The Very Last White River and Northern Railroad

[DKS]

A question for running trains; will you be rolling from the town to the resort via a throttle or will there be some sort of automation circuit?

That's a very good question. I've contemplated both, so I don't have an answer for you yet.

[DKS]

So after having finished the firefly device, I turned to something more mechanical. I plan on installing four animated turbine vents in the roof of this building:



The mechanism is finished; now I just need to build the structure for it...

[wazzou]

I built that one.  No rotating vents though. 
I still need to think of a name for it to go in the black band.
I'm excited to see yours DKS.

[Tom L]

I have thought about using those bits as vents, but it never occurred to me that they could be made to operate. Nice!
Tom L
Wellington CO

[peteski]

I have thought about using those bits as vents, but it never occurred to me that they could be made to operate. Nice!
Tom L
Wellington CO

And because there are idler gears between the vent gears, they all prototypically spin in the same direction. Nice!

[Point353]

So after having finished the firefly device, I turned to something more mechanical. I plan on installing four animated turbine vents in the roof of this building:



The mechanism is finished; now I just need to build the structure for it...

Are you going to include a circuit to randomly vary the voltage to the motor so that the speed of the vents will appear to vary as with changes in wind speed?

[DKS]

Are you going to include a circuit to randomly vary the voltage to the motor so that the speed of the vents will appear to vary as with changes in wind speed?

Yes.

[CRL]

Don’t forget to have at least one of the vents have a very annoying squeak as it turns.

[DKS]

There's something I've wanted to model since the very early 2000s, but the technology wasn't ready. With the advent of white 0201 SMD LEDs—particularly pre-wired ones—I had at last the raw materials to realize my vision: a scale fluorescent shop light. This thing (yes, it's only four N Scale feet long) was insanely difficult to make, taking nearly an entire day just to make one, with many reject parts. As far as the look, I've pretty much nailed it (I just forgot to make ends); it's the illumination effect that still needs a little more work. But overall I've made it to the 90% mark, and now I'm reasonably confident I can take it all the way.

It requires drilling eight #83 holes, four each in the ends of a rectangle of 0.010" thick sheet styrene bent to make the shade. Each of the wires of four 0201s are threaded into these holes. The LEDs are very carefully positioned to face inward, and secured in place with CA. Then, two lengths of fiber optic material are cut to exactly wedge between the pairs of LEDs; then their ends are touched to a droplet of CA and positioned. This process can take many, many tries, since the fibers must be precisely the right length. Once everything is in place, additional CA is applied to hold everything together. Finally, the styrene is painted black on the back side to make it light-tight, then the whole assembly is sprayed flat white.





As I expected, the ends are much brighter than the "tubes," but I have several ideas on how to minimize this. For one thing, I think I applied too much white paint in an effort to diffuse the light in the fiber; I'd like to try clear flat just to "craze" the fiber surfaces. We'll see; it may take me quite a while to make more of these. Oh, and at least two of them will be going in the hardware store.

[Chris333]

That's nuts!  Will the office have a safe with a real combination dial. cuckoo

[Dave V]

[DKS]

That's nuts!  Will the office have a safe with a real combination dial. cuckoo

Yeah, and a safecracker with a mask and a bag of dynamite. Boom!

[wm3798]

Get one tube to flicker on and off.  Then you've got something...

[peteski]

Get one tube to flicker on and off.  Then you've got something...

ROTFL!   Now you're trolling Lee!  Give the guy some credit!!   

[DKS]

After that intense bit of "insect brain surgery," I wound down by doing some simple modeling. For my house on the layout—which is appropriately out in the woods—I was going to make use of a kit I'd purchased for the aborted Black River & Western: American Model Builders #628 Two Story Section House. However, small as it is, it seemed large and "fancy" for the location and for me, so I switched to a more appropriate dwelling: a cabin, specifically the one I'd planned to use for Bearcamp Spring, which is Republic Locomotive Works' "The Office." But for some reason the stone cabin looked just plain odd to me, so I switched to RSLaserKits log cabin, which was much more appropriate in appearance.



As I'm wont to do, I modified it. I purchased two kits and combined them so I could increase the roof peak—recommended in snowy places like New Hampshire. I'm also upgrading the windows and door to Tichy ones—a necessity where it gets really cold. Plus, I'm adding a front porch. Above is the stock kit; below is my version.



As a bonus, I've fitted the cabin with a pair of lighting effects units from Ngineering. Each one produces a slightly different subtle flickering effect, which ought to create a nice fireplace glow through the windows.