# Tortoise Town Telescopes Discover Immanent Meteor Strike!



## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

With the reduced watering, my society garlic pretty much died off and needs to be replaced with something.

That something has to be low maintenance, not weed-prone, and generally "different" than you see on other railroads.

While I was trying to come up with something, the scientists in Tortoise Town told me that whatever I came up with would be destroyed because there is a meteor headed right for that spot!

So at this point, we are just awaiting the strike!

This was a shallow 22" diameter clay pot that I recontoured the insides and added the "ejecta" that will stand above the ground level. Without the ejecta, it would just look like a dish in the ground. I still need to do a "sift/sprinkle/mist" to add texture and cover those areas of the pot that show through.


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## hcampbell (Jan 2, 2008)

Great idea!

Harvey C.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

I blended/textured the interior of the crater yesterday using my sift and mist method. It only takes a few minutes and you don't even get dirty doing it.

Rather than using hydraulic cement, I used used the Mason's mix. If give a bit rougher texture and the larger particles and small stones are screened out anyways.

You can vary the texture from a rough, sand texture, to a "burnt" texture, to a smooth texture depending upon how you mist it after sifting on the Masons mix. Use a fine mist from several feet to get the rough texture as mix absorbs the moisture and hardens without "running" or "laying down." Do it several times, but never allow the mixture to become obviously wet to the point of smoothing.

A bit more mist and the surface will smooth over a bit as if the material had been subject to heat and melted a bit.

Lots of mist and the mix becomes smooth as it wets down.

I was going for a mix of the sand and burnt texture and may even try to scorch it with a propane torch.


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## Garratt (Sep 15, 2012)

You could pull apart one of those solar LED garden lights that cycles through the colors putting the LED in the center of the crater. Some silicon over the LED and shaped with a hobby knife to make it more like a lump of rock. A slow pulsing green LED would be good for kryptonite.

Andrew


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

It started some time ago when Old Doc Brown noticed a new “star” in the sky. Could it be the discovery of a new comet? Or maybe Russia was trying out one of those new Sputnik space ships. Whatever it was, the Doc decided to keep tabs on it.

As the months went by, Doc determined that this object was continually getting larger, which meant that it was getting closer. About a month ago, Doc reported that there is major trouble brewing because “something” from “somewhere out there” was headed on a collision course with the earth, in the vicinity of Tortoise Town to be precise!

Of course the residents were up in arms ready to vacate the area. But Doc assured them that if this was to be a major catastrophe, there would be no hiding from it…, anywhere. And if it was just a minor event, the odds are that the residents would be unaffected.

It happened in the night. The residents for hundreds of miles heard the “report” as they were tossed from their beds. What could cause such a commotion? Was this the end of the world? Had one of the volcanos erupted again? Should the locals evacuate in the event of a lava flow?

Under the light of dawn, scouting parties set out to explore the area to see what had happened. And there it was... A meteor strike just northeast of the volcanos! The force of the impact left a crater of over 50 feet in diameter! The “ejecta” was thrown with such impact as to shear the rocks at the site of impact, while somehow embedding a sprinkler head in the process.

The BLM (Bureau of Lizard Management) decided that this was a Godsend and instantly capitalized on the phenomenon. A new pathway was installed from the closest access at the Terrapin Tar Pits. A pad with viewing access was “poured” and a revitalized Sierra coach was temporarily brought in to cash in on the impending tourist trade. The new attraction will receive its own structure over the winter.


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