Pendulum Animation d. Pendulum Animation d. bodnar rev 09-06-11 I am always on the lookout for ideas for animations that can be used on a model railroad.
Over the years I have used electric motors, servos, solenoids, and dozens of arrangements of gears, cogs and cams to make things move! My latest project involves repurposing a home made magnetic pendulum to animate a gymnast who swings back & forth on a horizontal bar. James River Branch: Barber Pole. It all started back about two decades ago when I made an N scale illuminated and animated barber pole, which still tends to cause a fair amount of drop-jaw (there's a brief video of it in action on Rick Spano's layout).
As I'd indicated in its construction article, I deliberately chose to model a wall-mounted type, as opposed to the easy-to-model kind that stands atop a stanchion, in order to keep people guessing how it was done. And as I began work on the James River Branch, I had every intention of doing it again in Z scale. Page Title.