The Very Last White River and Northern Railroad

[CRL]

That lawn definitely isn’t in South Texas... we don’t get enough rain to make anything that green without wasting a lot of water and employing professional groundskeepers.

[Angus Shops]

The concrete ones can be problematic. The concrete can get too hot in the sun and cook the grass.

[CRL]

I think there was a This Old House episode that showed a plastic grid system that provided support to the grass to allow it to be driven or parked on without compressing the grass.

[DKS]

It's time to tackle the control panel. Without question, the control of all the animation and special effects is daunting. Over fifty sub-mini switches, pushbuttons and jacks had to be crammed along the front edge of the layout. I organized all of the controls into groups, which constitute the spaces in between the turnout controls along the front edge of the layout. Knowing me, there may yet be additions to the animation and special effects list, so I drilled holes for the full capacity of all groups, leaving me with four spaces for future expansion.

My original plan was to make nine individual control panel segments, one for each group, thinking it would be easier to assemble that way. But when I found a 2-by-4-foot sheet of ⅛-inch thick black styrene, I decided to attempt making the whole thing as a single part, which would certainly be the cleanest approach. First, I cut a strip of styrene to the maximum height of the panel (below left). Next, I drilled all of the switch/jack holes. After test-fitting it on the layout, I traced the layout contour onto the panel, then cut it to shape using a saber saw fitted with a hollow-ground blade (below right).

   



After installing all of the controls on the panel, I fired up CorelDraw to render artwork identifying the switch and button functions. I printed the art on self-adhesive label stock and covered it with a clear laminating film for durability.







Installing the panel will require getting a great many ducks in line first—like about fifty of them. Every wire has to be in place and identified before they can be connected to the controls, and there are a few items I don't even have yet, so this will probably take the better part of a week to complete.

[davefoxx]

That panel is sick!  As usual, you never fail to amaze me with your high quality of craftsmanship.

DFF

[DKS]

Concurrently with the control panel, I'm working on a potential fireworks display. I still haven't talked myself into this one yet; it all depends on the result of test #2. I did test #1 using the same electronics I'd utilized for the fireflies, and it was... okay. It wasn't spectacular, but seemed worth thinking about.

I had enough parts to make at least five displays—about half as many as I'd thought about building—but even then, the numbers are kind of staggering. One change I made from the test unit was switching from pre-wired 0402 SMD LEDs to 1.6mm discrete LEDs: they were easier to work with, and I had more of them; however, it meant two more solder connections per LED.

Each display consists of twelve banks of seven LEDs, or 84 LEDs, plus the "launch" pattern, which is 9 more LEDs, for a total of 93 LEDs per display. Five displays required 465 LEDs, plus 10 more for a flickering effect; with the wiring, this translated to a grand total of nearly two thousand solder connections, not including 280 power supply connections. Not to mention the work of extracting the chips from the original Christmas light displays, or a dozen solder joints per chip, for another 840 more solder operations. And this assumed there were no LED or chip failures, or errors I might make (as it happened, thanks to my dyslexia, I wired an entire bank of chips backwards). No matter; it's not like I have anything of importance to do.



Work began on 6 October 2020 with the chip extraction process, which took a day and a half. Then I created a color-coded drawing of the five displays interleaved so as to create a 3D-ish effect. Then I printed it on self-adhesive label stock and applied to a piece of 0.030" black sheet styrene (above). So as to avoid potential disappointment, I mounted a couple of LEDs to a scrap of styrene with CA prior to committing myself to the project to be certain my plan would work.

   

Next, I made a circuit board mounting plate from ⅛-inch thick sheet styrene the same size as the display sheet, and attached all 70 flasher chips with double-sided foam tape (above left). Just wiring the power leads (above right) took half a day.

   

Then came the excruciatingly tedious task of installing and wiring the LEDs, which had to be mounted in hand-drilled holes one at a time (above left and right). To save some wiring, I soldered all of the LED anodes for each light "spray" to fine brass rod. Given how long it took to make the first of the five displays, this alone was going to take 3-4 days, and wiring them to the chips was likewise going to take another 3-4 days.

[Chris333]

Certainly enough to be nominated for the padded room.

[glakedylan]

oh man. can't wait to see this working.
what a wonderful idea


amazed
Gary

[DKS]

Certainly enough to be nominated for the padded room.

Thanks for that vote of confidence...

[CRL]

What? No  emoji done in fireworks? 

[DKS]

PROGRAMMING: I like mechanical stuff; that's why the neon open sign in the laundromat has a motorized drum with wiper contacts. For the fireworks, I'll need something a bit more robust and flexible, and for inspiration I turned to the stoplights from the White River & Northern IV.



I used a large motorized drum to light up the stoplights for a five-way intersection—complete with left-turn signals and walk/don't walk signs. I would have repurposed the mechanism (which I still have, above), but it's short three channels, so I'll build a new one for the twelve channels I need for the fireworks display. It will create an entire show, from the first few modest shots to the grande finale. I've attended dozens of fireworks shows in small-town New Hampshire, and they're all the same: truly pitiful by today's standards. But back then, small towns had small budgets, and families nevertheless had a great time getting out and gathering in the town's high school field for some hot dogs and a little light show.

[DKS]

It's been awfully slow-going with the fireworks effect. The first two displays (below, top left and bottom left) out of five have taken two days just to install--that doesn't include wiring.



Hopefully I can pick up a little speed as I go. The irksome thing is I won't know how any of this looks until it's all done, and that may be several days from now.

[Hawghead]

I've got a feeling this is going to be the best one yet.

Scott

[DKS]

Some significant headway today: finished installing the last three display LEDs. That leaves the 45 launch sequence LEDs to install, along with the "glitter" effect, which will utilize the same electronics employed for the wedding photographers (green circuit boards, below right).

[mrhedley]

JFA!   Just F**king Amazing!

You are a Maestro in Miniature animation.