BLI Lightning and Thunder

[k27463]

Clearly, one of the bosses at BLI has a thing for sound.

The main thing I remember about BLI's first loco (a NYC Hudson in HO) was that it had sound -- everybody else made nicer stuff, but the BLI one had sound.  In large scale, sound is everything -- it stuck in my mind that they had sound even though at the time I had no interest in the smaller scales.

To those of us not modeling a specific era/prototype, or doing a train show layout (I know there's at least a few Ntrak modules with tornadoes) it's neat stuff.

[Missaberoad]

Have you seen the N scale stock car yet?  Looks like a promotional piece you'd get in a cereal box.  Or, one of the Hallmark ornaments.

I guess what also irks me is the attitude that the crap stuff will sell regardless.  No concern over the fact that the model is a design regression.  My face-to-face in Kansas City is what really soured me on the company.

Thanks for saying this, you took the words right out of my mouth.

Looking at the very nice photos posted to MBK's website these cars are terrible.

I have a couple BLI cars (NYC boxcar and N&W hopper) and I am very impressed by them.
...But this Stock car looks like something Aurora would make in the 1970's. 

I will say one thing on the subject of sound however. My first job when I was in high school was behind the counter in a hobby shop, and one of the most popular products I remember at the time was MRC's sound systems. Including the ambient sound system that had chickens and rain...

so there likely is a market for gimicky FWIW....

[C855B]

... (I know there's at least a few Ntrak modules with tornadoes) it's neat stuff. ...

Robbie, there are two that I know of, and they're attached to a club local to us (Gateway). I consider it NOT neat stuff, frankly. Whenever they trot out one of the tornado modules at a show, no more than 10 minutes passes before I want to pick up a baseball bat and put them out of my misery.

Sound is a matter of taste regardless of scale. I cut the speaker leads in my sound-equipped models, so that should tell you where I stand on it.

[eric220]

I was waiting for the meteorologist in the room to point it out, but did anyone else notice that the thunder is precisely sync'd with the lightning? Normally there's a significant delay between the flash traveling at the speed of light and the rumble traveling at the speed of sound. In other words, the lightning they're simulating is striking less than a couple hundred yards away, and that stuff is bone-rattling, house-shaking LOUD. Maybe a minor nitpick on an already gimmicky product, but it really ratchets up the cartoony feel for me.

[coosvalley]

N scale of the 1960's called, they want their stock car back! 

Coming next, Mosquito and black fly sounds for the deep woods scene on your layout!...Pre order now!

My comment wasn't fair, I just went to find some pics of the old Aurora Stock car, and they actually look better than the BLI "thing"!....Sorry Aurora and other 1960's era stock car models!

[davefoxx]

I was waiting for the meteorologist in the room to point it out, but did anyone else notice that the thunder is precisely sync'd with the lightning? Normally there's a significant delay between the flash traveling at the speed of light and the rumble traveling at the speed of sound. In other words, the lightning they're simulating is striking less than a couple hundred yards away, and that stuff is bone-rattling, house-shaking LOUD. Maybe a minor nitpick on an already gimmicky product, but it really ratchets up the cartoony feel for me.

^ Nailed it.

[Dave V]

All of the thunder I heard in the 3 seconds I could stand sounded like very close-in strikes.  The low rumbling kind should indeed be offset from what should be a dimmer flash as well.

Then, of course, there are the in-cloud flashes whose dart leaders make a crackling sound without a booming return stroke...   

[Chris333]

At least this makes a reason for all those working headlights 

[peteski]

Call me when they figure out how to make it rain without shorting out the locos and flooding my basement.

No biggie - just use distilled water, and install floor drains silly!   

The crowd that wants dimples in ScaleTrains ned "operator" shells might laugh and turn their nose at this but just like their water tower, this thing will sell like those proverbial hotcakes.  This thing is perfect for NTRAK modules and there are plenty of NTRAk-kers out there in the world.   I'm one, but not planning on a thunderstorm on the carnival module which already has lots of lights, sound and animation.   

[Dave V]

I want my missile car with exploding boxcar to have sound as well.  Or a milkman car with a lantern who complains about minimum wage.

This kinda stuff makes me want to field-strip some code 80 flextrack and run a third rail down the middle of my track.

[squirrelhunter]

$129 for a speaker, a push button, some LED's that flash in sync with some sound, and a recording of thunder?

Am I just underestimating this as a guy who just bought his first decoder equipped locomotive, and doesn't have a DCC system yet, but couldn't someone do this with a used stereo speaker, some leds, and a DCC sound decoder?

Also I think that if someone plans to use it in a non gimmick fashion, they would probably need to have their layout rigged for day/night lighting.

[C855B]

... Also I think that if someone plans to use it in a non gimmick fashion, they would probably need to have their layout rigged for day/night lighting.

Bingo. And used very much in moderation. No thunder and I'm unlikely to go there, but I programmed this "distant lightning" sequence in the layout room a couple of months ago:

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A couple of tacky strips of LED aren't going to cut it. I think the "N-Trak" comment is spot on, so I guess we'll be seeing and hearing a lot entirely too much of it. Better go dust off my baseball bat.

[thomasjmdavis]

Am I just underestimating this as a guy who just bought his first decoder equipped locomotive, and doesn't have a DCC system yet, but couldn't someone do this with a used stereo speaker, some leds, and a DCC sound decoder?

I was figuring you run down to the Habitat Restore or Goodwill, pick up several sets of 2nd hand computer speakers or a "surround sound" speaker system, and make the thunder move across the layout room, starting as a low rumble in the west and ending as a low rumble in the east.  Use an old PC to control it.  At the height of the storm, have a solenoid pull a pin that causes a bridge wash out, which will give you an excuse to use temporary trackage rights on the UP, which would give us all an excuse to get a turbine.  Oh, wait, wrong company....

Take 2- ,,,give us an excuse to use a temporary bypass via the PRR, which would give us all an excuse to get an M1...

[ryan_wilkerson]

Maybe this system is what's used at my local grocery store's produce section before the sprinklers wet the lettuce.

[Cajonpassfan]

Really? What a joke