World Biggest Scale Zoological Park, layout plan

[Miniaturezoo954]

For those of you have might be interested i wanted to share the layout plan of my 9 year project with you, as i'm coming pretty close to completion, and i would love to be able to include a gallery section in this forum of it.
Very long read:


A Zoological Park in Miniature



Out of complete passion and love for the animal kingdom and the many zoological institutions that I have visited, it has been my life purpose to recreate all this beauty in a scale miniature diorama, to try and capture with attention to detail everything single aspect that makes a zoo such a wonderful place, where you imagination is your only limitation.
This diorama model is a dedication to all of the great people that have helped me built it one way or another, friends, family and every person that stood by me during my long but worthy journey, last but definitely not the least all the beautiful creatures that along with us humans live in this earth, thank you.



Diorama stats and brief description



The model’s permanent location will be a triple garage, air conditioned and fully equip to deal with the diorama needs.
Garage space: 36 ft deep (two vehicles deep)
33 ft wide

The model should have full access all around, but space should be limited to the space required by two adults at a time.
walking space: 4 ft wide (all four sides)

The diorama’s base will be supported by plywood tables, this tables will individually hold sections of the layout, this sections will then come together giving way to one single platform. ( custom made and weight resistant )


Plywood tables (locally produced)

The diorama’s base structure will have to be worked on ground level.
Only buildings, objects, structures and figures will be placed over it once a particular section has been mounted. The zoological park’s paths, landscape, rockwork and ground elevations should be work on ground level, to have a precise and accurate configuration of the space available and required by each one.

Structure materials.

Plywood (home depot, online stores)
Paper clay (various sources, see dealers reference book)
Air dry clay (local produced, pick up thru corporation, need a large pick up for this)
Artificial dirt (produced with coffee leftovers, should start preparing at least 6 months in advance, each week load should be heated for over 1 hour or to completely dry the grains.
Moss, diorama grass, etc, (Singapore dealer, see dealers reference book)
Glue, (at least 200 4 oz bottles or bigger, order wholesale thru corp)
Special water proof glue (see dealers reference book)
Aviary net poles, (Red Wood miniatures no longer available for this, Michaels Forster wood poles could do with proper paint)
Spray paint cans (spray cans should be bought wholesale, online dealer can’t not ship, shipping restrictions, there is a place in Naples that will sell it wholesale contact Marilyn)
Water colors (Michael’s is a choice but limited selection, will need to place online order, possibly wholesale, very expensive, but necessary)
Water resistant 100% clay, (the only trusted and available choice for this is in the dealers reference book, this brand is extremely expensive, but is Needed for animal pools and enclosures with underwater views, place order when you do on corp credit card)
Electrical work, (could be done thru Yuniel, but he will be difficult to get a hold off, electrical design is on cousin)
Aviary net: (wholesale dealers reference book)

Other references at dealers book

Building parts (windows, doors, etc, accidents happen, you should stock one replacement of each key component when budget available, in case is discontinued, remember the broken entrance arch on the small mammals house*)

Plants/landscape (same scenario, can’t never have enough landscape, layout space no longer allows for any significant trees to be planted, but you should stock a moderate amount of tropical plants and decorative landscape in case of remodeling of an area.

Animal collection will always have room for expansion, large mammals will be limited in number because of cost of orders and available space.
You should order a surplus of bird species and small mammals take advantage of prices now, you could sell some of this figures in the future.

Key notes:

None of the buildings that come in sections should be glued together, the sections were made to fit together so keep it like that, if you glue the sections there is a significant change that the structure will come apart (per artist instructions) and on a side note, it will be impossible to lift or move around by yourself. The area in the buildings where sections come together, should not be visible, take special attention in this area.


You should be able to reach each building from the available space around the layout, The Where Ice and Ocean meet building will be a very big challenge, it is impossible to reach in the current zoo plan layout, two options available, change location, or find a way to get to it, going under the layout.

The distance from all angles to the center of the layout will be a challenge, as it is, you are cut off from 50% of the layout once it is mounted (need to find solution for this problem) possible temporary solutions are to create a grassy area in the middle of the layout that you can reach by going under the tables, two problems with this, will there be available room for this? One spot might not be enough.

Please place special attention when doing research about best ways to keep layout exhibit dust free and in good condition.
Areas in the layout that can not be reach should be given extreme caution as to things falling down, especially leaves from trees, something that small was is down will be a task to take out, areas that have leaves on purpose fallen should be in corners of the exhibit, never glue the leaves.
THE MURAL

This should take place before the final set up as been completed, but it would be best for the artist if he sees and knows what the edge of the layout will look like, especially the prior understanding of what goes where.

The mural should used live colors, but it should keep the idea of a mural to a minimum (see Havana Vieja restaurant mural, that is the idea)
The concept is immersion, the 4 feet gap should not be evident when looking at the diorama from its entry point, the mural drawing will be in the opposite angle as the visitor and it should feel like a continuation of the diorama.

The mural will consist and give life to the story, that the zoo is situated in a large metropolitan city, there will be a large cathedral in one side of the mural and a very large train station in the other, both should be consistent with the scale and picture of the scene. In the middle of this two structures should be a large avenue, side walk with a large hedge fence over a Victorian wall that gives way to a very large canal in the other side the smaller scale city drawing will await, the detail of the 1:12 scale buildings and avenue of entry to the zoo should be exceptional, every little detail feature counts.

The artist should be contacted per his instructions 1 month in advance, so he can get all the necessary tools in advance, a 1000usd deposit was agreed to, and 2000 when work is finished, after initial site feedback the estimated completion time was 3 to 4 weeks.


Key notes of mural:

Mural avenue should have same color shade as entry point from avenue in zoo diorama, that old street look from European cities should be present, the street lights in mural should match street lights used in zoo (the Victorian look from Mexican dealer) same with benches on the mural, same with hedge fence, (on the sidewalk there should be a large European ad structure with a zoo poster on it) everything on the side of the canal that is 1:12 scale should have the look and feel of the colors of the zoo, especially any trees if any, the other side of the canal could be different, and the artist can use his own European inspiration from the reference pics and posters.


ZOO DIORAMA FLORA

The zoo’s climatic location is an enigma, in part is your own fault, a European geographic destination yet tropical and sub tropical mature trees on zoo ground location, and cold climate buildings for animals that could be outdoors? It does not make sense? But there is a reason, my own.

1.The first trees that were commissioned were tropical species, spectacular looking, most would not feet inside buildings, even the Southeast Asian rainforest dome, so they will have to fit in the story.

2. Some of nature’s most majestic flora is in the tropics, a lot of the small plants will be inside building enclosures and public areas, very little exotic tropical plants will be in the zoo grounds.

The major part of the Japanese 1:12 scale collection of Bamboo, Cycads, Palms, Orchids and Aloes will be house indoors in the animal buildings, there will be many tropical planters in the building’s visitors area, especially in the Birds building, the African primates building and small primates building.

The reptile house will hold many of the newer Colombian produced, plants collection, I’m especially interested in the large amazon flooded aquarium in the reptile house as well as the Chinese alligator enclosure, this two should be given priority and an accurate amount of custom plant species should be produced. The reptile building could be the only 100% accurate building when it comes to plant species in the zoo, each exhibit could hold its share of native plants that represent the animal resident’s habitat. Since the reptile house has some of the best viewing angles of all the buildings, this will be a treat for the layout visitors.

3. All the landscape for the Southeast Asian rainforest dome has been accounted for, this was mostly lady Jane’s conservatory inventory of Asian palms and bamboo. A lot of rockwork will need to be handcraft, will need paper clay for this task, and the molds will be the same ones used in the reptile house entry. The custom made waterfall cascade will be in the center of the building, (Singapore dealer should be contacted to get a quote on second working waterfall for the entrance, this one could be a little smaller to bring down cost, needs to be less than 975 usd, remember shipping is very expensive, once again something than in the future you will need to come up with a way to fix If motor breaks.

The Asian dome’s waterfall will be the center of the exhibit in a irregular fixed lagoon, using special waterproof clay, after giving the molded lagoon the right color shade, it should be sealed so water does not damage paint.

Inside the dome the visitor’s path needs to be in a circle, since there will be only one entrance point, the electrical work for the dome has been completed in the most part only needs to be connected thru extension cord to the center base of the layout, dome will light up, but installed fog system needs to be set manually and refilled periodically.


AUDIO

For the time being the room’s surround sound system will have to do, eventually you will need to get back with the folks from Homestead Garden Design and order the custom made miniature rock speakers to take the zoo’s audio to the next level of immersion.

Quoted price was 275 usd each speacker without installation, including remote and signal frequency receptor that has to be installed under one of the layout tables.

10 speakers: 2750 usd (this should be the final area to be completed, not a priority, can use the funds for many other things first)
There is also the possibility of mixing only 5 speakers in and keep on using the surround sound on the garage, that is an alternative to get speakers for half the price. The downsize of this is that the surround sound system only carries one frequency, so you would lose 4 other different sounds at the same time, I especially would like to move the 1 speaker closer to the zoo entrance to have the sound of the streets outside the zoo come into play and as you walk deeper into the zoo you will hear only zoo sounds.


LIGHTS

The illumination effects on the diorama should be done on detail, remember all of your conversation with the manager of Roadside America about what an effect lights can bring or take away, you wrote most of the fine points in case you do not remember on the dealers reference book.

1. The central light of the garage should only be turned on when you are working there by yourself, when visitors are there the especial reflector lamps will be the only light if you want to give it the night look, because of the size of this garage, you will not need anything like what Roadside America uses, but you will need more than 4 lamps, the garage is an ideal place for this because of the possibility of the lamps just hanging over the diorama, instead of pointing towards a particular section of the layout. The height of the lamps should be moderate, but never on full view, the light system will take care of that, there is several ways of doing this, see your notes.

Century pictorial in Coral Gables will take care of the element decoration of the roof with their 3D stars. The Mural artist also mention the possibility of painted the roof of the garage partially (the area that is visible) with a blue sky with clouds and the whole theme, he mentioned an additional cost for this so don’t compromise until you hear the estimate, it is not that important.

The lamps within the layout should all be connected to central boxes, there could be several of this boxes pet cousin’s advised, one click everything lights, but do we want that, or do we rather have it in sections, he mentioned there is a possibility for both, I would like that.
The lamp light bolts should be replaced when needed, you will need to keep this in mind, it would be much better to have the light effects in sections, so the street lamps inside the far areas of the layout are used less than the ones outside.

WATER

This was for a long time a problem area, not anymore unless something drastic changes, no simulation water feature will be realistic enough in any layout to compare to the real thing, so the water will be real, downsize will be much less water areas in the zoo map since, creating lagoons, moats and
Rockwork is extremely difficult and time consuming, pay close attention to the flamingo island and the Hippo island these two will hold several gallons of water each. All precautions against leaks have been research and taken into consideration, it will become a problem more in the Hippo lagoon than the flamingoes since this one will be within reach of you.
The water should not be deeper than 2 inches, or it could present a weight problem in the lagoon, two inches should be enough and fairly safe.
The water will with time turn color and you can’t prevent dust and residues from the layout to get in it, we do not want to be changing the water, that could cause problems so we will deal with that in a different way.
The flamingos and Hippo lagoon will be a green water effect, with real moss inside from (Pond Kendall Supply) this substance will give the old zoo water effect, and since it is made for indoors ponds it will not smell as bad as the stuff from outside, not sure if we want the zoo to be smelling like a real zoo, enough with the materials used in some of the big trees, that is all we need.
The water in the sea lions pool we have not decided if we want with the zoo green look or something a little more clear so you can see the sea lion swimming inside of it.
The African penguin’s pool we know for a fact, should not carry any effects in the water, that water needs to be as clear as possibly and the actual cemented lagoon will give it all the realism it needs, we need to see the penguins swimming, that is a big part of the Wow effect.

Last but not least all the water inside the many building enclosures will have specific color variations depending on need be, I definitely would love a special water shade for the Tropical aquarium gallery inside the reptile building, I will love to see all the fish and turtles in here from outside the layout, for this the water will need to have the same color pattern as in the Berlin Zoo’s tropical aquarium hall.

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

Part 2

ANIMAL COLLECTION


On June 2nd 2009, the current 1:12 animal collection consisted of

Mammal collection
452 mammals in 184 species (the much larger collection of mammals had to be disbanded to make a new accurate scale of 1:12 collection, the figures are now much more impressive but a lot more expensive, most of the large mammal species of ungulates and carnivores are missing and will be completed before the end of 2009, the 184 species remaining mostly consist of custom made primates, marsupials, insectivores, rodents, small carnivores, bats etc. The only custom made to 1:12 scale large mammals presently available are the pinnipeds as well as the camels, dromedary’s, one guanaco and two vicuna’s due to their layout location)

Bird collection
1208 birds in 419 species (this collection is close to completion, thanks to good planning in the proper scale for almost close to a year, there is a greater opportunity for new additions in this collection than any other since the advantage of birds is that they can be placed in mixed exhibits and the birdhouse building is big enough to hold twice the number of birds that will be initially placed there, when it comes to the zoo’s massive birdhouse, I will be focusing more in stamp collection species displays than number of representatives from a single species, with its exceptions.)


Reptiles and Amphibians
291 specimens in 94 species (this collection is pretty much done and complete, there is the possibility of some minor changes in the mixing of species creating room for few others, but this is limited, due to the fact that the only two places in the zoo where reptiles and amphibians will be displayed will be at the Reptile building and Halls of Australia exhibit.

Fish
126 fish in 22 species (there should not be a need to order any new fish)
ZOO MASTER PLAN DESIGN

MAP LAYOUT DRAWINGS AND CONCEPT




Detail explanation of map, by area, species group and layout location



There is 45 different reference sections on the map, detailing either a building structure that holds animals or an species enclosure, every single exhibit in the zoo is mentioned here, zoo kiosks, restaurants, etc if any are not given any mention, since this has room to change as space allows it.

Area legend

1. Entrance building, holds cotton top tamarin and emperor tamarin in a small pexiglass fronted exhibit.

2. Fountain area at entrance point, bird ambassadors, hyacinth macaw and great horned owl

3. Capybara and rhea exhibit

4. Part of American tropics walk, aviary, holding sunbittern, wattled jacana, toco toucan, pale winged trumpeter, southern lapwing, gray winged trumpeter, limpkin, roseate spoonbill and southern pudu.

5. Similar netted structure of size and texture holding primate species of tropical america, species here consist of white face saki, bald uakari, and black howler monkey.

6. This one will be a very detailed tropical enclosure and the heart of American tropics walk, using the very elaborate custom made mayan temple sculture, with two different viewing areas for two very different animals, because of the money already invested in this temple exhibit the landscape should spare no expense and should duplicate in every way a real rainforest, vines, palms and many plants will create this illusion, and in one of the sides of the enclosure the very tall and majestic kapok tree will enhance even more the home of a pair of giant anteater and a gorgeous custom made black jaguar.

7. This will be the zoo’s only waterfowl lagoon, it was originally supposed to be one of at least 5 lagoons in the park to duplicate the feel of the Berlin zoo, but this proved to be impossible, because of the time spent building this lagoon and the available space needed to make them look realistic, this one should combine all the resources, the two bonsai elm trunks already dried for about a year will look phenomenal going over and thru the water and allowing the ducks and other birds to make small little nests.
The center piece of the lagoon will be a 29 inches wide gorgeous willow tree made to fit every angle of the island lagoon and gently pose a bit of a challenge to find all the different bird species.
It was supposed to be the flamingo lagoon, but because of the reduction in the numbers of waterfowl exhibitions in the zoo, it will now be the waterfowl lake.
Species list:
Andean flamingo
Greater flamingo
Caribbean flamingo
Boat billed heron
Eurasian spoonbill
Great cormorant
Brown pelican
African jacana
New Zealand grebe
Mallard duck
Wood duck
White headed duck
Common eider
Red crested pochard
Orinoco goose
Torrent duck
Canada goose
White face whistling duck
Black necked swam

The majority of the zoos waterfowl collection will be found in now named Birds of our World building.


8. Reptile building

In pure size this is the largest building in the entire zoo layout over six feet in length, the façade of this building was inspired not by an actual reptile house but by a museum, with massive rows of columns and its miniature steel engraving that reads REPTILE HALLS, this building holds about 95% of all reptiles, amphibians and fishes in the zoo. Originally the idea was to have two separate buildings one an aquatic center, the other a reptile house, but space once again limited this project, so a bigger and much more impressive reptile building was planned in detail. All the pexiglass enclosures in the reptile building as in all other zoo buildings were made in Singapore and were originally designed for real life reptiles and amphibians, the large collection of different sizes and shapes in different zoo areas makes for even more realistic and striking look, at times is difficult to know if the snakes are really replicas.
This massive building is divided into the outside pexyglass rows of exhibits that connect to the building and its centric hall inside the structure with the much larger creatures like crocodilians. The roof of this building has a large section made out of pexyglass to allow light to enter the building and help with visibility.
Of the many species in this building I will only mention some of the most priced figures of this collections.
American alligator
Gharial
Nile crocodile
Spectacle caiman
African dwarf crocodile
Tuatara
Marine iguana
Rhinoceros iguana
West Indian iguana
Short horned lizard
Thorny devil
Common green forest lizard
Elephant eared chameleon
Horned leaf chameleon
Mexican beaded lizard
Gila monster
Desert monitor
Chinese crocodile lizard
Golden tegu
Paraguay caiman lizard
Komodo dragon
East African sand boa
Indian python
Emerald tree boa
Yellow anaconda
Rubber boa
Carpet python
Green tree python
Blood python
Ball python
Eyelash viper
Gray banded king sanke
Masked water snake
Mangrove snake
False water cobra
King cobra
Black mamba
Common death adder
Black tiger snake
Persian horned viper
Rhinoceros viper
Gaboon adder
Western diamondback rattlesnake
Bushmaster
Hognosed pit viper
European fire salamander
Oriental firebelly toad
Darwin’s mouthbreeder
Harlequin frogs
Red eyed tree frog
Shovel headed tree frog
Berei’s tree frog
Mexican tree frog
Madagascar tomato frog
Muller’s termite frog
Malaysian narrow mouthed toad
Red rain frog
Yellow headed poison frog
Lehmann’s poison frog
Blue poison frog
Golden poison frog
Green and black poison frog
Strawberry poison frog
Redback poison frog
Brilliant thighed poison frog
Madagascar reed frog
Amazon river frog
African bullfrog
Singapore wart frog
Spotted snout burrower
African ornate frog
Giant amazon river turtle
Helmeted turtle
Matamata
Victoria short necked turtle
Smooth softshell turtle
Gages softshell turtle
Indian flap shelled turtle
Eastern box turtle
Red eared slider
River terrapin
Painted terrapin
Malayan snail eating turtle
Malayan box turtle
African tent tortoise
African pancake tortoise
South american red footed tortoise
Central american river turtle
Alligator snaping turtle
Radiated tortoise
Galapagos tortoise
Marbled hatchet fish
Red piranha
Electric eel
Arapaima
Black arowana
Pirarucu
Jaguar cichlid




9. Birds of prey enclosures

In this area of the zoo you can find species like
Andean condor
King vulture
Black vulture
California condor
Hooded vulture
African white backed vulture
Eurasian griffon
Golden eagle
North american bald eagle
Congo serpent eagle
And a small area for raccoon dogs.


10. Hippo lagoon

Initially I wanted the hippos to inhabit a much better and advance exhibit but because of space restrictions, they will now occupy one of the zoo only two outdoor lagoons, the island is of different shape than the flamingo lagoon, this particular shape is very irregular and there is a small division with logs and rockwork that separates the zoo’s nile hippopotamus and their relatives the pygmy hippopotamus, the vegetation in one side of the lagoon shows the contrast of a forest and a mud savanna. The lagoon features a very centric and mature African fig tree with lots of vines hanging, the tree is approximately 36 inches wide making it the second widest tree in the layout and the one with the most foliage on it.
Other species in this island are:
Ring tailed lemur
African black duck
Sacred ibis

11. The Elephant building

This building was done in a very modern and natural style, looks like a massive barn holding tens of species, but in reality it only holds two, the reason being I was really going more for the realism here, and really wanted to give this two magnificent representatives of the animal kingdom enough room so it looked like a real modern zoo, making emphasis on the fact that most zoos are now renovating and expanding their elephants enclosures, the original plan had tapirs, and two species of elephants, now only two species will find a home here:
White rhinoceros
African elephant

12. The African primates building

This large building was the originally the monkey house when commissioned to be built and placed together in Texas, during shipping of this large building to florida, the structure suffered substantial damage, and unable to replace several parts of it, I had to redesign some of its layout, the building was never large enough for all species of apes and monkeys of the zoo to be displayed here, and reducing the collection was not an option since most of this primates had been very costly and all of them were part of a custom collection, so the entire zoo plan had to go thru changes because of this.
As the name will tell you this building now holds only African species of primates, the two front exhibits are the larger ones in the structure and were originally 4 different enclosures but way too small for large apes like gorillas, so taking advantage of the damage the Victorian enclosures were made two one on each side of the entrance, here you can find:
Western lowland gorillas and chimpanzees.
The enclosures in the corners of the building, one each, hold pied colobus and hamadryas baboons. Inside the building hall there is 1:12 scale skeleton of a chimp, a gorilla and a human this gorgeous interactive feature was custom commissioned, you can find here another large enclosure for the gorillas, and a smaller centric exhibit with ring tailed lemurs, due to the surplus of this species in the zoo and the lack of space to place it.
On the opposite side of the building facing directly as you walk alongside the diorama, is a collection of pexiglass fronted enclosures all connected to the building that hold a very large collection of lemurs species here are:

Black lemur
White headed lemur
Black and white ruffed lemur
Red ruffed lemur
Verreaux’s sifaka
And
Aye aye


13. Asian Mammals Enclosures

For the cattle and deer lover’s this will be a very simple but visually stunning exhibit in part if not only due to the excellence of the custom made large animals never being displayed in such scale, species here are:

Blackbuck
Gaur
Indian barasingha deer

14. Southeast Asian Rainforest Dome

As your eyes and neck move from this asian ungulates paddocks, you will no help but notice, the most modern and futuristic exhibit in the entire diorama, The Southeast Asian Rainforest Dome. This building might be the proudest work of the entire layout, once is finished, already the massive acrylic dome has arrived from its factory in Maine, and I can already imagine once it is set on its circular building structure, how spectacular it will look, like something out of Omaha Zoo, but the design in this case is 100% my recipe, and unique in design to anything out there, it could very well have been a model of nasa and not of a zoo.

The building with it’s 22 inches tall acrylic dome and its one of a kind entrance will set it apart from anything in this layout or any other, having figured that this was my best work in design, I came up with a few add-ons and added a fog machine to it’s structure, and once some other things are corrected it will power up and give way to light inside the entire dome, making it truly unique by not only being a lighter building, but due to the fog system and a working 16 inches height custom made waterfall that drops water right into a small indoor pool, species found in this building will be:
Orangutan
Siamang
Black gibbon
Lar gibbon
Prevost’s squirrel
Lesser malay chevrotain
Western tarsier
Mekong giant catfish
Asian blue quail
Glossy ibis
Painted stork
Rhinoceros hornbill
Great crested grebe
Black crowned night heron
Golden crested mina
Sarus cranes (1 pair new esp)
Mandarin duck (new esp)


15. King colobus exhibit
A large netted enclosure that will serve as an extension of the African Primates Building, mixing this African primate species with red flanked duiker.


16. Large ungulate paddocks, this exhibit area could go in the future or be remodeled once there is money to do something else.
A set of paddock enclosures with wood fences and an Arabian style hut
Species found here are
Indian sambar deer
Indian rhinoceros
White stork
Guanaco
Vicuna
Dromedary camel
Bactrian camel

17. This very large Egyptian style building, houses a very large collection of African animals, and the animals should be placed carefully so it does not look crowded, the building’s location will need to be at the edge of the layout, for different reasons:
It is extremely attractive, and detailed
There is a lot of money that will be invested in this extremely gorgeous large scale mammals and it would be a crime not to have very close access to them, especially the gorgeous giraffes (remember the museum piece omg)
Finally there will be a lot of rotation with this figures and items on the building since, you will still need to order extra desert palms for the entrance, and a second yellow acacia in the back area would be worth the price tag, and the most important thing you will be able to leave the commission of this building animals for the very end, you could even have the layout set up for some time without all the animals, and it would still be a very attractive area, if not the most attractive.

The building will have to be ready when the artist comes to do the mural since you will need to tell him about painting the columns stripes to match the roof colors on the molding, just like the Antwerp zoo but with the second false floor.

The building will have a moderate size room inside (technically inside) with partial view thru the Egyptian columns. This area will be lush with tropical vegetation, (especially the palm trees from the texas auction as well as some desert species, but the feel here should be very lush, to offset and contrast the savanna and desert ground enclosures surrounding the structure.

The significant enrichment items in this enclosures will be the kopje rockwork at the entrance, the fallen logs all thru the exhibit imitating a savanna, the multiple small bushes in chosen areas, the elephant grass especially in the ostrich exhibit, and the real sand that will be glued to the base area to give that extra push to the savanna/arid desert look.

Two significant trees(byHeath) already in collection will be placed here
Yellow fever acacia (22 inches tall)
Camel thorn acacia (26 inches wide)

*a second acacia will be needed (yellow) to cover the gap behind the bushes in the back of building, this area is on plain sight, even though from one angle the building height completely hides it.

African oil palm trees (set of 3) 23,25,28 inches (extremely detailed, but way too expensive to get more. Can get 2 acacias for the price of this set.

*key note: the palm trees have a special effect when planted together, please do not separate, the three together look better, they will look great in the okapi exhibit, but might block the view of the animal, check that.

This large building will be the home for the zoo’s core collection of antelopes, 7 individual enclosures all should have barn doors with access to a small inside area that could be converted with hay into a natural looking sleeping area, when you received the animals in laying poses and eating this will look fantastic, it will look out of this world, trust me get the inside enclosures with working doors, 7 working doors, depending on animal height (giraffe door should be at least 17 inches tall (this is the biggest it could be assuming the building first floor stays at 20 inches tall, the giraffes are 15 to 16 inches tall, you need to consult with real zoo staff to see what are the giraffes requirements as far as space.

Desired species list for this enclosure, so far you only have the birds, it would be cool big building for a few birds, the building will have the small center area like Antwerp zoo, very lush, 3 pexyglass fronted exhibits, (the small design because of space) species here are:

Aardvark mixed with rock hyrax (exhibit decoration is arid savanna)* if after building the ungulates inside enclosure areas (a priority) there is only room for two inside exhibits this two species could be sent to the small mammals house, there is room there.

African fishing owl (two birds) (a hollow tree trunk)


Violet turaco and great blue turaco (vines and small vegetation)


Outdoor paddock enclosures (the egiptian theme small wall sections will act as fences high enough for the enimals (will need to purchase more if there is not enough, info in the online dealers book) species list for the 7 outdoor paddocks:
The * will show key species to commission

Bongo* could mix with yellow backed duiker
Reticulated giraffe*, grant’s gazelle*, marabou stork
Black crowned crane*, hamerkop, helmeted guinea fowl, vulturine guinea fowl


Dama gazelle*, burchell’s zebra*

Common hartebeest* could mix with gerenuk

Ostrich*, warthog? (the warthog could move to the layout’s south edge when the pigs house is built in later 2010)

Okapi*, red river hog* could mix in the zebra duiker already in collection

(this exhibit will see the most rotations and changes of any other as the layout is built and allocated space proves to be accurate or not, there might be opportunity for more species or a reduction of species that will be sent to other areas where it makes better sense with the theme, exam, warthog to the pig house)

18. Cheetah enclosure

19. This was going to be the spot to place the moreton bay fig, but the gorgeous gelada troop deserves a proper home outside of the African primate’s building, so the tree will now move a little further down and a large paper clay enclosure will have to be made for the geladas, this are highland animals and the pics you have saved of their zoo exhibits will help you create something very unique for them, their enclosure will be very different than anything else in the zoo, “Gelada Rocks” and it will have to be about 14 inches high at the tallest section, survey this area on the base once the building locations have been drawn down.

20. Here starts a large Asian bio climatic zone, (monkey trails and forest trails in San Diego will help you when finalizing this area) this first enclosure will include two of the traveler’s palm trees, 10 and 12 inches tall,
And will used the rockwork with the bonsai dried tree trunk hanging with the vines. Species found in this first enclosure will be:

Chinese snub nosed monkey
Doug langur
Yellow faced myna (the gorgeous pair)


In between 20 and 21 instead of the Asian fountain (decorative) you could try to fit the moreton bay fig, it will completely hide the visitors path on both sides, but that is not a problem as long as it does not disrupt the realism of both mesh enclosures, the branches can not be pushed against either net.

21. Clouded leopard enclosure
Here you must include the very large log found In the botanical gardens trip, is label (cat walk with a sticker) and the lipstick palm trees sets will be a gorgeous looking addition will have to check with artist for a replacement set for the birdhouse entrance.

22. Asian primates enclosure
Species found here
Proboscis monkey
Hanuman langur
Taiwan macaque colony
(this exhibit is extremely important you have put it together already in a rough trial and it looks spectacular, please make sure that it can have a very nice spot in the layout, this must be seen.)
Features:
Buddha statue, large Indian temple ruin, medium banyan with no leaves and the ROPES should be attached, glued if possible to the banyan branches and then tied to the sections of the Indian temple, make sure that the ropes hang in some areas to make it look extremely realistic the thicker rope on the top will be used to gently glue some of the primates, remember this figures are extremely expensive so please glue them as you are suppose to.
The Taiwan macaque colony should be on the lower area of the exhibit next to the small temple pool, fill it up with water, but do not turn the water green, leave it clear, the mesh and lack of trees with leaves in this exhibit will keep the water clean for years, on the center corner, behind the temple ruins, you should plant some of the miniature bamboo from Singapore, this will create a nice contrast with the gray and rock work.
The paper clay platform for the temple ruin should not be more than 3 inches tall, the rockwork on the left hand side could be a little bigger, but do not want to block view of bamboo in back.

23. Giant panda realm
Remember this is your baby’s favorite animal and how much she has contribute to this project, please place attention to detail, and remember that is not the worlds greatest miniature zoo if it does not have a spectacular panda enclosure, isn’t that how it works in real life.

Two giant panda will be commissioned, the male sitting, the female with baby up In tree playing.

There will be a small exhibit next door for the red panda, part of the same exhibit layout but different window viewing and the red panda exhibit will have a roof to create that 100% realism feeling

You should make emphasis to this artist that this are some of your favorite figures, he would still make a spectacular job, but you need to make sure that you have the world’s greatest panda replica, this precious animal has to be looking up to make eye contact with you, make sure you can see his eyes from at least one angle outside the layout, “his eyes”

The exhibit viewing shelter will be the large 4 bamboo hatches and the map and drawing show you the right position for all 4 sections, the panda hard paper color drawing from the Japanese book will be glued to paper clay and then made into a sculture, this will be right outside the viewing shelter area by one of the planters with bamboo, your eyes have to see it from outside the layout and it has to be partially on the light but almost inside the viewing shelter.

The panda’s will have enrishment items, research what kind of toys they like
The vegetation will be mostly bamboo, small bushes and then in the center of the exhibit the gorgeous custom made apple tree (the large one 15 inches tall) *the completed wooded climbing platform for the pandas should be tested with something very heavier than the mother and baby for some days, if it was to break with the pandas on it, it would be heartbreaking.






24. The sea lion pool will have to be constructed in Texas, no way around that, it has to be professionaly commissioned to get that very old feeling to it, it should have the color change in the bricks to simulate the damage it has taken from water thru the years, and the center platform will have to match that of the one in Bronx zoo, only thing that changes here is that one small section will switch from brick to pexyglass and the to brick again, just to capture the underwater look, the water needs the green zoo feel here, (examp, Berlin zoo and Bronx zoo)

Perfect circular shape, and rockwork in the middle should be no more than 9 inches height, we do not want something that looks out of place, proportions are very important, you took notes on Bronx use them.
Species here
Southern elephant seal (1 specimen)
Steller’s sea lion (2 specimens)
California sea lion (3 specimens)

The pool should be large enough in real life for all 5 specimens consult with the zoo forum, if is not, then take out one California sea lion and one steller’s and sell them.

25. Hall of Australia
This building was a late addition in light of the amount of representatives from this country, but it house animals from all over Oceania, zoos do this all the time, it should not be a problem.

The fountain in the entrance with the high bush pattern on the sides will be a very nice touch and will set it apart from other buildings, on the empty side of the building with a barn door on it, you could try to maybe duplicate a mesh exhibit from the roof just like in carnivors house, but remember those were proffesional built and to be able to place stuff inside and they are a mesh that does not move, this one would look different, if no you could go with a medium wooded fence and have the carpenters built it, and place pexyglass in one area of it, that could work.

Outdoor exhibit species:
Southern cassowary

Building halls, species:
Short nosed echidna
Platypus
Stripped possum
Tasmanian devil
Numbat
Spotted tailed quoll
Southern brown bandicoot
Sugar glider
Stripped possum
Common wombat
Bennett’s tree kangaroo
good fellow’s tree kangaroo
Red kangaroo
Eastern gray kangaroo
Parma wallaby
New guinea singing dog
Dingo
Eastern snake headed turtle
Saw shelled turtle
Tiger snake
Frilled lizard
Crocodile monitor
New Zealand lesser short tailed bat
Magpie goose
Spooted wistling duck
Australian shoveler
Blue billed duck
Australasian grebe
Emerald dove
Collared imperial pigeon
Tawny frogmouth
White face heron
Yellow billed spoonbill
Masked lapwing* will move from birdhouse boxes
Palm cockatoo* will move from birdhouse boxes (only 1 individual leave other there)
Cockatiel* take all 16 cockatiels from birdhouse box for this building this species was going to the childrens zoo anyways, no childrens zoo anymore.
Electrus parrot* when permitting should have another couple commissioned for this building and move the one from birdhouse boxes here.
Forest kingfisher* this will be the only kingfisher move from birdhouse ever, do not discomplete collection there.
Galah* all three reps from birdhouse could be moved here
Raimbow lorikeet* maybe don’t want to take this individual from birdhouse collection
As times goes on and credit cards are paid off, you could eventually comission more birds for this building, new species or doubles from the birdhouse, make a second laughting kookaburra (cost 75usd)

An option could be comission the carpenters to make a small wooded structure that serves as a small* walk thru aviary, you could place it
Where the pohutukawa tree will be located and moved this tree to a different area.

Problem solved* update READ

The Australian building was going to be hollow inside, all the enclosures are facing out, and the arquitecture is really non existent since there is nothing particular or unique out of this region, but what is extremely unique and espectacular is their flora, so here is the idea, will work even better for carpenter make the building with a large gap in the middle, for a courtyard, just like the BILTMORE HOTEL, remember, placed the pohutukawa here and have little by little a custom garden with exotic plants from the continent, it will look really spectacular and unique, at the same time will make once again this building stand out from the rest in its own way.

Flora key species (reason you had the idea, so they have to be commissioned)
Pohutukawa tree (already in colleciton)
New zealands cabbage tree
Central Australian cabbage palm (will be a fantastic addition to the already largest 1:12 scale palm tree collection in the world)
Bambusa arnhemica (comission this bamboo species)
Australian ferns species (research, consult artist)

You already have a very large collection of Australasian plants on box 2 of the Japanese 1:12 scale plants collection, look for the names, google them and research their location, if the plant fit’s the bill take it.


26. This will be the start of the cattle section, this exhibits will occupy a large area but it will strech in an L shape to maximise available space used, at the end if there is extra space even better, you could allways mix other large ungulate species in this large paddocks.
Each cattle/antelope home will have its own architecture, the carpenters will do the structure work, you have to get them the right design and pics, you can paint it carefully yourself to save cost, you already have the technique to make the dry palm leaves roofs from the museums so you could use this in a couple of them.

First is the buffalo house (berlin zoo) use a log style, like a big barn cabin, this one should be easy, the mickosukee Indians sell the right scale totem poles for the exhibit yard (a must) species here:

North american bison
Musk ox

(this figures will be extremely expensive and large so two or even one individuals will be the capacity, but the detail in this lifelike scultures will make up 100 times for this.

27. This enclosure will have two houses, the largest one will be the African style hut, use the dry palm leaves roof here, expect to spend sometime doing this, the museum guy said two layers will take about 3 days, first layer will need to be treated for 24 hours before second layer is applied.
African house area should have a division from the other exhibit paddock
Species here:
African cape buffalo
Could have a couple of custom made sable antelopes to join this species if final space allows it.

The second house in this section will include an Indian pagoda theme, research colors, have the right visual material for the carpenters
Key species here will be:
Indian gaur* move from section 13, have additional deer species commissioned for this section 13 area.
Nilgai antelope

28. This enclosure is special because you already have the house built and it looks spectacular, you will need to color it and the right colors will be from the Tarronga zoo elephant area theme, (dark brown structure and redorange roof patterns, will look very attractive and a contrast in color, because of the redorange against the rest of the animal houses in this area, species here will be:

Mountain anoa
Giant muntjack
Philippine hog deer* (if space allows it)

29. This will be a very large antelope barn, African style, I would love to go with a white look and small second floor like in the berlin zoo, but the design has to be unique since this zoo is one of a kind. (maybe a white and grey) multible barn entrances 2 in the front and one large one on the side, the first floor will have an extended roof with wood poles of a different color than the roof supporting it and here you could hang the 1:12 custom made feeders fill them up with hay.
*key note all this exhibits should have the hay in multiple areas just like the large giraffe and antelope building.
Species here
Giant eland
Gemsbok



*Special note: if space was to allow it, you could built an additional paddock with a small Arabian style building, a yellowish and dirt color
And house addax antelope but this would be a big if, this place will be extremely cramp as it is and the carnivore house is gigantic and it might extend to far out with its corner exhibit, the public area in the layout should not be compromised because this would take away from the realistic look of it.

30. The only goat exhibit in the entire zoo layout has to be a good one, add to this the far location on the layout next to where people will walk and look right at it, but this will insinuate to rob once again Berlin of a little of its arquitectural design, but with your own touch, only because it is the most striking exhibit when space is very limited, the exhibit will be very high since it can not be very wide, it will include a rockwork done with paper clay and add here some wood small shelters coming out of the rock and into small platforms where you could position the goats.
There is only room for one species here, so the
African aoudad (barbary sheep will have to be that representative, it’s unique appearance makes it really the best looking goat/sheep


31. A temporary exhibit seeking cover under the many medium size trees and tall bushes in this area for pigs as many others in the areas behind the carnivors building will have to await until entire project has been completed and set and then come up with the right strategy to place a custom made pigs house.
Species in here will be:
European wild boar

32. see above
Species here will be
Babirusa

33. species in this enclosure will be
Chaco peccary
Collared peccary

34. Grand carnivore house
This building is not very wide, but it is very long at over 6 feet long, and the entrance of it as well as the front façade is the most magestic looking of any building, with lion statues on both sides of the massive double doors at the entrance hall, and two fixed mesh enclosures and the front of the structure.
This building was made in three parts
And it will be placed together once the final layout takes place, the three building sections should not be glued, but all the landscape of the entrance hall can be permantly planted in the building planters since the weight can be handle, this can be done prior to the building being displayed to save time and provided that it does not affect the landscape in the building storage area.

The building’s entrance shows spectacular detail with high columns and circular framed arch over the entrance doors and several planted areas in the entry hall, there is a skeleton 1:12 replica of a Siberian tiger, and several paper clay signs with predator’s cut outs, especially come to mind the stunning image of two lioness bringing down an African buffalo.
The two outdoor exhibits are really part of the building since they are permantly attached with a wood base to each correspondant entrance and the mesh is extremely steady, species here are:

Left enclosure: African lion (a whole pride will be commissioned)

Right enclosure: Bengal tigers (a male and female)

The rest of the building is a series of pexyglass fronted exhibits that are attached to the building sections, here you can find the zoo’s collection of dogs, species here are:

Puma
Snow leopard
African leopard
Eurasian lynx
Leopard cat
Ocelot
Jaguarundi
Gray wolf
Mexican wolf
Coyote
Black backed jackal
Maned wolf
Bat eared fox
African painted dog
Red fox
Gray fox
Striped hyena
Brown hyena
Spotted hyena
Banded linsang
Binturong
African palm civet
Masket palm civet
Banded mongoose
King cheetah

*not all species will be able to be displayed at the same time, but this building is very easy to handle being close to walking area.

35. Tapirs enclosure
Species found here are:
Brazilian tapir
Malayan tapir

36. Small mammals house
This building will have two entrances and could play as the unofficial nocturnal house, since there will be a lot of nocturnal species displayed here
The nocturnal species could be housed inside the building and because of being immediately on the corner of the layout, the roof could be easily remove on two areas.

Some of the species housed here are:

Suricate meerkat
Malayan flying lemur
Indian flying fox
Mexican fruit bat
Woolly lemur
Western tarsier
Golden lion tamarin
White fronted capuching
Central american squirrel monkey
Long haired spider monkey
Japanese macaque
Diana monkey
Black colubus
Lion tailed macaque
Chacma baboon
Spotted skunk
Patagonian hog nosed skunk
Hairy tailed mole
Four toed hedgehog
Giant ground pangolin
Giant armadillo
Northern tamandua
Pale throated three toed sloth
Geotropically otter
Ermine (both coats)
Japanese marten
Stripped polecat
Ratel
Black tailed prairie dog
Gambian sun squirrel
Smoth tailed giant rat
Crested porcupine
Indian porcupine
North american porcupine
Brazilian porcupine
Gray agouti
Asiatic brown hare
Sumatran rabbit
Chinchilla


*the majority of these, will be mixed species exhibits

37. Birds of the World Building

This is the pride of the entire layout, mainly due to the number of figures in collection here, the birds that will be housed in this building represent the finest bird scale collection in the world, and most real life zoos do not even come close to having a collection this big housed under one roof. This priceless miniature scale collection of birds took a very long time in the making and new species are allways added.
The building is two stories, and the layout would be similar to that of the world of birds in Bronx zoo.
The structure will have to be made in four parts, and each section prepared individually before final setup.
Sep up of the birds in each section should start after the building in on the platform, do not want to glue perching birds and then lift building there is allways the small chance that one is not glued properly and the birds are extremely fragile.

The building will include a very large hallway entrance visible from outside the layout, and the halls will be extremely well planted, heavy investment in custom made plants by location should be made months before the layout construction begins and once the building is setup, there should be easy access from the removable roof sections to add extra landscape as needed.

38 enclosures thru the building galleries, and one large center aviary room, free flying and extremely lush (22 species of palm trees should be planted in this room and the two small fig frames with no leaves on them for birds to rest on.

The clear pexyglass sections on the roof area will allow for light and visibility into the building.

The building arragement will be by bird families and bioclimatic mix species as well, each bird gallery should be prepared paying fine detail to this, small murals have already been prepared for some of the exhibits.
Almost every bird family in the world will covered here
Over 400 birds of close to 200 species.

A complete exhibit by exhibit list of the building species will have to be prepared with time before the layout is finalized, you could used the bird figures catalog to help instead of going thru each bird bag.

One of the most interesting bird collections should be the 19 species of kingfishers, including:
Green kingfisher
African pigmy kingfisher
Lilac checked kingfisher
Azure kingfisher
Blue banded kingfisher
White throated kingfisher
Micronesian kingfisher
Blue winged kookaburra
Chocolate backed kingfisher
Blue brested kingfisher
Striped kingfisher
Java kingfisher
Brown headed paradise kingfisher
Hook billed kingfisher
Pied kingfisher
Giant kingfisher
Belted kingfisher
Amazon kingfisher
Crested kingfisher

The kingfishers are a real highly in detail and diversity.

Another important collection of birds in this building will be the woodpeckers with species like:
Black woodpecker
Blond crested woodpecker
Red headed woodpecker
Rufous woodpecker
Greather yellow naped woodpecker


The free flying room aviary will hold a selected number of tropical species of birds from all around the world including:

Cuckoo roller
Guianan cock of the rock
Bearded billbird
Golden headed manakin
Three wattled bellbird
Golden myna
White necked myna
Crested myna
Bali myna
Bearded barbet
White bellied go away bird
Breasted starling
Victoria crowned pigeon
Red billed malkoha
Silver eared mesia
White headed lapwing
Sunda parrot finch
Superb bird of paradise
Twelve wired bird of paradise
Magnificent bird of paradise
King bird of paradise
Lesser bird of paradise
Raggiana bird of paradise


The great parrot hall will be the biggest of the building with 6 individual exhibits featuring a vast collection of this gorgeous bird figures, species here are:

Blue headed parrots, eastern rosella, galah, kea, Cuban amazon, eclectus parrots, plum headed parakeet, purple naped lory, collared lory, mount goliath lorikeet, red and blue lory, red collared lorikeet, thick billed parrot,
Long tailed parakeet, horned parakeet, blue crowned lorikeet, Edward’s fig parrot, Mitchell’s lorikeet, mount apo lorikeet, blue eared lory, cardinal lory, nanday parakeet, burrowing parakeet, white eared parakeet, yellow collared lovebird, monk parakeet, Senegal parrot, red fan parrot, blue and yellow macaw, scarlet macaw, hyacinth macaw.

Other extensive collections featured in the building will be 27 species of hornbills, a large selection of toucans and many diverse and distint family of birds.

Large birds of prey in the building will only be represented by the caracara, and one spectacle owl will be in full display with a keeper figure outside the building.

This building will be the jewel of the collection with this vast and colorfull amount of figures.

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

Part 3

38. Gamebird and pheasantry
Outside the bird building and across from the path there will be a row of mesh aviaries that lead to the zoo exit, this set of 4 aviaries will be the home of a diverse collection of gamebirds, pheasants and related species. The complete list of this area is:
Great curassow
California quail
Black francolin
Palawan peacock pheasant
Green naped pheasant pigeon
Harlequin quail
Painted bush quail
Blue eared pheasant
Malay great argus pheasant
Chestnut bellied hill partridge
Madagascar partridge
Red junglefowl
Koklass pheasant
Madagascar buttonquail
Eurasian black grouse
Rock ptarmigan
Ocellated turkey
Vulturine guineafowl
Blyth’s tragopan
Helmeted guineafowl
Saipan jungle fowl
Polish chicken
Sultan chicken
Mikado pheasant
Edward’s pheasant
Reeve’s pheasant
Great argus
Indian peafowl
Kenyan crested guineafowl
White naped pheasant pigeon
Mountain peacock pheasant
Himalayan monal
Elegant crested tinamou
Cabot’s tragopan
Congo peacock

Outside the aviaries and on the walking path there will be a commissioned keeper figures that seems to be making reference to a bird, a white Indian peacock on full display, this bird is the only one not currently in collection for this area, and most be commissioned.


39. A medium size commissioned pool for African penguins, other species found here will be:
Roseate tern
Cape gannet

40. Water and Ice great halls building
This odd structure will be configured to serve two purposes in one side will be the open view building with the large styrofone rock façade in the back give way to a different section of exhibits, in this building only 4 exhibits will be appreciated, but vast and modern design will make for it, with a half circle white roof cover elevated by poles, there will be clear view of the very distict four pexyglass enclosures
One tank will hold:
Atlantic white sided dolphin

The middle exhibit and the largest will be an artic theme enclosure (very similar to Orlando/San diego sea world) for a mixture of artic penguins,
Species here already accounted for are:
Emperor penguin
King penguin
Adelie penguin
Macaroni penguin
Gentoo penguin
Chinstrap penguin
Artic terns
Antartic fulmar

The great penguin hall will have a wide 18” inches wide viewing window, the height of the window will permit the underwated viewing, the rockwork will be done with water resistant clay and the background mural will be actual styrofone mountain hills in a smaller scale redesigned and repainted to look like artic ice in the background making full inmersion in this exhibit a guarantee.

The much smaller 9 inches wide window right to the left is the home of:
Tuffed puffin
Horned puffin
Atlantic puffin

The last exhibit in this ope building will be shaped in an L shape form, and the viewing window will take the same angle, inside in a similar enclosure to the penguins but with much less rockwork platform area will be the:
Walrus

The layout position of this building and the fact that it has no front fall, but just a large observation hall, allows for more detailed to the actual public walway of the building, the miniature tile in the path will be recolored to match the building walls colors of white and blue.
And the 1:12 scale skeleton of a bottle nosed dolphin, as well as the Bottle nosed dolphin cutout in paper clay will only enhance the realism of the building, another great addition is the 1:12 scale soda machine with the killer whale design (custom made Singapore, others could be made for different layout areas, but it is expensive, details at the online dealers book)

41. Next in location are the bear enclosures, right behind the Water and Ice great Halls building, the first enclosure will hold:

American black bear

42. Kodiak bear enclosure

43. Sun bear enclosure

44. Asiatic black bear enclosure

45. Spectacle bear enclosure

(polar bear is excluded from this area plan pending available space and redesign of pigs and tapirs area, a state of the art modern design of a mix species exhibit for polar bears is a priority if anything is added to the zoo layout, in case space is not an allied then one of the Asiatic bears will have to be move to a different location (not the sun bear, exhibit too small) and the enclosure could be redesigned for Polar Bears, but this is a key species that should have a proper modern exihbit.



Exclusions from master plan:

Durign the many years that took the correct visualization of the zoo, and the months that the masterplan design took after the tripple garage was completely measured and some of the items already in collection placed in key locations to get an idea of remaining available space, many things had to be scratched out and others were imagined.

The biggest thing that comes to mind having completely disappeared from the layout design was a kids theme land, with a 1:12 custom made zoo carrousel, a petting zoo, with a full scale 1:12 domestic animals barn, a ponny and camel ride as well as a kid’s playground (one of the biggest losses here having already commissioned a couple of 1:12 playground items that were pretty costly) but there is simply not enough room for this dream.

Another area that completely disappeared was a very large amphitheather, that was to be commissioned and the drawing and design really made me fall in love with the idea, not only that, but having never seen one of these done in a layout, but the 1:12 scale would have proved a challenge for a massive animal show area, and I was not interested in a smaller design.

Pretty much all the restaurant ideas and gift shops thru out the zoo had to be scratch out, and it was really a painfull resolution, because having found the great carpenters that will do most of the building commissions, these other structures could have come at a bargain price, but it was a zoo not a theme park. A substantial gain in this area was the safari themed custom restaurant that matches the entrance building, the location and size of this building, really make it a highly of the zoo, as should the heavily planted area outside the building, and the immense terrace patio with all the tables, chairs and even food on the tables, the 1:12 scale is really amazing to recreate detail in even the most simple things.

The human figures of the zoo had to be completely changed, from the toy looking schleich human out of scale figures, to commissioned 1:12 scale human replicas, this change is beginning to take place and will most likely run indefinitely since there can never be enough human visitors in a zoo, as the layout is displayed for the first time I should try having at least 70 to 100 figures, the place will still look pretty empty with this, and most of this figures will have to be placed in far out of reach areas of the model, eventually hundreds of figures more will have to be commissioned, the original drawing of the restaurant looks spectacular with the many human figures sitting and walking in, the waiters and many other custom figures will be a real delight. *(average cost of human figure in 1:12 scale runs from 65 usd to 105 usd but this lady is the best when it comes to this, and I should not change suppliers, the Singapore contact offered to do them for much less, but I wonder about the quality, we could give them a try, after sending him pics of the ones we already have, and telling him they have to match, the Guatemalan artist is out of the question, his thing was the restaurant and entrance, but his figures look nothing like what I have in mind, but the entrance and restaurant buildings make me want to order every single building from him, but then again that Is not his thing either.)*

The entrance plan had to be completely redesigned and developed into a custom made structure, since the Berlin Zoological Garden gates originally planned would have cost close to 10 000 usd, not an easy thing to move on from at first, as the idea that the Berlin Zoo gates were out of the question, I gain In two area, the zoo became truly unique, no particular area represents anything In any other zoo, even thought the desgin and construction of many buildings has been originated by existing zoo buildings in real life, but everything has or will be made in a unique style. And the biggest area of gain was the animal collection, with the original 5000 dollars budget for the Zoo gates, I was able to get over 200 bird species at almost 75% percent off the price due to the large order. (this should be kept in mind when ordering the large mammal collection), and at last, I really like the new zoo entrance might be simple in design, but extremely large and very lush, the safari theme allows for many tropical plants to be outside and inside the gates and the especially scale commissioned bamboo zoo perimeter gates from (Singapore dealer) are truly gorgeous, at the end this was a gain and not a loss.

In the exhibit department I was unable to introduced a design for a polar bear exhibit, but after visiting san diego zoo I really feel this enclosure needs to be spectacular, and a futuristic design like the Southeast Asian Rainforest Dome is really due, since most of the building have a historical arquitectural feel to them.(a polar bear mix exhibit is a priority)

The tiger rainforest enclosure with the custom commissioned Indian temple, and mix species habitat was taken out of plans early, but I already have the espectacular jaguar temple enclosure and this second building exhibit I’m afraid would have been out of my remaining budget.

Because of the late realisation that the schleich large mammals were completely outmatched by the realism and scale proportion of the custom made animals, this area has really slowed down plans, but once the layout is completed, many large mammals will continue to be order and within a full year, a whole new collection, should be present. (over 2500 schleich figures to get rid of, but the market right now is horrible for this, should wait)

The pheasant and game birds building design I was really looking forward to, but as a result, the birds of the world building would have been compromised in space, and this massive building needed not a thing changed, additionally the late consept of the courtyard in the Australian building was a similar design, so the consept was not completely lost.
The game birds aviary do not look cramped as originally envisioned since this birds are all fairly easy to positione, but a lot of the detail in this beautifull custom figures gets lost to the eye, because of the amount of figures on display.

The idea of a complete geographically correct zoo became an impossibility even in a diorama, wow, I really understand now the problem that most real life zoos face with this dilema, space, space, space.
It could have been done, but at the price of lossing half of the species displayed in the park, and that was a price too big to pay, what will set this diorama apart from anything else in the miniature scale world will be the amount of animals displayed here, there are already miniature parks in Europe that display very impressive large scale building replicas, but when you combine, my buildings, mesh enclosures, landscape and incredible amount of animal species all in scale and perfect, it becomes clear that this layout will be one of its kind.

And finally the biggest thing that was affected during the planing, buildup and subsequently planning of the entire layout, was the budget, I envisioned back in 1999 this thing to maybe run into the few thousand dollar mark, as I grew in mind and idea, it was realistic to believe that a 10 000 to 20 000 usd total cost for the project would be realistic. I remember it was 2007 when I first did a rough estimate cost of what I had already purchased and invested, so much was lost in receipts and things that never saw the light, the cost was already over 40 000 back then, and as the custom and scale artists started appearing in my path of creation, this cost quickly doubled. Today and before 2009 finishes the total cost of the project will be well over 100 000 usd’s but when this layout is set and completed, this cost even though probably much higher will not compared to its value as this zoo layout will really be priceless, but it could be bought, an offer in the years after final seput would be unlikely but once this massive project gets publicity already a large number of institutions know about it, especially interested is miami metro zoo, but their original offer of the dr wilde’s world presentation is really not a good idea, due to the cost of transportation, risk of damage, and little gain of displaying the layout here for a limited time, but other offers could be evaluated.

At the end the final joy is to have completed what essentially is the world’s greatest miniature scaled zoological park.

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

Part 5

Layout Map illustrations.

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

Part 6

Map concept:

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

Part 7

concept art:

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

Part 8

Landscape example:

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

Part 9

All the landscape is measured using the 1:12 scale, as an example an average human figure is 5" inches tall.

(the large scale allows for extreme realism and detail in the layout)

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

Part 10

examples of landscape and layout:

 

[Cat-Man]

can i ask, what is this???

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

can i ask, what is this???
20 Minutes Ago 04:23 PM



Hi Catman, everything is explained in the post but i understand it is a lot to read so i will make it very short for you and others who have never read any of my previous post.

I love Zoos as much as you could love Zoos, i guess you could say i'm obsessed with them, since i was a little kid i dreamed of having one, and as most of us know this is pretty much impossible, so i settled for the next best thing, 9 years ago i set out to put together the worlds biggest miniature scale zoological park, not your average small scale diorama, but the largest that you could imagined, using the 1:12 scale, a human average figure is 5 inches tall, and some of my buildings are over 6 feet in lenght, as of today i'm finally working on the layout base, since the zoo has finally found a home and that was what was missing for a couple of years, but in that time, incredible progress has turn the zoo into a work of art, to the degree, that places like Miami Metrozoo are very interested in placing it in exhibition.

Hopefully that answers your question, if not just ask me.

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

Final chapter

The estimated completion date of the Zoo's layout will be December 2009, at this time i will make videos and pictures galleries available in the Forum for anybody interested to view.




World biggest zoo replica coming very soon.

 

[Blackduiker]

Blackduiker

This is fantastic! You have much respect from me. This look's like we're talking not just Miami Metro Zoo, but touring the zoo circuit if it wouldn't be too much to transport. I'd definitely get out to see it.

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

Blackduiker, thank you, i would really like that, but it would be very difficult, close to impossible, not only the amount of items to transport is inmense, but most of this figures, buildings, plants, animals are extremely fragile, and there would allways be the risk of shipping, the individuals in MMZ that took a look at the project, were really encoraging the idea of using Dr Wilde's World as a platform of exhibition, but the truth is that it will most likely not happen, at least in the present time, the size of the layout is just too big to transport, sep ut of every piece after the base has been finished, could take about two months, and it could go even further.

But if you or any other member is ever visiting Miami, you are welcome to come check it out, and i will give you a personal tour, there will be many videos and pics once the layout has been completed, i think the videos will capture the dimensions of the project a lot better than any pic could.
take care
Danny

 

[markun]

Wow, this is fascinating, such a massive and ambitious job and you clearly care so much about it, you'll deserve the satisfaction of seeing it completed. Good luck!

 

[Miniaturezoo954]

Thank you Markun, i'm extremely passionate about it, as you very well can see, and i love sharing the details with you guys here in the forum, since i understand that each one of you have your areas of expertise, and years invested on it as well, so i enjoy any tips or sugestions i get from you in how to make this layout more realistic and impressive.
ty
danny

 

[Cat-Man]

i want a gallery, thanks for the explanation, will get round to reading the post. I love the idea. got my support. Enter the guiness book of world records, and please make them mention zoochat

 

[Blackduiker]

Blackduiker

Well since a traveling exhibition wouldn't be practical, I really hope Miami Metro finds the space for it. I'd make that one of my destinations should I ever visit Miami again. What dedication.

 

[dragon(ele)nerd]

wow, you rock man good job on that detailed post

 

[Dan]

I have finally had the time to read this detailed report on the progress of your unbelievable project, minaturezoo954.

I remain totally awe-struck, I have never heard about anything coming even close this project! There will be a "sound-track" to it, as well?! Oh my god...

I am so much looking forward to more pictures (and videos!), especially once you start to assemble it all.

Did I get the last part right? Have you had offers to exhibit it elsewhere than in your own home?

ROCK ON!