An idea became a reality in the form of a scaled-down, custom-built de Havilland Beaver floatplane that will be unveiled 4 p.m. Friday in downtown Ely.
Brad Pearse of OzFab built the plane for the Ott family.
“Early on, we were trying to figure out what the centerpiece ought to be,” said Tanner Ott. “One of the parts of Ely’s history and part of Ely’s charm is the seaplane base and those red and white planes with floats are iconic. Ely had the busiest seaplane base in the continental U.S. right after WWII. It’s just a neat part of the history.”
The Otts and their development company have done numerous projects in Ely and they always like highlighting local history.
“We thought about getting a decommissioned plane or part of a plane but that wouldn’t fit the scale. Wanted something kids could get into and imagine flying.
“Brad has helped out over the years with railings in the state theater and various other things. We were aware of his boat-building history from his days in Australia.”
Pearse said the plane was built over the winter and is something he thinks kids and families will really enjoy.
“This project started with the Otts approaching me, specifically Tanner about two years ago,” said Pearse. “It was when the idea was being talked about doing murals, I guess, for the fire service or I think it was more specifically for the planes. As a boat builder, I can build whatever shape you want, that’s no problem, and an airplane is just a different-shaped boat, especially one that floats.
“They were like, yep, we think we’re gonna do it. Let’s build a plane. And then that pocket park circle was the size, so that’s a 21 foot circle, so that was my size limit, keep everything within that.”
Ely’s first pocket park is located on Chapman Street where Pamida once stood. It is being renamed “Puddle Jumper Park.” “I went down to the seaplane base and talked with those guys down there, they were fantastic. They gave me a lot of information and specifics on how big a real beaver floatplane is. And then I was able to just scale down from that measurement,” said Pearse.
“I took a bunch of photos, and then the entire build was based off of just a couple of photos taken from those. It was a great winter project, just sort of built a little bit and stare at it for a few hours and then tweak a few things and just slowly just kept adding to it and adding to it.
“Most of it came together from what I thought would look good. But the main goal was to build it as kid-friendly as possible. We knew we wanted to make an airplane as an art piece, but my input was to turn that into an interactive art piece that can be used, not just looked at. It can’t be used too much, but the propeller spins and the yokes turn. It’s built for little kids to be able to climb in there and sit down and hang out the window and have their photos taken and pretend that they’re pilots.
Pearse was able to source the products to build the plane locally and even took picture of the dash of a Forest Service floatplane and had the Ely Echo print up a sticker that could be applied to the inside.
“One of the biggest challenges was I didn’t have the space to build a plane with the wings in. So I had to devise an idea to make the wings detachable, and so that was a fun little challenge. And then the wings need to have a two degree lift to them, so they match the beaver as close as possible.
“It’s all aluminum, so it’s not gonna rust away. It’s fully wrapped in pre-painted aluminum siding.”
Pearse said the project took three months to complete but he could halve the time if he ever built another one. Without plans to go by, there was engineering and artistic license applied.
“I couldn’t just look up. How do you build a pretend 50% scale 1956 Beaver for a kids’ park? That doesn’t exist, so now it does.
Imitating the Forest Service Beaver floatplanes did have limitations.
“We contacted the Forest Service about putting the Department of Agriculture logo on the side, and because it’s a federal logo, you can’t legally copy that, but they said you’re allowed to design your own. So that’s when my sister, being a graphic designer, quickly whipped up a pretend logo that looks exactly, well not quite exactly like the Forest Service logo, so that was a nice little touch.
“The guys down at the seaplane base have been very complimentary and wanting to come take photos.
“Now it’s done, and it looks good, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It was a real Hail Mary from their point of view, because they just assumed I knew what I was doing. They were willing to commit to having me do the work. I’ve done some projects for him before, so I know what to do, but because no one’s ever done this and it’s a specific deal, they just sort of wrote a check and crossed their fingers.
I really appreciate their trust in letting me do this, how I thought, how I see fit. I thought that was pretty nice.”
The plane has been sitting outside of the OzFab location on Hwy. 169 just west of Ely.
“I’ve received nothing but nice words on how it looks. Everyone thinks it’s ready for a motor and that can be put in service any day now. But it’s definitely not going to be the case. But I appreciate that it’s tricked a lot of people into thinking it’s actually a real plane and no, I’m not a pilot.”
Ely’s first pocket park has been in the works for some time and now it even has a name.
“My wife Mary and I and my family talked about how to brand the park and make it a destination. Mary came up with Puddle Jumper Park,” said Tanner Ott.
“As with these community projects, the city has been a great help. Harold Langowski helped us with a culture and tourism IRRRB grant, which helped fund the project through a one-to-one match. Thanks to the city and the IRRRB, this will be an element to attract more families to Ely. The Rotary donated tables a while back so families can take a break from shopping or have a togo lunch from a restaurant nearby. Brad was awesome to work with; he did a great job with it.”
