I’m excited to announce that I’m moving to a new house in late July! This is a big change for me and my family, but I’m really looking forward to it. One of the things I’m most excited about is the new space I’ll have for my model railroad layout.
Continue reading Moving On Up: A New House, a New Layout
Model railroading is a great hobby that allows you to create miniature worlds that are both fun and educational. But if you’re looking to save money on your model railroad, why not try making your own scenery?
One of the easiest and most affordable ways to make scenery for your model railroad is to use natural twine. Twine is a versatile material that can be used to create a variety of different bushes and trees. Also easily found around your house.
Continue reading Turn Junk Drawer Finds Into Cheap Model Railroad Scenery
Model railroading is a great hobby that allows you to create miniature worlds that are both fun and educational. But if you’re looking to add a touch of realism to your layout, why not try building your own Arduino traffic light controller?
Continue reading Build Your Own Arduino-Powered Model Railroad Traffic Light System
I installed the track in the Walthers Cornerstone modern diesel house… it was a little tricky. Watch the video for the full scoop.
Continue reading Build It: Adding track to the diesel house
Expanded my previous circuit with the DFPlayer Mini to now activate an arduino servo from 0 – 180 degrees while playing an audio file of a garage door. When pressed again, the servo reverts back from 180 – 0 and again plays the audio file. Six of these will be used to control the bay doors on the Walthers diesel house.
In the process of expanding my knowledge and experience with Arduino microcontrollers I’ve taken the base circuit for the welder I created and added sound. To do this I used a small board called DFPlayer Mini. This provides a direct output for a speaker or left / right channels. It also has a mini SD card port for your mp3 or wav files. See the details inside.
Continue reading Electronics: Arduino Welder with Sound
I’ve been playing around with some Arduino microcontrollers, mainly the Arduino Mega 2560. They are fairly inexpensive controllers, that when programmed, can handle a large variety of tasks. These vary from simple leds being turned on, servos activated, audio played, or basically anything you can think of. In this simple setup, I wanted to use a blue led to simulate a welder for a few seconds. I added a push button to start the loop. Check out the full video inside.
I’m trying to keep the momentum going with my new Build It series. Today I completed the painting of the primary parts for the interior of the Walthers Modern Diesel House. I completed the elevated platform and track supports. See the video and exclusive photos inside. Continue reading Build It: Walthers Modern Diesel House 2 – Platform and Track Supports Assembly