Ten Salmon Leaping

cape.gauge Oct 10, 2013

  1. cape.gauge

    cape.gauge TrainBoard Member

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    My Significant Other wants me to construct an N Scale Christmas layout.

    The current plan is to create a dozen T-Trak modules^1, one for the first line of each verse. If the module is to depict the entire verse, I will do that after Christmas.

    I don't see any issues except:
    1. It needs to be completed by Thanksgiving;
    2. The scenery depicts a variant of "The Twelve Days of Christmas".
    Specifically:
    • An Eagle in a Shore Pine Tree;
    • Two Red Foxes;
    • Three Blue Jays;
    • Four Grizzly Bears;
    • Five Cougars;
    • Six Howling Wolves;
    • Seven Slapping Beavers;
    • Eight Flying Squirrels;
    • Nine Screeching Owls;
    • Ten Salmon Leaping;
    • Eleven Lowing Bison;
    • Twelve Bugling Elk;

    Does anybody have any suggestions on how to create the animals, fish, and birds so that:
    • They are not shapeless blobs;
    • They are visible from across the room;
    • They are true to nature;

    Each day will be a diorama with the bird/fish/animal in the middle of the scene.

    ^1 More specifically, Rokuhan Track for T-Trak-Z, as described at http://t-trak.nscale.org.au/other-scales/t-trak-z, but for N Scale, not Z Scale. I realize that running South African Railway rolling stock through Yellowstone National Park may produce dissociative dissonance in some observers. If I had a variant of that song for Willem Pretorius Game Reserve, Ado Elephant National Park, Tsitsikamma National Forest or Hluhluwe, I'd use it instead. (Kruger is an overrated tourist trap. Its only virtue is that it was the only game reserve in South Africa that one used to be able to take the train through.)
     
  2. Steve F

    Steve F TrainBoard Member

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    Perhaps do the variant scenery in a larger scale...a much larger scale.
     
  3. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Before attempting to create those animal figures, it might be worth checking such as Woodland Scenics, or Preiser.
     
  4. David K. Smith

    David K. Smith TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well, your significant other has certainly set a task for you. As a collector of Preiser N scale figures, I can give you an idea of what you're up against.

    An Eagle in a Shore Pine Tree -- you will need to make yourself (including the tree)
    Two Red Foxes -- might be able to adapt from a set of dogs
    Three Blue Jays -- if you don't mind oversize birds, you can start with ducks
    Four Grizzly Bears -- got you covered (good ones available from two companies)
    Five Cougars -- may be able to adapt circus animals, but it won't be easy
    Six Howling Wolves -- might be able to adapt from a set of dogs
    Seven Slapping Beavers -- you're out of luck on this one
    Eight Flying Squirrels -- nope, nope, nope
    Nine Screeching Owls -- things aren't getting any better
    Ten Salmon Leaping -- do you like working with modified pin heads?
    Eleven Lowing Bison -- may be possible using cows and a lot of putty
    Twelve Bugling Elk -- reworked deer might do the trick

    Now, as to your criteria:

    They are not shapeless blobs -- that's exactly what the vast majority of the animals will be, I'm afraid!
    They are visible from across the room -- this will not be possible under any circumstances without bionic eye implants
    They are true to nature -- you will need to be a highly-skilled artist with high-power magnification to achieve this effect

    Bottom line, this is simply not possible in N scale. Furthermore, a dozen T-Trak modules will be a tall order to complete by Thanksgiving. That's at least two of them a week! You will spend most of that time just making the animals themselves--I hope you are retired with nothing else to do. Plus, why an entire module for individual animals when all of them will fit in the palm of your hand? Seems like quite a lot of wasted space.

    I really hate to be a Debbie Downer, but I'd seriously reconsider this project. Honestly, even HO would be a challenge to achieve true-to-life animals visible across the room--or even close-up, for that matter. You'd need to go with G scale in order to meet the criteria for the animals, and then you'd have to craft most all of them yourself, since only a few of the animals in your list are available in any scale. And given the time you have left, I don't think it'll happen.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 10, 2013
  5. cape.gauge

    cape.gauge TrainBoard Member

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    That is slightly better than I expected. I anticipated having to create all of the figures from modeling clay.


    Blue Jays, at 1.5 mm in size are going to be hardest to craft, to not look like blue blobs.
    Salmon, at 3 mm will be only slightly less challenging.

    The "visible from across the room" idea, is that the other scenery on the diorama won't make the animals completely invisible. Most birdwatching is listening for the birds singing, and then trying to locate them in the thicket. As such, I think that the way to go is to incorporate audio clips of the birds and animals.

    What would be ideal, is if the salmon literally jumped up out of the water, and back into it. I don't have any idea on how to duplicate that feat, though. :(

    The major issues:
    • Will the track arrive in time;
    • Finding suitable audio devices;
    • Background scenery that looks appropriate, natural, but doesn't "hide" the bird, fish, or animal.
    • Constructing the bird, fish, or animal.

    78 figures spread over 12 dioramas, of which 8 are 217 mm by 270 mm and 6 are 294 mm by 294 mm.
    That is either 180 mm or 204 mm for scenery that is not intercepted by track.

    In that space I also need to put something that looks natural, and can also hide the device that contains the bird or animal cry.
     
  6. mhampton

    mhampton TrainBoard Member

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    As planned, it seems like a project doomed to failure. Most of the creatures will be so incredibly small that (1) you won't be able to tell what they are even with audio hints and (2) they will be so lost in the scenery that nobody will notice them - especially if/when a train is in motion through the scene. In N, the 12 days would be represented better if you tried some custom artwork on 12 pieces of rolling stock. Yeah, similar cars have been produced commercially, but not with your choice of animals on them. And that still doesn't address the incredible time crunch you will be under.
     

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