The Drive-In 

(page 2)

Well, as it turns out, that Art Deco Caricature thing was just too big. I had to tone it down a bit, so this is how it turned out in the end.  I made a new front panel for the box, and I cut a piece of plastic for the screen. I did not like the black LCD panel, so I spray painted the plastic white, then placed it in front of the LCD and although the screen is opaque and washed out, it has that projection look I was after.

I had to have a snack bar and projection booth so this is what I came up with.

The restrooms are at the back. I probably should have put lights in there, but I was not thinking.

I put some dim white LED's inside the projection room and the snack bar area, trimmed with just the right resistors to give the glow I was after. I did not want it to be too bright as the movie is playing after all. Notice the single speaker on the pole to the left of the snack bar. I made both single and double speaker poles.

I also needed a ticket booth, so I built a 2 lane booth. I still need to make signs and stuff, but I did get the interiors complete with people and ticket windows done:

At first I did not know what I was going to do about speakers but I came up with a way to laser cut some, that allowed me to make all the speakers, 125 cars worth, in less than an hour. I had cut them from 1/16" Basswood, and cut alignment notches above the centerlines for the pole. Then with all the speakers still in the piece of wood, I drilled through the center edge of the wood for the poles, and just popped them out of the wood ready to go. I super glued  .012" wire in each, then dipped in silver paint and laid on a paper towel to dry. They are a little large, but acceptable for now:

I took the module to the Pleasanton GATS, and although there is still stuff I want to add, it is acceptable for now. The plastic sheet that I sprayed white helps hide the fact that the screen is a dark LCD. Without the movie on, it looks pretty convincing as a projection screen.

 And the good news is, there was not a single stall or derailment on this module, which has Peco flex laid in a superelevated balloon pattern to give 10" and 11" radius turns, instead of the normal 9" and 10" that there would have been without the balloon. It earns the "Bill Housekeeping Seal of Approval" by club members.