Making Cisco Townsite, part 1

: KZMU webpage

I’ve been trying to restore the townsite of Cisco, Utah for more than a decade. Results of my past efforts are represented in the “Column_Cisco Townsite”, “Works_Cisco Townsite”, and “Column_Cisco Range” posts of this blog.

In August of last year, my friend AJ Rogers of Thompson Springs, Utah introduced me to Molly Marcello of KZMU Moab Community Radio. She put several materials together and aired an article “1970s Cisco comes to life through retired Osaka designer” on Sep. 13. There, I let out to donate the diorama to any museum in Grand County after I have enough of it. Accordingly, I’m rushing to complete the restoration.


First of all, I drew plans to estimate how much I’ll have to work on it: this is what I decided to build.

The Cisco townsite diorama will be about twelve feet long overall in N scale. The easternmost corner of the Block 1, Cisco townsite meets the easternmost edge of the diorama, and the two hundred feet width Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad right-of-way border becomes the northernmost edge of the diorama.

As my workspace doesn’t accept twelve-feet-long object, the diorama will come in four sections. Each quarter section will represent the four seasons. The plan of the diorama is shown below.

: plan of the diorama


昨年、Moabのラジオ局からCiscoのジオラマ制作について取材を受けた。進捗状況を取材したいという。ストラクチャーこそある程度形になっているものの、ジオラマについてはまだ何も手をつけていない。そこで慌てて取りかかった次第。

小さな町だが、Nスケールで東西3.6メートルになる。南北は北を鉄道用地境界に合わせると、0.9メートルで町並みがほぼ収まる。すなわちジオラマのできあがり寸法は縦900・横3600。そんなスペースはないので、四等分して900角のモジュール４個を制作することにした。以下は、4個ほぼ同じ形状の作品を制作するための健忘禄である。