If you’re of a Certain Age, perhaps you had a train set as a child. An oval of track, a loco, and some rolling stock; it matters not whether it was Thomas the Tank Engine or a large express train — they were at the time a pretty cool toy. Move forward a few decades, and model railways have become either super-expensive room-filler layouts, or have sunk low as novelty Christmas ornaments, so that the basic loop of track is in dire need of rescue. Perhaps [Peter Waldraff] can help, with a beautifully-constructed N gauge circular layout concealed in an end table. Even better, when you examine it closely, it becomes apparent that this is no ordinary train set, it’s a scene from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.
This is a project of two equally well-made parts, the piece of furniture and the train. The former is entirely scratch-built, with a cylindrical outside made from carefully cut rings of plywood and a sliding riser mechanism in the centre with a concrete counterweight. Slide the cylinder upwards, and the layout is revealed — a scratch-built hill in the centre of the ring of track and the lit-up underside of the UFO above it. As the train goes round the track, it even triggers a set of crossing lights and sounds for extra realism. The full story can be seen in the video below the break, and is well worth a watch.
We’ve covered more than one concealed model railway layout in the past, and it comes as no surprise when browsing to find that [Peter]’s work has featured here before.
A lot of sheets of plywood and wasted wood, making circles like that. Surely making it a few arcs could reduce it to a single sheet.
But I suppose if you put that much time and other expense into the project, maybe the extra $200 isn’t such a big deal.
Good point, but I did use all the circles in other projects😁.
Pretty cool project.
Considering the detail and expertise in building this, I presume he has other uses for the cutoffs, not just to the burn pile.
I’ve seen this before, I assume here.
There was a similar concept with a different diorama inside.
Maybe you remember my flip coffee table:
https://youtu.be/xIeHMmSaMvM
Those trees are going to get crushed
No, the ones on the mountain flip.😁
The do indeed … if you do remember to flip them back before shutting the table.
It doesn’t really matter, he can make more trees if he crushes them.
Has nobody here heard of Carl Arendt’s “pizza” layouts?
Nope, why don’t you tell us about them?
Excellent work – having worked in a hobby shop years ago (when such things existed), I can appreciate the work that went into this.
I think I’m not alone in being very curious about the table lift mechanism though – if there was a separate video/instructible/github on that I’m sure it would find more than a few interested parties.
Yes, I made a first video of just the table a year ago. Here is the link:
https://youtu.be/Twb-PpiIm_w
I should have been clear, the mechanism is more clearly explained in the video link here:
https://youtu.be/Twb-PpiIm_w
Best Project that I have seen so far on this Site. Amazing
It’s a good project for sure, but you must be new or an infrequent visitor.
I love the use of forced perspective on the road going towards the center to create a sense of scale!