Most of us would be pretty happy with ourselves if we made one of those neat “epoxy river” types of art for our home. Not so with prolific maker [Peter Waldraff]. [Peter] is a skilled craftsman with a penchant for hiding model railroads in everyday furniture and fixtures. To this end, he’s created what he calls the Hidden Epoxy Railroad, which you can see in the video below the break.
The project starts with basic woodworking to build the frame, hinges, and the hinged epoxy river with its colored epoxy pour. Instead of stopping there, [Pete] continued by building a full N scale model railroad into the piece. The frame doubles as a backdrop complete with a beautifully painted scene with what we’re guessing is an N scale hot air balloon, too.
Of course, the skeptics among us might doubt whether the model railroad is fully hidden when closed. But one detail that Pete shared with us is that his wife never knew about the train portion of the build until their daughter pointed it out. She thought it was merely a piece of art for the dining room. Truly a great hack!
The entire build is documented on [Pete]’s YouTube channel, with its own 15 part build series. It’s definitely worth checking out. We’ve covered one of [Pete]’s hidden railroad builds before, so make sure you check that out, too!
Very cool!
Wot! No mention that the speed controller uses a 555 to generate PWM power to the track/train???
I’m thinking that now-days a lot of expense could be saved by using 3D printed plastic tracks and putting an 18650 in the locomotive and perhaps use one section of metal track to recharge.
cool!
Uh, N Scale. A 18650 could (just) fit into a N Scale 40′ boxcar (~19w x 22h x 80l). Practically there wouldn’t be room inside a loco with its drive mechanism. Then you’d need a wireless speed controller too. Plus more voltage, most N scale engines need ~10v, so three batteries.
Well this is hackaday so smaller battery bluetooth or wifi speed controller and dc-dc converter.
Great idea! I was thinking about something similar to this but I wasn’t sure how to get it out of my head and make it real. Thanks for the info.