North Pole Square of The Polar Express

[PRR Modeler]

Another fabulous part of your scratch build.

[carl b]

Paul, Jerry and Curt, thank you for your positive comments.

[carl b]

I threaded and glued 0603 LEDS thru the tubes with their leads exposed. I already have mounted solder points with copper tape at the ready.



Now with the lights soldered in and dressed, I can't choose the value appropriate resistors, until I get a count on the total for the entire project. This will be left open till then.



Front and back smooth masonry walls will hide the electronics. This is .020" styrene glued to a card backer.



My own diamond shingles, cut with the pinking scissors, will be used for a small roof on this piece. Cut on the curve, and only very short pieces to maintain alignment.



I need 8 Tuscan style columns, which are 7/32" styrene tube, .030" sheet cut into 2 different size squares, and a .02" "ring".



Columns painted and attached, except for one where I will pass the power wires up from a column and attach to the distribution section.



Nearly finished , many touch ups necessary....



Till next time...a Labelle Co. Interurban car

[vinceg]

Keeps getting remarkabler. Loving watching this come together. Thx, Carl.

[PRR Modeler]

Beautiful scratch building. Truly a work of art.

[PaulS]

Carl, this build and the results are coming along wonderfully !!
What also strikes me is the level of planning, design and problem solving that goes on 'behind the curtain'.  I can only assume that you have an equal share of design and development as you do actual modeling on these spectacular builds.
Just keeps getting better,
Thanks and all the best,
--Paul

[Mark Dalrymple]

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!!

You continue to inspire, Carl.  Your model is looking truly magnificent.

Cheers, Mark.

[deemery]

Current Limiters are a much better choice than messing with calculated resistor values....   Unfortunately, the MicroLumina tip sheet on using those is not available right now.


dave

[carl b]

Vince, Curt, Paul and Mark thank you very much. I appreciate your continued interest.

Dave- I disagree current limiters are a "better" choice. CL1 and CL2's output a consistent 20ma, therefore the LED is at full brightness. I don't want that. I would still have to add a resistor after the limiter to reduce the brightness to realistic levels.

Additionally, there's price....in bulk, limiters are approx. $.50- 1.00 ea.,  resistors are .02 ea. This project uses 32 LEDS.

Bill Santore (Microlumina) and I have discussed this matter, and he agreed the "resistor only" works fine & only requires more math. Online resistor calculators are available, but during my 40 year career in electronics maintenance, I used this equation: P = I^2_R. 

[deemery]

Well, if you worked in electronics maintenance, then you probably know how to read resistor bands :-)


dave

[carl b]

Indeed I do Dave.

[postalkarl]

Hey Carl:

Great job on the bridge so far.

Karl

[carl b]

Thanks Karl.

Actually it's a colonnade, a row of columns connected by its own roof.

[GPdemayo]

Looks good Carl.....nice addition to the scene. 

[carl b]

Thanks Greg!