Oasis Palms

The Lost Pearl of the Mojave Desert

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Building the Terrain

January 3, 2023 Stephen Leave a Comment

To create the terrain that surrounds Oasis Palms, the same pink foam used for the deck was stacked and carved with hot wire tools and razor knives to approximate the plateau terrain. For space savings, the outer loop was compressed closer to town and it uses an exaggerated 4-degree incline to get the train from the town level to the scenic railroad level which was 30′ feet in the air. The left side of the deck has the caverns that housed the Barco Mining operation.

Volunteers built out Buttes and Mesas that were added to visually anchor the corners of the model. Lightweight spackle that has the consistency of whipped cream was used to fill gaps and add texture to the rock formations. This was then all painted with a base layer of dirt brown and multiple layers of accent paint to approximate the chocolate brown hue of the Ship Mountains of the Mojave Desert.

To achieve the effect of the Mojave hill terrain the paint steps included

  1. Base coat of Dirt Brown,
  2. Black wash using 10% flat Black paint+90% water,
  3. Soft brush application of Dirt Brown on mid & high areas,
  4. Dry brush application of Raw Sienna in the erosion crevises (desert varnish effect),
  5. Dry brush application of 75% Dirt Brown + 25% Titanium White on high areas,
  6. Dry brush application of Titanium White on the edges of rocks.

 

 

Desert X

Building the Layout Table

November 11, 2022 Stephen Leave a Comment

Once the table layout in SCARM was complete, the final size of the ‘ping-pong’ table grew 6″ wider. The extra width allowed room for the incline to the mesa that sits above the Barco mine tunnel. The table was built using simple 1×3″ L-beam construction and to keep the table as light as possible the deck consists of two sheets thickness of 1″ pink insulation foam.

For our L-Beam construction, we edge glued a 1×3 to another 1×3 and then fastened them together with Kreg 1-1/4″ pocket screws. For our frame, we used pine boards that were ripped down to 1x3s. But 3/4 plywood would have also been a good choice for the frame.

The pocket screws do a great job to secure the beam edges together making the frame stable and sturdy while keeping the framework as light as possible. After assembly, the frame and bottom of the foam deck were painted flat black.

The base of the table was designed to be a pedestal on casters but a temporary pedestal was repurposed from another project. The 2″ overall thickness of the pink insulation board provides plenty of stability while keeping the weight of the 5.5′ x 9′ table to a minimum.

 

 

Desert X

Oasis Palms in O-Scale

November 6, 2022 Stephen Leave a Comment

Originally conceptualized in 2020, the goal of the Oasis Palms project is to create an O-gauge layout of Oasis Palms in the early 1960s. The platform for the installation is approximately the size of a ping-pong table (5’x9′) which allows us to represent the town, gold mine, and elevated scenic railroad in 1:48 scale making it possible to transport the finished work.

In the fall of 2022, the installation planning started. Because we wanted this to be a kinetic sculpture with a working railroad, initial planning was done using a model railroad CAD program called SCARM. The Oasis Palms track plan was laid out and approximate terrain, streets, sidewalks, and buildings were added. The final result was a working track plan that we would be able to recreate using off-the-shelf Lionel Fastrack.

While Oasis Palms sits on a plateau in the Mojave Desert, SCARM renders its ground cover in rich green grass. Other than the green disconnect SCARM allowed us to lay out the track and place the town buildings. A few of the buildings were also modeled in SCARM, while others were represented with simple boxes to approximate the building’s footprint. Want to build your own Desert Oasis? Download the Desert Oasis SCARM file.

 

 

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