It's time to RE-ANIMATE!

[George]

Hello Dave!

Check the article again, it was only the platform structure that revolved, not the entire station building.

Scale Christmas decorations for town squares, and scale homes are easy enough to find these days. One only needs to look in the doll house section of the larger art supply centres around Christmas time.

Railery, you're getting a far better bargain from The Dispatcher in Calgary, Alberta, than I've heard of anywhere, even including GST. With the conversion, American modellers looking to go DCC can get a sweet deal by amil ordering decoders at that price, and they don't have to pay the %$#@&& GST!

George.

 

[Shay2]

Back to the question of Animation...
Shamus, you placed smoke generators inside various equipment on your layout. I was wondering if there might be a way to run several thin tubes to different locations from a single "smoke" source? Sort of like your Fibre-optic tricks from a single light bulb only with one smoke generator...maybe a larger one from an O-scale device that could be used in building chiminy's, Steam Donkeys and maybe even a bondfire or two.
I figure I could use 5 or 6 on my layout, but I hate the thought of adding fluid to all those generators when I'm "giving a show".
If I had one central location...well, ok, I'm looking for an easy way out.
Any suggestions?
Rich

 

[Virginian]

Howdy, Shay 2
I don't know about whether it might work, using one smoke generator for several effects locations, but I've a couple of ideas for tubing...the clear kinds that are used by hospitals for O2 (oxygen) and large bore IV lines,are strong, flexible and can be gotten at surgical supply houses in lengths one could cut down to suit. Another that comes to mind is used in aquariums..I don't know if that can be bought in 'rolls' or not.. there is also irrigation tubing, that sure does come in all sizes, black in color, usually, and can be had at any good full service nursery, up to 100 foot rolls( some places sell it by the foot.)The kind that is used for drip emitters is what I'm thinking of.
If this would work with the model equipment in question,?? .. I defer to shamus and others, but it might be worth an experiment ( out of doors first?)
Good luck...good idea!
VGN

[This message has been edited by Virginian (edited 02-28-2001).]

 

[Railery]

Well u guys got great ideas. VGN i like your idea. Just like Rich said about fiber optics. One common source

There are attachments for multi tube conections. i remember using them in biology labs. The O2 tubing will work. But because there is no heat or fan to make the smoke travel distances u may have to create a fan to suck the smoke up, like the fan in a proto FA2, so there is enough air current for the smoke to travel through all the tubes. Just another thought. So who is going to be the first to build one, i can't, i got too much to do already

 

[Virginian]

OK...there are 'branch' connector sections in both cases, maybe more so in irrigation materials. As far as the 'travelin' smoke'issue..that's a good observation I didn't think of..um, have to think about that for a bit...maybe between us, we'll come up with a "GRREAT INVENTION"

See ya
VGN

 

[shamus]

Hi All,
I have now got five buildings smoking their heads off, shall have to install an extractor fan to get rid of it

 

[Virginian]

Hi.
I was just wondering if one of those pumps used to circulate water in an aquarium would work for smoke???Any body have any thoughts on the subject?
VGN

 

[Virginian]

Don't know if it's MSN (my server), MS Explorer, Window Exp. or the gauge's server, but I'mm having a heck of a time getting a reply up...oh well, I'll try again later...the earthquake may have fouled up MSN
VGN

 

[Virginian]

Don't know if it's MSN (my server), MS Explorer, Window Exp. or the gauge's server, but I'mm having a heck of a time getting a reply up...oh well, I'll try again later...the earthquake may have fouled up MSN
VGN

 

[Shay2]

Now your talkin, Virginian!
An aquarium pump should work and I have one to try. (how long can fish live without air?)Problem is I need a smoke generator.. or a cigar!
Actually, If I could enclose the pump and the smoke in a sealed container, with the pump "fresh air inlet hose" punched through the container and several outlet hoses going to Mt St Helens....hummm ok now all I need to do is get something to make smoke in this 5lb coffee can?

We can do this....
My2¢
Rich

[This message has been edited by Shay2 (edited 03-01-2001).]

 

[George]

Yes guys, an aquarium pump will work.

With health concerns regarding smoke making from "Whaaaaat is it?" elements, you might consider using dry ice. If you really go to town on smoke, you can really stink out the place with unknown snake oils.

Using a limited amount of dry ice, you can simulate smoke which disappears quickly.

If you use too much, it will unnaturally belch over like a witches brew and collect on the ground surface like a morning fog!

Who knows how to regulate the flow?

Best of all, dry ice is the only think I can think of to use for smoke that's totally harmless.

George.

 

[shamus]

Hey Gang, I have just used another smoke generator on my Pile driver which is sitting by Badger sawmill. I'll get some photo's done it this later on.

 

[Voice]

I'm new here...just managed to find this by following links, and really enjoy what I read here.
Now, to the topic at hand....animation. I have several yrs worth of old MR--some back to the early '50s and all of the '60s...and they have a lot of articles on animation. Some of the ones I remember off-hand are a working windmill, an idea for a car circling a statue in the park, and one for loading an orecar at a mine endlessly.
As I work on my layout (finally!!) I'll keep this stuff in mind, it will make it more interesting.

 

[Dave Harris]

I don't know about smoke traveling but I can assure you FOG does. We came by a fog generator used in stage productions & decided to use it on the Toole Springs & Western to enhance the waterfront scene being added. One of the guys set it up , put it on low ,then went to answer the door. as he was signing for a U.P.S. package FOG began to roll out of every pore & crack in the ENTIRE house!Finally finding his way back to the layout room , shutting it off,he franticly called several other of us to bring fans to get the stuff out of the house before his wife got home or the neighbors called the fire dept.We are going to try to find a LOWER low.

------------------
L V Dave

 

[Virginian]

Hi Voice, welcome aboard!!
You've already made a friend on the gauge if you can give me more info. on that article about the ore loader.

I'm designing a layout of the Norfolk and Western and the Virginian railways in Southwest Va. in the 50's to early 60's and will of course have a couple of coal mines represented, along with the classification terminal at Bluefield W.Va., eventually. Could you tell me the specific issue? I might be able to get it from the MR mag. web site if I knew the exact issue to refer to.(I know they have current articles on their site..I haven't tried to find old articles yet, but might be able to order out of print back issues..if not, well, maybe if you have a scanner, you could email it to me?? I'll see what MR has to say and get back to you here.)
That's one of the neat things about this BB...one never knows what might show up... I've been wondering how I might model the buildings for a coal mine siding I've been doing prelim. sketches of... with only one proto picture to go on so far..
I'm starting out in N scale, but may switch to HO sometime in the future, when space allows. But any illustrations,or articles would help to develop ideas for scratch building.
Thanks for the info(and by the way, consider your self a 'friend' regardless of any further info you might be able to pass along

)
VGN

[This message has been edited by Virginian (edited 03-04-2001).]

 

[Voice]

Virginian, I haven't found the article yet, but I DID find one on hand-laying turnouts that I had been looking for. I also found one that may interest you-it shows one person's construction of a mine building, and associated trackwork.
Don't worry, I'll keep looking, I just thought of another article recently (in the past couple of years) of a working coal mine tipple that is designed to actually fill cars. I'll have to look for that one, too.

Dick

 

[shamus]

Hi Voice, welcome to the gauge.
That working ore machine I think was Fallers working one. Kit comes complete with full instructions and motor.

 

[Voice]

Thank you, for the warm welcome Shamus. I knew I'd seen the name "Badger Creek" somewhere, and I found the Model Railroading article about your layout. That is a beautiful trestle!!
Now, I did get lucky, and I found the articles I was talking about. In the July, 1999 issue of Model Railroader, on p 84, is an article--"Build a working coal tipple". It uses pvc pipe, an auger bit, and a windshield wiper motor.
On to the animation--once again, in Model Railroader--they are called "Modeler's Doodle Sheet of animation ideas". They are in: Feb, 69; Feb, 68; and July, 67. Also, in March 67 Model Railroader is a "Dollar Model Project" for remotely operated track gates. I can look through my extra magazine collection to see if I have any extras of these, if anyone is interested.

Dick

 

[JeffGerow]

In response to the DCC thread part -- I have NCE and am very happy. I have a small layout (5x11') and DCC makes it way more fun -- switching to allow more than one train was too much even for me -- but now my 6 yr old can drive alone!! Admittedly, DCC does involve a bit of electronics and soldering -- but it seems that there are people out there who will do any part of that for you --
I've gotten most of my stuff from Tony's Train Exchange in VT (also on the web www.ttx-dcc.com). Tony is great and very helpful and his prices are good.

On the animation thread:
I agree that moving things are great -- at the Kansas NMRA convention a few years back, I saw a couple of tornados on layouts (one modular). One tornado started spinning up on the clouds and descended to the ground to "rip" through the town, then back up to the clouds. With the sound effects- it was great! A small motor drove a cogged belt moving the tornado. As it moved the mount passed over levers to move it up and down. A separate motor spun the tornado.
There is also a modular group in Texarkana that has a wild west module with lots of action, mine cars, workers, drunks, digging machines, dancers, etc. I think I spent more than a half hour trying to discover all the moving things (and they could always show me another).
On my own layout I have a playground with a see-saw and swingers that operate with a push of a button on the front panel. The see-saw has a wire that pushes up on one seat from below (driven by a Tortise motor cycling (until it died)) That seat also has a tiny lead weight so it follows the wire down. The swings have small magnets under the seats and electromagnets under the ground (under them at rest). Pushing the button energizes the electromagnet and pushes the swing away.
I'm planning more as the kids love them.
Oh, I also gave them a button operated semaphore so they can stop the train, for the next operator to take over. That's just a NJ International semaphore which has a solenoid built-in.

 

[George]

Hello Jeff!
Watch it with the semaphore trick. Kids just love throwing that switch when the train is full throttle!

The tornado sounds like something to give prairie kids nightmares. What was it made out of, stretched darkened cotton?

Say, does anyone out there still use the Disneyland Monorail on their layouts?

George.