# Animation on rolling stock?



## Cap'nBill (Dec 27, 2008)

Our club basically operates for the public. Located in a mall shop, we take turns operating the various scales Fri-Sun. I'm amazed at the number of people who enjoy this. I'm trying to think of ways to provide some animation on the train as it passes around the layout. The Bell and whistle are neat, but even I get bored after awhile. How could you have a figure 'wave' as he passes by? How about a conversation from the caboose? I bring my own logging train, loaded with junk, slow moving. It's fun to watch people strain to see the jacks on the engine, or the vise I have mounted on a block of wood. Anyway, got any ideas how to make the train itself come alive? Bill


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Buy and redecorate a New Bright Christmas train. They come with lots of animation standard.


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Cap'nBill on 05/24/2009 10:40 AM
Our club basically operates for the public. Located in a mall shop, we take turns operating the various scales Fri-Sun. I'm amazed at the number of people who enjoy this. I'm trying to think of ways to provide some animation on the train as it passes around the layout. The Bell and whistle are neat, but even I get bored after awhile. How could you have a figure 'wave' as he passes by? How about a conversation from the caboose? I bring my own logging train, loaded with junk, slow moving. It's fun to watch people strain to see the jacks on the engine, or the vise I have mounted on a block of wood. Anyway, got any ideas how to make the train itself come alive? Bill 


*Here are some I posted on here months ago.. Hope this helps..*

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/stevec/MLS-Topic-Article/AnimationNoelWilson.pdf

*There more on animation on here by doing a search on MLS.* 

*Some video of them here to... 

http://www.livestream.com/noelw and hit the On Damand tab on bottom of view screen.* 

*This why we made these animations for our show stoppers. We are always making something that moves here and alway looking for ideas.. *


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

LGB had some animated cars, one was a fish tank with a revolving screen, other was a dinosaur car. 
Then these were modified for Disney wit the fish car being nemo. 
Also, there was a bubble blowing car, original was PUSTFIX, then a merry Christmas version. 

These all show up on e--bay from time to tme.


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## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

Good timing. We had some fun at the yard sale yesterday. 

Set up the Mack with wireless audio and a spy camera that really entertained the folks.











Camera on top, speaker in the cab. No place to run it but we did have fun. The camera is voice activated. 

Buy yourself some wireless headphones. Dismantle them and mount in the train along with a cheapo Radio Crap amp/speaker.


Download some free audio,Write a little code...











And have some fun.

Yard Sale 


Craig


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## SlateCreek (Jan 2, 2008)

A FRS walkie talkie in the caboose will work too, for conversation. This is the kind you see all over Disney World, etc.... available just about anyplace electronics are sold.


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## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Cap,

Lionel had a 'cop and hobo' car, a gon with a stack of boxes. The cop chased the hobo around the stack. The whole thing was animated wtih a couple of pulleys a, a motor, and a dial cord type drive belt.

Someone showed a pic from a recent train show which had a car carrying a water tank with a pair of goldfish in it.

Using the 'teeter-totter' princinciple, you could make two guys raise up and shoot at each other from opposite sides of a stack of lumber or whatever. Lionel may have done that one too. (Prob'ly not PC, tho.)

If you want to put a trackside 'trigger' in, you could make a lot of different figures that pop up and disappear, the time they are visible equal to the length of the trigger that lifts a bar inside the car to which the figure is connected. Put up a cross pole, and fix a trainman to stick his head out of a boxcar hatch just as it approaches the bar. The trigger would end, a spring would pull the guy back inside just before he got his head munched. The trigger is a piece of metal sloped on one end, cut off square on the other for rapid downward motion provided by a spring.

If you wanted to do simple RC stuff, the possibilites are wide open, just using circular and linear motion.

Les


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## Cap'nBill (Dec 27, 2008)

Ain't it fun trying to come up with some goofy ideas! I'm thinking of trying one of these 15 second greeting card recording modules, hopefully 'hacking' it for a reed switch to activate some hammering, grunts and goans,......and maybe some '#$^^(**&%', for my broken down logging truck. We, Mich-Cal guys found this dude broke down way back in the woods. My Walmart Indiana Jones Engineer's arms move (why can't Bachmann have this detail?). Thinking maybe a micro servo and small piano wire might make a wave!


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## sheepdog (Jan 2, 2008)

Well no wonder. I just figured out why the picture quality was so poor in the video...... I never removed the little piece of plastic tape that covered the lens during shipment. Much more pleased with it now. 

Craig


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