Source Material…
Category: Structure, Diorama

Genre: Real World

Source:

The Project…
Scale: 1:48 ( O Scale )

Size: about 18" x 24"

Material: Laser cut acrylic, Asst metal and plastic scale figures

Approach: Completely Custom!

Software:

Autodesk 3D Studio Max
Autodesk AutoCAD
Adobe Photoshop

Specialized Tools: Laser Cutter

In 2004, SMARTT built a 29'x16' model train layout at the request of Aventura Mall, an upscale South Florida venue, to display in the mall over the holiday season. The layout was to be taken apart and restored every year around Thanksgiving. It still appears there yearly. After the initial run, the mall wanted some more animated accessories for the year 2 display. SMARTT obliged with several new all-custom models, including this animated Ice Skating Rink.

Customizations:

This project went through several stages of pre-visualization starting with an icy pond in a park then ultimately becoming a more formal rink with structural risers on either side, vaguely reminiscent of the Rockefeller Center rink that appears in photos every holiday.

The skaters follow an asymmetric path around the oval rink by means of magnets on bearings below the poly-carbonate rink surface embedded in a wheel. The subsurface wheel rotates while the bearings ride across radial slots in the wheel. On the surface, the skaters are attached to magnets with Teflon disks underneath. A peculiar and serendipitous side effect is that occasionally, the friction makes the round magnets rotate on their bases as they follow around, giving the skaters the appearance of doing spins on the ice.

Most of the rink is laser cut acrylic. The intricate brass railings were photo-etched specially for SMARTT for this project.

People who helped with this project: The SMARTT model making staff, as always, brought a table full of raw parts to life!