Floating Platform - Maintenance Shed

 

I have taken this as far as it is going for now.  I have other work to do and this is in a state that I am happy with.  Also it will give me some time for the design to sink in.

I am leaving the left side "under construction".  Adds some interesting detail.  Also until I am showing at any event with a "dark mode" (turning off the overheads to show the lighted models) there is no rush to finish the left flood light.

One thing this picture highlights is that there will have to be lighting.  If you look a the right side, you can see one Minifig sitting at the window, but you cannot see anything other details in that area.  One LED light in the ceiling will make all the difference.

Here is the back side before the glass is installed.  As you can see from these two pictures, there is not much room for added detail.  The area behind the seats would not allow for any detail texture in depth.  This may be why Lego has used decals/stickers on the large panels.

This shows exactly the same problem of trying to add detailed texture in depth.

More closeup shots.

The backside with the rock formations, glass windows installed and the two satellite antennas.

That is all for now.  More software development is order.

Floating Platform - Cargo Packs

 I received all the parts for my cargo packs.  In this picture you can see the three different types of cargo packs.  There is a Blue one, a Lime one that follows the standard color scheme.  But I did 2 of the Bright Green, something special.

This is a closeup picture of the Blue ones sitting in a corner of landing platform.

This smaller one, was done with transparent neon green and will fluoresce under UV/Blue LED light. This ideal for dangerous cargo.

Here is the open end on the connector plate.  This open end is toward the front of the display, that is closest to the viewers.  Right now there is a returning scout vessel in the right corner.  I am thinking of turning this open end of the connector plate into a delivery dock.  This picture implies the four cargo packs were just delivered.  Where the scout vessel is now, I would put a small crane to lift the cargo packs from the delivery vehicle and on to the platform.

This is just a wider view of the area.  

Light Buddy 2 - Update1

Light Buddy 2 is almost done now.  As previously noted here and here, the software and firmware are very close to being finished.  The picture above shows the addition of two new development tools for Light Buddy 2.

First is a six channel LED display.  This allows you to work on the lighting scheme, whether it is a static display or a  script, and test it.  

This is a communications interface.  This will allow a USB port on the PC to control the Light Buddy 2.  Using the Brick Controller PC software you can setup a static light scheme or you can download/retrieve a script.  This makes configuring the the Light Buddy 2 quite easy.

Obviously you only need one of each to setup an infinite number of Light Buddy 2s.  

Software Progress

 

There is progress.  In this post I talked about interconnection of the LED lighting control and to some extent the Motor control. So I thing I am about at the 98% point.  Both the Brick Buddy 3 and the Light Buddy 2 are working at the same level.  This includes both PC control and Scripting.  I need to some more testing of the script interface, especially the loading of a Script, but after that I may declare victory and move on to the Android software.

The Light Buddy 2 implementation was much easier and went relatively fast. 

This is the LED Control GUI.  You will notice that is very similar to the first picture in the post.  The programming method used is that the GUI controls everything.  The GUI offers what the capability of the hardware is.  All of the underlying programming and communication knows nothing about the hardware.  There is a limit set on the number of LEDs and Motors this software can control and going beyond that makes no sense in the context of what this product set is intended for.

As an example, the Light Buddy 2 has six LED channels it can control and all of the are identical.  The Brick Buddy 3 has ten LED channels.  Nine of them are identical.  The LED 10 is just ON/OFF.  The GUI in the first picture shows that the Features and the Brightness are not available for LED 10.  The drop down control also only has OFF and STEADY in the box.  But after the choice is made for LED 10, the underlying software and firmware in the hardware, has no idea that there is a limitation.  

The Microchip PIC firmware is built on the same premise.  There is are multiple common modules that implement the control.  This control then passes through an abstraction layer in the firmware that implements the control on the hardware.

The scripting follows the same concept.  If the capability is not there, it is not available in the GUI.

I am hoping that this common interface will it make much easier for individuals to use this.

Brick Fest Live - San Diego

 

 

Well it is about month to go befor the next Brick Fest Live event.  This time we will be in San Diego CA, Aug 26 and 27 at the San Diego Convention Center.  You can buy tickets here.

I have been expanding the floating platform and improving the cliff wall.  I will be posting more on these features in the weeks and days prior to Brick Fest.

For now let's keep building.😀

Floating Platform Detail

 

This is going to be a quick update and mostly pictures of what is happening on the floating platform.  My intention is to add one more landing pad and this T-Interconnect.  I spent some time working on the control building that will sit on the T-Interconnect.  

First off it is easily removable as this shows.  There are only four studs on each side that connect the building to the plate.  The raised area in the back and just behind the stairs will self center the building when attaching.  The main reason for this is transportation.  It is much easier to move the plates on their sides.  Thus the building must detach.

And now for some pictures.

This is a picture of one side with the surface texture applied.

These two are the other side.  You will notice that the bule power tank is half empty, as indicated by the clear section.

This is the back.  the entire landing area was cut out of the rock, only this section still shows the rock surface.

Here the Maintenance Team is working on connection the flood light.

And these two are installing one of the large screens.

The engine test stand from the last post, in the setup position.

The engine test stand deployed for testing.

A scout ship coming in for landing.

A long view.

A final view.  There is still the entire inside to detail out.  This is still days away from being done.

Some Train Stuff

 

 

The ETE EuroWest Train show was in San Carlos.  I have not been able to go for the last few years either because it did not happen or I was otherwise occupied.  So this trip was very much anticipated.  I had a limited amount of time, so I did not take too many pictures of everything.  

I took these two because there is something I will be doing.  That is a roadway across tracks and probably in a curve.

And here are some pictures from previous Euro West shows.

I did purchase a few things.  There is no doubt that Marklin Train hobby is more expensive than the Lego Hobby and just as consuming.

This is the oil refinery area.  There is suppose to be 2-3 more refineries in this area.  I do have them, but they are of unknown state.  Plus the one that is there, has issues.  I managed to find one at the show for $25 which is about half of what I had paid on Ebay years ago.   And I found another large tank that may go somewhere or be used for parts.

I am always looking for rolling stock and new engines.  I found a nice BR50 (37844) for $125.  Not a bargain basement price, but decent.  To go with this was a collection of Electrotren (Spanish) tank cars.  These were $10 for the short ones and $15 for the long ones.  So I got one long Aral tank car, 3 short Aral tank cars and one short tank car of Shell, BP, and Esso.  That was seven cars in all for under $90.  I am happy.

This shows three tank car trains.  The closest is a Marklin Texaco train.  The middle train is mostly a Marklin Aral train (plus a Minol) with a BR81 engine.  The far train is the one I just purchased.  The BR50 engine and 5 Aral tank cars.