MAGIC: San Ysidro, Dromedarius, and St. Francis - Page 3

Charter · 03-15-2020, 10:16 AM

What a beauty Pete, perfectly organized with your layout, even the wheels!

Harry Pettersion · 03-15-2020, 10:20 AM

Wow! Amazing! I admire your talents. You really concentrated on the surrounding scenarios which adds more realism to the airport. And I really like how you create a space-constrained airport. Did you use Lego for some of your buildings? And the mountains! I would like to see a takeoff shot with the mountain in the background.

DutchCollector · 03-15-2020, 10:50 AM

That's a really cool diorama Pete! You're giving the use of Christmas lights a whole new meaning!

uncle beat · 03-15-2020, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry Pettersion

Wow! Amazing! I admire your talents. You really concentrated on the surrounding scenarios which adds more realism to the airport. And I really like how you create a space-constrained airport. Did you use Lego for some of your buildings? And the mountains! I would like to see a takeoff shot with the mountain in the background.

Regarding the buildings, which are hollow and have translucent windows (for lighting purposes): I essentially use two techniques, one using pre-made acrylic boxes covered with acrylic sheeting, the other using Lego substructures covered with "Plastruct" architectural acrylic textured surfaces. I will do a tutorial on both ways of doing buildings in an upcoming section of this thread. Due to their perfect right angles, consistent sizes and shapes, and durability, at this point for me, Legos are indispensible in diorama making in the tiny 1:500 scale. Obviously, when handled with great modification, they really don't look like Legos and have made my life in this hobby so much easier!

uncle beat · 03-15-2020, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DutchCollector

That's a really cool diorama Pete! You're giving the use of Christmas lights a whole new meaning!

Thank-you for the compliments! After initially exploring the use of fibre optics, I settled on using Christmas lights which give acceptable runway/taxiway results, and superior illumination for buildings. The runway component requires the drilling of two different sized holes, a large one in the diorama subsurface board to hold the body of the lamp, and then a tiny one sized just for the nipple tip of the light to stick through the runway or taxiway surface. The Christmas lights MUST be LED due to their brightness--light does not propagate to the tip of regular incandescent Christmas bulbs so if these were to be used, there would be no lighting effect for those areas. At any rate, despite being in tropical Florida, you might say it is Christmas at my house, every day!
Pete

uncle beat · 03-15-2020, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charter

What a beauty Pete, perfectly organized with your layout, even the wheels!

Thank-you! Regarding the rolling display base, I commissioned a company in Miami to make a removable acrylic top to sit on the base that I made, for covering the diorama (in four separate sections), much like the acrylic boxes used to display model airplanes, or other hobby/curios, except much larger. This way, there is always a display-quality diorama available for viewing in my house that remains protected from dust, etc. I never have to put the diorama away, and visitors always love looking at the model. It brings out the aviation geek in everyone

! What a conversation piece--you hear stories ranging from the trip to Grandma's house in Wisconsin, to outrageous worldwide travel tales. At any rate, this whole display ensemble has increased the pride I have in our hobby, and it kind of reminds me of something you would find in a museum, or architect's office. I will eventually post a picture of this cover in this thread.

uncle beat · 03-15-2020, 01:49 PM

Sooooo, it was decided after a lengthy thought process, to build the final version (v.3) of San Ysidro, with a linear terminal and a satellite concourse, which I have wanted to do for a very long time. The satellite was going to be modeled after the old "Concourse B" of Milwaukee's Mitchell Field, which faithfully served North Central Airlines (later part of Northwest and eventually Delta Air Lines) for all the years that I was growing up there. Here is a picture of that concourse taken last January, when I was up there during some really bad winter weather.

The maximum number of planes would be arranged as follows:

1) Five at the terminal
Gate A1 = A321or 757-200
Gates A-2 and A-3 = two regional-sized jets
Gate C-9 = one B-737-300 or A319 sized plane,
-and-
Gate C-10 = up to a 777-200 or B-787-9 (to be used with taxiway restrictions on all other planes),
2) Five at the satellite
Gates B-4, B-5, B-7, B-8 = B-737-800 or A320 sized planes
-and-
Gate B-6 = up to a 767-300 or MD-11 (WITH CONCURRENT TAXIWAY RESTRICTIONS ON OTHER AIRCRAFT).

Shown below is a picture of the finalized gate / aircraft parking arrangement, photographed during the secondary painting procedure

I painted the abovementioned second (slightly-darker) shade of grey acrylic on the aircraft parking positions, because I had observed this technique applied to airport aprons by other master dioramists here on the forum. There is quite a lot of expertise to learn from here at Wings900!

Finally, a view of the apron following gate assignment and secondary paint color application:

uncle beat · 03-15-2020, 02:09 PM

Retrofitting the existing runway for centerline and end lighting, and the taxiways for green directional and blue edge lighting, was a nightmare! Great care had to be exercised in drilling the right-sized holes in the right places, all the while being careful not to damage the pre-existing work.

In the end, the effort was totally worth it. Here is the inaugural night flight, an Aerolineas Argentinas A330 bound for Buenos Aires.

!!Precious cargo!! An enormous chocolate-covered almond being prepared for shipment aboard this British Airways A380:

uncle beat · 03-15-2020, 02:32 PM

Just noticed in passing, a wonderful statistic of 48 people viewing the model airport section!! This reminds me of the good old days

. Hopefully all these viewers continue to be present on the forum in one way or another, because it does help support the hobby.
Pete

DutchCollector · 03-15-2020, 03:53 PM

I'm sure those folks are enjoying your output Pete, as am I!

uncle beat · 03-16-2020, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DutchCollector

I'm sure those folks are enjoying your output Pete, as am I!

Thank-you, I have a feeling they are, too

I'm going to add more pictures today including some arrivals and departures on the '28' end of runway 10/28.

Arimo · 03-16-2020, 05:05 PM

What a great diorama you made. While I was looking your diorama, I was excited like a child.
Night city view with LED made me remember the memories of traveling with my family as a child.
Almond chocolate scene is funny and I love it.

uncle beat · 03-16-2020, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arimo

What a great diorama you made. While I was looking your diorama, I was excited like a child.
Night city view with LED made me remember the memories of traveling with my family as a child.
Almond chocolate scene is funny and I love it.

Thank-you for your compliments on my diorama! I am the same as you, being in this hobby brings back strong memories and it gives me happiness that this is the same for many of our colleagues here on this forum.
Regarding the almond, it reminds me of the playfulness and child in all of us! I have many more pictures to post, and there will be some more funny details hidden there. Keep watching for more!
Yours truly, Pete

uncle beat · 03-16-2020, 08:17 PM

Making the turn after a runway taxi: Gol prepares for a takeoff to Manaus

One comes, while one goes: Gol operating TWO daily services during school vacation time in Brasil

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uncle beat · 03-16-2020, 08:23 PM

Four cars AND a sailboat rushing to see Air Italy's final departure from San Ysidro--the open drawbridge is not helping the situation for these loyal plane-spotters!

Closeup view of this beautiful A330 taking off from SYX to MXP, while Cpt. Sandy from Bravo TV's "Below Deck Med" is reportedly aboard the yacht in the background: