HO Scale Theater

thingiverse

This is a remix of one of Kim’s remarkable and amazing collections of HO scale models with some electronics adaptations. Marquee Light effects driven by an Arduino Nano where each of the Marquee LEDs can be switched individually. Room and sign RGB LEDs are driven by another bare Mega168. Middle room light flickers randomly to simulate reflections from film projector while side rooms and sign lights change colors by independent fixed timers. If you can get through the manual wiring of 60+ discrete LEDs, you will be rewarded with one of the most eye catching model on your layout :) The two TBD MOSFET drivers are optional to increase LED brightness since they have a relatively high 1K series resistor that are built-in. With the TBD drivers, the LEDs can be driven by a higher voltage (12V) than the standard 5V from the Arduino Nano outputs. If you choose to omit the drivers, simply connect the Nano's outputs directly to the LEDs and invert the cathode data. Link to video of the lighting effects below: (some of the blanking anomalies during the LED chase sequence are not visible to the naked eye but are caused by the camera's frame rate) https://youtu.be/M74oNa4E-0Q The two pdf files are printable hardware schematics, Autodesk Eagle sch files are also provided. Arduino ino sketches for the ATMega168 and the Arduino Nano posted 10/23/2021.