# "little" entertainment



## RIrail (May 5, 2008)

I tried my first shot at animation and also first YouTube, so I hope this works. 





 
thanks for watching
Steve


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## David Leech (Dec 9, 2008)

Steve,
That's great.
Well done.
All the best,
David Leech, Delta, Canada


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

That's pretty neat.
Good job!

Tommy
Rio Gracie


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

OUTSTANDING! You say you created it? ... Care to explain some of how you did so?


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Gotta love it!


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Great work.. Love It.


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## RIrail (May 5, 2008)

I started with various Woodland Scenes figures. After performing selective surgery on the parts I wanted to animate, I ran brass push rods or crank rods either though the figure or behind the figure. The rods are attached to mini servos underneath the floor. I used a servo controller from Pololu.com ( http://www.pololu.com/product/1350 ) and programed the movements with their software and customized it for my needs. I purchased a RF R/C board and key fob from http://www.parallax.com/product/700-10016 , and a sound board http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/ISD-COB17240/ISD-COB17240-ND/1228822 from Digikey and a Phoenix speaker. Wired everything though a opto isolated board I made. Power is from a 4.8 Sanyo nimh rechargeable battery. The platform is a Radio Shack box with individual styrene stripes (with the grain melted into them with a hot iron holding a hack saw blade in the tip) glued to it. I re-painted the figures and box. This was a fun project to make during the long winter. If anyone wants specific part numbers I can look though my paperwork and post them.

Thanks
Steve


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## Robert (Jan 2, 2008)

Nicely done. You should be very proud.


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## MikeMcL (Apr 25, 2013)

That is awesome!


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## Bob Baxter (Jan 3, 2008)

Brilliant! Gotta steal some of your ideas! Thanks for the links to the workings.


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## catherine yronwode (Oct 9, 2013)

Wow and a half. I am in awe of your animation skills. 

Strangely, last year i came here asking about sound for that same Woodland Scenics group -- my plan is to repaint them as the Memphis Jug Band -- and i was going to put them by that same Pola depot, which i wanted to outfit as a weather-proof speaker connected to an old ipod player. You have upped the ante on that game, for sure!

Seriously speaking, would you consider doing a second version of this, featuring the MJB as the musicians, as a commissioned piece of animated art work for money and for signage credit on my pubic-installation garden railway? 

My vision is that the depot would play the music and the animated band would only be set out to play on sunny weekend days when we run the trains for visitors. 

I am guessing the answer will be "no," but i just have to ask ... 

Oh, and by the way, where did you get that See's Candy car???? I must have missed that one! What a beauty! Who put it out and when?










In the picture above, we see just one of over a dozen combination of musicians who played in the MJB. The MJB was a loose confederation assembled under the direction of Will Shade, the group's harmonica player, who supervised a wide array of local talent for 30 years of public performances and popular recordings. The Woodlands Scenics band represents a good approximation of the MJB's instrumental line-up, albeit missing the jug player. The band also sometimes featured a female guitarist-singer ('Memphis' Minnie Douglas) and a mandolinist. 










Here is another MJB line-up; the performers literally varied from gig to gig, at Will Shade's discretion -- and there were days during the 1920s when he took bookings for FOUR versions of the MJB for parties and picnics around town on the same day -- with four to five players at each gig.


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## ewarhol (Mar 3, 2014)

That was one of the neatest things I've seen!!! I love it!!! 

I've officially started my garden railroad, seeing things like this is what makes me so excited about model railroad in a larger scale.


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## Homo Habilis (Jul 29, 2011)

Steve:

As others have said - awesome!

It would really be appreciated if you could lift a bit of the curtain and perhaps make another video showing the "guts". It would certainly assist those of us (at least me in particular) that would like to replicate something similar but lack the inspiration or experience to even start. This might even be a good idea for an article in GR or such.

Thanks, Mark


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## catherine yronwode (Oct 9, 2013)

I agree with Mark -- this animation certainly deserves an article in GR Magazine. 

And, by the way, thanks to your video, i have found the See's Candies car, and the See's Candies motorcycle with sidecar, and two See's Candies delivery trucks (1920s, and 1930s) as "Buy It Now" offers at eBay -- a fantastic score for me! 

(And, no, i did not buy the 1950s era See's Candies truck -- out of my era, LOL!)

Thanks!

cat


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## RIrail (May 5, 2008)

Well I'm very humbled by all the nice things you folks have said about my animation, thank you. 
I will try to show some more detail in another video but the insides are mostly black so I'm not sure how well it will come out.
As far as making another one, I figure this one cost about $160 for hardware and about 100 hours of labor. I also would not want to infringe on Woodland Scenes copy rights of their figures.
I think if you tried one figure, maybe just a head turner first, with the components I listed above you would be able to get started. The nice thing about do it yourself is if something ever happened to it you know you have the capability to repair it.
I have also done some animated deer that I will have to video next time.

Thanks
Steve


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

Wonderful work Steve! Brilliantly executed.

Is it something you take indoors when not used? I can picture a bunch of animated modules like that, parked on the layout when wanted, but kept indoors otherwise. Maybe all working off of the same RC control system?


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## ewarhol (Mar 3, 2014)

Steve-

There was a forum article under the Model-Railroad-Hobbyist website a few years back about using cell phone vibrating motors to turn the head of an engineer when the direction of the engine changes. Made me think about that when you mentioned a figure changing heads. With the room in a G Scale engine, I wonder if a servo could be put in there for changing engineer head direction?

When you say worrying about infringing on Woodland Scenics copyright, is that for when you're writing the GR article? Can't say for certain since I don't work for Woodland Scenics, but people mention companies and their products all the time in model railroading articles. I don't think the companies mind, free advertising of their products. But if you're worried you could also send them an email and ask permission. Just tell them what your plans are, who the article will be submitted to, and so on.


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## RIrail (May 5, 2008)

Hi Cliffy, yea I take it in and yes with the RC I put a link to you can control up to four buttons with the key fob, you just need to buy four sets.
Hi Eric, I was worried about copy rights if I was to make more and sell them as per a request by Catherine.

Steve


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

As long as you buy the figures from the manufacturer, you can saw them up, paint them...Anything you want with them (except besmirch the company somehow by doing so) and then sell them for whatever price you want. No Copyright infringement. If you make a mold of them and create your own copies, then you are infringing the Copyright.


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## CliffyJ (Apr 29, 2009)

I agree with Eric and Semper. Further, as a ("value-added") reseller you might be able to arrange a discount for yourself from WS -- if the volume was right, I suppose.

Anyway, just for grins, you aughtta send your Youtube link to WS, with a "see what I done with your stuff!" message. I'll bet you get a great (on the positive side) reaction.

===>Cliffy


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## ThinkerT (Jan 2, 2008)

They need audience.


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## catherine yronwode (Oct 9, 2013)

Hi, as a publisher, let me explain copyright in four sentences:

Grazing rights are the rights to graze animals on a piece of land.
Mineral rights are the rights to dig minerals from a piece of land.
Water rights are the rights to take water from a river.
Copy rights are the rights to copy something written, drawn or sculpted by someone. 

So Semper Vaporo is correct: if you buy the WS product, you can cut it up or repaint it anyway you want, but you do not have have the copy rights, so you cannot copy the mould to make your own copies.

Also, as a small, friendly company, i think WS will be pleased as punch with what you have done! Good advertising for them, and potentially more product sold (since you are not violating their copyrights, they will still get to sell their copies from their moulds.)


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

I shared the link to the video with my son and his response made me chuckle:

"Fun modern animation in the garden setup - better animated than the last Chuckie-Cheese I went to!"


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## dieseldude (Apr 21, 2009)

FANTASTIC!!!


-Kevin.


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Steve that was **** GOOD. Good choice of music. Pete canton ohio.


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