Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland

January 2012 Update

2012-01-16T00:11:00.000-08:00

For the first time in the layout's history, something new has appeared that has never existed (and will never need to be redone!): the dinosaur bones.

Using a handful of reference photos, I sculpted the "the sun-bleached bones of an ancient animal" from scratch out of sculpey. Unfortunately, there weren't any suitable toys or models of T-Rex bones that were the right scale, or if they were, the right quality or accuracy. As with anything on this entire project, starting from the ground up was necessary. Since there were some angles missing that would have been helpful, I researched T-rex bones in general and found proper reference for a few aspects. Of course, there were some discrepancies between modern day research and what the sculptors in the early 60's knew about dinosaurs. Keeping with the era, I stuck with what was in the ride for this project.

Also for the first time, the part of the layout where the bones will go is being developed pass the initial paper mache layer. The last time this section of was touched was three years ago, and that yellowed paper towel foundation was ripped out.

You can see the mess of wired and cables right under this spot. As with new installations, everything is done on a piece of masonite, worked on comfortably at my desk and then fixed into place when scenic work is done.

Here's the bones on the foam rockwork and the hillside with the first pass of celluclay. This is a test fit, and once all the adjustments are made, the next step is to paint and apply scenery.

Above is the entire vignette ready for primer and below is the first paint and scenery pass.

Once put in it's final resting place (no pun intended) final washes were applied to the bones and the edges were blended into the nearby scenery.

Once the scene was installed and the edges blended, scenery work began to "bleed" into other nearby areas, even as much as jumping to the other side of the tracks at the watering hole.

This small "water feature" in the back section of the desert was first installed almost exactly two years ago when I was experimenting with different kinds of ways of representing water. The method I used was a piece of clear plastic over a sunken hole to represent the water surface.

As with anything built on the layout over two years back, it was looking rather tired and needed a quality update.

Lately I've been experimenting with the common model railroad water material: Envirotex Lite. This two part resin cures to a hard, shiny surface and can be layered to create that impressive illusion of depth. After some tests on a few scrap pieces, I decided that this was the material of choice for not just the watering hole, but also all the waterways for Bear Country, Beaver Valley, and even the Rivers of America.

This watering hole is the first application on the layout to use Envirotex Lite, and refinements will come after this for other sections.

Since this material is self-leveling, rather than actually pouring the resin right on the model--where I'm unsure of it's slanting--I did the new watering hole on separate piece. The above photo shows the first layer of Envirotex in a foam basin, which will be installed once all the layers are poured and cured.

The old watering hole was ripped out and the new one was put in once all three layers were poured and cured.

The bottom left photo shows the new piece placed into position and the bordering areas blended in. Rather than having a glassy smooth surface, mod podge was applied to add a little ripple to the water (and hide the dust).

As soon as that dried, the new watering hole is complete!

It looks even better when viewed from a lower angle!

More than 40 pieces of miniature cacti are ready to be installed. The Woodland Scenics "Scene-A-Rama" kit cacti were given extra treatments like the proper color and highlights before being planted.

I have to say, this area made quite a transformation over the last few weeks. It has never looked better and it further amps me up to keep going on other sections.

This whole back section, from the dinosaur bones to the faux spur tunnel--the area of attention for the last 3 months--is the result of a lot of new and restored work. Hopefully it will never need another facelift again!

For kicks, here's the same area as it was 2 years, 6 months ago, and as it is now from the same angle, with a total refresh.

Quite a difference, huh?

November/December 2011 Update: Full-Speed Ahead

2011-11-17T13:00:00.001-08:00

Geysers in Motion

Changing gears from the paint pots prototype that didn't work out, I proceeded to work on the mechanics that would control the geysers. Using the same cam wheel and lever design as my previous animation controllers, the new mechanism would require a larger space to operate in, due to range of motion required by the geyers rods themselves. The water columns are suppose to come out of the ground roughly 4-5", and retract fully into the ground. This fairly large movement requires large cam wheels to control them, unlike the marmots and elk that only move about 1/2" each way or less.

The mechanism was designed based on the speed of the motor, which would time how fast the geyser columns come out of the ground, pause, and then retract into the ground. When I was cutting and machining the cam wheels and figuring out the timing, I pulled out the cam wheels used on my 20,000 Leagues Project as a test. These disks were used to control the motion and timing of the divers in the shark attack scene. To my surprise, the motion produced by these disks turned out to be near perfect for this project and so I ended up using them as is for the geysers! Part of the 20,000 Leagues project relives in Nature's Wonderland!

When the mechanism was ready, I installed the geyser themselves, consisting of the acrylic rod with Mod Podge and the styrene containment tube. The styrene tubes actually sink down past the original masonite layout base and into 3" of void space from the frame that was added when I retrofitted the layout last September. (The combined height of the two empty spaces, from the frame below and the elevated scenery, dictated the height of the geysers).

To add a dynamic effect at night, the geysers were rigged with white LED's that shine upward. Since the geysers are clear acrylic rods, the light fills the whole rod like a fiber optic and looks spectacular at night.

The rockwork scenery that provides a backdrop for the geysers and paint-pots has been neglected along with the rest of this corner for some time. Since the layout rotated during my studio revision during the summer, this corner is the first thing you see when you enter the room. Unfortunately, the view isn't pretty, with the exposed backside of foam rocks, and a countless wires from the circuit board to the relays that was put in. To really fix-up the rockwork, and totally clean up this corner, I had to install the first piece of fascia on the layout--starting here. With a few pieces of masonite, I cut the contours of the rockwork and screwed in the piece (over the nicely-stained frame below-- Oh well!). This piece created quite a bit of space between the rockwork and the masonite for scenery; it wasn't until now that the "end" was defined and the scenery on the hill behind the rockwork can finally be put in. The void space was filled with aluminum foil and my favorite "miniature concrete" aka Celluclay was poured over the surface as the base for scenery.

Since there is quite a bit of electrical including LED's, relays, and many other wires yet to be installed below the rockwork, I cut "windows" into the masonite fascia so I can access the circuits and also create a neat viewport for showing off the complexity of the wiring. "Worklights" were also installed so I can swap out relay's easily or trouble-shoot wiring without trying to hold a flashlight.

The faux spur line leading to the tunnel was created using scrap track. This time it came together perfectly; unfortunately, it took four versions to get to this one!

Also at this time, the speaker for the Living Desert was installed. This speaker will broadcast sound effects that will include coyote howls, geyser spurts, tumbling rocks and blowing wind.

When the geysers were operational and the kinks worked out (at least for now) a piece of masonite provided the ground level and once again, celluclay was used to seal everything off.

The geysers themselves were remade out of foam, much more accurate overall than the previous sculpey one's used in testing above.

Also getting remade are the paint pots. Since the mechanized version was abandoned in favor of a simple-- just detailed-- static one, foam was carved to create the new paint pots. These ones are the most accurate depiction of the originals thus far. Once they were sealed, enviro-tex was used to "level-out" the liquid surface, which would be painted in the respective color of each paint pot. The paint job and color scheme is much better this time around.

Scenery work jumped to on top of the tunnel as greenery starts to take shape. Several pine trees will line the hillside. Here you can also see the geysers painted and the paint pots piece being placed. On the left rockwork is starting to cover the right side of the tracks for the first time.

Unfortunately, there isn't enough room (by about 2"!) for a strip of track to represent the Santa Fe & Disneyland RR. While this is a selectively compressed layout, there just isn't enough space between everything for it to feel natural and not squeezed. I guess it'll have to be something in the backdrop!

Once the ground-cover went in and set, the colorful swirls once again appeared.

Next year (Ha! next year...) a video will be put up showing off the geysers.

Farther down the track, at the bend where T-rex bones will bake in the sun, is the nasty junction where countless wires and the two sections of the layout meet. On top of that-- no pun intended-- is the Mule Trail which leads to Natural Arch Bridge. In order to "clean-up" this area, more masonite fascia made it's way over here to hide the mess. The left photo shows the bundles of wire exposed and on the right a streamlined look at the same area.

Let there be light! Part 2

While areas of the layout are getting scenery and greenery, another aspect of the layout is given a second look: Nighttime lighting.

When I started installing the lights for night operation, it gave the layout a whole new dimension. This was all done with incandescent 12V lights. While it was neat when I started putting the lights in, it wasn't until installing the geysers I knew they could be better.

With the geysers came the LED's to illuminate them. I was impressed by their vibrant-ness that made the incandescent bulbs look quite dull. At the time of the installation of the incandescent bulbs during the summer, I didn't really have much experience with LED's until a few experimental projects that made me learn a lot about them. Considering the transformer running the lights was getting overworked by too much power being drawn, I decided to go bold and ditch incandescent lighting and go LED.

While it was a bit painful having to tear out the bulbs already installed, it was helpful that wires were already run to those locations. Once I dialed in the right resistor for each LED, the results were very satisfying; much more brightness and color than what was achieved before. It was well worth the rework.

This corner of the Living Desert is the first section to go full-LED. Newer sections will follow suit, while previous areas already rigged with lights will be a hybrid of both kinds of lights, like Bear Country, for example.

Bear Country Lanterns

Speaking of night-time lighting, I decided to "plus" the tunnel portal at Bear Country a bit.

A few months ago I was doing a night photography session at the park and I took this photo of the said tunnel.

I thought the lanterns added another layer of dimension not only in the photo, but also the Bear Country environment. These would make a neat addition to the layout!

Using LED tealights that I got from Target for a few bucks, I stripped off the LED's and wired them onto the night-light power line. I wired the two in parallel so the flickering is a little smoother.

They came out pretty good. The video is dark, but it shows their flicker well.

As cool as they are, when I started doing research for the trestle truss, I realized after looking at early photos that the lanterns were a later addition and were not part of Nature's Wonderland when it was open! Oh well, screw accuracy on this one, I'm keeping these!

Still on the subject of LED's and lights, the first block signal went in; this one is at the geysers. There are four in total, and will allow two trains to run independently and not in each-other.

Getting some "Support"

Meanwhile in Bear Country, the trestle bridge that hadn't had any supports or truss-work ever since the track was relayed almost two years ago finally got what it needed.

Built out of balsa and basswood strips, this is the most accurate trestle to-date, with this one being the 3rd incarnation. I had to do my own drawings in order for it to fit right in the tight confines of Bear Country.

Here's the truss in position for a test fit. You can tell how tight everything is over here. Although shorter in height and length than the prototype, it doesn't look too bad!

Rainbow Ridge: Back to the drawing board... literally.

After being ripped out and left vacant and untouched for two years, the little mining town of Rainbow Ridge took it's first step in progress. The new Rainbow Ridge will have an emphasis on details and accuracy, and order to do that properly, drawings as accurate as possible will have to be made. The first set of elevations have already been drafted, with more to come.

Once they looked fine to me, they were reprinted and pasted onto card with spray adhesive for mock-ups to give me a better idea of how they'll look.

So far, that's only half the town!

October 2011 Update: Back to the Living Desert

2011-10-14T13:47:00.000-07:00

EDIT 10/21: I've added to this post since it was initially published; scroll down to see more!

On the eve of the layout's 6th anniversary on Sept. 25, I thought it was time to get something done. While Bear Country and the other forest sections are progressing on the west side of the layout, over in the opposite corner, the geothermic area of the Living Desert has been on hold for some time.

This area was spruced up and rebuilt after the Big Redo of Winter '09 when the whole desert was elevated to accommodate the underpass to the caverns.

Since then, ideas of having animation, spurred after adding movement to Balancing Rock Canyon, to the geysers was always something in the back of my head.

For some time, the acrylic rod and spider-web material looked pretty good, the only thing that it was missing was movement. In February of 2010, I figured out a way to make air powered geysers that worked by means of a pneumatic actuator.

"I was initially thing of using a screw type with a motor and bolt, but I later figured out a way to do it with pneumatics. I started playing around with a few short lengths of small brass tubing and an aquarium air pump (the ones that are about 2-3 psi) to my surprise, it actually works quite well, more than enough power to push up a rod of plastic (I might even be able to power all the geysers off of the same pump).

I built a prototype and I've been playing around with it, adjusting the amount of air pressure, location of overflow holes, and a bunch of other things. Basically, with my brass tube pneumatic actuator, when the air pump is turned on, the column rises, when power is off, column falls. I can control the amount of air pressure by using a dimmer switch on the air pump (a 3-way gang with adjustable valves is probably ideal). Since it's all aquarium equipment, it's virtually silent, aside from the very slight rumble of the air pump. The next thing to figure out is making the column fluctuate and vary in height, probably with a valve on a cam."

While the prototype worked at my work table, the main issue was the size of the mechanics involved; in order to have the acrylic rod fully retract and have the actuator, the overall unit would have to protrude down several inches-- almost a foot if I recall-- into the table below (and my 20,000 Leagues Project, namely the squid fight scene).

Another issue with that prototype was the idea that the whole layout would become portable and break into two parts, thus scrapping that plan.

I went back to ultrasonic misters for my next idea. This one seemed promising due to the fact that it didn't go beyond the dimensions of the table, namely through the bottom. A few days of tonsillitis revealed my next idea-- an ultrasonic humidifier.

"A few months ago I had a really bad sore throat (Tonsillitis!) and went over to Target to get a new humidifier to help alleviate it. I got one, and as it turns out, it's an ultrasonic one ( unlike the fan and filter ones I've been use to). Since it was suggested, I've been trying figure out how to get an ultrasonic mister to work for a geyser for the layout, through the use of containers, piping, and fans; it would have been trial and error to get it as efficient as possible. Enter the humidifier: it had exactly what I needed; an ultrasonic mister that outputted adjustable mist, but kept water contained-- all done efficiently and with a stylish look!

Rather than lay down and rest my throat, I immediately started pulling out pieces of PVC piping and other bits of assorted tubing to test the limits of this humidifier. I was very surprised with the amount of power it had and the volume output of the mist (it's not really mist, more of fine vapor, like steam). I plugged a length of PVC with four holes to represent geysers, and even through it wasn't at full blast, each "geyser" was putting out a good amount to be called a geyser."

Fast forward to a few days ago (now that I don't have tonsillitis!) I began playing with it again, and this time tried it with 1/4" tubing on the last leg after the mist leaves the 1 1/4" PVC before it actually goes to the geyser. I wasn't expecting much to come out since the 1/4" tubing is pretty much too small, let alone over a foot of it--but, to my surprise, a good size column came out! Again, this wasn't even at full power and I still got a good effect, doesn't really need to get any taller IMO. But, the 1/4" tubing has it's problems-- condensed vapor drops obstruct the tube easily after running less than a minute. No problem, just need a larger, shorter tube, and have it positioned so gravity does the work in getting condensed water out.

The humidifier did look really good in the video, but as I studied it more, the effect was something hard to look at without the proper lighting all the time. What the moisture would do to the scenery besides attracting more silverfish, concerned me slightly, and visually, this solution did really do it and it was scrapped.

Earlier that same year, the Devil's Paint Pots were also looked at for potential kinetic energy. Digging right into the scenery, I started experimenting:

"I've also been looking at making the Bubbling Mud pots actually bubble. The basic premise here is to make tube full of water, and adding an air line to make it bubble like an aquarium. I built a few prototypes right in the scene, and so far, things haven't been that successful. Since I'm using 1/4" tubing, the water tends to get sucked out of PVC pipe mud pot when the air pump is shut off, and controlling the amount of air flow to get the right bubble interval isn't easy. Plus, in some tests, I found that the bubbles weren't popping easily (maybe the painty water that I used did that). I'm still working it out, and this element might need to end up being static."

At the same time, I tried to get more "authentic" with the faux turnout at the "mine tunnel". In theory all I had to do was splice in an Atlas turnout and it would look a lot better than what I had before. In the end, all it did was roughen up the curve and kink it out of shape. The turnout is also too wide and shouldn't have been put in at all in the first place. My mistake. After that failure, this corner of the layout sat untouched while the rest of the layout expanded with progress, abandoned with unfinished ideas and effects that didn't work.

Fast forward to a month ago. A trip to Lowe's reignited my interest in geyser animation with their fog machine. While I did already have a fog machine, what intrigued me with this one was it's dimensions; if I wanted to use it for the geysers like the ultrasonic mister, it can fit perfectly below the surface of the scenery, without protruding through the table the layout is sitting on (remember, the layout has to be portable ). I bought the fog machine and began experimenting. Despite it's ideal size, the results from the fog machine were hard to achieve because in order to have the fog come out that tiny hole at the geyser, the container that the fog and machine would be in would have to be perfectly sealed-- which doesn't help when the machine needs to breathe with all the heat it generates. This fog machine also produced an oily film from the fog, despite using water-based fluid, which was something I didn't want to deal with when it comes to maintenance. So, while it excited me at first, like the ideas before, this one was scrapped.

While trying to brainstorm various ways to get geysers to materialize, one idea kept appearing-- or more appropriately, reappearing-- the acrylic rod. The very first geysers always looked the best visually, it was just getting them to move that was the tricky part. After numerous sketches, I found one that looked very promising and ended up being the simplest one.

As in the video below, the acrylic rod is contained in a styrene tube while in the down position. When the geyser "erupts", a thread pulls the acrylic rod up from it's base. The water column-- with an appearance like the Enchanted Tiki Room's "Enchanted Fountain" at this point-- drops when slack is given in the thread.

A few coats of Mod Podge gave the rod a more organic look. At night, a bright white LED illuminates the water column from below. Cool!

It's not quite as "airy" as the first static ones, but I think the motion of them bursting out of the ground will make up for that.

EDIT: 10/21

While looking over reference shots of the geysers, I noticed that three of the four spewed quite a column of water. The fourth, however, was a little different. This one had more of a "spray" appearance, and was not as "persistent" as the other ones. It was on most of the time, while the others varied in hight and this one stayed constantly at the same height.

When designing the mechanism to control the geysers, I thought this smaller "spray" geyser could use a different approach, since it had a different appearance and performance. While I could use a little fluff material to represent it, a little movement would help it fit in with the other geysers, which are bobbing and fluctuating. So far I've come up with a very thin rod, wrapped in spider-web material (which is very abundant this time of year). The rod is on a motor, which spins at a fairly moderate speed. Haven't decided on whether to use it or not, but it looks pretty neat.

Meanwhile, still on my experimenting kick, I took a look at the mud pots. After the mess with bubbling painty water, I took a different route and instead of actually using liquid, I decided to simulate it. Using a piece of rubber from a dishwashing glove, I cut out a disk and glued it right onto the original prototype and gave it a coat of paint and mod podge.

In the test footage, it looks pretty good, so I proceeded to build the mechanics to do this.

With all the things being thought of and requiring a substantial amount of overhaul work, the only time to really get them done was at the same time. So when I was ready to install the geysers, mud pots, and a new stretch of track, I ripped up what was there leaving a gaping hole. Doing everything now reduces the amount of stuff I need to replace or rebuild (which I'm sick and tired of doing).

Above left is the hole cut into the scenery and entire chunk removed. That chunk was on a piece of particle board which made any renovations such as this one difficult. A jigsaw changed that. At right is the new piece of flex-track, perfectly smooth with no kinks or bumps like the mish-mashed track before it.

On to the mud pots, I had to figure out the position of each colorful bowl mainly so I could determine the mechanics orientation, but also so I could be accurate to the real thing. In the past, I simply made up a composition of the Devil's Paint Pots, a sort of random pattern. This time around, I actually studied the real ones from numerous photos and drew up a map of the cluster. This map made it easier to determine which mud pots I would animate and which ones would leave static.

The actual mechanism would consist of my usual cam and lever operation. Basically, the cam would slowly push down on a lever, raising a rod to push up on the bottom of the rubber disk-- giving the illusion that a "bubble" is rising to the surface. A notch in the cam would release the lever, dropping the rod, creating the illusion that the bubble "popped". Below is the mechanism in action, before the "surface" was put on top.

When the mechanism was finished, I cut a piece of masonite for the ground surface and the mud pots themselves. The ones that would actually be working have a piece of PVC pipe to support the rubber disk. After cutting the actuating rod to the proper height, I glued down the rubber disk.

After doing three of these, seen below (two of them have a test coat of red paint), I let the mechanism run for a while to break-in. However, even after a few hours and few tweaks, the overall effect just wasn't that satisfying, after many adjustments; every time a bubble "popped" if made a loud clack noise, which is the sound of lever dropping. The sound can be dampened with a piece of foam, however at the cost of having the visual illusion diminished. After sound dampening the three I had, the minimal movement of the mud pot bubbles made this little project seem unnecessary; was it really worth it to have these barley noticeable tiny "bubbles" that raise no more than a 1/16th of an inch?

Not really, at least at this point. I've changed gear and I'm working on the geysers. Maybe if I find yet another solution, I might try. For now, Devil's Paint pots project is shelved. Who knows, I might go with what I predicted when I did the first prototype-- might make them static and just look good.

August 2011 Update-- Or Lack of Update...

2011-08-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

There won't be anything for the August update, many because nothing really happened. I haven't had the time lately to do considerable progress on the layout, as I'm in the middle of a major studio renovation, which includes the dismantling of my 20,000 Leagues under the Sea project directly below the layout. When my work space gets back in order over the next few weeks, work will return to the Wonderland, hopefully. There are a few things I've got cooked up for the layout on the horizon, one of which is a very promising solution for animating my geysers, something that has been long-time in the making.

July 2011 Update

2011-08-01T15:19:00.000-07:00

Wires, wires, wires

After going through many design changes, I'm proud to say that I got my block relay system put together and up running successfully.

All the wires for every block and every signal run to the back corner near under the geysers. This is where all the relays turn on and off sections of track, depending on which reed switch was toggled, as well as the appropriate light signals for each block.

Originally, I tried to wire and solder everything in place in the back corner in tight confinement, like so:

Messy and unorganized wires....

That lead to problems in keeping everything organized and hard to maintain if I wanted to replace a relay or make changes.

To keep things clean and easy to maintain, as well as build, the new layout for all the relays and wires was done on a separate piece that I can work on my desk comfortably.

...clean and organized wires.

The end result was a "plug-in" to the layout by adding jumper wires from one terminal block to another. This has been the most complicated wiring project I've ever done. Despite it's complexity, using different colored wires and planning everything out carefully made the construction go smoothly. In case a relay craps out over time, it can be replaced easily thanks to pin sockets, as opposed to having to de-solder the leads and resolder them again.

The big relay with all the orange wires is the "override" relay; usually, when there is a red light, the train will stop since it's power is cut off; with the override on, the train can still move despite another relay trying to keep the block off, which is mainly for testing or if a reed switch doesn't trigger to clear the block.

All the wires for the layout, whether it be light, sound, animation, block controls, throttles, power lines, turnout motors, etc, run down to the front of the layout, and will eventually connect to a control panel. This control panel will be built to look like the ones used on Disneyland attractions. That still requires planning when I have everything ready to connect (since I don't want any add-ons later), but for the mean time, this is what it looks like, all 30+ wires...

Yes, everything is labeled

Let There Be Light!

Almost two years ago, as I was making modifications to the track, the night-time lighting for the Living Desert had to be re-adjusted. Rather than embedding the lights into the ground again, I decided to make "light towers" like so below:

Original lighting package for the Living Desert.

They seemed to work when I added them, but for some reason, the the blue-white LED's just didn't have the right feel, despite having color gels placed in front of them. The christmas tree lights just weren't cutting it for me.

Perhaps the main reason they were doing it for me was the fact that I keep referring to me very first train layout:

A 4 X 5' miniature Disneyland.

Between 2004 and 2005, I built my own miniature Disneyland out of cardstock and acrylic paint, surrounded by a loop of HO snap-track. While crude when I built it, as I was 14 at the time, the one thing I really liked about it nowadays was the night-time lighting hidden within the buildings. Using 12V incandescent lights and color gels, I tried to light all the main structures like the real counterparts at Disneyland. It worked really well and it was a lot of fun to operate the train and look over the layout in the dark. The 12V lights gave a nice warm glow to everything as opposed to the blue-white, cold LED's.

A blast from the past: my model railroad before Nature's Wonderland
circa early 2005

If I wanted to replicate that feeling of that model on my NWRR model, I had to use the same techniques I used over 7 years ago.

I ripped up all the LED's that I had embedded, as well as the light towers, and I began running wires for the new 12V lights. Once again, I will be using color gels to set the mood of the lights to match the scenes.

Nature's Wonderland at night is a difficult thing to determine since there is hardly any recollections or photos to get an idea of how it was lit. As usual, if there isn't any reference, I have to take some artistic license.

When it comes to how the model will be lit, Rainbow Ridge will have it's buildings lit up from the inside, as well as a few lanterns on the station platform. The Living Desert will consist of warm colors, like red, orange, and yellow, while the forrest areas and Cascade Peak will get cool colors like blue and green. The choice of the warm colors from the Living Desert is inspired by how Big Thunder Mountain (on my old model and the real thing) is lit with orange flood-lights. The use of cool colors for Bear Country and Cascade Peak, came from real Bear Country pond at night, when illuminated with a blue light at night.

Since a lot of wires had to be imbedded in the scenery, the lighting had to be done before anymore work can progress on the scenery (since I don't want to redo any more stuff!). So I had to do it NOW.

The basic process for installing lights starts with making the enclosure for the "grain-of- wheat" bulb out of aluminum and adding the appropriate color gel. The light is installed in the scenery, whether it be concealed in a rock, hillside, or even in a tree. When the light was tested and everything looked good, it was secured in place and the wires were run to it. These wires are either drilled through scenery or will be covered later.

Here are lights for Bear Country, all attached and ready for patch-work which will include a layer of celluclay and scenery. A few trees and shrubs and it'll be hard to notice.

Here's what the layout is looking light now, in all it's night-time glory. About half of the required lighting is already installed-- about 25 bulbs-- with more to come. Since I mainly work night shifts, installing lights during the daytime is a challenge when the position of each light needs to be tested. During the installation process, I've blacked out the windows of my studio to overcome that obstacle and utilize precious time.

Photographing the night-time isn't easy, especially if you're trying to replicate what it looks like in person without being too dark or too blown-out.

One of the difficult parts to lighting the layout, from a design perspective, is hiding the lights. Normally, when lighting an attraction, the lights are hidden in bushes, rocks, on rooftops, etc. The problem is, this isn't a real attraction, it's a model that will be viewed from above, and not from the train itself. So it becomes a careful balance of lighting the scene like the real thing, but also keeping in mind of how it will be viewed from above and from several different angles.

June 2011 Update

2011-06-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

A new photo for the Aerial shots post (see the links at the top). Much of the future Rainbow Ridge and Rivers of America area looks a little cleaner, thanks to a little paint, applied in preparation for the OC Register shoot last March.

The Sound of.... Sound

Since the layout started construction almost six years ago, it was mainly a visual art. Now for the first time, you can also "hear" it.

While it was still easy to route wires, I decided to run lines for speakers to be incorporated into the layout to broadcast sound effects for each of the different areas. Such sounds include waterfalls, creeks, animals, geysers, townsfolk, and just ambient sounds.

Last winter I bough a bunch of inexpensive iPod speakers from Target that I could disassemble and customize so I can hide speakers in the layout and have the sound input be accessible. To have the sound playback, I'm using the tried and true CD player, two of them in this case. By taking advantage of the stereo quality of CD's that created four channels, each player having a left and right speaker. So this creates four different sounds that can be implemented in four different areas on the layout.

"Hacked" CD players that will run the sounds of Nature's Wonderland.
The wires will run to a custom panel that will control both players at the same time

The four sound channels or "zones" as I call them lie in four areas: Cascade Peak, Bear Country/Beaver Valley, Living Desert, and Rainbow Ridge. The sounds of Cascade Peak include the rumble of the waterfalls with the sound of the Mark Twain's whistle and bell sounding off every 10 minutes or so as if it were passing by. Bear Country and Beaver Valley features sounds of the creek and ambient bird chirps. Animals that fade in and out include the bears, beavers and battling elk-- all sounds from the original attraction. Over in the Living Desert, the sounds of coyotes and geyser spurts can heard, as well as crashing and rumbling rocks from Balancing rock canyon. Rainbow Ridge will have one speaker installed in the Saloon where sounds of the piano players and rowdy townspeople will be heard.

All of these sounds are being mixed in GarageBand, and compiled onto one 1-hour track on CD. Each player will have two areas being played simultaneously

All the audio tracks being mixed in GarageBand

Right now, there are two speakers installed in Cascade Peak, Beaver Valley/Bear Country and two need to be installed in the Living Desert and one in Rainbow Ridge.

Can you see the speaker? After a speaker was embedded in the scenery, it was covered
with a wire screen and blended into the surrounding terrain. The speaker that
broadcasts sounds of Cascade Peak's waterfalls is in the dead center of the picture, behind
a few trees.

A speaker for Beaver Valley, yet to be hidden by trees and foliage.

A speaker for Bear Country covered in wire screen and preliminary scenery
blending. A few trees and shrubs and it wont be seen.

On the subject of sound, Rainbow Caverns got it's memorable eerie choir that echos through the caves. I didn't want to dedicate a who track to the caverns so I used a 9V recording module from Radio Shack. At the press of a button, you can hear a 20 second sample of the music used in the Rainbow Caverns.

Here's a recording of the sound module in action (camera has poor video quality, no visuals).

Trees

Meanwhile in Beaver Valley, scenery began to "grow". Trees are starting to sprout as I experiment with different ways of making different varieties of trees. Some pines are scratchbuilt out of sculpey and wire branches, while others are Woodland scenics brand. What's nice about modeling Nature's Wonderland is that it's actually prototypical to have few trees, unlike most model railroads, since foliage still needed time to grow in. I won't need too many trees for that reason, but also so the viewer can actually see the scenes on the layout without being too cluttered.

Finally, here's a side-by-side look at Cascade Peak, a year ago before it's major rebuild, and just a few days ago. Quite a difference!

May 2011 Update

2011-05-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

The western half of the layout picked up considerable progress as I put in the last piece of the complex puzzle-- the Battling Elk. Since it was a large portion of the "forest" section, it need to be completed and installed before anything else like Beaver Valley and Bear Country could be worked on.

Figuring out the exact placement of the Elk was quite a challenge considering the space I provided for them isn't much at all. And also considering how close they border the Bears and the Beavers, I had to take careful measures in making their position just right so it didn't impact the other two areas. Basically I had to take three major areas, make them as accurate as I can, fit them all together in a prototypical fashion, and make everything look good overall without anything looking "off". I also had to factor in how they would look from different point of perspective. For example, if you were on the miniature train passing through Beaver Valley, you wouldn't see the Elk fighting on the hill just above. To solve that, room had to be accounted for trees, shrub, and other visual barriers to make accurate site lines.

When I had everything figured out to a certain extent, I constructed the mechanism that would animate the Elk figures. Since I wasn't going to have their tiny legs move, all the Elk are going to do is move back and forth on a horizontal track, basically enough to give the illusion of movement. While someone with no mechanical animation experience might say "you should have made the legs move!", I say "good enough".

The mechanism, but with the original elk stand-ins

Here's a test of the mechanics, with the figures with fresh primer

When the mechanism was finished and duration tested, the hills sloping up to the Elk could be installed and built for the umpteenth and final time.

To accomodate space for the hills to house the mechanism, the Beaver Valley river had to shift a little bit. I could have left it where it was, but the hills would look too steep and unnatural.

The basics of land forms

The "fault line" is visible since the layout
can break into two pieces.

The basic structure of the hillside started with floral foam to help support and fill out the aluminum foil skin. Celluclay or "miniature concrete" as I like to think of it, is applied creating a hard shell to create the ground layer.Since the layout can split in half, I had to make sure the scenery still did. A few more shrubs and you won't notice the "fault" line.

Once dry, various ground foam foliage and carved rocks scattered over the terrain helped make this section of the layout more nature-like for the first time in years.

To accompany the Battling duo, Woodland Scenics deer stand in for the "cow-elk" that lounge on the grassy meadow. Eventually they'll be repainted to match the elk and my painting style.

Trees are the current focus; after experimenting with a few techniques, one made out of sculpey and wire with ground foliage seems to work pretty well. Now it's a matter of sitting down and creating a whole forest of trees one by one-- by hand.

Here's the final video of the Elk in action:

The NWRR Model's "Cousin"

Over at the Disneyland Hotel, as part of their major renovation, the "Frontierland" tower received a new centerpiece for their lobby-- A replica of the original concept model for Big Thunder Mountain. This 1/4" scale model --the same scale as my NWRR model-- is a re-creation of the one fabricated by Tony Baxter back in 1978. Since only a portion of the original model exists and since WDI wants to keep original things in it's archive, this brand-new model was created. After getting word of it being installed from the Official Disney Parks Blog, I did a quick trip over to the hotel to get a good look at the model. It's chock full of details with a lot to look at. I instantly noticed the locomotives on the coaster trains are repainted Bachmann 0-4-0 porters with the side rods taken off. There are differences between this model and the real thing, but considering this is suppose to be a concept model, those discrepancies aren't a big deal. Many people, typically with no mechanical animation experience, have said "they should have made the trains move!". I say "good enough!".

I snapped a few photos and shot some video of the model, but really, it's worth it to see it in person.

April 2011 Update

2011-05-01T00:09:00.000-07:00

The Battling Elk sculpts have finally been redone and finished; now it's a matter of getting them installed on their mechanism, painted, and area scenic detailing.

The left shot shows the scale difference between my original figures and the new figures. The right shot gives a sense of scale of the new figures.

Here's a video that shows the general movement of the elk on their mechanisms. While I would have liked to have their legs move like in the original ride, they were just too delicate and small to mechanize.

Next month's update will show the actual mechanism itself, plus the finished scene.

Virtual Wonderland

On a Nature's Wonderland related note, I've slowly been working on a CG version of the Mine Train. Since the world is leaning towards doing everything in the computer and less physical models, I'm having to teach myself how to compete in the ever-evolving world of movie studios, architectural and design firms, and even Imagineering. So, as a little project in addition to other modeling for school projects, I decided to bring my favorite attraction into the 3D medium. I won't be recreating the entire attraction (yet....) since I'm just learning and working on small scale things (I don't want to take a bite out I can't chew ).

Here's a little sample of where just the locomotive it at.

And here is a little bit of the work flow, which shows the sand pipe being modeling in Maya.

In other NWRR "News"

Normally the layout is only known to the public through this blog. I've checked the stats and the views have risen slowly over time and it's relayed through-out cyber space. But within the last month, it really went "public".

I got an email from a guy named Mark Eades, who was a reporter for the OC Register (and a former Disneyland CM and Imagineer). Being how great the register has been with covering what's going down at Disneyland and reflecting back on it's history, I was intrgued. He said he was doing a story on the old Mine Train ride and he had noticed my blog. He thought it would make a great story for the Register and he asked if he could do an interview. Being that the register was an "official" establishment and not some freaky fan-run unofficial website, I naturally said yes.

Although there wasn't much to show, since only half of the layout was finished, the layout did get cleaned up and the finished areas given a touch-up. Everything went smoothly during the video and photo sessions. It was really odd being in front of the camera, since I'm so use to being behind the camera and doing everything myself. It was interesting to see how they documented it from their perspective.

http://ocresort.ocregister.com/2011/04/01/long-shuttered-disneyland-railroad-lives-on-in-miniature/73977/

(Didn't realize how flat and monotone my voice was ( I really don't think I sound like that!))

The day after the article was posted, I went downstairs to the dispatch office at work, and there it was, all printed up and pinned on the bulletin board-- the article. Honestly, I didn't know how to feel; I liked the fact that it was noticed (probably by one of the managers), but at the same time, having the entire Disneyland Custodial Department (and probably the rest of the park) know about my unusual hobby of building a dead theme park ride did make me feel a little awkward. Something like this is something I would just keep to myself since I don't like to toot my own horn too much; especially at work where you have a few people that could care less about the park's history and would see people that knew too much about the place as "obsessed".

However, my coworkers that saw it and said something to me about it were all appreciative of the work I did and were very impressed. The newspaper version was later printed and it got more praise and exposure. In the end, after cringing a bit over all my coworkers knowing about I what I do when not at "The Park", it was a good move and looks really good on a resumé.

And now everyone knows why I take a lot of time when working around Big Thunder!

March 2011 Update

2011-03-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

Before I could really get any work done-- or really preliminary work-- on Rainbow Ridge, I had to get the turnout motors installed. (By the way, the photo at left has no relation to the topic of turnouts; I just thought it looked nice). Originally I was going to have ground-throws, but I thought it would be easier and more fun to actually have them move automatically without fingers interfering with the scene. The most popular turnout motors out there for model railroads are the Tortoise switch machines; I was planning on using two of these to control the turnouts that would diverge the trains onto the main line or the spur line. The problem with the Tortoise machines was finding a way to adapt them to my layout (since I can't mount them underneath as they are intended). After reading an article of Model Railroader, I found a much easier and cheaper alternative: servo motors. Intrigued by how they were used, I ordered two Hitect HS-311 servos for about $7 a pop (which is a great deal considering Tortoise Machines go for about $20 each directly from Circuitron).

Because of their small size, I was able to mount each servo next to their respective turnout. Considering the strength the servos have under power, I included a pair of micro-switches that will cut power to the motor when the switch points make a full movement. This way, when the switch points complete their move, the motor isn't still on and stalling itself out. To make life simpler, both servos are connected to a single DPDT switch which will align both turnouts to either the Main or spur.

Here's the servos mounted next to the turnouts. Each one got it's own unique set-up, due to the position of

the actuating rod for the switch points. The servo on the left next to the Rainbow Caverns

tunnel will be hidden by Mineral Hall and the servo on the right will be hidden by the Opera House.

Here's a quick video showing the servos in operation. The great thing about the servos is that they're very efficient; I can run both of them off a single AA battery. (To create a slower motion, I could even drop the voltage further).

Back to the Battling Elk

After wasting my time making the first figures the wrong size, I finally got myself to at least start the revised elk figures. These ones are going to match the same general scale/size as the Woodland Scenics deer so they won't look out of place next to them in the finished scene. While I would have liked to get the both done installed by the end of this month, it's a start. As you can see, the new more in scale sculpts are about a 1/3 smaller than the originals.

If I go any smaller, I think I'll go blind.

Relay Delay

I hit another snag in my block system; I need to separate the relays that control the signals and the relays that control the block cut segments. Since I want to be able to disable the block relays and still have the signals work if I was testing a train or just running one train (which results in having two relays for each block, one for the cut segment and one for the signals) I was originally going to have the power cut from the block relays to disable that feature while the signal relays still worked. Well as it turns out, from testing it didn't matter if power was cut (aka the common wire); the relay with no power still worked! It was getting power from the other relay it was connected to. So as a result, I need to add 3PDT switches between the two relays for each block. This was power for the block cut segments will be completely turned off without anything weird going on. (Did that make any sense?).

February 2011 Update: Bits and Pieces.

2011-02-27T13:31:00.000-08:00

There wasn't really a focus for the layout this month, it was a lot of, well, bits and pieces.

Battling Elk

After slowly developing Bear Country over the last few months, I found the next big thing to develop and install was the Battling Elk. After working with the Marmot tunnel, it was easier to work on the surrounding features when the piece was put in, rather than finishing off everything and having to rip it all out later if changes need to be made. As with the Elk, I needed to sculpt the fighting duo and put them on a mechanism and then drop the whole unit in. In order to determine the movement and size of the mechanics that will move the Elk back and forth, I needed the Elk themselves.

I set to work with a handful of Super Sculpey and some reference pictures and measurements of real Olympic Elk. After many hours, one was produced and few more hours later, a second. I'm very pleased with the results. When I originally took on the project almost 6 years ago, I wasn't really a good sculptor at all, especially small animals-- which really doesn't make Nature's Wonderland a good project for a 14 year old, especially when the attraction originally boasted having "over 200 lifelike animals". Over time, I realized this WAS the perfect project for me to do, since it forced me to practice and get better at sculpting, and that's shown in this latest example.

When the sculpts were done, baked and ready for the next step, I mocked up the area where they would be placed in order to get an idea of the space I have for the mechanics. Unfortunately, since this is a selectively compressed layout, it's really cramped in Bear Country and Beaver Valley. A piece of plastic represents the size of figures and their orientation. In order to give the terrain a natural look, I had to figure out how much area the hills sloping up to the Elk (they were on a hill on original attraction) and mechanism would eat up. So, as a result, a bunch of markings were made in the Beaver river for potential shifts in the river.

Planning out the Battling Elk. Markings are made for potential shifts
in the Beaver River.

Concerned with how much space the hill leading up to Elk was taking up I came to a sickening realization: I think I made the figures too big.

The original plastic moose that have
been standing in as my Battling Elk
for the last few years

The space for the Battling Elk was originally designed around the size of two plastic moose I had standing in for the Elk for some time now. After some measurements and guesses, I figured the Elk sculpts would be just a little bigger than the moose. As it turned out, a little bigger turned out to be too big. I didn't take into account that the Elk in the ride might have had a little forced perspective and they did look smaller once I looked at some photos of them on the hill on the ride a second time. There was a full-size fiberglas Elk, coincidently, sitting on a pallet backstage behind the Haunted Mansion; I was able to make mental notes and measurements with my arms and it was indeed smaller than what my sculptures represented. The final confirmation that I screwed up the sculpts was when I ordered some Woodland Scenics deer to accompany the fighting elk that would stand in as the cow elk. Sure enough, my figures were way out of scale, almost twice the size as the Woodland Scenics figures (which are O scale).

So the elk figures I made are put aside, awaiting their smaller cousins to be made and implemented. At that point, I decided to change gears.

Wires, relays, reed switches, and more wires.

Since the layout was still in a developing stage, now is the time to do some crazy wiring considering it's going to be a lot harder to do later on a finished layout. When it comes to crazy wiring, I'm talking about the block system and "auto-stop" system I'm putting in.

The layout is divided into four blocks. Each block will be wired so at the flip of toggle switch, the block can be controlled by one of two power packs, thus a two train operation.

The four blocks on the layout

In addition to that, the last foot or so of each block will be isolated, which will be turned on or off, depending if a train is in the next block. For example: As one train enters a block, a reed switch triggers a relay that turns the last 12" of the previous block off, forcing the train behind that's about to enter occupied block to stop. Once the train ahead moves into the next block triggering another reed switch flipping the relay again, the previous block will clear and the train stuck in the powerless section of track resumes it's journey once power has been restored. Every block will be this way, so that even if the trains are going on their own without any human control, they won't run into each other.

. So, if a train were to enter a block, the block if just left would shut off the last foot, preventing a train behind to enter the already occupied block. The turned off block would be cleared and turned back on once the train enters the next block. This is all being done by reed switches and latching relays for simplicity. I tested this new system with two blocks and the results were really satisfying.

This is what brings the two layout sections together electrically: 15 pin connectors.
15 pins may be a bit much, but it'll allow easy expansion for sound, lighting, animation, etc.

The "spine" or the main electrical chase along the backside of the Living Desert

Before I can rig up the system, I had run wiring for every block and isolated block segments, as well as wiring for the reed switches and the signal lights (each block will have a red/green dwarf signal light, for ease of operation and aesthetics). Since the layout is now portable, I didn't want to run a whole bunch of wires down to the control panel (which will plug-in to the layout) and have to have appropriate connectors for the number of wires. The easiest solution was to have the all the relays, and most of the reed switches on the large half (Living Desert) of the layout. That way there's less wires to jump through connector plugs. Originally, all the relays and wiring would lead to the bottom right corner of the layout, basically behind Casa de Fritos. Then I decided to change the location to just behind the Geysers and adjacent to the Caverns because it was more convenient and more space (it would take research described later in the post to figure out if there was room). All the wires run up the "spine" of the layout, which is channeled through a pipe under the Living Desert and under the Natural Arch, and then runs across the backside of the layout, about where the SF & DLRR goes (or was going to go, since that space got cut short after the layout got retrofitted). To keep things clean, all wires are screwed to a 20 place terminal block.

"Relay Central". This is where all the relays, signals, and reed switches will connnect
in a clean and organized fashion. The Caverns and Geysers are just out of frame above.

Once everything was screwed together and organized, I began to wire the latching relays together. Each block had a reed switch, and that reed switch would turn on a relay or turn off a relay (which would turn a block on or off). Basically each reed switch was wired to more than one relay. Everything was going smoothly, but once I added a second relay, things got screwy. When testing with a train, some reed switches were turning off blocks/relays that they weren't even wired to! After many hours of frustration and head scratching, I figured out the hard way that I can't have multiple relays share the same reed switch; the coils in the relays themselves were acting as jumper wires for other relays, and thats what was messing everything up. I came to the conclusion that I would have to rig another set of reed switches-- doubling the number from four to eight-- in order to work around this problem. Basically, each relay would have it's own set of reed switches-- one to turn it off, one to turn it on. It means more wires, but it means no shared reed switches with no problems.

Growin' Some Trees

After an article Model Railroader, I started experimenting with making trees out of wire branches, fiber foliage and ground foam. They aren't ready to be "planted" yet, but here they are:

When I get into full tree making production I might do a time lapse/tutorial.

Casa de Fritos PART 1: What's Left?

As mentioned earlier, when I was originally considering putting the relays and terminal block pictured above behind Casa de Fritos on the corner of the layout, I wasn't really sure how much space I'd have. I had never really looked into what made up Casa de Fritos building-wise, which needed to be determined if I was going to hide wires and relays.

An aerial shot showing Rainbow Ridge and Casa de Fritos highlighted in yellow

Casa de Fritos is highlighted in yellow in this aerial above. To keep things simple, I've included Mineral Hall in the complex. Everything above the red line will be built on the model, everything below, I'll just say "I wish". Unfamiliar with what it looked like, I turned to Davelandweb and his excellent source of vintage photos.

Photo Credit for these three photos: Davelandweb

I was also able to stitch together this panorama, from two photos from matterhorn1959.blogspot.com

Photo Credit for the two photos stitched together: matterhonr1959.blogspot.com

All of these photos gave me a good idea of what the area looked like, and once I cross referenced a few things, I became familiar with how everything is laid out. Unfortunately, due to the space constraints on the layout, I can't build the main entrance and patio area as shown in the top photo. Luckily, by shear coincidence when I was planning Rainbow Ridge, the pillar with a bit of blue on it in the middle photos will just make on the layout, which will help establish Casa de Fritos on the layout since the name is on it.

I knew most of Nature's Wonderland had been destroyed when Big Thunder came to town, but what about Casa de Fritos? That was something I had find out. Once Casa de Fritos dropped their sponsor, the restaurant became Casa Mexicana and it remained pretty much the same. Then in the mid-90's, the area went under a major renovation and became Rancho del Zocalo. With the large patio right next to Big Thunder out front, it was really hard to tell if any of the Casa de Fritos facades still existed.

Color elevation for Rancho Del Zocalo, which was the first tip that Casa de Fritos might still exist in some form

The first clue that the buildings/facades are still intact was this color elevation from "The Art of Disneyland" for the Rancho renovation. Everything appeared the same after cross referencing. Since this was just a color elevation and many more could have been done, I was unsure of the accuracy of it. Plans do change, especially when it comes to design theme parks, right down to the color scheme.

I had to get a closer look to see what's left and there was only one way to find out: FIELD TRIP!

Casa de Fritos PART 2: A Research Expedition.

When I had the chance, I made a trek down to the park on a mission to find ANY part of the facades left. I knew the Mineral Hall portion still existed and part of the restaurant entrance next to the Shooting gallery was still there, but everything else like the adobe hacienda style buildings I was unsure about.

(Above) Rancho del Zocalo entrance
(Below) Casa de Fritos entrance
Still the same!

Here's the Entrance, now and before, top and bottom respectively. Once your eye gets past the ironwork and overgrown greenery, you can see that even the "bricks" showing through the the surface of the structure survived the renovation. (I really wanted to match the angle perfectly, but planters, railings and other diners prevented me from doing so).

What's all that in the back? Could it be?

Venturing deeper, I see Mineral Hall is still there as it was more than 50 years ago. There's no blacklight rocks, but it's now the departure point for diners after they pay for their meal and exit onto the patio.

Mineral Hall, still here as well!

Panning over to the right, I was surprised by what I saw: EVERYTHING is still here!

Above now, before below

There is one major difference though: The facade of the Assay Office has been stretched vertically to meet the height of Mineral Hall, most likely to hide the edge of the facility building. A few doors and windows on the lower floor might have moved around, but other than that, everything is pretty much the same.

These two shots I tried to match the angle, despite all the clutter and tables around. Even the detail above the doorway still exists. And that pillar with a little blue paint on it that says "Casa de Fritos"? That's still here as well!

The hidden pillar that once had "Casa de Fritos" painted on it.

So now, knowing that most of the former Casa de Fritos is still around, if I need some reference of measurements, I know exactly where to go!

I never did find that Frito Kid though.....

A Little Photoshop

Did some screwin' around in Photoshop the other day, giving it a slight retro postcard look.

Next Month:

In the month of March I want to get my block system all ship-shape and operational. Hopefully the new Battling Elk sculpts will go well and will finally get mechanized. I'm also getting ready to motorize the turnouts in Rainbow Ridge and Beaver Valley might get more developed.

January 2011 Update: Back to Work

2011-01-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

With the new year two weeks in already, the layout took more form and is rapidly gaining speed whenever I can squeeze in an hour or two to fiddle with it. The new focus now is to get Bear Country and Beaver Valley areas pretty much finished, with some exceptions like trees and other small animal details that can wait to be added later. I'm getting closer to the point where most of the major hill blocking in is finished and the finer details can be made.

Aerial Shots
I added a new section to the blog: Aerial Model shots. Basically overhead shots of the whole layout through various stages of construction. Unfortunately, there's a five year gap between the last two pictures, but hey, it's all I have. Also included on the same page is a brand new shot, which shows a lot more greenery than the last few shots.

Quite a difference between these two shots, especially Cascade Peak.

"Them little marmots over the tunnel must be a whistlin' to all you pretty gals, can't say I blame 'em".

The tunnel with the marmots popping up top (known as the "Marmot tunnel" in my writing) was officially finished and installed, which included putting in all 5 mechanical 1/2" tall marmot figures on the rig, each with their own unique movement. Something like this can only be demonstrated through video:

This is also the first video to ever use a new technique to me--green screen. I was able to shoot the footage against green screen and composite a sky in, so the viewer wouldn't see any unsightly views like paint jars and window blinds. I even got the clouds in the sky to move slightly.

New hill, more trail; along the future the Rivers of America

After completing the tunnel, I proceeded to continue the pack mule trail over the tunnel. I did a small sample several months ago, and I followed the same scenery techniques to cover an new section of hillside. I didn't go too far, as I did before, so I wouldn't have to tear up to much when I figure out and develop the Rainbow Ridge area.

Beaver Valley Scenery
The section of rockwork and the adjacent scenery started to take form along the track in Beaver Valley. The last time the area was "finished" was back in June 2006. I've come a long way in "scenic-ing" in the last almost 5 years. It's kinda hard to believe that everything in the second shot is new material; nothing from the previous shot transcended into the current day.

Above, Old Beaver Valley, June 2006

Below, New Beaver Valley, today.

The hills behind the stretch of track for Beaver Valley were pretty much done for the umpteenth time, hopefully this is the last time. The gray celluclay in the foreground will be the future river with the dams. Since the layout can break into two segments now, the split line is visible.

Hillside scenery and rockwork for Beaver Valley. The river will appear in the foreground eventually.

Bear Country

Not much yet has happened in Bear Country yet since Beaver Valley has been the focus of attention. On the To-Do list is to construct the truss-work for the trestle, sculpt another bear in the water (ones on land can be pushed back until later), greenery and eventually, the Enviro-tech water.

Half Bears for the water

Here's an overview of the whole area, which looks a lot better than this shot posted months ago.

I threw down some pigment (some random green color I had) to give the viewer (and myself) a sense of what's going on in terms of waterways and land forms.

To recap, here's the same photo from the top of this post, this time labeled to show what's new and different since the last photo.

"Finishing Date"

I've pushed back the "finishing date" for the layout; at the top of the blog, I've written that "I might finish the layout by late 2010/ early 2011. Well, things have changed and I didn't come as far as I thought when I wrote that and it's now late 2011/early 2012. Plus, at that time, I wasn't devoting almost 30 hours a week at a job.

December 2010 Update: Still Nothin', but I got a little Somethin' going

2010-12-30T02:01:00.000-08:00

The December update for this year will have as much a last month's update. But, since my Spruce Caboose building was finished, progress did pick up towards the end of the month. I finished off the marmots over the tunnel and that piece was installed. More hills were put in and the whole section of Beaver Valley and Bear Country is shaping up quite nicely since having to be recovered from having the whole layout cut in half. I'm looking forward to some fun stuff for this section coming up, but that'll have to wait until next year's update (Ha! Get it?).

I did some messing around in a composite program called Shake, learning how to do green screen stuff. I did a small clip of my layout, doing the typical sky replacement. I added some steam for fun from Particle Illusion.

November Update: I Got Nothin'

2010-11-30T08:25:00.000-08:00

Layout progress was nonexistent in the last month, been too busy with other things and other side projects. So much that I updated the sidebar as "project on hold". Fingers crossed work will resume again later in December.

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Although not related, this was one of my side projects during the winter. Every year in December, we set up a small Department 56-esque village that has the usual 2-3 buildings. When the thought of adding a new building came up, I thought it would be more fun to BUILD one, rather than BUY one. Thus, the creation of the "Spruce Caboose Hobby & Craft" shop. I designed this building completely from the ground up, drawing architectural details and color scheme ideas from Disneyland's Main Street, in order to compliment the most outstanding building we have currently, the "Sweet Shop" candy shop.

Colorized front elevation drawing

When completed, the building will have miniature working model layouts in the display windows, with a fully detailed interior.

The real deal, built completely from scratch out of styrene.
The "Sweet Shop" is coincidentally in the background.

More on this will be posted on my main blog when it's finished.

EDIT: Here's the link:

Spruce Caboose Hobby & Craft

October 2010 Update: Natural Arch Special

2010-10-19T08:35:00.000-07:00

Things have really slowed down on the layout in recent weeks, school and work really like to take my time this time of the year. I did get some work done on the Natural arch bridge though. For the fifth and FINAL time, I've redone the bridge to the proper specs and details and it looks better than ever. The previous version had to be adjusted so many times that it just couldn't survive being that it was a just a shell of celluclay. This time around, I decided to make it out of floral foam for a rigid and solid piece, but also to show how well this stuff works for how cheap it is ( 6 bricks of floral foam for $3; pretty good bargain!).

In my usual fashion, this rebuild was documented in time-lapse.

Just for the heck of it, here's a history of all the Natural Arch Bridges through the years:

First Arch: September 2005; nothing fancy, just an arch out of paper mache

Second Arch, (sort of) June 2006: a modified version of the arch above, to accommodate the Pack mule trail (shown here painted in May 2007)

Third Arch: During the big Winter of '09 Desert redo, the arch above was torn out and a new arch was built (look at the bottom):

Fourth Arch, June 2009 :That arch only served as a placeholder for a few months until the previous version was made out of celluclay

Fifth Arch, October 2010: Hopefully the last natural arch I'll have to create. This time out of floral foam with accurate details, accurate paint scheme, and enough path envelope for the train.

That's it for this month's update; very short, but that's all I got going on, unless the Park's busy season's calm down or the midterms die down-- both of which I doubt will happen with winter approaching. But, as I always say, we'll see.

September 2010 Update-- The Big Retrofit

2010-09-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

The layout took a rather spontaneous and unexpected turn; two weeks ago, I cut the layout in half

Wait, WHAT?!

It sounds pretty crazy, but it'll make much more sense after some explanation, so let's go back in time just a little bit.

Adding on

When the layout moved into the room it is in currently, about two years ago, I had the advantage of getting a larger table to display it on (and below the deck housed my 20,000 Leagues Project). With the various amounts of extra space around the layout, I decided to expand the layout. This grew the layout from 4' X 7' to 5' X 7.75'. This was mainly accomplished by adding more 3/4" plywood around the layout, like so:

How I grew the layout

At the time, this would be the final destination for the layout, so all of the extra pieces and the layout itself were screwed down into the table, permanently becoming part of the table.

As time went on, my needs began to change slightly and a potential studio renovation was (and still is) being considered, which would include a large drafting table and more floor space. Unfortunately, that would include downsizing the table I have now (which would in effect, become the end of the "crawl-thru's") but still keeping the layout (The table the houses my 20k project is 12' X 6.5'; I would be basically cutting off a big chunk of it). However, in order to demo the table beneath the layout and construct the new one, the layout had to move-- which isn't easy if it's part of the table.

So over the period of a few hours, I slowly and carefully found every screw that attached the layout to the table, slowly getting the two separated. Some screws already had scenery on them already, so I had to excavate through many layers of sculptamold, foam, and other materials to get to the screw head. Before long, I got the layout and it's many scabbed on pieces to budge free.

For many weeks after, the layout picked up progress; bears were sculpted and landforms were beginning to take shape. But one weekend, one of the very few So Cal summer heat waves came through and really warped the extra pieces around the layout. Since they weren't screwed down anymore, they tweaked and torqued, creating a very uneven surface, especially near the corners with many junctions.

In an attempt to get the surfaces in line again, I screwed on several brackets along the seams. This corner was especially notorious for warping.

The notorious corner. The brackets barely helped.

Unfortunately that didn't do much, and I knew I had to create a more serious solution. I remembered the idea of moving the layout (again, studio renovation) and I realized these pieces around the layout were going to be a problem if they were barely attached this way. Really what I needed to do was eliminate the warping and make every asset of the layout "one".

Screwing down the layout to the table was the most easiest solution, which is why I did it in the first place, but as I mentioned before, it isn't going to work if I was going to move the layout. Then I thought about sliding another piece of plywood under the layout that would be large enough to support all pieces (which would be screwed down). Again, I still had to move it, and adding another piece of plywood would only make it heavier and harder to move.Then, I came up with the idea to build a frame that would go under the layout.

Bingo.

Building a frame was the best solution as it would be lightweight, ultra strong (depending how it was constructed) to prevent any warping at all, and allowed every piece to be locked down flat. But then another idea popped into my head; what if I cut the layout into two sections, making it much easier to move the layout, by just shifting one section at a time? Moving one piece at a time would make moving the layout super easy, thus making the studio renovation easier. The mobility opens up putting the layout in another room easily or possibly a display at a model railroad show (but I'm getting too far ahead of myself for that).

The frames would be built separate to accommodate each half and would bolt together. It was a ridiculous idea when I thought of it, considering how far I am in construction. But the more and more I thought of it, the more and more practical the solution became. Realizing that the best way to do this was to do it NOW (without destroying more scenery in the future), I jumped on the opportunity immediately.

"And the layout shall be cut in two...."

So, with the crazy idea in motion, the first order of business was to jack the layout up a few inches and determine the cut line. I could create a perfect halfway cut, but that meant cutting through a turnout, 3 sets of rails and a lot of scenery already in place. I decided to make the cut off center, towards more of Cascade Peak, that way I'd only need to cut two sets of rails and the scenery there was barely even formed (which is easy to fix later).

I drew my cut line with a laser level, making it perfect. The two layout sections would measure 60" X 53" (Living Desert, Rainbow Ridge, Rainbow Caverns) and 60" X 40" (Bear Country, Cascade Peak, Beaver Valley). This is basically where the cut line is: (this shot was never posted for some reason, but it's an old one from about April).

The red line roughly where the layout will be cut in half; old shot by the way

Before I began cutting, I knew the track would be an issue, especially the curves. To keep the tracks locked down, and no shifting in alignment would occur, I applied some epoxy to the rails and roadbed, and then later cut the rails with a Dremel cut-off wheel (later I found it was easier to get a better alignment with no filing and fudging by inserting a piece of snap track which is rigid and easier to keep in line, rather than forcing a piece of flex-track in place that naturally wants to spring out of position).

With the track sections cut, I started the most nerve-racking part of the operation. Very slowly and carefully with a Bear Saw I cut the layout in half, paying attention to the cut line as I sliced through many layers of wood and scenery. Before long, the layout was officially two pieces.

The layout, cut in two--right through Beaver Valley.

Now it was time to frame the two newly created sections. Out of 3/4" pine I constructed a very sturdy frame, custom fit to each layout section. I recessed large plywood triangles into the corners, not only to make the frame studier and square, but to allow all the various pieces--mainly near the corners-- to screw down into the frame. The two sections can be fastened together with a 3/8" bolt and a wing nut on each side of the frame.

Real sturdy frame for the two layout sections. Can be bolted together in the middle.

Before I slid the frames under the layout, I added some Teflon furniture glides to makes the frames easier to slide around on the table and I went the extra mile and stained the frame. When that dried, I installed the frames and screwed down the layout, permanently locking down the layout. From this point on, there will be no expansion whatsoever.

Here's what the layout looks like now, with a detail shot of the installed frames. Unfortunately, staining the frame was an unnecessary step since I realized I'll add a fascia around the layout eventually, effectively covering the stained frame and creating a clean edge. Oh well, at least it looks good for now.

Looks nice, too bad it'll be covered when the layout is finished.

5 Years Later....

As of September 25, it'll be 5 years since I started the layout. On that day in 2005, I got a fresh sheet of masonite, 10 pieces of flex-track from Hobby City, and no drawings at all. Half a decade later, it still isn't finished, but hey, it's getting there. When I finished cutting the layout in half two weeks ago, I just kind of stood back and looked over the work and I had a rather startling realization:

I'm building a whole new layout, piece by piece, essentially Nature's Wonderland 2.0.

What's really startling is that there is nothing that is original to the initial 2005 construction other than one stretch of track in the Living Desert. Everything else was ripped out and replaced, piece by piece.

Mainly all this redoing is due to my basic model making skills at the time. Half a decade ago, I was just a sophomore in high school who dabbled with modeling here and there. I had never built a "true layout" before-- everything before was just Life-Like snap track on a table and some random trains running. I didn't know all the tricks and tips I know now and didn't have the level of patience I have today. This layout would be my first serious layout, with a focus on natural scenery. With each step, I got better and better. As I changed, the layout changed. There were times were I didn't want to keep the layout going because I wasn't satisfied with the results, but I stuck with it, pushing myself to do better; I've got a little bit of Walt's "stick-to-it-tivity".

Now a junior in college and working at the Park part-time, I've come a long way since the newspaper paper mache scenery and card stock buildings. I would consider myself a proficient modeler, almost at the professional level, but not quite; I say that because I've only scratched the surface of modeling and it takes years of experience to get better-- even now I'm still learning.

It's hard to tell when the layout will be finished, I'm very slowly getting to the point where everything on the table will stay. But there may be something that always needs improving. As Model Railroader David Popp said in November 2010's issue: "do-overs are allowed". I certainly agree.

What's Next?

Well, the layout is in two, now it's all a matter of cleaning up the debris and start patching up some damaged scenery. I'm hoping to get some fun stuff on the way so I don't get bored with the tedious task of redoing stuff. I want to get Bear Country really shaped up with a few more bears and get the ball rolling on an animation rig for the Battling Elk. I'm looking at redoing (ugh... more redoing) the Natural Arch Bridge for, I think, the 5th and final time since the current version isn't really surviving too well after many modifications. I may make the new bridge out of floral foam to show off how well that stuff carves (which might include a time-lapse video). There may be a few side projects on the horizon that'll put the layout on hold, but as I always say, we'll see.

August 2010 Update-- A World of Motion

2010-08-04T21:08:00.000-07:00

This post was originally published on Aug 4. Any updates added after that date, but pertain to the current month, will be indicated with UPDATE. So check back often!

To be honest, nothing really happened in July, and thus, no update. Things are really slow out in the Wonderland, thanks to the complications of the Bear Country/Beaver Valley animation (as well as real life priorities like work soaking up my time). Since more of my time will be taken away due to another semester of college, I'm going to try and get some stuff done.

The whole layout has been but on hold due to the animation being figured out and installed in the Beaver Valley and Bear Country areas. Since this area of the layout is in it's infancy, now is the time to add in mechanics of various sizes before I start getting crazy with scenic aspects (mainly since I REALLY don't want to go back and add things later which will result in damaged scenery).

I want this area to be filled as much animation as possible; so, I planned out these 3 aspects to have movement and motion:

• The marmots above the tunnel would pop up and down

• 3 bears would scratch various parts of their bodies in Bear Country

• The Olympic Elk will battle it out on a hill, moving back and forth (no decision on the legs this far).

"Them little marmots over the tunnel must be a whistlin' to all you pretty gals, can't say I blame 'em".

At the moment, the most successful animation is the Marmots above the tunnel. I created a mechanism that consists of cams pushing up on levers that lift little sculpts of marmots out of their holes (these marmots are about .5" tall, not very big and not very easy to sculpt!). It was easy to make when I figured it out, but when I was trying to come up with a way to execute this, it was difficult to conceive a mechanism that could operate many marmots randomly with the right motions, as well as leave plenty of room for the train to pass below (that gave the most problems since there was much space to hid the mechanics in the rock work).

This was my initial test I did with the mechanism, with my one and only marmot (I will mold this figure at some point, so more can be added easily).

Lone marmot, but not for long.

I did duration testing on the mechanics and everything seemed to pass quite well. I later carved some rockwork to hid the mechanics and to create the tunnel portal, and now all that's left to do is paint it up and add the remaining figures.

Marmot tunnel portal; you can still see that tunnel at the park today.
That was the easy animation, now it was time to move onto something harder.

"All they want to do is lay around, scratch, fish and swim..."

Unfortunately, my Bear island is about half the size it should be if I wanted to be accurate. Since I didn't want to "crowd" the island, I reduced the number of bears down to 3 (plus the one in the tree). The island will be little vignette of bears scratching, much like what this picture looks like:

The real thing. Photo credit:ImagineeringDisney.com

I have seen some old footage showing the motions of these three bears, and the movements are quite easy to duplicate-- problem is, the scale I'm working in is WAY too small to get everything to look and even work right. The bear in the middle there would stand only about 1.5" tall and would have to have his knees jointed. Knees that small aren't easy to joint without getting bulky and unrealistic.

The bear scratching his bum on the tree on the right isn't much easier. The back legs as well as his front legs, need to be jointed in such a way that his rear moves in a circular motion--again, not easy to to.

I am currently considering making the bears out of flexible material, like latex from a mold that will give the bears all the joints they need without getting bulky with cut-out sections on the legs and such (if I went with a hard material).

I'm also considering just making them static and saving the gearmotor for another area of animation, that way I could just focus on making it look nice without fussy with mechanics.

It's a shame they are just too small to make it work easily. Of course, it would be easier to figure out if I actually had the bear figures in my hand. In the meantime, I just need to sit down and focus on making some good sculpts, later on I can worry about the mechanics and the potential need for making a flexible castings.

UPDATE: Aug 10

Bears in clay form.

Still need to scribe in some fur texture, but you get the idea. No animation is being considered at this point; just want them to look good.

UPDATE: Aug 18

Basically, to show how much selective compression I used, this was my reference:

(I wish I had room for ALL of that...) Photo credit: Gorillas Don't Blog

and that turned into this, way smaller (but no less neat to look at, in my opinion)

(....but this is what I got) Just ignore all the crap on my table.

Rather than fussing around trying to get animation as I described earlier in this post, I decided to do a really nice and well done vignette that I could work on my worktable comfortable (which is important considering the number of miles I walk at work everyday). Right now I can install it on the layout and move on to the next section. There are plenty of bears in the water, so they'll be the next to get worked on. This was also a little scenery test to the entire Bear Country and Beaver Valley areas, determining my color palette and scenic materials. The rocks came out perfectly, mainly due in part to my experience painting a whole mountain (aka Cascade Peak) with the same technique.

"Now there's a real struggle fer survival - two stags 'r battlin' fer them cow elk"

The Battling elk mechanism is one I still haven't decided on; I want the general movement to be a back and forth motion, but whether or not I want the legs to move is another issue. Again, scale is giving me a problem. The legs would be very delicate, as would the mechanism if I really wanted them to move they way they were in the attraction. At the moment, I am thinking of just giving the elk some very limited movement; basically they would be on a linear track that moves back and forth on a cam of some sort, just to give the indication of movement without anything crazy going on.

Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily

In other Nature's Wonderland news, Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily created a set of tin signs as part of a merchandise event for Disneyland 55th. As soon as I saw the Nature's Wonderland sign, which depicts an Olympic Elk and a stylized Cascade Peak, I knew I just had to have it. On the downside though, I was only after the one but I had no choice since it came in box set of 3 with two other signs (one for Slue Foot Sue's Golden Horseshoe, and one for Disneyland's 1959 expansion with the skyway). I was originally only going to put up the Nature's Wonderland sign, but all the signs were so beautifully made and they looked so good together, I just couldn't not put them all up.

The Nature's Wonderland sign (and the other two) look over the layout

In addition to the signs, Kevin and Jody created a replica of the NWRR locomotive, tender, and one ore car (all on an appropriate trestle display). It looks nice is a good size, but after further inspection, it would have been a better piece if the whistle had been turned around, the crossheads and pistons at the right angle, all the wheels at the right gauge, and the paint not as glossy. But hey, that's just me.

Not my model, but a very nice one (sort of)

So that's basically what's going on, trying to figure out some animation and such. The rest of the layout cannot proceed until these mechanics are constructed and installed, so you'll know what I'm working on.

June Update

2010-06-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

With other side projects finished and other priorities out of the way, construction can resume on the layout on my days off from work. Most of the construction focused on getting the Beaver Valley and Bear Country areas developed, which is exciting and also very challenging since none of these areas have progressed this far (whereas other areas are running fairly smoothly as I had already done them before and I was simply redoing them).

Cascade Peak--"Finished"

First off, Cascade Peak got it's last set of waterfalls, most foliage and trees will be phased in over time, but at this point, the peak is "done".

Bear Country and Beaver Valley

On the other side of Cascade Peak, Beaver Valley and Bear Country are taking form, and unfortunately, they got the short end of the stick when it comes to space. Basically, from the various expansions from Rainbow Ridge, the Living Desert, and Cascade have left very little space to make an accurate Beaver Valley and Bear Country. Their close proximity to each other and other elements offer various design challenges to make everything fit well, so there will be some serious compromising.

To Give you an idea of how these areas are all packed together, take a look at the aerial shot, taken from the always trusty, tripod structure, Cascade Peak.

The peninsula protruding towards the currently truss-less trestle is Bear Country, with the grey area at the tip being where the bear figures will eventually be (that end of the peninsula is suppose to be twice as wide to be accurate, but there is no space, and thus compromising). The black pained areas towards the tunnel (which has it's rock face portal, by the way) is Beaver Valley, with sections of the river stepping down at various heights to represent the dams plugging the river. Not to far to the left of that are some moose standing in for the battling elk. Everything is very close together, so I'll have to get creative with natural barriers and trees if I want everything to be separated visually (for the miniature passengers, of course).

With the tight space, big design problems came up, one of which is the river in Beaver Valley. On the real Nature's Wonderland, the water source for the river in Beaver Valley came out of the hills just beyond Rainbow Ridge. Water started high in the hills and trickled down into the stream that flowed past the trains. Unfortunately, once again, I have no such space for a stream. Since Rainbow Ridge is just on the other side of Beaver Valley, the river just abruptly starts from a wall separating the two areas.

Since I can't have the long stream come out of the hills, I had to come up with a solution. I considered other alternatives, like having a waterfall come out from the top of the wall (that "wall" needs to be there, to support the pack mule trail) or even a pipe looking outlet, but that just didn't have the right feel. Finally, I found my answer: don't come up with a solution, use visual tricks.

Just have the river disappear into the woods! Basically there would be enough foliage and trees to hide where the river starts and this way, I wouldn't have to "answer" to how the river got there. Genius!

Since there is so much potential for animation in this area, like the bear scratching it's back, the battling elk, and the marmots popping up and down, I decided to hold off on anymore progress until I get the mechanics built and installed because now is the time to do that; I really don't want to go back later on to add them which would end up being more time consuming and harder.

With that entire area of the layout closed down for now, I decided to back to Rainbow Caverns.

Rainbow Caverns

The last time I worked on Rainbow Caverns was February where I simply lost interest; I can't blame myself for that, this is the fourth version of the caverns and it's much smaller and tad less impressive. But, I pushed myself to work on it and get it done.

If you can recall from my last Caverns update, I'm going for something that just fits in the space, nothing too accurate. The two main water features in the new caverns will be Geyser Grotto and Rainbow falls. The new caverns will utilize UV LED's rather than a fluorescent bulb as I did in the past; this was I can control the lighting and they are far more power-efficient.

Construction of the new caverns was pretty much the same as the previous version, with black crumpled aluminum foil, foam stalagmites/tites, clear plastic water falls, styrene and hot glue geyers, and blacklight paint. One thing new that I did add was the clear silicone caulking to the water features, the same stuff I've been using on Cascade Peak's waterfalls.

So here's a shot of the new Caverns now, finally finished. A little smaller than I would have liked, but still neat to look at.

The deep purple glow the UV LED's give off is impossible to photograph, so I had to simulate it with a few color adjustments in Photoshop.

Official first critter in Nature's Wonderland. The smallest sculpt I've ever done--about the size of a dime

Happy 50th Anniversary Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland!

2010-05-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

May 28, 1960

On this day in 1960, the "E" Ticket Disneyland attraction opened to the public after it's major expansion from it's previous incarnation, The Rainbow Caverns Mine Train. For those who don't know what the Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland was, it was an upgrade from it's former self, the Rainbow Caverns Mine train, which opened in 1956. The attraction covered a very large chunk of Frontierland and featured over 200 Audio-Animatronics and featured themes and scenery from Walt Disney's popular True-Life adventure films. As guests board one of 4 battery powered faux steam locomotive trains, they passed by the sprawling town of Rainbow Ridge which also served as the loading area for the pack mule attraction. From there the guests were treated to views of Beaver Valley, Cascade Peak, Bear Country (not the land known as Critter Country today) the Living Desert, Cactus Forest, Balancing Rock Canyon, and the magnificent Rainbow Caverns. It existed until 1977 when it was torn out for a higher speed mine train ride-- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

To this day, it still boggles me why I even have an interest in the attraction, let alone reserching the subject for a half a decade and building a model of it. I was born way too late to experience it. After hearing about a "Rainbow train ride" from my grandfather when I was little, I was intrigued by this attraction and wanted to know more about. It wasn't until the internet where my knowledge about the attraction exploded and I was immersed. I think it was the large variety of elements that grabbed me, some new and never before seen and others done in a new way. This ride had western towns, mountains, tunnels, hills, deserts, sandstone rocks, trestles, lakes, ponds, rivers, glowing caverns, geysers, mud pots, dinosaur bones, jiggling rocks, a variety of animals, it had trains, and it was a Disney ride. It... looked .... awesome.

It's a shame such an example of Walt Disney greatest attractions is not around anymore, it was the victim of progress. Hopefully, someday, it can be resurrected in some form. But for now, for some it'll remain in the memories, for many (like myself) it'll be preserved in countless photos and stories told by older relatives.

The last word in the attraction name sums it up well; it truly was a land of wonders that inspired the imagination and continues to today.

-----

But what's left of this attraction? I pooled together all of my research and created this map that shows where many of the features and nods from the attraction are today. Of course, there are quite a few more, but these are the major ones.

All photo credits go to their respective owners.

---

But what about layout progress? Not much since my last update, mainly working on the waterfalls. Since then, I've had a very hectic semester finale and a bunch of side projects that have gotten in the way. But, school is out (but work is in!) so progress will resume on the layout shortly.

May 2010 Update

2010-05-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Since it seems like I'm doing mostly monthly updates recently, I've changed the titles of the last few months to reflect the month they were posted.

Cascade Peak

Just after I posted the last update, Cascade Peak got it's... peak.

The peak was actually quite easy to do, it was a very basic shape, but getting it's size right in proportion in relation to the rest of the mountain was a bit tricky. The next phase was to do another pass of celluclay to get areas I missed or make any necessary revisions and also add more of the finer details. Once that all set and dried, a coat of paint to sealed everything and the real fun began with the vegetation and waterfalls.

Speaking of water, in the foreground I attempted to patch up various pieces of plywood that were added to expand the layout, trying to get a smooth surface for when I put down the water. Unfortunately, the wood grain and the seams (with different thicknesses of wood) are ending up being more work than I expected to sand down and smooth out, so eventually I'm just going to throw down a piece of masonite for a dead-flat surface for painting and pouring the future Envirotex Rivers of America.

Also, in the background you can see a backdrop for the NWRR. No, it's not the official backdrop for the layout, it's just a quickie one I did with some blue paint and a big sheet of masonite for when I shoot some photos/video in the coming weeks so I can hide some clutter and unwanted areas.

Geysers

While Cascade Peak had it's last bit of celluclay dry, I started playing around in the Living Desert; I got one step closer to getting working geysers.

A few months ago I had a really bad sore throat (Tonsillitis!) and went over to Target to get a new humidifier to help alleviate it. I got one, and as it turns out, it's an ultrasonic one ( unlike the fan and filter ones I've been use to). Since it was suggested, I've been trying figure out how to get an ultrasonic mister to work for a geyser for the layout, through the use of containers, piping, and fans; it would have been trial and error to get it as efficient as possible. Enter the humidifier: it had exactly what I needed; an ultrasonic mister that outputted adjustable mist, but kept water contained-- all done efficiently and with a stylish look!

Rather than lay down and rest my throat, I immediately started pulling out pieces of PVC piping and other bits of assorted tubing to test the limits of this humidifier. I was very surprised with the amount of power it had and the volume output of the mist (it's not really mist, more of fine vapor, like steam). I plugged a length of PVC with four holes to represent geysers, and even through it wasn't at full blast, each "geyser" was putting out a good amount to be called a geyser.

Fast forward to a few days ago (now that I don't have tonsillitis!) I began playing with it again, and this time tried it with 1/4" tubing on the last leg after the mist leaves the 1 1/4" PVC before it actually goes to the geyser. I wasn't expecting much to come out since the 1/4" tubing is pretty much too small, let alone over a foot of it--but, to my surprise, a good size column came out! Again, this wasn't even at full power and I still got a good effect, doesn't really need to get any taller IMO. But, the 1/4" tubing has it's problems-- condensed vapor drops obstruct the tube easily after running less than a minute. No problem, just need a larger, shorter tube, and have it positioned so gravity does the work in getting condensed water out.

Video of my quick and dirty demonstration.

I'm not quite 100% signed off on this solution, but it's a step closer.

Painting Cascade Peak

When it was ready, I began starting to figure out paint styles for Cascade Peak. The color and value of Cascade Peak is extremely hard to match, as both of those aspects seemed to vary from picture to picture I look at. I couldn't use the same method to paint the peak as I did with the Living Desert because it's a different look. After several samples of different base coats, different washes, different color "temperatures", and different highlight values, I might have found a somewhat satisfactory paint job. I started with a warm gray base coat (Valspar "Rocky Slope"; can't get anymore appropriate than that!) and later gave it a dark brown wash. Once the wash dried, I dry brushed the entire mountain with an off white. As I did with the Desert, I'm developing a color scheme that's close enough and one I can reproduce easily for patch jobs later on.

Waterfalls

When Cascade Peak was finished painting, it was time to add it's signature element: waterfalls. I've had experience making waterfalls before, The Cascade Peak before had them (at least on one side) and while they were good at the time then, they just didn't have the realism that I wanted.

I came across this fantastic tutorial that uses clear sealant for model waterfalls and they look spectacular. At this time, Model Railroader Magazine featured an article where someone made there harbor scene with DAP Crystal Clear silicone caulk. Intrigued, I went over to Lowe's to get some of this Caulk (luckily they had a buy-one-get-one-free deal!) and I began to experiment. I followed the tutorial pretty closely and I adapted and changed a few things and added some extra steps for the maximum effect. This was my first result:

Extremely satisfied, I proceeded to making the other 13 waterfalls that adorn the rock formation. I completed a full set of waterfalls, Big Thunder falls:

Ballasting and some greenery has moved in also (the trees are temporary though).

A lot of people don't notice the small waterfall offshooting from the larger falls (even I didn't notice it until recently) so I made sure to include it this time around.

"Twin Sister Falls" cane next (the first time these falls on this side have ever been modeled!)

Since this is such a valuable technique for a lot of model railroaders, I decided to make a video showing exactly how I did it.

The riverbanks along Cascade Peak are slowly getting some scenery. Tall grass mostly, which unfortunately is a slow and tedious process. (The photo was taken before I vacuumed the trimming I did)

Anyone want to guess what this area could be for?

Just a little scenery sample for Pack Mule trail along the backside of Cascade Peak.

On a rather sad note, those who visit Disneyland today will notice an old friend is gone: the very last of the Mine Train fleet has been removed from the track around the former Cascade Peak. The removal was part of the refurbishment of the Rivers of America which included sprucing up the plant life and adding faux animals (which notoriously become targets of badmouthing amongst the Disney fan boards). The Cascade Peak track looks nicely restored along with the rigging that was use to raise the intake screen for the Cascade Peak pumps. It's a shame the train wasn't restored as well.

Although it got removed, word on the street is that it was sent to the Disney archives for storage. Whether or not it will be restored is unknown, but at least it didn't got the way of the other ones ( cut up and put in a land fill).

I had the chance to photograph the train years ago, on a photography class assignment in 2007. I can't remember what the project was, might have been the final, but I recently started scanning some of the negatives (yes, it was film) because some of the shots were surprisingly good despite being taken by high schooler. So, here are two now rare photos of the last of the NWRR fleet:

April 2010 Update: Rebuilding Cascade Peak

2010-04-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

A lot of activity going on in the Nature's Wonderland area, specifically the west half of it, the nearly forgotten half. Cascade Peak is currently undergoing it's long overdue rebuild which will bring more detail and accuracy to the mountain and will look more on par with everything else that has or will be redone in terms of quality.

I should mention that in the sidebar I post what my "current focus"is; I update that more frequently than post, so watch that even if you don't see any recent postings. The date indicated the last it was updated.

I layed down the track all the way to Cascade Peak, which is a major step to do, which includes all of the track for Rainbow Ridge with it's onstage spur line. As mentioned in previous posts, all the trackage going is being wired for two train operations, so the mainline is separated into blocks and the station has some areas where I can turn parts on and off if I want to only run one train.

This area was tricky to do, since the track had to reach the plywood on a grade, so I came up with my own way of laying track that can be adjustable. The next step would be to fill in the areas underneath with probably celluclay or sculptamold.

Here's an overview of the model which shows what the layout looks like at this point, Cascade Peak is getting it's major rebuild, which will be the main subject of this update.

A very colorful version labels everything, and it's quite obvious how packed in everything is and where areas are located.

Now, onto Cascade Peak....

For several months, if not years, the Cascade Peak on my layout has been slowly falling apart and needing a major rebuild. My sculpting skills, especially when it comes to rockwork, have greatly improved, and I thought it was time to bring the quality up on the mountain. There are also a number of inaccuracies I discovered on my model, even after redoing my mountain three years ago.

Before I did any work at all, I made sure I documented what I had (would be neat to do a before and after shots when the rebuild is complete).

The old Cascade Peak model, soon to be redone.

This corner is perhaps the most neglected area on the entire layout, totally falling apart here. This is area is so forgotten, I didn't even add the waterfalls to this side when I redid the entire peak! The hill connected to the mountain didn't get very far either.

Perhaps the most neglected part of the layout, this side of Cascade Peak was never "finished" since it's a hard to reach area, as well as hard to see.

In planning the new Cascade Peak, as I did with Rainbow Ridge, I went to aerial imagery and plot plans to see if I can get a full scaled out Cascade peak-- so proportions and details would be accurate. Unfortunately, as always, I found my space is too small; The mountain needs to be about a foot longer and about 3 feet deeper. I've got a foot to make it wider, but then the track radius gets hard to determine and tighter ; and I have only 17 inches for the depth, in an already squashed Bear country. So I guess I need to compromise yet again!

The track around Cascade Peak has always bothered me, as the appearance is terrible (as it was ballasted prematurely) and the curves are really tight at the ends. Also when I did the layout, I didn't feel like detailing the track with "bridge work" as with the real thing:

The real Cascade Peak, with a track detail I didn't bother to add when I originally laid the track down--the "bridge truss" the track is on as it circles the peak. Photo credit goes to gorillasdontblog.blogspot.com

I decided to go for the bold move and expand the track out a few inches, to ease the curves at the corners and make them less tight as well as add this extra bridge-like details to the track.

I dug out some old snap track that was in good condition, and I roughly laid out where the pieces would go. I'm using 15", 18", and 22" radius pieces, as well as a piece of flex track for the last turn and the new Bear Country trestle. The advantage with using snap track is that they keep their radius, which is easier to work with than trying to wrestle a piece of flex track into the right position and keeping it there.

The new sections of track roughly held together in place so I could determine the smoothest curve and widest radius.

As you can see above, sections of the mountain, including Big Thunder falls, have been already ripped out for this new track. The many advantages for putting in this new section of track is to make the curves less tight, add more authentic track ("bridge look") and the extra space between the track and the mountain will give more room for the waterfalls, which have been pretty pressed up against the mountain.

Once I was happy with the track, I begin installing it in permanently. I made the truss-work out of styrene square rod and a few pieces out of balsa wood. Since the track here was already at the correct grade (you know how I'm so fussy with the grades) I simply transferred the height measurements over to the new track.

The new track has been installed permanently, with the truss work and all. Sections of the old track are still visible, and will be ripped out when it comes time for the new scenery and waterfalls.

At this point, after several months of having the main line cut up and sections isolated (since I had redone Rainbow Ridge and such) I'm proud to say that a full and complete line is now operational, and I can have a train run on it's own confidently. The full loop is back!

Once the track looked pretty good, and the train ran fine over it, I was ready to tackle the mountain itself.

The mountain was a difficult thing to figure out how to rebuild. I was stuck between retrofitting the existing structure (just add on to it) or starting completely over which would makes things a little easier, in terms of strength and building. After much thought, I eventually settled on just retrofitting the existing mountain.

Foam, which do I use.... (and how do I get it?)

For materials, I didn't want to go back to using paper mache as I did with the original mountain. I wanted to work with a material that can carve easily, without using a lot of expensive urethane foam. After reading several Model Railroader magazines, I thought I'd give a shot at using the foam insulation board they always use; it's very cheap for the amount of it you get, and it carves and shapes fairly easily. Problem is that it turns out almost the entire southern California area hardware stores don't carry the foam, and so I'm stuck having to not use it. Avoiding having to do a special order, I ended up snooping around the garage for supplies, just in case I found something that might work.

I came across some foam that Lowes did have-- the white beady styrofoam sheet-- which I had plenty left over from a Physics class project years ago (we had to build a device that could help you could walk on water--which I failed at; I floated, but a rudder would have helped). I was hesitant using the styrofoam at first since it doesn't give the same quality carving as with urethane foam, but realizing I could get a good texture and strength out of it by covering it with celluclay, I thought it would actually work. I made a few test pieces and after a few days of dry time, I ended up with a satisfactory substitution for insulation board. Although it takes more time, at least I can use up scrap material I already had (styrofoam and celluclay).

The first thing I did was use the styrofoam to form the new hills for Bear Country. I stacked a few layers and glued them together with white glue. When it dried, I carved a rough form, which will be later covered in Celluclay for a rock hard finish.

The new land formations for Bear Country and Cascade Peak are being made out of styrofoam. This will be covered in celluclay which is will make a nice solid surface for the future foliage.

I'm also taking the advantage of the new expansion space that appeared when the layout made it's second move to a bigger table last year. I'm expanding the hills into this area, to give more natural space for the mule trail. Here's what the expansion space looks like, the extra six inches:

The 6" of plywood seen in the picture is the expansion space that was created when the layout made it's move to a larger table. This space is being used for the hills of Bear Country and I'm considering expansing the Desert area into it too. That, however, willeliminate my plans for adding a static Disneyland Railroad.

I'm also seriously considering expanding out the desert a bit into this 6 inch space, to give the geothermal areas a little more room. That would however eliminate my plan to add a non-working stretch of the Disneyland Railroad line, so I'll need some time to think about it. Should I expand the desert in the future, I have to have a solution for working geysers, as that would be the best time to install them.

Waterfalls and other features are blocked out in styrofoam. The original track that circled the mountain has now been ripped out at this point to make room for the coming scenery.

Since they are the most prominent features on the mountain, I blocked out the water falls with styrofoam blocks. Aside from a few adjustments in there position a few inches, the waterfalls are pretty much in the same spots as they had been. I really wanted to move them where they should be in terms of the distances between them, but there was only so much I could do on this already compromised Cascade Peak and making it look good at the same time. At this time, the remaining pieces of the old track were ripped out.

When I was done with positioning, floral foam came next to block out and shape more details. "Why floral foam?" you say. Well, since this is a retrofit project, I need to be able to shape blocks of foam fairly easily by rubbing it against an existing surface to make a custom fit. Since floral foam is less dense then the usual urethane foam I use, it shapes very easily, yet it allows for intricate details almost like the urethane foam. And the price of floral foam is fantastic too; I bought 12 brick size blocks of it for about $8--not bad!

Once the foam, of both kinds, were shaped to the way that I wanted, I covered and blended many of the unwanted cracks and seams with celluclay. Celluclay is a paper mache type material that you mix with water and will get hard a in few days (or even a whole week, depending on how much water you put in). Recently I had switched to Sculptamold, which has a little plaster in it and sets and dries much faster, but I didn't want to use it on this portion of the project; I usually mix the stuff in big batches and so I want to be able to cover a large area and shape it the was I want it without it setting on me too quickly. Celluclay will stiffen in about 24-48 hours and then a few more days to dry completely, so this seemed like a good way to go, as I want to pick at details as I look at every now and then. The Celluclay also has a neat texture quality to it that makes it appropriate for Cascade Peak, a kind of early Disney rock formation made out of cement look.

After the styrofoam was in the right position, floral foam was used to make more details and just about all the seams and cracks were blended and smoothed out with Celluclay. In a few days, the celluclay will create a very hard surface,

The above photo show the "Twin Sister Falls" given a first pass of Celluclay once the floral foam was done being sculpted (I never understood why those falls were called :Twin Sister falls", since they in no way look alike). The next step after this photo is to move around to the backside of Cascade Peak overlooking Bear Country, as well as the the hillside on the left (the styrofoam). As I worked on the mountain, I would slowly rip out old sections and replace them, so a lot of the mountain is brand new, with a little bit of the old material still part of the structure.

Above, more foam and celluclay have been added and the backside of the mountain will be next.

Here's the Bear Country and Beaver Valley areas, dominated by the currently peak-less Cascade Peak. Since photos of the backside of the mountain are quite rare (and when I do find one, the quality isn't great) and there are a lot of compromises already, I basically took some artistic license and made up what looks good to my eye. Same with the rest of the Bear Country and Beaver Valley; unfortunately, there is not enough room to make an accurate depiction of the land forms of those areas, like rivers and such, so I had to change sizes of the land plots and the widths of the main rivers in order to get everything to fit. Even the Bear Country "island" where all the bears hung out was cut to half the size it should be in order to fit.

The backside of Cascade Peak covered (mostly) with fresh celluclay. The mule trail is visible as it snakes along the backside of the mountain. Also visible is the tunnel portal to Bear Country, with it's truss-less trestle. This tunnel actually still visible today at Disneyland.

Here's the Big Thunder falls roughly shaped to form with styrofoam and floral foam. Large gaps are covered with aluminum foil. I didn't realize how many little falls Big Thunder falls had when I looked closely at photos. Unfortunately, this area got pretty squashed and compromised to fit the space, but it looks pretty good and natural.

When I was happy with the shape of the material(s), everything got a layer of celluclay.

Once this hardens in a few days (other areas may take a week) I'll be ready for the next phase which is more details and other areas I missed with the celluclay. The celluclay will create a nice rock solid surface for more formations and details. The peak will cap off the rebuild (no pun intended) and then everything should get a coat of paint to seal everything.

March 2010 Update

2010-03-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Being that it's been a over a month since the last update, I thought I give a very quick one (with no pictures) just show that I haven't disappeared.

Unfortunately, the layout has been halted a number of times due to the college work load and other projects that have priorities (with more on the way). So the layout has sat untouched collecting dust.

After finishing a big concept model that I've been wanting to get done for a long time I'm finally getting back to the layout and getting some stuff done. I'm going really slowly now, as I want to get things done properly and not make any mistakes that I would have to fix again. Although I was planning on doing track work for Cascade Peak, and giving it it's major rebuild, I decided to change gears and get the Rainbow Ridge track installed. This included determining the grade and the tilt for the plywood base for the entire town (the tilt actually hardly noticeable, which is great) and locking it down. Track was tacked down for the load area, which includes the main line and turnouts with a spur line. All wiring for the area was done, so this was a big step to do.

The next thing I'll probably work on is checking the track around Cascade Peak, to make sure it's the right grade level and if I need to make any adjustments or replacements. At this time, Cascade Peak will go under the knife where I'll add and replace more details that will make it more accurate and interesting. Then I'll move into Bear Country which is taking a lot of time to plan out. I haven't determined how I'm going to do animated jumping fish, so I'm leaving them out at the moment, but not out of mind; I could add them in later, so I'm planning on making some removable areas so it's not a big rebuild when I decided to put them in. Same with the Battling Elk, planning them out, but not putting in the animation just yet (I might even have one motor power all the bears, fish and elk, so that will take a lot of careful planning.

Speaking of Bear Country, one of the aspects that has been bothering me is the water. For years I've been using a gloss medium called "Mod Podge" for my water and typically I'll build it up in layers until I get a nice depth effect. Well, that isn't such a good idea, I've been leaving objects on this "water" and they create an imprint that is almost permanent. And when the dust settles on this, it's almost impossible to clean. I've decided to look at other options. In the back of the Desert, I made a pond that is shaped like any other real pond, with a recessed area. Then I took a piece of clear plastic to represent the water surface and laid it over the bottom of the pond. On top of that, I brushed on a thin layer of Mod Podge, and the end result is a very realistic pond which has depth, and since the Mod Podge is thin, it's less susceptible to imprints and dust.

I'm planning on using this technique for Bear Country lake and the Beaver Valley creek. The depth will only be an 1/8", but if I only seal the plastic around the edge, that makes it much easier to take it out and add the jumping fish if I figure that out (again, planning ahead). So once Cascade Peak is done, that's where I'll go.

Although the layout is far from finished and progress is slow, progress is progress.

February 2010 Update

2010-02-12T12:24:00.000-08:00

With almost a month of school under my belt, I can get a more accurate feel for how work is going to progress on the layout. I might be able to squeeze an hour or two a night during the week, but mainly I'm only able to work on the layout during the weekends. I've also got some other side projects coming up on the horizon soon, so the layout will be hitting the back burner a lot.

This whole effort to retrofit the layout and make all these big changes makes the project a complicated puzzle. So in addition to having to take the time to put in more details than I did in earlier years, planning how everything will come together is taking some time if I want everything done perfectly without having to go back and fix it again. Since some area have to wait until that area is done, but that area needs this aspect, but that aspect needs to be worked in for future additions, it becomes a big domino effect that I need to coordinate properly. So even if there isn't much going on physically, there is a lot going on (at least in my head!).

At this point, I've adjusted my work schedule for the layout. Right now I'm going for a "generally finished" layout for an upcoming Patrick Hurd podcast. That means the most of the areas on the layout will hopefully have most of their major details and will look basically "finished" . I would like to get this "generally finished" look by about mid-March, but even that is a stretch; there's simply too much to do being that I'm a perfectionist these days and the amount of planning it takes to bring all these elements to the new layout together. By March, I might be able to have Rainbow Caverns done, Cascade Peak redo done, Bear Country roughly blocked in, and I just barely might have the cardstock mock-up buildings for Rainbow Ridge (Rainbow Ridge has about twice the amount of buildings, and I only want to build them once!). We'll see, things could change.

My plan of attack for the layout is to get the track for Rainbow Caverns and the Living Desert done (which includes adjusting the track for the uniform grade I discussed in a previous post). From there I'll hop over to the opposite side of the layout and work on adjusting the grade for around Cascade Peak and Bear Country. There I'm also going to give Bear Country a new trestle and plan out that area for development (and also figure out if I'm going to put in jumping fish) and Cascade Peak will get a major facelift with more details and new water falls. Once the two ends are pretty much done, the track ends will join together at Rainbow Ridge were the big construction job will happen with all the buildings I'm going to make (but starting out with cardstock mock-ups to figure sizes out). If everything goes well, I just might have every detail in by the very end of 2010 or early 2011 but I can't count on that. With this project, I don't want to rush it with a deadline, I want to actually enjoy working on it despite how repetitious and tedious some areas are. It's too bad I can't get it done before the real attractions turns 50 in may, but hey, that's just how it's going to be if I want a cool looking layout!

Since the layout had changed so much in the last couple of months, I decided to film another "aerial" video explaining what's going on.

To see the annotations that I put on the video, go to the video on YouTube here

As for what has been done within the last month, the Living Desert is shaping up very nicely and I think I'm in the home stretch for this area in case of making it look "generally finished". I'm proud to say that Balancing Rock Canyon is finally finished after doing heavy work on it and also having to fix the mechanism a few months prior. This section was crucial to get finished, considering it would have been a lot harder to work on if the areas around it would have been developed more.

Going back in time a little bit, in the last update, this area just got it layer of scultamold and it was ready for paint and scenery. From here more foam rocks were added and everything was painted.

As I was adding these rocks, I decided that I'm going to branch off a little bit of the accuracy side and more towards what looks good. A lot of the rocks that were added were basically made up and don't correspond to anything in the original attraction. I just went for what looks good, proportional, interesting and didn't worry too much if it looks like something that the attraction had. With this in mind, my rocks actually look more realistic and less "blocky" or "edgy" like my earlier rocks when I was more tight and constrained in sculpting the rocks when trying to be accurate.

From here, I'll let the time lapse demonstrate adding the details to a portion of the desert:
Unlike previous time lapse videos that I've done, I didn't do captions.

I must say, the Desert area is looking very beautiful, and it's great to do detailing instead of redoing the same thing again!

Here are a couple of shots of the train in the scene as well as a neat POV shot.

Although not pictured, the pond in the back of the desert is finished and that area should see more detail soon. (Don't know when I going to do the Dinosaur bones though!)

Meanwhile in the geothermal area of the desert, I think I've finally come up with a solution to simulate those geysers.

After considering using ultrasonic misters for some time now, I think I'm going back to my original idea of having a static column of "water" that raises up and done on an actuator. The thought of a whimpy mist and the potential for a mess kinda shelved that solution for now.

I was initially thing of using a screw type with a motor and bolt, but I later figured out a way to do it with pneumatics. I started playing around with a few short lengths of small brass tubing and an aquarium air pump (the ones that are about 2-3 psi) to my surprise, it actually works quite well, more than enough power to push up a rod of plastic (I might even be able to power all the geysers off of the same pump).

I built a prototype and I've been playing around with it, adjusting the amount of air pressure, location of overflow holes, and a bunch of other things. Basically, with my brass tube pneumatic actuator, when the air pump is turned on, the column rises, when power is off, column falls. I can control the amount of air pressure by using a dimmer switch on the air pump (a 3-way gang with adjustable valves is probably ideal). Since it's all aquarium equipment, it's virtually silent, aside from the very slight rumble of the air pump. The next thing to figure out is making the column fluctuate and vary in height, probably with a valve on a cam.

I've also been looking at making the Bubbling Mud pots actually bubble. The basic premise here is to make tube full of water, and adding an air line to make it bubble like an aquarium. I built a few prototypes right in the scene, and so far, things haven't been that successful. Since I'm using 1/4" tubing, the water tends to get sucked out of PVC pipe mud pot when the air pump is shut off, and controlling the amount of air flow to get the right bubble interval isn't easy. Plus, in some tests, I found that the bubbles weren't popping easily (maybe the painty water that I used did that). I'm still working it out, and this element might need to end up being static.

Since both the Geysers and Mud pots have materialized in some way, I'll be holding off on improvements for now until I get other area up to par for a "generally finished" look.

Meanwhile, just next to the Living Desert, Rainbow Caverns is progressing very slowly. At this point, the new Rainbow Caverns has just become a chore since this is the 4th time I've had rebuild it. I'm tired of it and I'd really like to move onto something else, but I've got to do it!

Since the new town of Rainbow Ridge ate up some of the land for Rainbow Caverns, the entire caverns had to be reworked to fit in a more compact space. I moved the viewing window to the side of the layout and I was able to squeeze a new "show building" like structure into that small plot.

Here's what the area looked before the new structure to house the caverns went in and the new "show building" made of old sintra signs.

This "show building" I paid a little more attention to in the overall architecture of it. I made it shorter in height to put it in scale more, and also so it can hide behind that hill in he desert. The angles of the roof also are very similar to that of the show building for the original Rainbow Caverns structure. Once again, the roofs are made removable so I can access and build the inside the caverns. That small tunnel will lead to Rainbow Ridge and it will be hidden with foliage like the original attraction

For now, wood blocks serve as handles for the access hatches, though eventually they will be made to look like AC units.

Inside the "show building" work is going ahead on the rock formations made out of sculptamold. I decided to not shoot construction with time lapse as it is a smaller work space and I just wanted to get the caverns done and not fuss around with filming it. Using the same notion of making things look good and not being to worried with accuracy, I'm just making up how the caverns are looking considering how compromised the space is. I'm going for a Geyser Grotto feel with a pond of geysers and the Rainbow falls as the end. This time around I'm actually using UV LED's instead of a small fluorescent blacklight. This way I can light everything precisely without worrying about changing the batteries for the blacklight bulb or the bulb "burning out". Plus, the deep purple light the LED's give off looks really cool (though, unfortunately, impossible to photograph accurately).

I've also come up with a way to lay track efficiently. Since I've got that grade issue, coming up with a way to lay track wasn't easy since it had to raise at a specific height every few increments. I came up with a pretty genius way (at least I think it's genius!) of laying track precisely. By gluing a strip of pre-drilled countersunk masonite to the track at specific increments, all I have to do to make a grade and install the track is to add spacers between the strip and the actual base of the layout. This way I can precisely control the grade, but all since I'm screwing the track, I can torque the track the way I want it and be able get the joints nice and smooth, as well as be able to make adjustments easier. Here's a close up of the strip screwed down with one layer of spacers.

This is only for the Rainbow Caverns portion, until the track hit the plywood base for Rainbow Ridge.

Speaking of grades, the section of track for the Living Desert that leads to Crossover point (see previous post) is locked down permanently.

January 2010 Update

2010-01-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

Since the Nature's Wonderland project is the only project I have in the new year, I hoping to get more progress on it before I get distracted by something else or when College gets in the way. I've been doing a lot of planning for newer areas to come as well as fixing and sprucing up existing areas so this will be a lengthy update.

First up, Rainbow Ridge. This area was recently cleaned out and I started figuring out my complicated grade I need to incorporate into the new trackage as explained in my last post. I'm almost ready to lay track, but Model Railroader mentioned that their next issue will feature an article on laying track (more specifically, HO flex-track) which I'm very curious to see. So I'm holding off on any track laying until then. In the meantime, I've still got more planning to do in that area, and if I want to make any changes, I better do them now because I am not going back to fix any mistakes (again!).

In the planning of Rainbow Ridge, the goal is to get the entire town on the layout and also be able to fit some other areas nearby like the Pack Mule load area and Mineral Hall--if possible. I wanted the layout of everything to be as accurate as possible, so I turned to "satellite imaging".

I photographed overhead the area where I will be working on so I can draw all over it and make drawings that will aid me in the process. From here, I took an aerial photo from the real attraction and overlayed it on my model photo to figure out the position of everything.

I distorted, moved, changed, and tweaked the photo until everything fit on the layout table. The outcome is quite exciting because of all the new things that will be added to the layout. In this expansion I will be able to add an entire Rainbow Ridge town (the one for the mine train load area), almost everything for the Pack Mules (a few buildings will need to be cut), the entire load area for both attractions (barely), Mineral Hall, and to my surprise, part of the Casa de Fritos building with it's outdoor seating area! Before I decided to expand, I only had room for just half of the Rainbow Ridge buildings and nothing else!

The photo below shows the superimposed image over the photo above which shows everything that will be added to the layout as part of this expansion. The green lines represent the track for the model which dictated the layout of everything, and the yellow lines represent the proposed Pack Mule trail.

But before I can get started on the construction of that area, I need to do more planning like making drawings of all the buildings. But I also need to get some other areas finished before, like Balancing Rock Canyon, because once the new Rainbow Ridge goes up, that area will be a lot harder to work on!

Balancing Rock Canyon is located in the middle of the layout, which makes it difficult to work on with everything around it, especially when the new Rainbow Ridge gets constructed. Lately I've been working on getting this area fixed up since I tore it up to fix the gears and I would like to finish it all the way, right down to the ballast on the track (which is something that I usually tend to save for last).

The track in this area has been getting special attention, as up until recently, I didn't really pay attention to the appearance of it. When I originally started the layout, a year or two after I initially layed the track, I ballasted the track with real dirt and the scenery started to grow over the ties, leaving the track looking like a dirt covered area with some rails stuck in it. Today, now that I pay much closer attention to detail, the track is getting a lot of cosmetic care like cleaning the ties up to make them more visible. Unfortunately, the track sits a little lower than the scenery (on the real attraction, and on real railroads, the track typically sits on ballast a little higher than the rest of the surrounding area) and there's really no way to fix it without redoing the track (which is an option that I am not considering). So, I've been extra careful keeping the scenery as far away as I can from the track and the ballast area--which is also good, because scenery too close has been known to derail my trains in the past.

Speaking of track and ballasting, this is the first finished section of track on the layout. I painted the track in the back corner of the the layout and added ballast, near the Devil's Paintpots and geysers, just to experiment with colors and such. It still needs more work (and more ballast).

Back to Balancing Rock Canyon, the track is getting the attention that I described above. In addition to that, I also started wiring that section for the future two-train operation with block control and my experimental automatic train operation (where the last foot of each block is isolated, which will stop a train if there's another train in the block ahead. So, if a train were to go into Balancing Rock Canyon and if there was another train in the next block, the 1 foot dead section of track would cause the train to stop right in front of the tunnel leading to Rainbow Caverns). The wire leads coming from the track are all connected together for a simple single train operation now, but when I do switch to cab control, this prep work that I did will make the switch-over much easier.

The rocks themselves for Balancing rock canyon are also getting some work; I've actually gone back and carved more out of them to make some of the rock towers less blocky and more realistic. I also cut the spinning rock column down so it's a tad shorter and the actual spinning rock was made smaller so it's more in scale. The ground work is going back in and consists of sculptamold with some tint in it so I know when batches of areas were done in terms of drying time. Unfortunately, in the last batch I threw in some celluclay as an experiment (the brown stuff in the right area of the photo below) which didn't work out because the sculptamold set but the celluclay hasn't, so it's this weird kind of spongy surface that I can't really work on just yet. The light yellow areas are the carved areas, which is the exposed foam.

I've also adjusted the color palette and refined my painting process for the desert, which is a little more accurate to the real thing and little more orange than what I've used in the past. This time I'm using paint straight out of the bottle, so no complicated mixes will have to be made (and so patching can be done easily without having to color match). The area below was the first area to use this new painting treatment with Balancing Rock canyon soon to follow.

If anyone is interested, I might post a step-by-step process of painting the rockwork.

Heres a panorama of probably the only finished area on the entire layout and the area being worked on nearby.

I've been thinking about animated the geysers for some time now, and I still haven't found an ideal solution. The obvious one is to have the geysers on cams that go up and down (a solid plexiglas rod will represent the water). But I've also been looking at using mist or fog. I have a fog machine that might work, but trying to fit it in that area isn't easy and it doesn't operate the way I would want it to. It would be idea to have a shot of fog every few minutes for a few seconds, but the fog machine I have doesn't do that. I came across some little fountains that are called "ultrasonic misters" which turns any bowl of water in to a mist. That could work, but I'd have to try it out myself to see how it works and I'm trying to use little to no water at all (and not break my budget in the process). And depending on the model, the actual "geyser" for these fountains doesn't seem to be much so they might not work anyways for what I'm trying to do. We'll see, the geysers are not a priority at the moment anyways.

Lately I've been also planning out the new train for Nature's Wonderland, which might replace the current one or join along side it as #2. This train will be using a new drive system which includes the powered truck from a Bachmann Cable Car and a dummy free-wheeling locomotive in front (just like the real thing!).

I got a Cable Car and I've been fiddling around with it the last week or two figuring out how I'm going to mount it and how it'll work. First off, I couldn't believe how small it was! It was tiny, and it definitely will fit in the current tender that I have for the current train (for consistency the tender and cars will be built to the same specs as the current train)

But small size comes with a side-effect--weight, and no weight= no traction, something that is an issue on the NWRR. Luckily, since the motor truck is small enough I have plenty of room for weight. The tender drive needs to weigh as much as the current locomotive for the grades that I have tested and planned. The porter (current locomotive) tips the scale at 3.80 ounces and the motor truck comes in at about .80 ounces, so weight really needs to be added. I found my answer with tungsten weights. I found these really small weights made of tungsten that are used for Pinewood Derby cars that I will be using. They measure about 7/16" X 3/8" and they weigh about 0.5 ounces each. A pack of 6 brings the total weight to 3 oz. Adding these to the motor truck makes the future tender drive weighing exactly the same as the porter engine I have now! And since they're so small, I can even fit them standing up below the tender deck (and that doesn't include the higher space on top of the tender for the "hatches") as shown below:

There's room for even more of them! I can fit 3 more if I wanted to as shown below (the extra ones would fit between the two rows)

Even then, there's still room for weight on the sides of the motor truck, under the tender frame and all kinds of other places, but that might be overkill (or is it?).

As for the performance of the motor truck, it'll work, but not out of this world great. The porter still has some advantages though. First off, like any other 4-wheeled locomotive, the power pick-up is terrible unless your track and wheels are *spotless*. No worry, like the current train, more power will be picked up from the two mine cars behind it. Speaking of that, the wiring between the cars is also going to be different on the new train; this time everything will be able to disconnect easily for movement and maintenance, this means I can remove the tender for fixing without having to take off the locomotive in front, and the two cars behind it also (The locomotive, tender, and two cars are counted as "one" on the current train). I'll probably use two-pin micro-connectors for this and I won't have any wires going to the locomotive.

The tender truck, when fed power efficiently, runs ok. I have to realize that it's not from a Spectrum model like my porter, so it's not built with total precision. It's a little noisy compared to the porter, but it runs fairly well with plenty of power. My only problem with it is that it can't handle the ultra-slow speeds like the porter; the porter can run half as slow as the power truck's slowest speed. But, from my tests, the slowest speed for the power truck seems to match those of the real mine train after studying how many times the wheels turn per second on the locomotives. I just have to accept that I can't run the train in sync with the lengthy soundtrack and just have to enjoy running it at a slightly higher speed through the layout.

Here's a quick video showing a test of the power truck with the chassis of a former porter in front. The bag on top of the truck is the tungsten weights, which improves it's traction power and even it's electrical conductivity. The video is a little jerky, thanks to the digital point-and-shoot camera, but you get an idea of how it runs.

Speaking of the porter chassis, that will be the new dummy locomotive to go in front of the powered tender. Since there is no motor to hide, I can finally make an accurate model that's the right size (the locomotive on the current train had to have some proportions changed to accommodate the high sitting motor). And since there's going to be nothing to hide in the boiler, and no wires to feed from the track, how am I going to power the headlight? Answer: batteries. If I were to stash a battery in the boiler like a AAA battery or even a AA battery, I could have a 1.5V bulb (or LED) for the headlight on a switch so I can turn it on and off whenever I want to. That could be really neat, being able to stop at the station at night with the headlight still on or keep it off when running during the day with out using DCC!

So far the new train (and the rest of the layout) is looking pretty good on paper; I'm anxious to seeing it come to fruition.

December 2009 Update

2009-12-24T11:36:00.000-08:00

After completing the massive project below the layout (www.20kmodel.blogspot.com) I'm finally getting back to doing some progress on Nature's Wonderland. The main focus now is to get the track locked down and left alone as I don't want to do anymore track work in the future, it should all be scenic work from then on.

Yesterday I finalized the height of Crossover Point. Crossover Point is the point in the track where it crosses over itself (makes sense!). This is the highest point that the train has to climb and also the lowest point where the train has to duck under it's own track underneath in the Rainbow Caverns.

I set the height of the track above at Crossover Point to the absolute minimum--just a 1/16th gap between the train crossing under and the track above. That shouldn't be too much of a problem, eventually the train I have now will be retired and replaced with one that is shorter in height so that will clear very easily. The height for Crossover point is at 2.75 inches and so everything has to match that height, mostly in that corner of the layout as shown in the picture above. Since the track around the geysers and the paintpots is slightly higher than Crossover Point's new height, I knocked out the supports and lowered it about 1/2".

It may look like an earthquake fault line, but here is the newly lowered track in relation to the scenery. I cut that "fault line" so when I lowered the track, it didn't angle outward like a piece of super-elevated track reversed. I lowered that section of scene to match the new height and now it's just some patch work in the crack. The ground of the scenery slopes every so slightly but it's hard to really notice.

Now that the highest point in the layout it locked down, it's time to work backwards down the line all the way to Rainbow Ridge.

Rainbow Ridge is currently a piece of plywood with some flex-track temporarily tacked down with some screws so I could figure out the arrangement. Unfortunately, the spur line that I had planned to go in the Caverns had to be eliminated; the curve was simply too sharp for a turnout in the desired location. But, I've got an idea on adding another spur line in the desert that I'll get into in another update. Since I'll only have two trains max with only one train at the moment, the double track Rainbow Ridge will do just nicely for now.

As you can see in the photo above, there is plenty of space for a much better Rainbow Ridge. The blue line hovering above the plywood indicates the original edge of the layout before the expansion; anything that wasn't on the table wasn't on the layout!

But before I even get to Rainbow Ridge and all that fun stuff, I have to deal with the track. The grade going into the Desert and over Crossover Point is being a troublemaker again and the joints before and after the Bear Country trestle are making the train stall. I thought it was time to solve this grade/stall problem once and for all. The track from Rainbow Ridge, around Cascade Peak, through the Living Deser and over Crossover point is made up of track that is raised at different gradients (sections here and there were changed over the years and that resulted in different gradations). Before I get to Rainbow Ridge, I want to regrade the entire track from Crossover point, through the desert, over the trestle, around Cascade Peak, through Beaver Valley, and Rainbow Ridge. I want the route through these areas to be absolutely smooth, gradual, and consistant. This way, the train should have no problem at all on any section of that track on it's way upgrade.

So, the last few days I've been doing a lot of math, measuring, and testing to find the right grade to raise the train without causing it to stall out. There 3 main factors in these calculation: Whether or not Rainbow Ridge would have a slope to contribute to the grade; the height of the Bear Country Trestle that results from the grade, and the steepness of the grade itself. The track will raise in increments of 1/8" and the space between these increments is what establishes the steepness and the other 2 factors. The train will have to negotiate a height distance of 2.25" (even though the height of crossover point from the base is 2.75", the grade will start 1/2" from the base on that new piece of plywood). From all of my calculations and testing, I came up with 2 plans, each with it's own pros and cons:

Plan A

The grade will start from Point A and end at Point C/Crossover Point (refer to photo above) and will rise 1/8" every 10.25".

Pros:

This is the most subtle and gradual grade which makes it the easiest for the train to climb.
The height of the Bear Country Trestle remains at it's current height of 2" (I want that trestle to have some height; otherwise it'll look lame and un-prototypical).

Cons:

The entire Rainbow Ridge will have to have a slope as the section is part of the new grade; this isn't easy to hid or build with the number of platforms and buildings that can look odd all leaning to one side).

Plan B

The grade will start from Point B and end at Point C/Crossover Point (refer to photo above) and will rise 1/8" every 7.7".

Pros:

Rainbow Ridge will remain perfectly level and flat, which makes it much easier to build with all the platforms, buildings, turnouts and track. Won't have to do any visual tricks with the slope.

Cons:

The Bear Country Trestle has a disappointing height of 1 7/8", I don't want the trestle to look lame and un-prototypical. I could "dig down" 1/2" to make it appear taller, but that's nearly impossible to do with the layout screwed down into the table already making it impossible to cut.
The grade is steeper than in the plan above; although the grade from under Crossover Point in Rainbow Caverns to point A is steeper than rising 1/8" every 7.7", I'd rather have the majority of the layout be subtle in gradations.

I've been testing the two plans above a lot with some pieces of straight track set at those increment distances with a train full of weight (I also testing the train with a 3X the weight and an underweight locomotive, since the newer train I have planned will weigh a little less than my current locomotive). Obviously, the grade in Plan A is easier to climb, but the train was able to do both grades with double the weight of the total future passenger load. I was indecisive with which plan to go with, but I reminded myself why I'm re-grading the track--to make the train run easier.

With that in mind, I'm choosing plan A. Although this plan will make the train run better, it makes construction of Rainbow Ridge a heck of a lot hardre to do; since the track is sloped, I have to figure out what will run parallel with it in terms of the raising height, what will stay level, and what building will have to be level corrected. That's what I'm up to now. Once I figure it out, the track will be re-graded and installed, and I can finally have a trouble-free train completing a full loop.

Progress Report: 10/30/09

2009-10-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

At this point, the entire Rainbow Ridge area has been cleared out, as well as a good section of Beaver Valley and Rainbow Caverns. From there I'll install a plywood base along the front to bring everything to the proper height and give the future trackage and scenery a good base to work on. Once the plywood is screwed down, the next thing to be done is figure out the track layout and get that installed. Then it will be construction of Rainbow Caverns (version 4) and then Rainbow Ridge.

Progress Report: 9/17/09

2009-09-17T08:09:00.000-07:00

"The Mine Train model will never be complete, as long as there is always something to improve, modify or change"
(a play on Walt's quote)

That certainly is true. What was once a small project of adding a spur line, has now turned into a massive rebuild. It opened up a big can of worms.

But before I get into that, I'd like take a look at what's been done in the desert; the lighting. Since the grade in that section was redone, most of the lighting that was mounted along the track got all screwed up. Having the lights at that low vantage point didn't really help as scenery easily blocked the beams of light. And since I needed to put the ground work back in after I fixed up the balancing rocks, I didn't want to do scenery gingerly around every light. I came up with a solution to fix all of that, using "light towers".

These are, in simple terms, blocks of 2 X 4's with LED's glued to them. This way, I can streamline the lighting by having them all in two areas and not in the actual scenery. I can adjust them easily too without having to dig up the scenery too. These "towers" will be hidden by trees in the future. The amount of light being thrown from these towers has actually been improved since part of the light isn't being caught by the ground anymore.

Perhaps the biggest news this week was this ambitious undertaking that I decided to go with a few days ago, on pretty much the same scale the the big desert redo of last winter. It all started with a spur line:

On the side of the layout I have this space where I've always wanted to put in a spur line to pull a train off onto. This makes it easier for a two train operation, or if I just want to test a non-NWRR locomotive without taking the whole train off the track. The turnout would be located in the caverns, as with the real thing and the spur would exit onto the side of the layout. To install the switch, I had to tear out that wall in the foreground of the caverns. No big deal, it really had nothing on it and it's an easy fix.

Realizing I needed more work room, I tore out more of the cavern walls and eventually sections of the rock works and waterfalls. Pretty much half of the caverns were exposed to daylight now. No big deal, I was going to expand the caverns anyways and the walls were going to be replaced anyways. Suddenly, an idea popped in my head.

Why expand the caverns when I can expand Rainbow Ridge instead?

For years I've been disappointed with the space alloted for the little mining town of Rainbow Ridge. There wasn't enough room for all the buildings and the general spacing of everything was pretty tight. My original buildings were built too small, and new more detailed buildings at a slightly larger, yet more correct, scale were slated to be built at some point. The Rainbow Ridge area is probably one of my favorite, if not the most, section of the whole attraction. With a desire to have a larger town, I began to plan the new Rainbow Ridge (mind you I have yet to finish my little spur line project).

After reviewing some aerial photos and several vintage photos, I was able to determine the amount of space I needed for an entire Rainbow Ridge. The new space for the town would be double of what the old space was. That would allow for a correctly proportioned town with all the buildings and best of all, room for the spur line out front in the load area. (That would make two spur lines to be made; one in the caverns and one in the town; could have a three train operation now!). After some research I decided to go for the expansion. At this time, Rainbow Ridge is already stripped down and ready for it's rather small redo that was originally slated before this craziness.

But expansion comes at a price; Rainbow Caverns would need to be cut down-- a lot. Almost half. It wasn't a big deal after I thought about it; Rainbow Caverns really had a lot of wasted space. The scene could easily be condensed and still have the same effect. However, I've decided to move the viewing window to the side, so I won't have that picture-esque composition with the train making that curve anymore (it's just going to pass in front). There's also some space underneath the future Rainbow Ridge hill where I can expand the caverns and make it deeper. (So essentially, it'll be the same size, just that the volume has moved around).

Also, I will be switching from using a tube blacklight to some UV LED's by Lemax that I picked up from Michael's last year ; these "near-blacklights" are small LED's that give off a nice deep violet glow and make any fluorescent paint glow nicely. It isn't exactly the same effect as a tube UV light, but it's pretty close; as long as the viewer goes "ooohhh!" when they see it, I'll be good. The pack comes with two spot lights made up of 3 LED's each (six in total) that I will dissect and rewire for my own practical use (they'll be hooked up to a transformer too) . Each LED will have it's own mount so I can adjust and point them wherever I want. By using these, I won't have to worry about the bulb burning out (they don't last long) or the batteries going out if I forget to turn it off, which has happened a few times.

So, here's my plan of action:

The yellow line represents the current track (or what use to be the current track) and the red represents the planned new track. The green portal represents where the town starts after the train comes out of the tunnel. The caverns spur line route is also visible.

My to-do list just got longer.

Progress Report: 9/5/09

2009-09-07T21:52:00.001-07:00

At this point in time, Rainbow Caverns is undergoing a lengthy refurbishment. The main bulk of the job will be the installation of the new spur line where I can park one of the trains off if I need too (I'm preparing for a future 2 train operation). In addition to that, the caverns will be expanded due to the larger base the layout got over 6 months ago. Then there will be smaller aspects to the refurb, including more stalagmites, more rock work, a new roof to match the real thing now that good photos have surfaced, and a bunch of other things.

As mentioned, I am preparing for a 2 train operation. It's not official yet, but I'm just prepping the layout so if I do decide to add another train, the addition will be easier to bring in. That will include the installation of a block system with 2 tethered throttles (in reality, are only dimmer switches for the transformers; I've been using this kind of operation for over a year and it works great) since I'm not going into DCC anytime soon. I've come up with a genius way to create an automatic operation too if I just want to watch the trains do there thing, with only some relays and reed switches.

Basically, if my idea works out, as one train enters a block, a reed switch triggers a relay that turns the last 12" of the previous block off, forcing the train behind that's about to enter occupied block to stop. Once the train ahead moves into the next block triggering another reed switch flipping the relay again, the previous block will clear and the train stuck in the powerless section of track resumes it's journey once power has been restored. Every block will be this way, so that even if the trains are going on their own without any human control, they won't run into each other.

In addition to that, I've also found a use for that timer relay I posted a while back. I'm planning on using that for the Rainbow Ridge section for where the train stops. The train will trigger the timer relay to shut of the power where the locomotive stops at the station for a certain amount of time. Once all the pick-up wheels enter the dead section of track, the train stops, as if it were loading and unloading. Once the timer expires (up to 45 sec) power comes back on, and the train starts the journey into Nature's Wonderland--without human control, something I've been wanting to do for a long time!

"Publicity" shot

2009-09-01T22:17:00.000-07:00

Progress Report: 8/30/09

2009-08-30T21:55:00.000-07:00

As of late last night, I'm proud to say that my Balancing Rock Canyon is now controlled entirely by reed switches! I have a magnet in the third car trip the first switch, activating the relay which turns on the rocks as the train starts to enters the section. Then once the entire train enters the Caverns, another reed switch flicks the relay, turning the rocks off.

Even though I did get an Atlas Snap Relay, I ended up making my own relay from an old Life-Like turnout. The snap relay didn't really operate to my satisfaction, since it required a lot of power (more than most of my transformers put out), buzzed quite a bit, couldn't switch completely sometimes, and heated up a bit.

Using the same idea with the solenoid controlled switch, I took the old automated turnout I had (since I wasn't going to use snap track anytime soon again) and turned it into a relay. I soldered one wire to one rail and the other to one of the switch points, so when the two touch, a circuit is made. To my surprise, it works! It doesn't just work, it works GREAT! The neat thing about it is that it doesn't take much power (so I can run it off the same transformer that's powering my rock motors) it's quiet, doesn't buzz, doesn't create heat, and is reliable every time. It was one of those situations that was kinda like "whatever floats your boat"; I'll be using my makeshift turnout relay for as long as I want, as long as it works every time.

Progress Report: 8/30/09

2009-08-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

Here's the craziness going on the desert, replaced the final few axles today. All the rock are getting a refurbishment, which means replacing glue joints and lubricating rods and such. I've also ordered some reed switches and a relay to got with them, so I'll be experimenting with that. I've got a circuit that looks like it'll work so when I draw it up, I'll post it (and maybe even animate it!). At some point I should be back where I was before the fiasco with the mechanical issues and the grade issues started.

Progress Report: 8/28/09

2009-08-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

The balancing rocks have been pretty much finished--mechanically. Appearance-wise, not so much. All the gears have been give new axles and much of the rocks given replacement parts and an overall refurbishment. I added a second motor to the gear system, giving the mechanism quite a bit more power. I placed it on the other side of the tracks where the "gear chain" pretty much ends. (The gear system starts with the spinning rock, travels parallel to the tracks, crosses under the tracks, and travels parallel to the other side of the tracks towards the tunnel).

Since there is a motor on either side of the tracks powering the "gear chain" I can either have each side operate independently if I take out a gear, or the motors help one another if the gear is left in. The blue areas indicate where the future access hatches will go. The one in the top-left is already there, but it needs a new cover. The large ones at the bottom will the large buttes as hatches. The next phase is to patch up the area and make it nice, pretty, and presentable!

Now I can be confident that the propulsion system will keep the rocks moving for years to come.

I picked up one these neat pulse timers which are really timer relays for circuits. Using the adjustable timer, you can either turn off a circuit for a certain amount of time, or turn on a circuit for a certain amount of time, or both which makes this gadget really cool. All it takes is a quick pulse of power to the trigger wire and the timer starts. Really useful. I'd use this for my balancing rocks if I take out my light sensor, but I've got some reed switches coming to replace that.

Progress Report: 7/29/09

2009-07-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

I Picked up a Sensor Switch from Lowe's the other day, and I've been doing some testing night and day to get the optimum operation in different variations of angles, positions, amount of light, and how much of the sensor can be covered up.

The main drawback being that it's an off-the-shelf part is that the setting don't work with what I need. It's got intervals to set the ON timer to; 5 seconds (Test) 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 20 minutes. A 20 second interval would have been perfect, but I can't ask for too much out this little switch. 5 seconds would work if the entire train was picked up by the sensor (which is rather odd, only the locomotive trips the sensor and non of the cars, even if full daylight. I guess it's the motion of the side-rods).

So right now I've got it set to 1 minute, and the train trips the sensor just before the first balancing rock column and the motion of the rocks stop when the timer expires just as the train comes to a stop at Rainbow Ridge (that's if I run it at minimum speed, 1" a second). It actually works surprisingly well in the dark, which is good for when I do night time operations.

The only other drawback I have with the sensor is I need to wire a couple of "night light" bulbs to it to "soak up" the extra current going through, otherwise the rocks would still turn slowly even when the sensor isn't in ON mode.

Despite that, hopefully the sensors keeps the wear down and lets my rocks run a little longer before they need another refurbishment.

Progress Report: 7/14/09

2009-07-14T08:03:00.000-07:00

Well, Nature's Wonderland has had yet another set-back--Balancing Rock Canyon. I hoped the day would never come, having to dig up scenery to fix gears and such. Apparently, after having the rocks turn and move for pretty much half a year has put some wear and tear on the mechanism. The axles drenched in lubrication, stress and even the changing weather has affected how the rocks operate and they eventually they stop moving. But that is something that is suppose to happen; when something gets caught in the gears and causes them to stall, I've got a gear that will slip on purpose so that the obstruction doesn't stall out the motor. so when something stops the rocks, the motor keeps running. Now it's gotten to the point where the rocks don't want to move anymore because they're putting to much stress on the slipping gear. And to make matters worse, the axles for a couple of gears and rock column gears gave way because they were surface mounted with hot-glue, and you through in over-lubrication, time, weather, stress and weak points. Also, once the hot-glue finally loses it's grip (what was I thinking using hot glue!), the gears start to shift a little which results in gears binding more, putting more stress on the motor.

So now I've gotten the whole area pretty dug up, with holes cut in the scenery (I've kept the "plugs" so I can make them into access hatches) and a lot of gear axles being replaced. This time I've actually drilled into the wood layout base and inserted longer axle rods, instead of gluing a shorter rod to the surface of the masonite. This way, the gears won't move at all. I've had to remove some of the rock columns, which was a bit painful to do since sealing around them into the surrounding scenery took a lot of time. One column is getting a total refurbishment. Now that I've replaced most of the axles, the whole mechanism runs a little smoother and quieter, so I know the work made a difference.

Hopefully I'll be able to patch the area back up in the next week or so, I've also need to do some patching from the re-grade I did a couple days ago. In the meantime, while everything is still kinda dug up, I might install a sensor used for security lights so the rocks will start moving automatically when the train hits a certain point. I'll have to do some experimenting.

Progress Report: 7/10/09

2009-07-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

Well, not really any progress, my 20,000 Leagues under the Sea project is soaking up pretty much all of my time and I'm at a point where I need to do a big supply run, so can't really do much until I have everything I need.

Unfortunately, compromises are great once you figure them out and put them to work. But eventually, they'll come back to bite you in the rear--hard. I've had a couple of setbacks in Nature's Wonderland, but I've overcome a hurtle that I've been wanting to avoid for some time now.

I'm talking about the re-grading I did as part of the great Desert Redo of Winter 2008 (go back a bunch of pages). I raised the grade of the track so the train could pass over itself. Everything worked great in the tests and in the following weeks as scenery went in. Occasionally, the engine's wheels would be on the verge of slipping and that'd be it.

Though now it's gotten ridiculous. I've had a few episodes like this before; the train can't even make it up the grade without slipping. It'll stall out once all the cars are on the inclined track, and this is with an empty load of cars! There's no way it'll be able climb the now nicknamed "Devil's grade" with a full load of resin passengers. It's very frustrating knowing the train can't even make it over the hill and finish it's run.

I've tried everything to correct this, using Bullfrog Snot -- which works great on other locomotive BTW-- cleaning the track constantly, checking for any stuck/sliding wheels, and trying to add more weight to this petite locomotive which is nearly impossible (if you want it to be accurate and look good!).

Then I decided to look at what's causing the problems--the track itself. The only solution would be to re-grade the track again, but that was an option that I really didn't want to carry out. But after some inspections, I found that it could be possible, lowering the track just enough without any major work so that it makes it easier for the train to climb the grade but not necessarily eliminate it.

So yesterday, I pulled back the Rainbow Ridge hill (luckily I didn't scenic it yet!) where the track borders the scenery. I knocked out the roadbed supports and slowly forced the track and roadbed down, careful not to warp the track itself. I managed to lower the track about 1/2 and an inch in one spot and a 1/4 inch where the track passes over the Rainbow Caverns track. I secured the right-of-way in it's new position for testing.

I tested the train loaded with weights to simulate the future passengers. I tested the train with maximum weights and the most the train can pull without slipping is 5 oz. (with 6 oz. on the verge of slipping). That is great improvement considering the weight of the future passengers will only total at about 1.5-1.8 oz. and the fact that the train before couldn't even make it up the grade with no weight at all. I did have to sacrifice not having a whistle on the locomotive so it can clear the overpass in the caverns, but hey that's a detail I can live with out (I could always make a removable one for Photo OP's!). Although I still have to do some rockwork and scenery touch-ups, I think the effort was well worth it.

Problem solved!

(What still puzzles me is how the train was able to do the grade for about 6 months with only a few problems every once in a while. But after thinking about it, here's my theory: when I tore out the old desert, I think that an extremely fine layer of dust settled on the track and allowed for traction when I was doing the first couple of tests. After a couple of runs, I confirmed to myself that it works and it was time for scenery and no adjustments were to be made. I did the tests without weights thinking that the future passengers wouldn't really weigh anything (only to find out that the weight adds up and is enough to affect performance!). Once the dust went away, the train slipped and a new layer of dust from sanding or from outside formed, the train worked again.

From the initial construction, everything worked great. Fast-forward a couple of months and the train starts slipping. At this point I think that dust layer wore off and it's just bare track. Strangely, for some reason, the train starts working up the grade easily a few days later. (could be dust from the changing weather outside)

Fast-forward a couple more months and the train starts slipping again. At this point, I'm trying everything I could and I just set the problem aside and started working on something that doesn't induce headaches and frustrations--working on the arch bridge. I grinded and sanded some areas on it and when I was done, I blew off the dust; but not all of it (invisible stuff). I ran the train through the bridge, knowing it would start slipping in a few seconds and miraculously, the train chugs up the hill once again.

Fast-forward a few more months to 2 days ago, and you guessed it, the train slips on the grade and stalls. At this point it's getting ridiculous and I'm not going to purposely spread dust on the track for traction. As explained above, I successfully adjusted the track and I can now breathe a sigh of relief that I won't have anymore problems in future (or so I thought...) )

Progress Report: 6/14/09

2009-06-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

More night time lighting has been installed, desert lighting is pretty much done, though I'm probably going to add some bright 12 volts here and there to kind of brighten up the scene a little more, "exaggerate" the lighting a bit (I'm sure NWRR wasn't lit up this much, but it's kind of my own little touch)

The white bulbs are still awaiting colored gels at the moment. Also, I rigged the lights on a timer so they'll click on at sundown and shut off when I hit the sack, and then they turn on again in the morning for an hour or two as if the lights were on all night.

In other news, I gave my locomotive some "Bullfrog Snot" to improve traction. I'll do a full review of it later in another thread

This is the current area that's being worked on, the back of the desert:
(this is a supersize image, so click on it to see more detail!)

The little section on the right where the two LED's are is where the Dinosaur bones are going. I'll probably have to sculpt it, since I couldn't find any kits that were the right size or quality (or even the right dino!)

Beaver Valley and Bear Country were ripped up today, or rather the beat-up, torn, and yellowed newpaper forms that were there were ripped out. This area has been considered the "trash dump" because whenever an area was redone, all the debris was dumped into there to clear the space. Once Rainbow Ridge is complete (once the desert is complete!) progress will move into this area. It'll be interesting to figure out, considering Rainbow Ridge, Beaver Valley, Bear Country, Cascade Peak, and Natural Arch Bridge are all in very close proximity with each other unlike the real thing. I have to kind of separate the areas to a certain extant. I'll have to get creative with trees...

(Another SuperSize image!)

Progress Report: 6/9/09

2009-06-09T19:35:00.000-07:00

This back corner is starting to shape up very nicely. The geysers are complete and colorful swirls in the sand from the paint pots appear. The "spur line" tunnel is also complete.

A POV shot from the train; I can't wait until I get a backdrop in!

Progress is going to move towards the back of the desert, towards the Dinosaur remains and the small pond that is there right up to the Natural Arch Bridge. Tonight while it's dark, more night-time lighting will be installed, and eventually I'll be able to put in the stretch of DLRR!

Progress Report: 6/3/09

2009-06-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from the Arch bridge (I have to let it dry for a day or two!) I went over the Cactus Forest. I bought one of Woodland Scenic's 'Scene-A-Rama' kits, the Desert Plants pack. Included are a variety of plastic cacti that were just right for my model. They were about the right size and all they needed was a coat of painted and their "flower" applied. I gonna get some more of these packs, I might even mold the next set of cacti I get. These packs are great for beginner modelers or modelers that just want a variety of materials for a section of their layout.

Progress Report: 6/2/09

2009-06-02T19:32:00.000-07:00

Progress slowed just a tad, but stuff is still going on. Worked on the Natural Arch bridge. This is the fourth incarnation, with the first one built on the original layout in 2005, rebuilt in 2006 for the added mule path, torn out and replaced with the big Desert redo of winter '08, and then replaced yet again with the current one (the one before it, even though was brand new, gave me some envelope clearance issues).

The new Natural Arch Bridge is made out of a rigid wood structure draped in aluminum foil and then covered in a layer of celluclay. Celluclay is dry papier mache type material that turns into a malleable wet clay when water is added. Even though it take a few days to dry, it forms a very hard and appropriately textured surface. Here is the bridge already with a layer of set celluclay on it--the light colored stuff-- and some fresh stuff applied today--the dark. (Look you can even see the big 'ol bag of dry celluclay in the back; this stuff ain't cheap--$25 a bag! But hey, it works pretty good)

Progress Report: 6/2/09

2009-06-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

Progress Report: 5/29/09

2009-05-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick video I did of the layout, showing progress so far, but mainly to show everything's locations in relation to one another.

Progress Report: 5/26/09

2009-05-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

More rocks and more ground-cover went in today; now that is a desert!

Progress Report: 5/24/09

2009-05-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

I'm really starting to haul on this project! I don't think I'm stopping anytime soon! Last night I started installing colored gels for the night-time lighting:

The shot is a bit blurry, since the rocks are moving

Here is a pano shot of the current focused construction area, the geysers and paint pots. The geysers are plexiglas rod with some Halloween stretchy web stuff on them. The only problem is, unlike the real geysers. is that this stuff is green and glows in the dark! I might try and spray them with some white, to change the color and stiffen them up a bit.

I still might mechanize them in the future, but since I need to get a motor for them, they'll just be static for now.

Progress Report: 5/24/09

2009-05-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

Despite saying there hasn't been much progress, in the last two days there HAS been progress! The gears in Balancing rock canyon have been sealed up, which looks neat seeing the rocks move in way without seeing the gears turning. The gray stuff is celluclay which should harden up in few days and will get some earth tones soon.

Ground cover is starting to go in and Devil's paint pots of sculpy were made.

The geysers were also made of sculpey, here they are awaiting paint. I had a little mishap with the oven (I had it set to 'toast' rather than 'bake') so two of the geysers were a little burnt. The geyser in the rear is bright orange because I switched to a cheaper clay when I ran out of the other stuff (the orange stuff glows in the dark!)

Progress Report: 5/20/09

2009-05-20T09:57:00.000-07:00

Not too much progress, been busy working on my On30 Marsh and a 20,000 Leagues under the Sea project below Nature's Wonderland. But so far:

• Locomotive got a mechanical tune-up, though an appearance overhaul may be needed--the wheels are looking a little shabby.
• A prototype mechanism for jumping fish was created, though that little project quickly lost momentum once I realized how small 1/48 fish really are. ( basically they'll be a little chunk of styrene, very disappointing)
• The styrene rod drive shaft for the spinning rock finally snapped and a brass rod was installed; I guess a styrene rod flexing every second per revolution, multiplied by a quarter of million times, is bound to snap!

Progress Report: 3/5/09

2009-03-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

Here it is, the time lapse construction of the Rainbow Caverns!

This is probably the last one I'll do, since having a camera in your way while you work is not helpful! Plus, I'm not sure what else I would document that would look good sped up. We'll see.

Progress Report: 3/4/09

2009-03-04T09:52:00.000-08:00

Started installing some night-time lighting:

I'm using up leftover strands of white LED's that I was going to use for the Christmas tree base, but canned that at the last minute. I will put some red/orange gels in front of the lights, to give off a glow like how Big Thunder is lit today. Through some Photoshop, it might turn out like this when I'm done:

Progress Report: 2/28/09

2009-02-28T09:51:00.000-08:00

Here's what the caverns look like outside. The caverns are housed in a large hill, with a window on the side looking into it, like a cut-away view.

The flat roof on the top is removable, and it will soon be covered with miniature AC's, piping and vents--to give a sense of reality that Rainbow Caverns was once in a large show building.

Progress Report: 2/27/09

2009-02-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

Rainbow Falls--

The train making its way through, with a long exposure

The Rainbow caverns is pretty much complete, the water of 'Mod Podge' will clear up and glow in a few weeks (I put on a thick layer). In the mean time, I'm cutting together the time lapse construction--over 10 hours of it; gotta make it so it's under 6-10 minutes!

Progress Report: 2/17/09

2009-02-17T09:46:00.000-08:00

Work is getting done in the caverns:

Everything painted black, ready for the next step:

(painting would have been a lot easier if I would have installed pre-painted foil, instead of having to paint already installed foil in a cramped, small area with spots that can be easily missed!)

The intent is to make this area look almost exactly like this photo:

The only difference is that the column shown in the pictures above is actually a support for the roof, so compromises will have to be made. But overall, it should look very similar to the photo above.

Progress is being documented with time lapse again, like my last video, so it'll be neat to see it get built in a couple of minutes from start to finish when I'm done.

Progress Report: 2/8/09

2009-02-08T13:00:00.000-08:00

I've got a time lapse video of the construction from the ground up of the tunnel entrance leading to the Rainbow Caverns!

(I wish I could actually work that fast; I could get the layout done next week!)

Progress Report: 2/3/09

2009-02-03T09:43:00.000-08:00

Nature's Wonderland is now in a different room! This is the second move for the layout, and through negotiations with other members of the house, I was able to obtain a larger room for the layout (and eventually, a larger table twice the size of the old will be underneath the layout and will house a new "crawl-through" attraction in the future). This will allow for extra expansion room around the layout, so that will give me plenty to do.

But in the meantime, the rocks have been painted:

The train heading through the canyon. "Now folks we gotta get through balancin' rock canyon, look out they're startin' to tumble!"

I'm planning to do a time-lapse video of the construction of the rocky portal tunnel show above, to show all the steps that go into these rocks. Also planned is an ambitious time-lapse video of the entire construction of the Rainbow Caverns from blank masonite to finished black-lit cave. So those will be neat if I get to them and actually do them. I'd do more video documentation, but that is almost twice the work for a project for one person. But we'll see.

Progress Report: 1/20/09

2009-01-20T09:40:00.000-08:00

Been doing some MAJOR work in the Balancing rock area. Got all the rocks made and installed, and they all move!! I pulled back some of the paper mache and installed some K'nex gears all powered by one Lego motor. All of these gears, 18 of them, power seven columns of rocks, each with a piece of flexible plastic tubing in them. In this plastic tubing, a metal rod bent at different angles is driven by the gear and the different bends in the rod as it turns moves the rocks. The plastic tubing basically protects the inside of the foam from the metal rod and it keeps the foam rocks from spinning with the rod

Here's a video of the rocks in action:

They are a little shaky, but that is because they haven't be permanently installed, they will run a little smoother when they are installed permanently and the "ground" is put back in.

Progress Report: 1/18/09

2009-01-18T09:38:00.000-08:00

Been working on the back corner of the layout yesterday. I still need to make some adjustments on it after reviewing some photos though.

Shot with the train making the curve.

The next step after this is to start on the balancing rock canyon. I'm probably going to start on a prototype today to see if my technique will work (Each teetering column will have a rotating vertical rod with bends in it; as the bends move through the rocks, the rocks will move in a sorta random way, resulting in more animation than more older ones with the string and the spring movement)

Progress Report: 1/14/09

2009-01-14T09:37:00.000-08:00

Rock formations are in place, temporarily, and the papier mache is patched up. They are sitting are specially cut platforms that follow the contours. Makes it easier for removal for painting.

Painting might be the next step, but I think I might want to go somewhere else on the layout this week.

Progress Report: 1/11/09

2009-01-11T09:33:00.000-08:00

To show how these formation are created, I've documented the making of the Natural Arch.

First I stacked a bunch of thin blocks to get a very rough shape. I glued all the blocks together in the middle with hot glue. Then I drew a rough top view on the top of the block.

I cut the whole block on the band saw.

Next I carved and smoothed out corners and edges using the same kind of tool shown in the photo in the post above.

Then I carved out the indents and details, and later took a wire brush and carved some subtle horizontal lines. Also, I hit it with a real rock to give it a little bit of that rock texture.

After that, a layer of paint should seal it up.

Progress Report: 1/10/09

2009-01-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

Did some carving today:

Much better than the original papier mache versions. Studied the heck out of those formation through old photos. The amazing thing is is that these rock formations are still at the park today.

The aluminum sheets have been covered with a layer of Papier Mache (Paper towels dipped in 50:50 ratio glue and water). Still need to do a bit more and patch some areas (where the structures for the mesas/buttes use to be, before I decided to do them out of foam).

Gonna work on the 2nd natural arch bridge tomorrow! (The one that the train doesn't go through nor the mules go over)

Progress Report: 1/08/09

2009-01-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the blurry photo, but the frame work has been wrapped in aluminum foil. This will help support the paper mache layer, so that the material doesn't droop between slats and holes.

Feels like some weird low-budget sci-fi miniature movie set!

Here's an "artsy" shot, taken from the tunnel to Rainbow Caverns:

Progress Report: 1/6/09

2009-01-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

I've got the basic, rough form of the land forms built up; the new desert is starting to take shape. I still need to add the two mesas and a few other things then I can add the aluminum foil to start blocking in more details. At this point, I feel like I'm working on a Frank Gehry project...

Approx. 600 popsicle sticks have been used for the frame work (No, I didn't eat every one of them from a box of popsicles! If that were the case, I'd eat three, then resort to the heat gun. I bought a box of 1000 from Michael's, which should be enough)

You can also see the "show building", which will house the new Rainbow Caverns, made from some old sentra signs. The roofs pop off so I can access the inside, and will eventually be dotted with some miniature air conditioners and piping.

Progress Report: 1/4/09

2009-01-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

With school starting back up in the next week (AHH!!) I though I'd get a big chunk of Nature's Wonderland worked on before the week is out. Before I know it, my free time won't be much soon.

The biggest part of the project for the week is the redo of the Living Desert and Rainbow Caverns. This started with a complete tear out of the areas last Thursday.

As I stared at the rubble after demolition, I felt like Tony Baxter tearing down the old Fantasyland in '83 and thinking "what have I done!?".

I soon pressed on, forgetting about the old desert, which wasn't much at all; just a bunch of painted yellowed newpaper paper mache (this is original stuff; from 4 years ago) and some mediocre balancing rocks.

I didn't miss the caverns either; A bunch of over-painted stalagmites and water features that can be significantly updated and done better. Also, the non-removable roof was a major design flaw, something that is a requirement in the future. I also want to change the layout of the water features, making it look more like the real thing; more specifically, like this shot:

I cleaned up, and got ready for re-grading the track.

Now I no longer have that annoying 90 degree cross! This allows for a smoother ride (for the miniature people of course!), a possibility for a two train operation, and its more accurate to the real thing.

Most of the Desert track loop stayed, the only brand new sections are the grade from the trestle to the top of the new tunnel, and from the bottom of the Balancing Rock Canyon, and through Rainbow Caverns to Rainbow Ridge.

Just for kicks, here's the same angle, but from December of 2005:

Both of those shots were taken from the top of Cascade Peak (quite a good tripod if you ask me!)

Despite the new and steeper grades, the train chugs up the hills without a problem, which was a major concern for me. In addition to that, the train now runs a lot smoother, thanks to the extra electrical contacts in the trailing mine cars. (I only electrified two cars even though I was planning on 6 cars to pick up power; I changed that once the two worked well and discovering that installing pick up shoes is a lot of work!)

For the next week, I will be creating the new rock formations and land forms, but mainly starting on a foundation of popsicle sticks, aluminum foil, paper mache, and celuclay. I will soon be back to where I was before the tear-out.

Hey, if Walt can redo his desert in 1960, why can't I, right?

This time, I took more time in researching and figuring out where everything goes (something I didn't do when I first built the layout) It may not look like much, but here is my plan of action at this point.

(The yellow represents the new sections of track, the red represents the old/current track)

In other, more "constructive", news, the new fleet of mine cars are complete, and I am pleased by how they came out.

At the time these shots were taken, the coupler pockets on the cars were not painted, neither were the drawbars.

A close up of one of them:

Progress Report: 12/24/08

2008-12-24T09:02:00.000-08:00

Here are the seven new mine cars, all assembled to a certain extent. The next step is to add a few details like the support bars and the seats. Then it's off to the paint shop for a few shiny coats of Boyd Smoothster Yellow. Then the cars will get their electrified wheel sets (except for the last car-shown in the tunnel-; that car is removable).

My goal for my winter break is to get the entire Rainbow Ridge area cleaned up and fully "sceneiked" which includes building a new load platform to accommodate the new cars, rebuild all the buildings to better scale, proportions, and details (I made those 4 years ago!), and the hill behind it should get some work to make it realistic.

Progress Report: 12/15/08

2008-12-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

he new prototype car for the new fleet of "Mark IV" mine cars has been completed. The parts for the car have been molded in silicone, and I should start some castings pretty soon. Eventually I'll have a 6 car train where every car is identical! I use to scratch build every car, and that resulted in somewhat accurate cars that were slightly different from one another!

With the smaller car, I can fit more cars at the station, so I'll be able to have an accurate train of 6 cars (technically, that is somewhat accurate, since there were 6 cars on the mine train when it opened in 1956. However, there were seven cars for Nature's Wonderland, so I'll have to make an extra car that can be detached easily, even if the train doesn't entirely fit in the station; to make it totally accurate.)

This photo shows how off I was all these years scale-wise ( I built three generations of these cars at that size!)