Most end tables that you might find in a home are relatively static objects. However, [Peter Waldraff] of Tiny World Studios likes to build furniture that’s a little more interesting. Thus came about this beautiful piece with a real working railway built right in.
The end table was built from scratch, with [Peter] going through all the woodworking steps required to assemble the piece. The three-legged wooden table is topped with a tiny N-scale model railway layout, and you get to see it put together including the rocks, the grass, and a beautiful epoxy river complete with a bridge. The railway runs a Kato Pocket Line trolley, but the really neat thing is how it’s powered.
[Peter] shows us how a small gearmotor generator was paired with a bridge rectifier and a buck converter to fill up a super capacitor that runs the train and lights up the tree on the table. Just 25 seconds of cranking will run the train anywhere from 4 to 10 minutes depending on if the tree is lit as well. To top it all off, there’s even a perfect coaster spot for [Peter]’s beverage of choice.
It’s a beautiful kinetic sculpture and a really fun way to build a small model railway that fits perfectly in the home. We’ve featured some other great model railway builds before, too.
What a horrible scale difference between the tree, the train, the bridges and the river.
Otherwise a nice project, i like the supercap solution.
It’s whimsical, fairytale, not supposed to be true to scale. Also the tree is perfectly to scale, trees come in all sizes.🙄
How to you clean it?
I’ve become more and more aware over time how some things can be really neat to look at but a massive pain to properly clean when the dust settles and the lint catches on all the little edges.
It’s taken the wind out of my sails a bit with some of these types of things.
Yeah, it’s a really fun idea, but either a big glass lid or just insetting the whole thing down into a shadowbox would make it a lot more practical, and keep you from having to glue that tree back in place once a month when you bump it.
Canned air really would be sufficient, or a vacuum cleaner with a soft brush attachment.
I want a desk-drawer train like Mr. Drysdale!
Question. Why the Rectifier on the DC Motor ?? Was thinking so you can turn the Handle either way?? The Narration says to convert AC to DC ??
Love the top, but what is up with that base? Why not just make the 3 legs straight and be done with it? Nah, let’s make them angled so it is incredibly top heavy and wobbly, then add this funky looking base with the weight so it stays upright.
I think this should be tagged as ‘train’.
ref: https://hackaday.com/2021/04/10/coffee-table-railroad-flips-to-hide-the-fun/
I was thinking that the coaster spot should look like a lake to fit in better.