You're not kidding. The years get up and fly on by, don't they? But "finishing" is not a concept I'm familiar with. Can you give me more information? Also, since grade school, I've lacked initiative, and focus. It's a wonder I can still dress myself. Along those lines, I've rearranged the lighting layout to more evenly distribute the lumens, and also to put more of the LEDs pointing away from the viewer, and towards what they are supposed to be looking at. Ingenious, eh? For me, it was a revelation. (See above.) Anyway, here is my latest iteration. The 4-way back to back lights will stand in the middle of the main platform, with the other multi-head units along the perimeter at the front, illuminating towards the display tracks. I decided the single-head units along the back (nearest the brown layer cake) would be more for security. Now I need to build eight more bases (that can be slipped on AFTER pole installation) for the ones that have to be sunk down in the layout for matching height. I'm already losing interest.
The lighting layout looks great Bryan! I cant wait to see it illuminated. As for me, I received the Boost Converter last night, and found that I can cut off the excess board material where the power in and power out go. This should allow me to use this boost converter as part of the sign base without being too big. I will use those small magnets to make it a magnetic base, with my typical electrical contacts underneath. Here you can see I took the converter board to my mini table saw and sliced through the connection points the reduce it's size: So first I measured that I made no shorts by cutting the board down, then I scraped away some blue coating on the back of the board to reveal a suitable ground, and I bent the posts then soldered them to the backside of the board. Next was to set the trim pot in the middle of it's range so I don't burn up the LED's upon power up. The boost converter is rated 2.5V-15V Input to 5V-20V Output. It powered up fine without light until I tweeked the pot to about 13.5 volts for this level of illumination: So next I will have to laser cut a piece of thin material to mount the contact wipers and magnets on the underside so the sign will sit flat. Here is the component side so you can see there is plenty of room for magnets and contacts:
Getting back to work on this layout; really happy with the Sears kit home from HDCustomdesign on Etsy; a steal at $10 ea! Just the right amount of detail and they took acrylic paint well. Trying to make it look like the Sierras; that red earth around Colfax. Trees up next.
I was just looking at those Sears Houses on Etsy yesterday, he has 5 different models, they look good, and the price is really great! I was looking at his Fire Station for $30, it's pretty nice looking. There is another guy on Etsy, Scale Model Engineering, selling Z Fire Engines to go with the station
Robert, these Sears houses is what I have on my layout. They are great looking resin buildings with very nice detail for a great price!
Yard lighting progress picture. Lights are not permanently mounted yet, just wires soldered with resistors and slid into the holes. The singles and the back-to-backs were the easy ones. The rest I have to sink (shorten) and then rebuild bases. More to come, but probably not until next week, at the earliest.
As always I love to see what you guys are up to, some amazing stuff here just recently but I always love to visit this thread. In the interests of sharing this morning I have a picture of my drafting table workstation after a lot of use. It is a total mess. I'll have it cleaned up when I'm dead But I am happy that I finally got my airbrushing station working efficiently. The Iwata pump and brush are quiet and a joy to use. The spray booth is terrific and its plumbing only takes a few seconds to get into the window. Archistories kits are great but so many more require painting, and vehicles too. Here I have my recently completed Animek "House Of Dreams" down front, a brass Shapeways CNW box cab with its Zmaker decals drying in the booth, Shapeways Jimbo Tie Crane parts primed and waiting on more paints in a plate, and a Miller Engineering kit on deck. I still build whatever catches my attention. Not layout driven but I suppose that will come one day. I've still got my cart in front of the horse, LOL.
Ben produces some really nice kits. I love his theme of movie houses! Your model came out super clean and well done!
Kez, where did you get the Multi head lights? Looks like something Don Fedjur of ZoCal made years back.
HDCustomDesign is also on eBay. I picked up 2 houses and a garage. The finish is equal to Outland Models, not quite there, but I will have about 24" deep is an wooded forest so its a good test. The price is right. Now some are are building houses/structures, I hope some of the those upgrade their printers. Structures are in a big hole in Z.
Thanks guys, with masters like rray, bostonjim, heck, most all of you showing what can be accomplished at this small scale I accept it as a fun challenge. I think Benoit's Animek kits are the toughest challenge so far. They are incredibly well done physically. The fit and finish is impeccable. The instructions might be a problem for some, basically an exploded diagram with suggestions and you make a lot of decisions, so having the ability to 'see' in three dimensions is key. And finally a lot of the parts are very delicate, very thin and light. I'm not kidding when I say I had to control my breath to avoid parts blowing away. And there were a couple of times I thought it was over but then I came back and got it done the next day. Like when a couple window frames came apart and I had to cut new ones by hand. Let's just say reading about Roberts LED sign struggles had me smiling and thinking I almost know how he felt But I wouldn't want to put anyone off this kit! I think most of you who work in this scale know what you are capable of and this is definitely doable.
These are off of the auction site, from China, with pretty quick shipping. The same seller offers many different options. https://www.ebay.com/itm/223800828290 Go back a page a look at my original posting about these, I go into a bit more detail on working them into Z.
Wow! Greatly built by the way. My last kit was done in 2017, I wish I had more time to build new ones.
