The Very Last White River and Northern Railroad

[Point353]

I've procured a little DIY MP3 player to play jazz tunes for Phil's bar. Works like a charm--it reads files off a thumb drive.
Now all I need to do is make a small speaker enclosure to improve the sound, and the patrons will be enjoying some fine tunes.

[ChristianJDavis1]

I've procured a little DIY MP3 player to play jazz tunes for Phil's bar. Works like a charm--it reads files off a thumb drive. Now all I need to do is make a small speaker enclosure to improve the sound, and the patrons will be enjoying some fine tunes.

Are you going to make the thumb drive itself easily accessible so it can be removed without removing the entirety of the MP3 player? I assume you'll do so with the batteries (for obvious reasons), but if you make the thumb drive removable without the player, you can easily add or change the tracks on it. Maybe have a few playlists to fit your mood or if you find a new song you enjoy. Plus, if you record any more incriminating voice clips of Railwire members, maybe you could add them in, too, for bar-speak.

[DKS]

Are you going to make the thumb drive itself easily accessible so it can be removed without removing the entirety of the MP3 player?...

Oh yes. It has to be accessible also because the controls are all built into the PC board.

[DKS]

This morning I finally succeeded in creating a campfire effect, something I'd started almost a month ago. The only reason I decided to do this was because of the Fireflies, since they sprang from the White River & Northern II, which had a campfire as part of the same device. Below is a daylight shot of the campfire; below that is the mechanism.





The thing I didn't realize about this old contraption is that it accidentally, more or less, created a spookily realistic effect. I wanted to replicate it by replacing the mechanical device with LEDs, and that proved to be a massive challenge. I began by making an outrageously complex system with 60 LEDs, divided into five banks each with different colors and flicker effects, all bonded to 60 fine optic fibers. It was a colossal failure. My second try had 18 LEDs in three banks illuminating larger-diameter optic fibers. While marginally better, it too was unacceptable.

I was at the point of giving up, when I noticed the fireplace effect I created a for my cabin, which was just two flickering LEDs, was more realistic than either of the fiber optic attempts, so I began to pursue a "pure LED" approach. This too proved challenging because the LEDs would be visible, and it took six tries and dozens of LEDs to come up with a solution, each iteration having fewer LEDs.



The final version comprises just three orange 1.6 mm LEDs arranged in a tight cluster on a tiny scrap of PC board, and wired in series with three flickering LEDs so they also flickered, with brightness carefully controlled by resistors. To enhance the effect, I ground the lenses of the orange LEDs into irregular pointed cones, and covered them with thick gloss gel that I teased into flame shapes with a toothpick as it dried.



Although I don't think the LED solution is as good as the original I'd built back in 1987, it's good enough that it ought to work as long as it's not a foreground feature. Adding firewood and whatnot further improved the effect.

[CRL]

And he claims his skills have diminished with age. 

[DKS]

If you haven't seen it Robert Ray is cooking up a little animation for his newest Z scale project:
https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/np-lester-wa-t-trak-z-module-set-project.129952/page-9

Funny thing is, I'd been planning on adding a welding effect to the enginehouse since the beginning. Nothing insanely fancy like Robert's, just a plain-vanilla deal (one cool white flickering LED and a pushbutton). Thing is, I haven't done it yet, so when I do I suppose I'll look something like a copycat...

And he claims his skills have diminished with age. 

I suppose I misspoke. I should have said my abilities (as in manual dexterity and physical execution) have diminished; it takes a helluva lot longer to do relatively simple things, and some things I can't do at all anymore. Skills (as in coming up with ideas and ways of doing things) may still be improving with continued experience.

[DKS]

I also ordered up a couple more MP3 players (they're less than $4 each!) for environmental effects, like crickets and rushing water.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-Flash-Drive-Micro-SD-TF-Card-MP3-WAV-Player-Board-w-Switches-Buttons/302877960834

[Chris333]

This morning I finally succeeded in creating a campfire effect

This morning I picked the crust from my eyes 

Welding seems to be one of the more popular lighting effects. Will be waiting to see how yours turns out.

[PiperguyUMD]

Someone smack the end of that thing so it'll stay on!

Amazing!

[DKS]

Welding seems to be one of the more popular lighting effects. Will be waiting to see how yours turns out.

Well, nowadays it's simple and cheap. One cool white flickering LED, a resistor, and a pushbutton. If you want to get fancy, add a blinking circuit so it's not continuous.

[bbussey]

Engineering makes a simulator board for a campfire effect that looks very good, using orange LEDs. But this and the shop light and the fireflies are extremely cool.

[DKS]

Is it possible to have a .gif as a banner? That's unreal.

[DKS]

Engineering makes a simulator board for a campfire effect that looks very good, using orange LEDs.

Yeah, I've got one, and it looks almost identical to a run-of-the-mill flickering LED, the latter costing pennies...

[wm3798]

If and when the Good Lord drops the dime and calls your genius a$$ home, this banner... maybe more than anything else, will be the Railwire's at-a-glance summary of your legacy.  A banner you created in a format you created of a brilliant effect you created for a layout representing your immense creativity and skill that you created.  Game, Set, Match.

Lee

[wazzou]

It is genuinely a shame that there are modelers that may frequent other forums or no forum at all possibly, that haven't had the privilege of some DKS over a good many years.