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00Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus)are one of the most amazing athletesin the animal kingdom. Their dives insearch of food can take them 4000 feetfrom the surface and deeper and last aslong as 90 minutes. In order to achievethese feats they carry massive quantitiesof hemoglobin carrying red blood cellsand their blood may constitute 1/3 oftheir total body weight. They are thelargest toothed whales and their brainis largest of any animal weighing upto 12 pounds or more. Mature bullsmay reach 60 feet in length and weigh45 tons making them one of the largestanimals in the sea.The Giant Squid (Architeuthis dux) is noless fascinating and has recently beenin the public eye with still pictures andvideo finally captured of one of theEarth’s most mysterious denizens. Thisgiant cephalopod is an invertebrate oftremendous size and is related to othermollusks like octopus, snails, nautilusand cuttlefish. The mantle or body partof the squid can be 7 feet long in maturefemales. Its 8 long arms bring its lengthto near 16 feet and when the super longfeeding tentacles are included the totallength for the animal can reach 42 feet.Their eyes can be 10 inches across andare only exceeded by its larger cousinthe Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthishamiltoni).Early in 2007 while working onthe Omicron Weekend (shownin BrickJournal Issue 1, vol. 2) Iscratchbuilt this Giant Squid, whichwasn’t included in the final version. Inthe back of my mind I kept envisioningthe squid battling a sperm whale builtto scale. As luck would have it, I foundmyself working on a collaborativeundersea diorama in 2008 withfellow builders Keith Goldman (oneof the builders behind the OmicronWeekend) and Jon Palmer. The LordMandrake Memorial Sea Tower wasmostly set underwater and I jumped atthe opportunity or excuse to contributea dramatic battle scene with the squidand a sperm whale. The diorama wascancelled so I started to construct thewhale as a stand-alone sculpture totangle with the squid.Here’s a few notes on the build:Design and construction of the whaleand rock formations was spacedover approximately 10 months. Thewhale was designed around a clickhinge box frame with large plates in