Making Cisco Townsite, part 2

: plan of the first section

I used a 50mm(2”)-thick XPS insulation board for the base/terrain. I added 2.5mm(0.1”)-thick plywood on the edge as the frame. It also works as a ruler. The corners are reinforced by solid wood angles from the back.

: front of the section
: back of the section

I made the railroad and highway right-of-ways from the stack of 2.5mm(0.1”)-thick plywood: I thought it convenient to model the fills, but it turned out to be not really, as they warped for all those weights during the glue.

The track is the Atlas product; code-55 flexible-rail. The pavement of the highway is made of paper clay as before. I painted the rails with Tamiya XF-68 "NATO Brown" and applied them to the terrain.

: railroad ROW
: highway ROW
: ROWs added to the section

Japanese & Comments

Surfaces, Revisited

I have introduced a series of my dad’s photos taken in the United States in the early 70s as the “Surfaces” posts. Up next are the series of my photos taken during our recent trips to the United States. Our trips more or less trace the route my dad mapped half a century ago. Accordingly, I have decided to call this series of posts “Surfaces, Revisited”.


: Sep. 10, 2014. Green River, UT

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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

Japanese & Comments

Surfaces, Revisited

I have introduced a series of my dad’s photos taken in the United States in the early 70s as the “Surfaces” posts. Up next are the series of my photos taken during our recent trips to the United States. Our trips more or less trace the route my dad mapped half a century ago. Accordingly, I have decided to call this series of posts “Surfaces, Revisited”.


: Cayuga, IL. Sep. 12, 2019

Surfaces - Everyday Life in the Early 70s

I bring you a trip down memory lane with scanned images of my dad's 70's slides. The 1964 Oldsmobile was our vehicle of choice for family adventures from Fairbanks to Oaxaca. We never flew, thus I named this series "Surfaces".

: Washington, DC. autumn, 1971


The Final Years

Japanese & Comments

Surfaces - Everyday Life in the Early 70s

I bring you a trip down memory lane with scanned images of my dad's 70's slides. The 1964 Oldsmobile was our vehicle of choice for family adventures from Fairbanks to Oaxaca. We never flew, thus I named this series "Surfaces".

: Knoxville, TN. summer, 1971


Fire Station No. 9

Japanese & Comments