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 1:500000
Model covers an area approximately 23.6 by 15.5 miles
Altitudes covered: 2347' to 8414'
There is no vertical exaggeration applied to this model. This is a true-to-life scale model of a real place.
Click here for more sizes.
Click here for other 1:500000 models.
TinyMtn models are most affordable in the "Sandstone" and "White Strong and Flexible" materials. This model is in "Sandstone," which is a glued gypsum material. When you receive the model it will be ready for display, though it may smell funny and need some time to air out. "Sandstone" models are much more brittle than "White Strong and Flexible" models, but feel more like light stone. Do not soak it in water, though you can safely seal it with Polycrylic or a similar water-based clear spray sealant. Read more about this popular material
here.
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
tinymtnbiz@gmail.com and we'll do our best to fulfill your request.
(C) 2016 TinyMtn (TM)
Model created using GDAL, NetPBM, Gmsh, Carve, MeshLab, and other custom software
Source of digital elevation and aerial orthoimagery data: U.S. Geological Survey
The USGS home page is
https://www.usgs.gov/