The Doraemon layout - Page 2 of 4
Each building, built with a cardboard kit, has been customized and, in every window, I installed a system of my invention that allows you to view the image of the room with its own lighting. In this way, the processor, randomly, can turn on or off every single room (there are about 200) light, making the appearance of the laoput always different. This adds to it a very realistic appearance.
Through an appropriate programming, the processor is able to operate the many light circuits of the buildings, the street lamps, the traffic lights and the cars in a very efficient way, without going to slow too much the system performances because the processor itself must also manage the operation of train detection sensors and manage communication with the smartphone.
Cars were made by creating their 3D model. I chose some old Japanese models I had memories, like the Honda Z360 or the Honda T360, before moving on to something more recent moldels like Honda Civic 3rd generation, Honda City Turbo II, Honda CRX, Honda S-MX, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Crown. They are all models that remind me something from the past and are well suited to the adventures of Doraemon, whose manga magazines made their first appearances in Japan in 1969.
The cars are equipped with front and rear lights, made using optical fibers and couplers of my invention placed under the layout. In this way I got properly sized cars and brought the electronics to a position that made easier their installation and maintainance.
As mentioned before, also street lamps and traffic lights are 100% my realization. They contain SMD LEDs, controlled individually by the Arduino power outputs. The traffic lights are faithfully reproduced and are fully functional. The lights are synchronized and they replicate the color cycle for both cars and pedestrians.
For the most attentive observers, I have included an all-Nipponese peculiarity in the use of the green color that is sometimes replaced by the blue color. It seems that in Japan, in the past, there was no clear distinction in the indication of these two colors, whose name, in ancient times, was "ao". So I wanted to put this particularity in my model which, moreover, recalls the blue color of Doraemon!
Another detail that can't be missed is the fact that cars' rear lights simulate braking when the traffic light that precedes them becomes yellow, and then decrease in intensity when it turns green again.
