Building the Big Thunder Dynamite Shack

 

Howdy folks! In today's blog and video, I'll walk you through the planning and building for my version of Big Thunder Mountain's Dynamite Shack - AKA: the "goat trick" scene! It's a fun scene I've always wanted on the On30 Thunder Mesa layout and I'm happy to share the details here.

That pesky dynamite chewing goat on Big Thunder. Locals call this scene the "Goat Trick," because if you keep your eyes on the goat while your train rounds the sharp curve, you can get a dizzy feeling like you're spinning super fast. The effect works best in the last train car.

I drew these plans based on photos and observations of the structure in both Anaheim and Orlando. The one on the ride is actually quite tiny, so I scaled mine up to O scale person size. Note the built-in sag in the roof.

A planning model for the dynamite shack. This was used to make sure everything looked right at scale and would fit in the scene. It was also used to plan the laser-cut parts that would be used to build the finished model. The side lean-to shed was later omitted for the final version.

Here are the basswood laser-cut parts being assembled. Everything was stained with an alcohol and black shoe dye mixture before assembly and the signs were created with acrylic paint and custom stencils.

Here's a nifty trick. The look of antique rippled glass was created by painting Woodland Scenics Realistic Water onto the acrylic glazing, then drying it quickly with a hair dryer.

The roof was made from 1/16" thick illustration board, trimmed with stained basswood. The shingles are laser-cut paper - a future product from Crescent Creek Models.

The entire scene was built and detailed on a removable piece of Extruded Polystyrene Foam scenery that serves as one of the access hatches for Rainbow Caverns. 3mm yellow LEDs were added inside and out, and the front porch lantern has a built in flicker.

Detailing the scene was the most fun. The goat is from a set of O scale farm animals that I picked up, and the dynamite sticks are short pieces of red wire insulation. Tools and barrels come from various manufacturers, and the Lytum & Hyde dynamite boxes were designed by me and printed out on heavy paper. These are available as a free paper model download here.

More details are visible in this overhead view, including the hidden Mickey made from gears and junk from my scrapbox. The desert plants are from Woodland Scenics, Scenic Express, Pegasus Hobbies and others.

The finished scene. Future plans are to add the Big Thunder goat sound effects with and ITT Products sound module. These can be activated by a passing train, or by pushing a button on the layout fascia.

Big Thunder Camp

The dynamite shack sits on the outskirts of Big Thunder Camp, along the right of way for the On18 Horse Thief & Nevermine mining tram. It makes a nice addition to this scene, where its placement makes logical sense among all of the mining activity at Big Thunder. I'll have more on the mines there in a future update.

That's it from Thunder Mesa. Until next time, adios for now!


Thanks for following along, amigos. Registered users can leave questions and comments below so, please, join in the conversation!

All the best,
Dave

3 thoughts on “Building the Big Thunder Dynamite Shack

  1. GREAT JOB!! Dave the night shot brings back memories of walking the track at the end of the night at Big Thunder Disneyland. You gotta watch those goats eating TNT and those wild desert grasses-an explosive mixture!!

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