MONROE — The pace is expected to pick up soon on the construction of a new statue portraying Jesus at Solid Rock Church in Monroe.

Work on the concrete foundation that the new 51-foot tall statue “Come Unto Me” will be erected on is complete, said Ron Carter, administrator of the church.

Sculptor Tom Tsuchiya and Steve Brauch, of Glasshand LLC., are the two Cincinnati artists who are heading up the project to replace the former “King of Kings” monument that was stuck by lighting in June 2010 at Solid Rock Church, 904 N. Union Road.

The statue, which is scheduled to be completed early this fall, will depict a full body image with its arms outstretched.

Brauch said Valley Metal Works in Cincinnati is building the main steel substructure for the statue, which will be delivered to the church, lifted into place, and bolted to the foundation.

“The first part of September we’ll set that (steel) out at Solid Rock and then we will begin sculpting the outer shell of the body. It’ll move pretty rapidly here as soon as we are out on site and once that steel goes up. It’s almost going to be daily changes,” he said.

Brauch said Tsuchiya is dding more finer details on the head, hands and feet of a 5-foot tall foam and skin-coated clay miniature of the statue.

“The head, hands and feet will be done separately on the ground then when the body’s pretty much fabricated. We’ll take a crane and lift them into position and they’ll be put together, and we’ll put the final coatings on,” he said.

Brauch said work on the statue is scheduled to be completed by late October or early November.

“Right now, we’re sort of going along as the process sort of develops. We’re trying to keep as tight of a schedule as best we can, but there’s always unforeseen things especially with something this large. So far everything has been going real smooth.

The concrete and everything went in real good, and everybody seems to be clicking,” he said.

Brauch said the acrylic aggregate coating will go on last, which will seal everything together and make it look like stone.

Brauch said the church has put up a live webcam that is mounted on its main sign by Interstate 75 so it faces back toward the amphitheater.

The link to the webcam is not yet available.

“Basically, it’s the same view you would get driving by from the highway,” he said.

“We just thought it would be cool for people as we’re building it to take a look at it; they’re (the church) also going to keep it up for security reasons too even after we’re done. Now that we’re doing more things, we’re trying to update the site, too.”