One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the Grand Canyon is not the deepest, steepest, longest, or most voluminous canyon on Earth, but it is no less dramatic nor breathtaking than the record holders. Only 17 million years were needed for the Colorado River to cut through 2 billion years of rock. Few places on earth offer such a lengthy geologic record.

The canyon is so large that we were unable to put it all in a single print. The section featured in this model contains the most popular portion of the South Rim, from the tip of West Rim Drive to Yaki Pt Road, and across the Colorado River to Shiva Temple, nearly one vertical mile above the river's shore. Having this piece on your desk will either bring back memories of the first time you gazed into the chasm, or inspire you to finally go see it for yourself.

Model scale is 1:128400
Model covers an area approximately 8 by 8 miles
Altitudes covered: 2337' to 7615'
There is never any vertical exaggeration in TinyMtn models.

Click here for more sizes.
Click here for other 4" models.

TinyMtn models look best in the default "White Strong and Flexible" material, which is also the least expensive material. When you receive the model, there may still be Nylon dust on it from the printing process. Use either an airbrush, canned dust blower, or a soft old toothbrush to remove this dust. Do not get the "White Strong and Flexible" material wet, and don't prime it or use any oil-based paints on it. You can safely seal it with Polycrylic or a similar water-based clear spray sealant. Read more about this popular material here.

The "Frosted Detail" material will show more detail, but is semi-transparent and has an uneven surface texture when unpainted (due to the orientation of the model when Shapeways prints it). It may show up feeling a little greasy and with small crystals in crevasses. Clean those off by soaking the model in warm (but not hot) soapy water and brushing with an old toothbrush. To get the surface to an even matte finish, spray with a few light coats of sandable primer (white automotive primer works), and then do a baking soda grit-blast.

These models have been optimized for the above materials, and are not offered in other materials for strength or cost reasons. If you need one in another material, please contact us and we'll try to accommodate your request.

(C) 2013 TinyMtn (TM)
Model created using GDAL, NetPBM, Gmsh, Carve, MeshLab, and other custom software
Source of digital elevation data: U.S. Geological Survey
The USGS home page is http://www.usgs.gov/