Photographers
This has been a long-desired effect. I had plans for one as early as the White River & Northern IV, and later the Black River & Western. I'd thought about including one for the Mountain Vista quite some time ago, but I'd pretty much given up as I simply could not find a viable site for it. Then, as I was wrapping up the Davis Inn, I realized the front yard would be large enough to host a wedding party. Perfect.
What's the "special effect" about the wedding party? There's a line of people with flash cameras. Push a button, and they flash randomly. But... flash in the daytime? Natural sunlight is terrible for portraiture, so knowledgeable photographers will use flash to reduce harsh shadows. Now, granted, they'd also wear suits to a wedding, but we don't need to go there.
To create the effect, I utilized a circuit board I'd pulled out of an old toy from the 1990s; I'd originally used them to create the "ski racks" for the police cars at the accident scene on the WR&N IV (above). I still had a few of the circuit boards left, plus I have loads of pre-wired cool white SMD LEDs, as well as a surfeit of Preiser figures. One circuit will drive up to five LEDs; thus I could have five people lined up shooting the wedding party.
My first chore was to drill #80 holes up through the photographers' feet (above); this would keep the wires aligned with their legs, and also assist with mounting them. After scraping away the paint on the fronts of the cameras, I glued the LEDs in place, then patiently waited until everything was dry. Then I made a small base from a scrap of sheet styrene and bonded the Gang of Five in place (below); this gave me far more control over their installation than if I'd tried to drill all of those holes precisely in finished scenery.
Notice how the guy in the center just elbowed the head of the fellow next to him—this was not planned, just one of those happy accidents that adds humor to a scene. Also notice how all of the wires disappear when it's all viewed from behind, which is how they'll be installed on the inn's front yard, right behind the fence.
The main members of the wedding party are posing on the inn's front porch for pictures. I was going to line them up on the lawn in front of the photographers, but they'd have been too close together; being up on the porch is more interesting anyway. Check out the couple on the steps who are so into one another that they're oblivious to the goings-on.
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