MAGIC: San Ysidro, Dromedarius, and St. Francis - Page 26

uncle beat · 09-12-2020, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DutchCollector

That last shot Pete, with the Virgin 787 visible between the highrise gives me a Miami vibe. Considering you're from Florida, I might not be too far off

Great hommage to Virgin Atlantic! Since they've been at Dromedarius since the 90s, they truly do have more experience than their name suggests!

You were definitely spot-on with your Miami-vibe observations. I have lived in South Florida for over half my adult life--it is definitely home for me! I did relocate from Miami's South Beach to Palm Beach County, which begins in Boca Raton (40 miles north) and extends to the town of Jupiter for my job, but this is still on the fringe of the far-flung Miami conurbation and I find myself either in central Miami or Miami Beach at least once a week, and when it comes to flying it is almost always via MIA airport (on AA or their One World partners) or PBIA (a decent domestic air facility in its own right). With a Master of Urban Planning degree, it is no surprise that I am definitely passionate about beautiful tall buildings, TOD's (transit-oriented developments), and modernism in general beginning with the impressionism of the late 1800's and including Bauhaus architecture and its successors--all of these themes are synonymous with cities like Miami and my projects often include these design motifs.
Pete

uncle beat · 09-22-2020, 05:54 AM

Making Flexi-Gates

For me, one of the all-time joys of making a custom airport diorama comes at that point when the model is finally ready for the creation of the airplane parking areas. With my baseboard, surrounding scenery, and lighting systems largely complete, the Dromedarious International Airport project is now ready for this step and I have begun the process in earnest. As always, I find myself with limited space and since the objective is to display a variety of airplane types, I feel that at least two (out of 10-12 total) gates should be outfitted to accommodate either four narrow-body, or two large wingspan widebody, aircraft. It is truly a lot of fun to get creative at this step, and over the next few days I will show the thought process that I have used in making gates D-1 and D-2.

Clearly, an emerging trend in the industry has been route fragmentation, namely the deployment of an increasing number of air carriers on the same route. Since the ‘travel pie’ doesn’t really grow that much, in spite of competitive pricing, airlines are eventually required to utilize smaller aircraft to remain profitable. This ‘downsizing’ has led to the introduction of new airplane variants, like longer-range versions of the A321. As such, gates D-1 and D-2 can hold up to four narrowbodies (three AA lovelies are shown in a mock-up of this proposal here):

Accommodating the new generation of widebody airplanes with ultra-large wingspans is a real airport planning issue. Facilities that don’t prepare for this emerging reality face the sad consequences that come from declining relevance. Recognizing this, as an alternative arrangement Dromedarious’ gates D-1 and D-2 will be equipped to hold two such airplanes when needed, in lieu of the four-narrowbody aircraft scenario discussed above. Furthermore, because of my love for the A380, gate D-1 will have the requisite 3-bridge boarding setup as a nod to the iconic ‘King of the Skies.’ An LH A350-1000 and a QF A380 are shown here as part of the mock-up demonstrating the two-gate layout:

Stay tuned for more on the construction of Dromedarious gates D-1 and D-2!
Pete

Charter · 09-22-2020, 08:04 AM

The fragmentation and downsizing created also a boring "civil aviation world"! When a 8.000 km had to be flown by a widebody the airports were full of L-1011, DC-10, B767, B747, A310, A300; as you rightly said today, just an example, a Paris - Guadeloupe route (8.000 km) can be flown by an A321XLR with 8.400 km range! When, just few years ago, a route like this was performed by AOM DC-10!
Yes, world changes and also civil aviation changes...in worst i feel to say.
Great update my friend, great pics.

uncle beat · 09-22-2020, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charter

The fragmentation and downsizing created also a boring "civil aviation world"! When a 8.000 km had to be flown by a widebody the airports were full of L-1011, DC-10, B767, B747, A310, A300; as you rightly said today, just an example, a Paris - Guadeloupe route (8.000 km) can be flown by an A321XLR with 8.400 km range! When, just few years ago, a route like this was performed by AOM DC-10!
Yes, world changes and also civil aviation changes...in worst i feel to say.
Great update my friend, great pics.

Your comments are 100% correct! We used to have so many cool and unique airlines and airplanes, now a few major carriers dominate, and all of them flying low-wing, standard tail, twin-engined/wing-mounted planes. B O R I N G

to look at and generally terrible service. The bright spot for my travels in the last fifteen years has been the ascendency of the Asian airlines and the Big 3 Gulf carriers--the planes are nice to look at, and their on-board food, beverage and services are even better than the so-called 'good old days!'

uncle beat · 09-25-2020, 01:14 PM

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles (and Buses too!)

As work continues on the construction of Dromedarious' gates D-1 and D-2, the critical question must finally be answered: How should these remote gates be connected to the main airport terminal? Bus? Train system? Moving walkways?Although it will add greatly to the complexity of these two gates, the decision was made to employ a monorail system! There will be buses as well, as a mechanism to transport transit passengers between aircraft. Shown here is a mock-up of the proposal; I find making preliminary models to be of great help in establishing position, building mass, and form:

Another view of the monorail being built at Dromedarious. The amount of extra time needed to create all of the extra details, including trackways, rail cars, passenger platforms, and escalators is worth it in my opinion: complex projects are more fun to look at!

Charter · 09-25-2020, 01:37 PM

Both are beautiful pics of the Australian giant, but the first is particularly amazing.
The monorail is a piece of art.
Bravo my friend.

uncle beat · 09-26-2020, 05:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charter

Both are beautiful pics of the Australian giant, but the first is particularly amazing.
The monorail is a piece of art.
Bravo my friend.

Thank-you very much! What is shown so far is the proposal, to see how all the individual pieces fit together. The project is a composite of many components from several manufacturers, several scales, and of course my own creations, that have required cutting and shaping to fit the 1:500 format/now that this work is done to my satisfaction, the actual buildings can be assembled--stay tuned

Cal1736 · 09-26-2020, 07:53 AM

It's always a pleasure to check your thread and see what new creations you've come up with Pete! The monorail is an excellent addition to the scenery, although it seems to run awfully close to the nose of that Qantas A380! Perhaps you could curve the track out a bit from the station and have it running above the sidewalk just outside the airport boundary?

Keep up the creativity!

- Cal.

solicitor82 · 09-26-2020, 08:34 AM

Wow, what a wonderful update Pete! I'll have a flight to your airport in my next update!

uncle beat · 10-03-2020, 11:29 AM

D-1 and D-2 Finally Complete!

Gates D-1 and D-2 took much time to complete, owing to the airport’s requirement that these gates be flexible in their missions, namely the accommodation of either two narrowbody jets each, OR one large-wingspan (“F” category, > 65 meter wingspan for D-1-B and “E” category 52-64 meter wingspan for D-2-B) airplane each. Additionally, it was stipulated that D-1 had the added requirement of being able to manage an A380 with three-jetway boarding capability. The following pictures show off these remodeled remote gates at Dromedarious International Airport!

The Qantas A380 is truly a sight to behold! In the first shot, a prime example is shown parked at DRX’ gate D-1-B, which is fully equipped to handle the associated large passenger numbers.

D-1-B’s three jetways are visible from this perspective; also note that the monorail track is cantilevered over the motorway, to give extra clearance between the rail carriages and the forward section of tall parked aircraft such as the B-747 and A380. The single rail track splits at the passenger station, for rapid boarding and alighting.

A lot of American metal seen in this overview of Dromedarious airport—the early morning hours are a prime time for the carrier at DRX!

Qantas A380, departing DRX on runway 27:

Following the QF departure, gate D-1 was quickly put to use in taking care of two AA arrivals, an A321 from Charlotte parked at D-1-A and a 737-800 from Miami at D-1-C. Also visible are an AA A321 at D-2-A (departing soon for JFK) and an AA 737-800 at D-3 (outbound for PHL); the A321 at D-4 arrived from DFW about one hour before this photograph was taken:

Busy morning at DRX! A monorail approaches the station associated with Gate D-2,while an AA 737-800 is serviced at Gate D-1-C:

Another perspective of the AA a.m. lineup at DRX:

Immediately east of the passenger terminal is the Dromedarious cargo facility; a UPS MD-11 is seen just as it arrives at its parking bay:

A parting view of this morning’s activity at Dromedarious, an appropriate shot showing a Herpa delivery van going up the ramp to the Cargo area!

uncle beat · 10-04-2020, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cal1736

It's always a pleasure to check your thread and see what new creations you've come up with Pete! The monorail is an excellent addition to the scenery, although it seems to run awfully close to the nose of that Qantas A380! Perhaps you could curve the track out a bit from the station and have it running above the sidewalk just outside the airport boundary?

Keep up the creativity!

- Cal.

The suggestion to 'curve the track out from the station' was an excellent one and taken to heart in the final project: note that the monorail is now installed as a cantilever above the roadway and sidewalk, thus freeing up overhead space above the parked planes. Thanks again and keep following!!
Pete

uncle beat · 10-04-2020, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solicitor82

Wow, what a wonderful update Pete! I'll have a flight to your airport in my next update!

Looking forward to this--let me know what aircraft and it can be reciprocated (hopefully the AC A220 or an Embraer; the NC A330 is coming soon in 1:500, I already have the OC A330)
Pete

Cal1736 · 10-04-2020, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle beat

The suggestion to 'curve the track out from the station' was an excellent one and taken to heart in the final project: note that the monorail is now installed as a cantilever above the roadway and sidewalk, thus freeing up overhead space above the parked planes. Thanks again and keep following!!
Pete

The finished monorail looks great Pete, it's a cool addition to the airport and I'm glad to see my suggestion incorporated into the design! The scenery at Dromedarious is really beginning to take shape now, and that line-up of American narrowbodies at the gates is quite a sight!

- Cal.

Charter · 10-04-2020, 04:28 PM

Yet another wonderful update. I imagine the A380 will be a very rare aircraft in the next months, especially because Covid-19 seems to have a second, strong life and many more airlines will phase out their giants and/or, sadly, will fail.
Bravo Pete.

uncle beat · 10-06-2020, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cal1736

The finished monorail looks great Pete, it's a cool addition to the airport and I'm glad to see my suggestion incorporated into the design! The scenery at Dromedarious is really beginning to take shape now, and that line-up of American narrowbodies at the gates is quite a sight!

- Cal.

Thanks for the compliments-- I'm never too shy to include good ideas like the one you suggested for the monorail! Next up, I have to work on the other eight gates and the actual terminal. For these components, I already have the basic building skeletons worked out. Cheers and follow along!
Pete