Futuristic City display

[Anonymous]

I have no layout these days and camera issues. But I found a link to an older project I did in 2002 with a Sci-fi theme. Someone else took the photos.

Some people here make models of very old themes. This one is a bit different, this is a model of what may be yet to come. I built all of this on my dining room table in my one bedroom NYC apartment. I used a friend's a truck to move it and install in a Rhode Island store/art gallery window. It took about 3 days to reinstall it. The scale varies but most of the 2000 plus figures are 1/32 scale playset figures reposed, civilianized and repainted. The highest building is about 5 feet.

Follow this link to take a look. http://www.dirtpalace.org/window/2000/andy/index.html

I have a new quite different (better) version in a small utility trailer at my new home in sunny San Diego. When I figure this camera thing out I will get some shots of the new layout.


Please give a little feedback. I have been participating here for a while but have never been able to show much and here is my chance. I am interested in what you guys think.

[Anonymous]

Interesting. Shows how everyday items can be used in modeling. I saw a lot of plastic cups, bubble wrap, and ordinary boxes, etc......No trains!? Would have like to have seen at least a reference to a station at minimum. Doesn't add up to a train layout to me.

[cnw1995]

Looks like Metropolis. I don't think I've ever seen so many figures in a display.

[Anonymous]

Thanks.

I'm glad a couple people read this post. The new trailer version includes trolley / light rail running on K-line Superstreets and some Rokenbok monorail.The trailer version is self contained with buildings going the height of the box and mirrors making it appear much larger. With the many figures I was hoping for a brightly lit and crowded Times Square look. The buildings are now all lit from the inside and I added more figures as well as multiple aeriel walkways llike those in downtown Minnieapolis.

I had hoped for some electricity access in this window, no dice. There was some track on the far left side upper level that didn't make those pics. I would have loved to have had a Lionel Phantom running in there but it is out of my price range. Would it be better to have a train sitting in one spot seeming broken? Besides I was living in "New York, New York. It's a hell of a town. The people(and trains) ride in a hole in the ground".

Yeah. I am on a budget and my ideas are bigger than my wallet.

If this doesn't fit in here could you direct me somewhere else that would be more fitting?

[wrmcclellan]

emmandy,

Pretty neat. A Phantom would look great with that setup even if it didn't run!

Regards,
Roy

[darianj]

Nice setup. Very original.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Roy and Darian.

I would love to have a Phantom in the new version of my city but the trailer is under 5 feet wide. If I included one it would be lost around the edges. I thought about making it a figure eight but it would be tight. I have already built so much on this it would be hard to refit one into the existing space. I may still put one in at an upper level later on. Already it is a kind of 3D web with the skywalks.

I can think of many futuristic models as well as speculative ideas that failed that would fit well into the theme. The Autorailer, the various streamlined steam engines, experimental turbines (like the Jawn Henry), the Talgo, Turboliners, the Tilt feature of the Acela the German ICE in Amtrack paint, and on and on. There were many many interesting looking trains that where billed as the next big thing or Herald of the coming future that fizzled out or never came to pass. If you really think about quite a bit can fit into this catagory.

The way I figured out to fit trains into my tight trailer layout is the Rokenbok toy building system Monorail that can make 1 foot diameter curves. I really like these toy monorail trains and cannot recommend them strongly enough.

The other more traditional way trains make an appearance on the new trailer layout is through trolleys that run a tight dogbone loop on K-line Superstreets that can also make a really tight loop. One side of the trolley is painted one color and the other side another color so after it turns it seems a different train. I am experimenting with a new body for the trolley maybe a double decker for higher passenger capacity. The separate sides may have different details as well on the new body.

Yes the film Metropolis is an influence as were many Sci-fi movies, books(R.I.P. Octavia Butler) and pulp. My idea is to make a model of a future that didn't happen.

So it is historically based, sort of.

[tschmidt]

How about using Lionel's Alien Train?

TomS