model about the size of a GI Joe toy & hold it up close to your camera with the Arch in the distance behind. > > Use one of those little cast plastic olive drab green Army men from when we were kids and it’ll be especially easy. I recommend the minesweeper guy; he looks sorta like he’s waving a mallet. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Late add: At those sizes you’ll need to add something else to your Kickstarter grant request. > > The logical spot on the east side of the river is pretty well aligned with the runways at Lambert. So the FAA will demand you either pay to build the city a new airport, or the Colossus of Sauget will never be approved. Even if you offer to put double the usual number of blinky red lights on it and make frickin’ laser beams come out of his eyes and ears. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/28 "2015-08-16T16:45:39Z")
First, thank you **kunilou** , it helps a lot to get those actual views. **LSLGuy** , I’m thinking that perspective tricks really don’t do the job. Simply photoshopping some images together would provide the same effect. I think a photo taken with a smaller statue will look like an obvious visual trick, and the effect will only be apparent from a small viewing area. I’m encouraged by **Ulf** ’s find. I had always imagined this would be sight that has to be seen from a plane approach St. Louis in order to appreciate it. It doesn’t have to be in E. St. Louis, I thought the river flowing between the man and the arch would be a good touch, but I don’t even know if there would be a water hazard in croquet, I’ve only ever played the game in backyards. A location west of the river could work just as well. The size of a statue in proportion is incredible, but makes the effort all the more interesting. I think the Gibson Girl picture I posted earlier would make a more stable structure that could just be a skin on over an internal super-structure, I believe that’s the way the Statue of Liberty is constructed. The space inside the super-structure could be utilized in many ways, including a stadium for the Rams, huge shopping malls, and offices. And it would teach those guys in Dubai not to mess with the US of A when it comes to making the biggest things. I suppose this will take considerable thought and research. I appreciate all those who are contributing. The path from dream to reality can be long and rough, but often worth taking even when the destination is not reached. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/29 "2015-08-16T18:06:03Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Thought I remembered the croquet mallet idea from my childhood, and I did! … Here it is printed in a 1960s issue of “Aluminum Light,” a magazine for metalworkers: > > “The citizens of East St. Louis, Illinois, across the river from St. Louis and the giant 600-foot-high metal arch, are jealous. Recently they decided to get even: they’re going to build a huge man with a croquet mallet.” > > Might want to see what their plans were and how they were intending to fund the project in the pre-Kickstarter/pre-Internet era. What could possibly go awry? Is it [Light Metal Age](http://www.lightmetalage.com/)? Their [cover archive](http://www.lightmetalage.com/covers.php?DisplayPage=19) has some issues from the 1960s. Their article store doesn’t go back that far, but they do offer [reprints for articles before 2005](http://www.lightmetalage.com/page.php?id=5). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/30 "2015-08-16T20:22:54Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I had always imagined this would be sight that has to be seen from a plane approach St. Louis in order to appreciate it. It doesn’t have to be in E. St. Louis, I thought the river flowing between the man and the arch would be a good touch, but I don’t even know if there would be a water hazard in croquet, I’ve only ever played the game in backyards. A location west of the river could work just as well. Please disabuse yourself of that idea immediately. The municipal powers in St. Louis will NOT allow a structure 3x-4x the height of the Arch to be built anywhere inside of the city limits, no matter how many corporate sponsors you bring with you. Take a look at the [panoramic view of downtown St. Louis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_St._Louis#/media/File:STL_Skyline_2007_edit.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/31 "2015-08-20T14:30:08Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I guess everyone thought this was a joke. Well it could be a great joke if we can get the statue built! > > Anyone have experience with Kickstarter? Do I need to know what this will cost up front? It’s going to be expensive, engineering the world’s largest structure can’t be inexpensive, and the actual construction costs will be much higher. Could I just try to raise $1 million for the planning stages?.. Some design considerations: Bear in mind, the New Madrid fault is over due for a dance party, so that should affect the design - you need to make sure that the statue is reasonably earthquake resistant. The existing wicket statue on the west side of the river is a fairly stable design already; your man(woman)-shaped one is of greater concern. Also: are you planning on having it a usable thing where people can climb up inside (a la Statue of Liberty), or just a statue for pigeons to redecorate. [Some useful ideas might be found in this manual 😃](http://www.amazon.com/ROBOT-Other-Improbable-Crowdfunding-Projects-ebook/dp/B00LFAGOLI) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/32 "2015-08-20T14:39:33Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Please disabuse yourself of that idea immediately. The municipal powers in St. Louis will NOT allow a structure 3x-4x the height of the Arch to be built anywhere inside of the city limits, no matter how many corporate sponsors you bring with you. Take a look at the [panoramic view of downtown St. Louis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_St._Louis#/media/File:STL_Skyline_2007_edit.jpg). I never really thought St. Louis or anyone in the whole state of Missouri would cooperate. I didn’t really expect the state of Illinois to be that cooperative either (I wasn’t even positive East St. Louis was in Illinois). While Missouri might be all “No way we’re going to mess up our beautiful city no matter how much money it brings in”, it’s possible Illinois will be all “Money? Did you say money? We can talk about this.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664/33 "2015-08-20T14:42:54Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Some design considerations: > > Bear in mind, the New Madrid fault is over due for a dance party, so that should affect the design - you need to make sure that the statue is reasonably earthquake resistant. The existing wicket statue on the west side of the river is a fairly stable design already; your man(woman)-shaped one is of greater concern. > > Also: are you planning on having it a usable thing where people can climb up inside (a la Statue of Liberty), or just a statue for pigeons to redecorate. > > [Some useful ideas might be found in this manual 😃](http://www.amazon.com/ROBOT-Other-Improbable-Crowdfunding-Projects-ebook/dp/B00LFAGOLI) Of course it makes sense for people to climb up inside, just like some other decorative structures in the area. Thanks for the book link, I’ll get that on Kindle. It’s heart warming to see the American spirit of insane notions is still alive! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/giant-statue-kickstarter-help/727664.md?page=1)