EEVblog #700 - Indiana Jones HO Scale Model Train Set

[max_torque]

Dave please be gentle when you take it apart to take home

You mean like this?

^^^Proof, that if you put your mind to it, one man really can move a mountain.........   ;-)

[Barny]

I think the bunker is the right place for the track.

I think its place for a back to the future theme too

[Wile E. Coyote]

Dave,

I think this is the perfect choice for EEVblog #700. A lot of hobbies today contain cutting edge electronics. Model railroading is no exception! Also, watching you cut a track in half is extremely entertaining for some reason.

Keep up the good work!

-WEC 

[miguelvp]

... Also, watching you cut a track in half is extremely entertaining for some reason.

Keep up the good work!

-WEC 

I wonder why 

[edy]

   Nice work Dave! I enjoy this for the prime reason that it shows value for someone's craftsmanship and a desire to preserve a piece of art! It would be interesting if you could find the original artist and record their reaction when you invite them to your lab and they see it still intact and functioning! I'm sure they would be happy it had not been destroyed with the shop!

I recommend you place a little camera on your train (maybe WiFi-enabled) and have a first-person train point of view shot that is continuously streaming! Like a small WiFi security cam stuffed into the engine or caboose. That would be a neat series of videos showing how you hack an existing WiFi cam to the bare bits, find a way to power it from the rails, and install it into the train and get it to stream over the web! Here is one made already for trains but you can probably "hack" your own from cheaper applications:

 http://www.micromark.com/wireless-micro-camera-system-with-sound-24-ghz,8776.html

[RobertoLG]

take a look at this model train ride, cool

http://youtu.be/MWQ14X6RSh0

[German_EE]

From the looks of that layout I think that Dave and Sagan will be spending many happy hours together working on the thing (well, Dave working and Sagan watching). Such a shame when places like that cease trading.

[pretenda]

Dave, if you are going to install it in the bunker, will you be able to set up an internet connection there so we can play with it too? I'm assuming getting adsl in there might be a bit of a challenge ...

[Whales]

Feel free to call in for people to help you assemble it and get it back together

[EEVblog]

Dave, if you are going to install it in the bunker, will you be able to set up an internet connection there so we can play with it too? I'm assuming getting adsl in there might be a bit of a challenge ...

No internet in the bunker.

[pretenda]

Bummer, all good! Looking forward to some video of it going into the bunker.

[Obi_Kwiet]

This is not the type of content im expecting from your blog. 

I'm confused about what kind of person gets bent out of shape when a hobbyist blog has a tangential entry once in a while. Do you have some kind of obsessive disorder?

[EEVblog]

I'm confused about what kind of person gets bent out of shape when a hobbyist blog has a tangential entry once in a while. Do you have some kind of obsessive disorder?

Well the idea for the blog from day one has been to do a video on whatever I happen to be doing or takes my interest at the time.
I'm spending a fair bit of time tearing down that train set, and it's kinda electronics related, and I know a lot of viewers are interested in such things, so it makes for a video.
But the observant will realise that a follow-up video went on the 2nd channel because I know that doing a whole lot of videos on a train set is not really main channel material.
My channel has, and always will be a big mix of stuff, so that's why I don't think it adds value when people complain about the topic of a single one-off video.

[Towger]

will you be able to set up an internet connection there so we can play with it too?

No internet in the bunker.

Just bring it home and set it up in the sitting room, no problem with Internet, Sagan will be delighted and I am sure SWMBO too :-)

[digital]

Dave there was never any doubt that you would remove the display in a proper manner ,er maybe a bit,well done and I am looking forward to the next video in the series congrats.

[mux]

Not really sure if this was a thousands-of-hours job. Judging from the cheap polystyrene, fairly rough modeling and lack of things like wall modeling in the inside scenes, seems more like a hundreds-of-hours job.

Then again, it really depends on the age of this set. In the last 5 years it's really popular to make incredibly detailed polyurethane sets with 3d modeling and powderbed printing. Just the unpainted scenes only take a couple hours to make, the real handywork is in the painting, characters, etc. Also really depends on how experienced the people are (judging from the kind of store... probably extremely experienced).

[stickermike]

Maybe you don't have to rip the mountain off the Wall. It looks like the blue wall is not part of the Shop. Maybe you can remove it together with the blue wall and separate it afterwards, if you like.
If the Wall is too big, you can cut the lower part of the wall, which is below the model to make it smaller.

To make it available via the internet would be the first really meaningful IoT device ;-)

You may cut from bottom to top until you reach the tracks  and then carefully pull the two parts apart. Maybe there are some people in Sidney, who can help you with that.

[Fungus]

Put a webcam on the train so we can watch the scenery go past...!

[xrunner]

Well I do N scale but same issues apply - cut the track where the two are close together and straight. Assuming things don't get bent a lot you can re-assemble that part. Hard part is getting it outta there without ruining the scenery. I don't know how they constructed the mountains and all, but it might not be very forgiving to being moved. Might not fit through the doors even when divided in half. I wish you luck!