http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWXpYauW3dg&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttbpmsgT-20&NR=1
WOW!! That's pretty impressive.
How do they build such small operable items like that? They must build them under a microscope.
Thanks for sharing.
Wonder how the arms are hinged to move and not fall out of the shoulder.
Just goes to show what can be done with an idea, skill and patience.
Have fun,
Oh, well then how about this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewfuFYavHP8
And this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MduOZjGMaaU&feature=related
I'm rather sure it was done in a scale larger than HO, but it is still quite an accomplishment.
CNJ831
No, I think the bikes are in HO as well. Absolutely amazing.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
The figures look too good for HO but I stand to be corrected."
"Crunch", layout visitor, "What bicycle? Oh that one! Sorry about that!"
That is unbelievable!! This is the kind of things that get people interested in the hobby!!
Craig North Carolina
Espee Black WidowWOW!! That's pretty impressive. How do they build such small operable items like that? They must build them under a microscope.
I wish he had shown how the animation is powered; it must have something to do with the brass wire going up the figure's leg. ON the caboose mounted figure, I noticed a flashing light through the caboose door window; could have been a reflection off the operating mechanism.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
High impressive.
I imagine he attached a slow motion motor (available @ micromark) and attached a shaft shaped like a crank shaft on a car engine. The brass rod would move up and down like a piston inside an engine.
Quite clever. Kudos to him!
The bikes are a little harder to figure out. The video is blury but I suspect a pin wire sticking through the coblestone paveway.
You could also cam this motor: (a circle with center hole off center will act like a cam lobe) The lobe will push the wire up and down.
http://www.micromark.com/ANIMATION-GEARMOTOR,7886.html
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
A possible means of moving the bicycles: Magnets on a track beneath the roadway. Such a system is used at Legoland in California to guide trucks along city streets.
I agree that magnets under the roadway propel the bicyles. Note , if you look close, the wheels are mounted on pads the same color as the roadway, and they move along with the bicycle.
Actually, the trick with the cyclists, as I see it, is as a few posters have suggested: the bicycles are moving along following magnets that travel below the road surface. The motion of each cyclist's jointed legs results from their "feet" being attached somewhat off center on a thin, clear plastic, disk. This is pinned to the bikes where the chain-drive gear would be. At the same time the edge of the disk is in constant contact with the road. As the bikes move along, the plastic disk is forced to rotate, giving motion to the cyclists' jointed legs. It took me a while to figure this out and I'll admit that this is a very clever approach to such an animation problem! Still don't think that it's HO, however.
It's HO. Here are some behind the scenes looks at how it works. OK technically it's 4mm scale, 1:76.2, so a teeny bit bigger than HO
http://www.kitforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=3135&p=75560
The name of it is "De Hezelpoort 1927" so if you Google that you'll find some other links, although most are in Dutch. However - numbers and scale names are the same, so pick one and within the text you'll see HO mentioned.
Here is more from the gent who did the animation in the videos in the first post. In this case, the scale is On30.
Fireman 1
Fireman 2
Vernon in Central Indiana