Crystal Layout
By Will Parker
OK, here’s the thing. My wife, Julia, collects dragons. She and the younger
daughter are interested in renaissance festivals and science fantasy novels
This family environment helped inspire me to try a marriage of the above with
my interest in model railways. Can these two worlds possibly be joined in eternal
bliss? I’ll let you judge for yourself.
I used to collect rocks and minerals as a kid and I remember growing crystals
in high school science. My family loves to shop in the fantasy shops. I would
always look at the fancy crystals and always think that they could be displayed
better. Light is what makes them work and they were never lit. I started collecting
some and tried some small dioramas on my own.
Later, I acquired some Z scale components and started thinking
of the ultimate crazy layout. Because Z scale was new for me and I didn’t
know its temperament, I decided to keep the track plan very simple. This allowed
me to test the reliability of Z scale for myself as I was considering work with
Nn3 in the future. So no switches are in this; just a simple oval with some
nice curves and twists.
This is my second layout. My first was a coffee table with a layout
under glass. Each time I built something I’m learning something. There
are things I like and dislike about the coffee table. I was tired of looking
down on top of the trains; I wanted to look straight at them. So, I have Z scale
running through a lighted landscape at night. It will be small enough to have
at my bedside. I’m now graduating from armchair modeler to bedside modeler.
This will fit in nicely with all of the dragons that are scheduled to float
around the bedroom. The train is not to dominate the scene but merely provide
movement in a very spectacular landscape. It works very well. I’m happy
to report that Z scale is quite reliable and I find easy to work with.
The case is made of cherry; same as my coffee table. It has a smoky plexi-glass top hinged at the back and a clear plexi-glass front. It is designed for viewing from both above but especially head on. The bottom of the case has some small fluorescent lights mounted with a small fan for ventilation. The track is graded so that the back part is going through the upper mountains and the lower part is in the front in the valleys. In the back, there is a tunnel made of fluorite that is lit. When the train goes through the tunnel, you can see its shadow through the crystal.
The track is all fastened to a clear plexi-glass sheet with a strip of cork
roadbed in between. I used small BRASS ( not magnetic ) screws into drilled
holes. The criteria for choosing crystals is quite simple. Light must get through
the bottom or the back of the crystals. The parts where I don’t want light
to shine through, I cover with dark green bath towel. The night sky is made
of plexi-glass that is spray painted midnight blue on the back. I bought a crystal
sphere with some haze to it, which was cheaper than a clear sphere. This was
to be my full moon and I wanted some haze for the moon surface. The moon is
lit from behind so that it is a soft glow and not a headlight.
I mentioned earlier that I had built a coffee table layout with a plate glass top. It figured in the construction of the crystal layout in a very shocking way. It served as the workbench. The crystal layout is quite heavy but I can carry the whole thing under one arm. Another lighting trick I developed is with the trees. I used obsidian arrowheads for pine trees. This is my black forest. The arrowheads are mounted leaning back. I left just enough of a gap in the toweling for light to hit just the backs of the arrowheads. I must confess that these photos give an idea of the layout. This was designed for night viewing and is very spectacular to look at under those conditions.
A little bit about myself. I work in the Fine Arts library at
Cornell. I work in the stacks with the books and I don't sit behind
a computer all day. I consider myself lucky. I'm also interested in
HO and I'm designing a large logging steam era layout. I belong to
the Central New York Model Railroad Club and Historical Society. We
own our own railroad station and house a 21" x 57"
layout representing 9 towns in our area. I'm also starting a small business
called Miniature Mechanics. I wish to design and build small mechanisms for
powering industries, etc. I intend to keep it small and simple.
I have a little advice for learning skills in this hobby. I found
that reading and collecting stuff is very helpful. The older magazines are the
best. They contain much more articles with inventions using odd items for construction.
Not as many products were out there in those times. I highly recommend joining
a good club. You might have skills that a club could use and they will have
skills that you could learn. That is a very inexpensive but practical education.
You just can’t beat that deal. Finally, when you build and operate that
first layout, you will find things that you don’t like about it. Don’t
toss it. Study it and figure out what you don’t like about it and design
and build something with your new wishes in mind. You will also find that what
you first built wasn’t that bad after all. It’s all a learning process.
Did I mention that my wife is also crazy about trains and insists that I keep
this up?
Will Parker
Specifications
Name of Railway: none yet
Scale: Z
Theme: Freelance
Locale: World of Fantasy
Era: Medieval, Steam
Size of Case: 41”x16”x7”
Benchwork:1/4” sheet plexiglass
Roadbed and Sub-roadbed: Cork on Plexiglass
Track Brand: Marklin
Minimum Radius: 6”
Maximum Grade: 4%
Scenery Construction: Crystals on plexiglass. Bath toweling
and
packing forms cover the rest
Backdrop: Plexiglass on three sides of the case interior.
Control system: Marklin mini-club
