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A Lights and Sounds Idea Question


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With model railroading having decoders for lights and sounds and operations,I had a thought of trying to incorporate a decoder in an airplane build to power Nav Lights,maybe some cockpit effects and possibly also sound like a Start Up and up to idle for a jet.

I have a Revell B1 in the stash and I have done a few Tamiya F16 Aggressors with LED Lights for nav and landing lights and was thinking of kicking the B1 up a notch.

 

Has anyone thought of this or even attempted it? I figure the decoder could be powered by a 12 Volt "N" Battery as it would just be for lights and sounds,,no motor strain.

 

Any ideas?
Phil

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There was a company that provided just that.  I did a search and couldn't find it.  Remember they had a helicopter that the nav lights would come on, then the cockpit followed by the sounds of startup synchronized with the rotors slowly spinning up.  It was years ago, so probably out of business.  But, I know it's possible.    

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I am not aware of any existing products, but it would be a pretty easy task using a small microcontroller board such as an Arduino - all you need is a board with 5-6 PWM-capable I/O pins and a bit of programming; which should be easy enough even for someone with no previous programming experience.

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FineScale Modeler magazine did an article in one of their early issues (1983/84) on this very topic.  I will see if I can locate it.  The author used a 1/72 A-10 for his subject.  I purchased all the necessary parts (except sound) at my local Radio Shack and built them into a 1/48 F-101B Voodoo. While I did not use a microcontroller board, I used a simple "bread board" and plugged steady resistor and an manually adjustable blinking chip into the board and wired the LEDs into the appropriate extra pin holes.  I used four AA batteries, two each in two tubes I built into the fuselage behind each engine nozzle, so I could replace them.  One amber LED sanded flat fit perfectly into the rear of the radar scope.  I painted it black except for some thin rings and one "blip."  It was set to blink on the same circuit as the anti-collision beacon.   I used a simple slide switch glued to the SAGE datalink antennae under the port engine; forward was off; to the rear was on.  Sound was not an option back then (circa 1985-86) but would have been a neat addition.  I purchased another set of parts and have plenty of old telephone wire, just need to find the article and do some research on the sound option.  I have a WAV file of a German F-4F taking off in full burner that is LOUD!  

 

 

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You may want to search through the flying model community... they do this quite often.   Go over to rcgroups.com and ask your question in the scale modelling forum.  

 

I've seen a few helicopters that emulate the startup sound (even the ignition).  As far as lights, I'm 98% certain there are several modules available that you should be able to easily stuff into a model. 

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4 hours ago, KursadA said:

I am not aware of any existing products, but it would be a pretty easy task using a small microcontroller board such as an Arduino - all you need is a board with 5-6 PWM-capable I/O pins and a bit of programming; which should be easy enough even for someone with no previous programming experience.

 

Second this.  And it's basically what any of the commercially available, cottage industry solutions will be - same chip, just on a PCB they designed themselves.  We've come a long way from Radio Shack.  

 

An Arduino Nano is under $2 from China:  https://www.banggood.com/ATmega328P-Nano-V3-Controller-Board-Compatible-Arduino-p-940937.html  It's about 2 x 1", though the Arduino Pro Micro is even smaller (and, like, $3)

An MP3 module is just over a buck: https://www.banggood.com/3Pcs-Geekcreit-DFPlayer-Mini-MP3-Player-Module-MP3-Voice-Audio-Decoder-Board-For-Arduino-Supporting-TF-Card-U-Disk-IOSerial-PortAD-p-981366.html (this is the exact same module Dynamic Scale Modelling uses)

LEDs sell for pennies on eBay, both traditional 'bulb' style and smaller SMD components.

 

There's a large community out there for Arduino, so if you can't find any ready-made code that will work for your needs, you'll definitely be able to find people to help you figure out what you want to do.

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Second this.  And it's basically what any of the commercially available, cottage industry solutions will be - same chip, just on a PCB they designed themselves.  We've come a long way from Radio Shack.  

 

And if they are indeed bothering to design a PCB themselves, they are making a serious mistake - with the availability of so many small microcontroller boards and Arduino variants in the market, it is hard to make a cost effective custom board for some task as trivial as coordinating a few lights and running sound effects for a model aircraft. 

 

I myself thought about adding a light/sound controller to the Caracal Models product line, but ended up deciding that the market was probably too small to bother. I may revisit that in the future.  What do you think?

 

Edited by KursadA
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The RC community has had these for years.

 

Some relevant links

http://modelsoundsinc.com/index.php - they apparently have aircraft sounds.

http://www.ramrcandramtrack.com/rcsound.html - I have one of these in a Midwest 1/12 Lobster Boat; the lighting is just on-off controlled.

https://www.harbormodels.com/sounds.html

 

 

 

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