Need a Linkage System to Animate NJI's Griswold Crossing Signal

[tehachapifan]

I've been pondering ideas for getting the stop sign on this signal to rotate 90 degrees, preferably using a Tortoise switch machine, but can't really come up with anything solid. I know there's got to be a way though. There is a linkage wire extending out the bottom of the signal which, if rotated, rotates the stop sign. Any ideas? DKS ?

[tehachapifan]

OK, I managed to come up with something that was surprisingly simple, maybe because it all happened to fit together and work perfectly the first time. I extended the wire that rotates the stop sign with some .015" phosphor-bronze wire that I then bent as seen in the phot below. Then I simply looped the steel wire provided with the Tortoise around that wire. There is an adjustment slide on the Tortoise that adjusts the amount of throw that allowed me to fine-tune the amount of sign rotation, which was already pretty dead-on already. Very pleased with how it came out!



Video of crossing action. Volume is a little low, sounds better in person...

The Signal, Tortoise and bell are activated using a Logic Rail Grade Crossing Pro. The sound module is from ITT Products.

This is N scale, BTW.

[C855B]

Cool. Very nice, very smooth.   

[Philip H]

That's some @DKS worthy stuff right there. Well done.

[Jbub]

That's some @DKS worthy stuff right there. Well done.

That's what I was thinking

[tehachapifan]

Thanks for the comments, guys!

....but portrait-mode videos are not welcome...

Is that actually listed in the forum rules?

[DKS]

Excellent! Very well done! I also like the simulated tungsten lamps (no instant on-off).

[Missaberoad]

Like I said, i think the signal looks and sounds great!

Amazing bit of modeling and a cleverly simple solution.
...being a fan of Minnesota railroads I apreciate the tip...

[tehachapifan]

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

Regarding the lamps fading on/off rather than an instant on/off is a feature of the GCP called "True Lamp 2". It is indeed a very cool effect that can be turned off if someone wants a flash effect that looks more like some modern LED signals.

Regarding the video orientation, that was very much intentional and I did indeed realize how YT would format the video. As DKS mentions, in horizontal orientation there would be a lot of unnecessary (and potentially-distracting) stuff captured to the left and right of the signal that I didn't want to capture. In this particular case, on the right is a large area of unfinished sidewalk (which you can still see a little) and an unfinished building that is all stark white and would probably be very distracting. In vertical orientation, all focus is on the signal. I was also able to stabilize the phone better against the layout edge with vertical orientation along with being able to get the camera closer to the signal itself. One thing that could be done to make the video not be "useless" is hit the expand button in the lower right corner.

[peteski]

Well, this is certainly not how I expected this thread to go.

I asked moderators to clean this up.

Edited out, at your request. But you should give Russ credit for posting in the correct forum.  -gfh

[John]

Ok .. lets move on .. the world has bigger problems right now ..

Great job on the animation .. this level of work is getting exceedingly harder for me as my skills diminish ..

[peteski]

Well done Russ.