Several, but they are cast into resin figures so not usable here. We do have 20 dogs (including the “flat car” itself) and five peoples on the car.
And of course myr Nikon D50 camera went out even with a brand new battery and card in it. 
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Final Talley:
Slow motion motors - Amazon, Three for $9.99
9.8" x 5.1" PCB boards - Amazon, Four for $12.29, but, only used two, so $6.15
16MM x 3MM magnets - Amazon, Ten for $9.99, but only used four for $4.00. BUT five broke and Amazon issued a full refund, so $0.00
3MM x 2MM magnets - Amazon, 200 for $5.99, but only used 12, so $0.36
Super Glue - Amazon, One dispenser for 3.29
Total - $19.79 x 1.0775 sales tax = $21.32
Everything else was either sitting around unused in the garage for years because it just didn’t “fit in”, was an old raffle prize, “repurposed” from the railroad, or printer filament, which I’ve had since Nov 2024.
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California is 1.0775 % sales tax?
Unincorporated Orange County (92705) where I live is:
https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/rates.aspx
You know what’s being discussed….
The bags contain pure gold! Why else would we bother to haul them around with us?
Now if is was a Cava bag, I would expect there to be $50 grand in there.
Three dogs are sitting at the vet’s office.
The first dog turns to the second dog and asks, “What are you here for?”
“I’m a digger. I like to dig stuff up and make a mess. But when I dug up my owner’s prize rose bushes…, well, she figured that maybe I would stop this behavior if she had me cut. What about you?”
"Well I’m a pisser. I piss on anything and everything I see…, the car, the furniture…, everything! But when I pissed on the cat, my owner said ENOUGH you’re getting fixed!
So they turn to the third dog and ask, “What are you in for?”
“Well…, the other day my owner was in the shower. It was all steamy in there and she accidently let the towel slip. I just couldn’t help myself…, again and again!”
The second dog turns to him and says “So snip, snip huh?”
The third dog turns to him and says, “No, I’m here to have my nails clipped.”
EMBARK DOG PARK
In the past few years, we had taken in a couple rescue dogs and these now take most of my time and attention. In addition to the garden railroad, one of my other passions is vintage Corvettes. So why not “merge” dogs and cars?
One takes their dog to the “dog park” expecting a park-like setting with trees and grass to play on. But when one takes their car to the “auto park” they expect something quite different, such as parking spaces and even a parking structure. So…, what if:
The plan was to have two dogs circle a fire hydrant; one peeing (yellow-colored fishing line) while the other is “scratching” his butt. Additionally, two dogs were to tussle over a bone and I wanted the railcar itself to have some animation. Other dogs would be “parked” like cars, both in lined spaces and, less formally, in the “parking structure.” The railcar itself was to resemble a dog walking along the tracks and a structure would be necessary to conceal the workings.
The model is based on an LGB 2065 European diesel that has had the body removed leaving only the chassis, motor, electronics, and lead weights. The weights serve double duty as heat sinks and these needed to remain leaving a “channel” down the center of the car. All animation toward the front would have to run through this channel.
Two 9.8-inch long, perforated circuit boards glued together serve as the basis for the build allowing me to very accurately locate the various components, screws, wires, etc. Plus, the holes are all predrilled, at least as starters. A 2-foot piece of railroad track was stripped of its ties and the two rails were glued to the outer edges of the board to provide support and stiffness.
The area for animation was determined and double-sided Scotch tape applied to the surface. A thermal-laminating pouch was opened and the “glue side” painted with watercolor paints. These did not stick/brush well, and the sheet was later given a light coat of green spray paint to obscure the clear. This was applied to the tape surface and pressed into place. But ultimately, there were a few wrinkles even though any trapped air would expel through the PC board. A Teflon-coated “Monocote” iron (used to put the skin on model airplane wings), came to the rescue and I was able to iron the entire surface totally flat “energizing” the glue on the thermal laminating paper. For the dogs to move unimpeded, the surface has to be very smooth and clean. Even an errant spot of glue will throw off the animation. Using Crafters Goop in these areas, rather than CA, I was able to simply peel away any excess encountered. All other areas were to be covered in brick. I think the end result came out as well as I could have expected.
Three slow motion motors power the animation. The two dogs circling the hydrant are moved by rotating magnets under the circuit board with magnets glued to the dogs’ feet. The motor is located in the shed and a belt runs the length of the car turning a pully with the magnetic assembly attached. This, and all other pulleys, were 3D printed.
Similarly, the two dogs tussling over the bone use a slow-motion motor, but in this case the “pulley” converts the rotary motion to a linear motion and magnets under the deck pull the dogs’ feet, also with magnets, back and forth.
Finally, the tail is moved by the third motor causing the “stem” of the tail to oscillate back and forth as the “pulley” circulates. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million.
The body, “nose” and hind quarters were 3D printed from ASA filament. This is the most resistant filament, is not-biodegradable, and has an unlimited life span. The body was obtained as free on-line clip art (jpg) converted to stl format though a free on-line program that will basically converts most any image format to any other format:
Using Paint, I first split the jpg image into the head, hind, and body sections knowing that I was going to have to stretch out the body. I then converted each of the three pieces from jpg to stl format and used the 3D printer’s (Bambu X1C) software to stretch out the body while keeping the height and depth as is. The three pieces were glued together and brass channel was added along the inside of each side allowing me to attach the sides to the circuit boards/rails while providing support for the 2-millimeter ASA sides of the railcar. Detail was done up in CAD, colored, and added to the body. The headlight was contributed by a Bachmann tender. The tail is 0.006-inch-thick brass sheet cut out with a scissors.
The “tongue” was also a converted clip art image printed very thin (0.6 millimeters). The piece was then colored and bent to shape by laying it over a jar and heating it with a blow drier while “working” it with the back of an X-acto blade. The boards/sides/nose/tail assembly was then attached to the LGB chassis using double sided foam adhesive tape placed atop the lead heatsinks.
The railcar is currently occupied by 19 dogs and five people. People come to park their dog for the day while mulling about town or just going about their business. Some opt for the longer-term or overnight covered parking in the structure. We are a full-service facility, factory trained in servicing Mack Bulldog equipment, and carry the right Purina Chow to fuel even the most fussy of rides.
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