Years ago I discovered some metal tags from an old machine, in what used to be my grandfather's workshop. He was a B-17 bomber pilot during WWII. Research showed that the tags were from an analog sighting computer from a B-17 bomber ball turret. This means my grandfather must have owned one of these! I immediately became obsessed. There was a story there that I would never know, but feeling eager to be a part of it, I decided that my only option was to rebuild this device; to add to the story.

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Having only the metal tags and photo references for determining the size, I had to approximate the correct dimensions for many of the components. As I built, I discovered a few other components from the original, which helped to establish the correct scale.

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I used materials my grandfather had, mainly plywood and metal, and some found plastic parts. The flat faces are machined to reveal the wood beneath, as the original cast aluminum components would have been. Letters and numerals were punched into copper or wood, then filled with acrylic paint. The original K-4 was painted black, and I left those parts unpainted. For the rest, I used olive drab #7, because this K-4 is for use on land. It's also the color my grandfather painted his tools.
 

This became an emotional project for me. Using my grandfather's old workshop to rebuild what he'd dismantled, the sculpture has become a tangible object to link us. He taught me to build, and with this work I can show my gratitude.

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10" x 13" x 12"H

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June 2020