Train Car Escape

Last year I made a mock-up model for Dark Tech Effects, a company that does special effect attractions and theme parks (haunted houses, zombie-runs, light shows, and such). This piece was for a room-escape game based on the concept of a prison train car. The players would be locked in and have to work their way from room to room by solving puzzles to access each new section and escape.

 

Dark Tech provided concept art for the room layouts, and I recreated them in a three-dimensional model. The build for this used a lot of foam core board, skinned with basswood planking. One side folds open so the interiors are more accessible.

 

I made a couple standees of people, and the details like the bars and doors were made from styrene card, strips, and rods.

 

Some of the doors have built-in hinges so they can open and close.

 

One wall is made to resemble stacked cargo.

 

The large room has a cage around a panel of circuit breakers, and crates stacked everywhere.

 

Here's a top-down view of the rooms, all closed up, prior to painting.

 

This door has a working bar lock.

 

The walls and all of the technical bits were painted separately and then glued in place during the final assembly.

 

The panels on the wall make up the various puzzles that would be solved with button and switch combinations that unlock the doors.

 

The shackles were made from chain with styrene tube cut into little rings to form the shackle cuffs.

These pipes have a number of valves that need to be flipped in a certain combination.

 

The end room is where the operators would be with the lighting controls and electronics.

 

I'll close out with a visual tour of the train car from one end to the other:

 

'Til next time!