The Equestria Railroad - My Daughter's OO9 scale "My Little Pony" Railroad.


Maybe it's just you. They are hosted on my own webspace, and they show for me, as does all the content on my other websites hosted on the same server.
 
I was going to turn some cones from some acrylic bar to top parts of the Crystal Empire, but a recent trip to a craft store found some clear acrylic multi-faceted cones that would save me a lot of effort.

mlp318.jpg


While at the craft shop, I got some multi-faceted clear hearts for the heart that spins at the centre of the Crystal Empire. The hearts were flat backed, and chromed on the flat side. Two were glued around some steel wire, with a thin clear acrylic spacer to take up the wire thickness.

mlp319.jpg
 
An old servo motor was modified as the geared motor to drive the heart around. This was mounted inside the tunnel, just behind the control panel.

mlp320.jpg


On top of the tunnel, I skinned it with some metallic sparkle finish plastic.

mlp321.jpg
 
Some smaller pieces of acrylic square section were cut and polished and glued in place around the edge forming crystals emerging from the ground. Foliage was then glued in place around the bases of these crystals.

mlp322.jpg


The rainbow LED's were wired up and then epoxied into holes in the ground. The legs of the Crystal Empire had some 5mm holes drilled in them to allow the Empire to locate on top of the LED's. It needed to be removable to store the layout in the wardrobe. The LED's cycle through multiple colours.

mlp323.jpg
 
The last couple of shots show the workshop lights dimmed and the LED's causing the Crystal Empire to glow. The light reflects up the polished surfaces, but is scattered along all the cuts where the acrylic was cut and wet sanded, but not polished back to clear. Sometimes the LED's are all in sync, but as they cycle through their random colours, sometimes each leg glows with a different colour. I'll have to do a video once it is done.

mlp324.jpg


mlp325.jpg
 
Yesterday, I got the crystal heart fitted and working, plus some additional white LED's which shine up the small round towers, illuminating the tops. I found these LED's wouldn't switch off, either being very bright or dim. It took a while to trace the short to an internal one in the on/off switch. After swapping the switch, all was well.

mlp326.jpg


mlp327.jpg
 
An additional white LED was placed on the ground, shining directly at the heart, causing reflections as it spins.

mlp328.jpg


Here's the base of the empire in all its colours.

mlp329.jpg
 
A short video of the Empire cycling through its various colours and lighting options. The colours show quite well in daylight to the naked eye, but the dynamic range of the camera doesn't capture them so well in daylight.

 
Last edited:
Thanks. It's her 7th birthday in a few days, and she's having a My Little Pony themed party. No doubt she'll want to show her friends the railway!

Today I started making the sign for on top of the station, and also painted the edge of the baseboard black to tidy it up.

mlp333.jpg


mlp334.jpg
 
Due to illness, Christmas and a few other things, the layout hasn't been touched until yesterday, when I started fitting the track power socket. Due to wanting the layout to fit in a wardrobe, the socket needed to be flush with the framework. It was glued in and wired up yesterday, then left to dry before trimming, sanding and painting today.

mlp339.jpg


mlp340.jpg
 
The loco I was modifying dates from the late 1970's. The original three pole motor ran, but wasn't great, so last year, a quick search on Ebay found a new five pole motor in an identical housing. The brass pickups from the wheels where they contacted the motor terminals had been very thin, and over the years of removing and cleaning the motor resulted in the brass splitting, and no longer gripping the motor terminals. The new motor contacts were also slightly further forwards by about 1mm, so the damage brass was cut away and new contacts added. This slightly forward position also meant the lead weight needed to be trimmed to clear the motor. The contacts aren't particularly neat, but about as good as I can get with my fat fingers and without melting the frame with the soldering iron! At least the new motor works now.

mlp341.jpg


mlp342.jpg
 
With the loss of some of the lead weight, and the longer chassis being light at the front, I filled the front of the boiler with some small pieces of lead, epoxied in place. This adds just anough weight to keep the front driving wheels in firm contact with the track.

mlp343.jpg


Here's the loco after a quick test run with the new motor fitted. I still need to finish the loco body and make an attachment point to keep it on.

mlp344.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top