HOW DO I CHOP UP THE LETTERS?

Hopefully the images illustrate it, but basically I converted the type into outlines by clicking on Type>Create Outline in Illustrator. I then drew a shape over the bits I wanted to 'hide' or 'delete', I have 2 copies of the same letter form, for the 2 pieces my crane will be building with.

After placing the shapes on top, open up the pathfinder tool and click on 'minus front' and it deletes the shape from the bottom layer, giving me the exact effect I want.

Here are the shapes after I created an outline, and effectively made them into a shape as if it was drawn by the pen tool

'minus front' is the 2nd button from the left, below where it says Shape Modes. The effect it gives is this...

Did the same for the other O and then placed them where they should be, like so...

Finished product!