This is the animated and lighted O-Scale Firestone sign next to Lefty’s Lightning Fast Service Mobil station on the layout.

This is an overview of how this sign was made from off-the-shelf products for about $20.00 

Parts:

1. Bowtie – Used Acrylic (clear plastic) sign holder (~$1.50 Amazon).
2. Tire – InkJet print on 60# Photo Paper mounted on 1/4″ foam core
3. Motor – Micro 300 Gear Motor 29RPM Slow Speed Mini 32 mm Turbo Worm Gearbox Gear Reduction Motor ($2.31 Ali-Express)
4. Connector – 2-Channel 2A Hollow Shaft Slip Ring ($5.72 Ali-Express).
5. Power – LM2596 DC-DC Step Down Buck Power Convert Module ($3.60 Amazon).
6. Sign Pole – 3/16″ brass tube ($4.91 Amazon) Note: This is enough for 4 signs.

Craft Supplies:

1. Pole Connect – 4-40 Helical Coiled Wire Thread Sleeve Insert ($7.39 Amazon)
2. Pole Connect – 1.25″ 4-40 machine bolt and nut ($1.50 Lowe’s/Home Depot) 
3. Lamp – 3mm LED (30pc $6.99 Amazon)
4. Power – 12V Power Supply ($11.99 Amazon)
5. On/Off Switch – Toggle Switch ON Off SPST (8pc. $8.49 Amazon)
6. Bowtie Logo – Sheets White Inkjet Waterslide Decal Paper (20 sheets Amazon $11.99)
7. Spray Paint – Rust-Oleum Silver Spray Paint ($5.98 Amazon)
8. Rubber o-ring. 

Assembly:

1. Connect the Motor to the Slip Ring and Pole
   1. To connect the pole to the motor I tapped the step motor for a 4-40 machine screw (it was a metric thread and I just re-tapped it for my 4-40).
   2. Apply Blue Loc-tite to the 4-40 bolt and screw into the step motor. 
   3. Cut the screw leaving 1/4″ exposed. File the rough end.
   4. Super-Glue CA the Helical Coiled Wire Thread Sleeve into the 5mm Brass Tube.
   5. Cut a 1/2″ piece of plywood approximately 2″x2″ and drill a 3/4″ hole in the middle of the plywood with a forester bit.
   6. Use 3 small screws to screw the slip ring into the top of the plywood base.
   7. Attach the stepper motor to the bottom of the plywood with a couple of #6 screws.
   8. Insert The brass tube through the slip ring and screw into the 4-40 attached to the stepper motor.
   9. Mark the brass tube just above the Step ring.
   10. Unscrew the Brass Tube.
2. Paint the Pole – Spray paint the pole silver.
3. Install the LED
   1. Drill a 1/8 hole in the side of the brass tube just above the slip ring.
   2. Feed the 2 wires from the slip ring into and out of the top of the tube.
   3. Cut the LED leads to no more than 1-2″ long. 
   4. Solder the Positive side of the LED (Pay attention to the polarity) to the Resistor and solder the other end of the resistor to the red wire. Shrink-wrap the positive lead, resistor and positive wire connection.  
   5. Solder the Negative lead.
   6. There is no need to shrink-wrap the Negative wire. Test to verify your LED is working.
   7. Fold the wires into an S and push the wires connected to the LED back into the tube. With the s-bend you are stuffing 4 wires into the tube. 
      
4. Assemble the Sign
   1. Cut two pieces of acrylic to match the Firestone Bowtie shape.
   2. Sandwich 3/16 square balsa with Glue to the two pieces of Acrylic, leaving a 3/16″ gap at the bottom to allow the LED light to pass into the sign
   3. Paint the edges red to match the color of the waterslide transfers.
      
   4. Inkjet print the Firestone bowtie graphic on waterslide decal paper, seal with flat clear, and attach to both sides of the sign.  
   5. Clearcoat the Waterslide to seal the ink.
   6. Inkjet print the Tire graphic 2X and glue the graphics to 1/4″ foam board.
   7. Cut the foam board to the round tire shape.
   8. Fill the edges of the foam board with lightweight spackle. After the spackle dries, sand and paint the edges black.
      
   9. Cut the top and bottom of the tire to fit above and below the bow-tie.
   10. Drill a 3/16″ in the foam core out of the bottom tire to allow the LED light to pass into the sign.
   11. Glue the tire pieces to the top and bottom of the bowtie.
   12. Drill a hole for the LED light to pass into the sign.
       
   13. Glue a rubber grommet to the bottom of the sign. The Inside Diameter should be small enough to grip the pole.
       
   14. Place the sign over the LED.
5. Connect the Power
   1. Connect the LED to a switched 12V DC power circuit
   2. Connect the 3V DC Step Down Buck power converter to a switched 12V DC power circuit
   3. Connect the stepper motor to the 3V output of the power converter 

For our layout, the slip ring and motor assembly was glued to the 1/4″ masonite base that acts as the gas station parking lot. A 2″x2″ hole was cut in the deck of the layout so the parking lot would sit flush on the deck of the layout. Flip the switch and the sign lights up and spins.

This is the animated and lighted O-Scale A&W Root Beer sign on the layout.

This is an overview of how this sign was made from off-the-shelf products for about $20.00 I was gifted the mug by my neighbor and had everything after item #5 below in my craft supplies.

Parts:

1. Mug – Used small plastic beer mug keychain (~$4.00 eBay). Used is better as the resin in the mug tends to darken with age. I found new ones on Ali-Express for $2 but they were yellow.
2. Motor – Micro 300 Gear Motor 29RPM Slow Speed Mini 32 mm Turbo Worm Gearbox Gear Reduction Motor ($2.31 Ali-Express)
3. Connector – 2-Channel 2A Hollow Shaft Slip Ring ($5.72 Ali-Express).
4. Power – LM2596 DC-DC Step Down Buck Power Convert Module ($3.60 Amazon).
5. Sign Pole – 3/16″ brass tube ($4.91 Amazon) Note: This is enough for 4 signs.

Craft Supplies:

1. Pole Connect – 4-40 Helical Coiled Wire Thread Sleeve Insert ($7.39 Amazon)
2. Pole Connect – 1.25″ 4-40 machine bolt and nut ($1.50 Lowe’s/Home Depot) 
3. Lamp – 5mm LED (30pc $6.99 Amazon)
4. Power – 12V Power Supply ($11.99 Amazon)
5. On/Off Switch – Toggle Switch ON Off SPST (8pc. $8.49 Amazon)
6. Logo – Sheets White Inkjet Waterslide Decal Paper (20 sheets Amazon $11.99)
7. Spray Paint – Rust-Oleum Silver Spray Paint ($5.98 Amazon)

Assembly:

1. Connect the Motor to the Slip Ring and Pole
   1. To connect the pole to the motor I tapped the step motor for a 4-40 machine screw (it was a metric thread and I just re-tapped it for my 4-40).
   2. Screw a 1″ or longer 4-40 bolt into a Helical Coiled Wire Thread Sleeve Insert a
   3. Take a 1″ or longer 4-40 bolt, thread three nuts onto the bolt and fix the thread insert on the end of the screw making the 4pc a single unit then screw the threaded insert into the post. Cut the screw leaving 1/4″ exposed. File the rough end, and remove the nuts.
      NOTE: I did not have the Coiled Wire Thread Sleeve Insert so I drove a 1″ long bamboo skewer into the bottom of a 6″ piece of the brass tube. I drilled a pilot hole in the bamboo skewer and threaded the machine screw into the skewer. This resulted in a slightly angled post which is visible when the post is turning, this is why I recommend using a Sleeve Insert.
   4. Cut a 1/2″ piece of plywood approximately 2″x3″ and drill a 3/4″ hole in the middle of the plywood with a forester bit.
   5. Press fit and glue the slip ring into the top of the plywood base.
   6. Insert The brass tube through the slip ring and screw the 4-40 into the stepper motor.
   7. Attach the stepper motor to the bottom of the plywood with a couple of #6 screws.
2. Install the LED
   1. Drill a 1/8 hole in the side of the brass tube just above the slip ring
   2. Cut the Slip Ring leads to 1″ and Solder and shrink wrap two 6″ long 30 gauge (super-fine) wires to the Slip Ring leads.
   3. Feed the 2 wires from the slip ring into and out of the top of the tube.
   4. Cut the LED Leads with a resistor installer to 1-2″. Solder the LED to the 30 gauge wires connected. Pay attention to the polarity. This is a good time to verify your LED is working.
   5. Push the LED back into the tube.
      NOTE: I used the slip ring wires soldered directly to a prewired LED. So to push the LED back into the tube I had to pull ~1″ of wire back out of the small drilled hole at the base. The excess wire was wrapped around the bottom of the brass tube and hidden with a water bottle cap painted silver to match the pole. This is why I recommend using a 30 gauge (superfine) wire so you can push the extra wire back into the tube without pulling the excess out of the bottom.
3. Paint the Pole – Mask the LED and spray paint the pole and base silver. 
4. Mount the Root Beer Mug
   1. Print the waterslide decals and attache to the mug
   2. Drill a 7/32″ hole in the base of the beer mug
   3. Get a rubber washer that will fit into the base of the beer mug. Mine was 3/4″ OD.
   4. Punch a 5/32″ center-diameter hole in the rubber washer. Note: I drilled mine with a 3/16 drill but left the excess rubber that was left after drilling. In other words I did not “clean” the hole. The extra rubber allowed the washer to compress on the brass pole.
   5. Cut a slit in the washer and wrap it around the pole 
   6. Slide the washer up and press fit it into the base of the mug. The goal is to have the washer grip both the pole and the mug so no glue is needed at the top.
5. Connect the Power
   1. Connect the LED to a switched 12V DC power circuit
   2. Connect the 3V DC Step Down Buck power converter to a switched 12V DC power circuit
   3. Connect the stepper motor to the 3V output of the power converter 

For our layout, the slip ring and motor assembly was glued to the 1/4″ masonite base that acts as our A&W parking lot. A 2″x3.5″ hole was cut in the deck of the layout so the A&W parking lot would sit flush on the deck of the layout. Flip the switch and the sign lights up and spins.

In Oasis Palms a 45-ton diesel switcher was used in the 1950s and 1960s as a tourist attraction. A single ore car with a fake gold ore load and a few open-air passenger cars were paraded through town each weekend day to promote the Oasis Palms scenic railroad tour. For $2 passengers could ride the train that rode past the Barco Gold Mine and took a lap around the scenic railroad above town.

These GE Transportation 45-Ton diesel switchers were built between 1940 and 1956 and were one of the first diesel-electric locomotives to enter service in the USA. Large numbers of “Switching” locomotives were built not only for large railroads; they were also found on smaller railroads as the sole motive power. These little switchers were found just about everywhere: large industrial sidings, on dockside tracks at seaports, quarries, mines, steel mills, lumber yards, and everywhere that required a railroad car to be moved.

To recreate the Barco Mining Company switcher, we started with a gifted Lionel 6-18930 Switcher. These little switchers came from the Lionel 6-11813 Crayola Activity O Gauge Diesel Train Set made in 1994-95. The top is bright yellow and the base is green. Our donor came from an activity set gifted to me by a friend whose children had played with the set when they were kids.

The switcher was easily disassembled by removing the two screws on the bottom (one in the front, one in the back). There are also two screws also hold the direction lock switch in place. (This switch is used to fix the direction of the motor so the track power will not put it in neutral and then reverse.) The Crayola logos were removed by wet sanding the shell with 400 grit sandpaper. The only modification I needed was to add weight to the cab by adding a 1/2 steel nut in the trunk and attaching flat steel plates where the front coupler used to be located. The added weight helps the little switcher stay grounded on the track as they a pretty light and can tend to jump around when pulling such a small load.

The shell and base were spray painted with Krylon Satin Black. I like this finish as it creates a slick/smooth surface that is good for applying water-slide decals. After reassembly, my custom waterslide decals printed by Fusion Scale Graphics were applied to the switcher. Finally, a coat of Krylon Satin Clear was added to seal the decals.

 

The finishing touch was to scratch build an Ore Cart. The cart was made from a single K-line truck attached to a 1/4 plywood base. The sides were built up from coffee stir sticks and the entire assembly was stained with a Minwax Walnut stain pen. The ore is a load of Chic Grit and is the same rock I plan on using as ballast to finish the track on the layout.

 

The single car ‘consist’ is short enough to stage on the single 10″ FasTrack spur that is in the corner of the layout back in the Barco cavern. The open-air passenger cars are in the works.

Once a well-kept secret, the Barco Distillery later became a tourist attraction in its own right. Every train entering and leaving Oasis Palms had to travel through the caves and passengers would see the old moonshine operation turned-legit distillery in full production daily.

Situated in the caves directly below the Flamingo Motel, the Barco provided heat and water to the buildings on Vista Drive.
THe

The Barco Distillery was modeled using a K-line Santa Fe box car to mimic the replacement of the original Old No 5 box car that burned in the fire in 1948. The Distillery was made from a kit-bashed Menards Moe’s Cycle Shop. The still is a 3D-printed item sourced from Etsy and the loading dock was scratch-built from coffee stir sticks.

Moe’s is a simple building and has the added benefit of being shallow. This is a trick Menards does with many of its buildings so they will fit in narrow train layout spaces.

The building was liberated from its base and stripped of all the glued-on graphics. The second story was removed using a rotary tool. A flat roof was made from 1/8″ hardboard and I took a picture of the roof and photoshopped roof panels to match the overhang roofing.

New graphics were created and applied. The interior is a view of a whisky tasting room with a bottle of No. 5 in the front. The No5 poster was added to the front of the building and the large Barco sign was added below the eves.

A coffee-stir stick floor was added to the box car and lights were added to the front of the box car, inside the box car and over the door on the side of the distillery. Flickering LEDs were added to the trash barrel and inside the still. The Distillery eve lights were dulled down by coloring them with a black Sharpie marker.

Fashioned after the original Graceland Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, NV the Oasis Palms chapel was built in the 1950s to facilitate wedding-based tourism to the small desert town. The proprietor of the Flamingo was also an ordained minister so after you checked in, if desired you could get hitched next door.

The chapel is an original 1950’s Plasticville CC-8 Country Church with the belfry. The church was painted off-white and the roof and widows were given a wood finish starting with flat black, then brown and dusted with cream. The windows were covered with multi-colored transparent plastic to mimic traditional stained glass and the interior was fitted with a strip of LEDs in the roof to illuminate the glass from the inside. The picket fence is from Woodland Scenics.

Across the tracks from Cliffhanger’s is the Flamingo Motel. Built in the late 50s on the site of the original Oasis Palms Hotel and Hot Springs Resort, the Flamingo Motel offered the best views of downtown Oasis Palms.

The pool was heated in the winter and was fed from the natural hot spring next to the train station. The water was piped in through the caves and re-heated with a coal-fired furnace below the pool. Room #3 on the first floor next to the pool had a trap door in the bathroom that led to a staircase to the furnace and Barco Distillery in the cave below.

Just behind Lefty’s turn left off Barco road onto Vista Drive which takes you up the hill to Cliff Hanger’s Trailer Park, the Flamingo Motel, and the Graceland Wedding Chapel.

At the top of the hill and across the tracks, you will find Cliff Hanger’s Trailer Park. This is where the last mayor of Oasis Palms and great-grandson of the town founder, Floyd Smith lived before moving to Slab City, CA. During the late 60s and early 70s, Floyd hosted many famous guests at his trailer under the stars.

The moon rising over Cliff Hangers…

Very little is known about the small business called the Atomic Jackalope. Located at the west entrance of town on Barco Road next to Lefty’s service station and just outside the tunnels that lead into the Barco mine, originally the Atomic Jackalope was just a trailer with broken down VW bus and a hand-painted sign that said “Space Station”. The Proprietor known as “Uncle Bill” would scour the desert for asteroids and other mystic rocks and offer them for sale in his front yard.

Uncle Bill was said to be a colorful character who would tell visitors about other real and mythic residents of Oasis Palms. When asked why he moved to Oasis Palms, Bill told people he was headed to Joshua Tree for a Mystic Convergence but this is where his bus broke down.

Later to improve the entrance into town, a custom sign was gifted to Uncle Bill by the Oasis Palms Chamber of Commerce. The sign was painted by Hanna Barberra’s famous illustrator Kenneth Muse. The Rocket motif was designed to take advantage of the public’s fascination with space travel and the Jackalope was based on an early version of Muse’s Richochete Rabbit. Together they became the Atomic Jackalope.

Uncle Bill’s VW bus never moved again desert flowers grew up all around it and became a fixture in his front yard. Occasional visitors and friends would use the bus as a place to camp. They open the roof and take a space trip under the desert stars.

Officially named “Lefty’s P-38 Lightning Fast Service”, Lefty’s Garage may be the most famous building in Oasis Palms. Lefty was the great-grandson of Cameron Smith and flew a P-38 Lightning in Africa during WWII. After the war, Lefty returned home and was trying to promote tourism in Oasis Palms so he purchased a decommissioned P-38 and mounted it as a canopy above his gas pumps.

Heavily promoted by billboards on Route 66, Lefty’s P-38 Lightning Fast Service became a mid-century “selfie” spot for tourists. Later artist Larry Grossman immortalized Lefty’s in a popular Lowbrow painting.

Lefty is credited with building the Oasis Palms Scenic Railroad and was a prolific entrepreneur and promoter. When Mobil refused to allow him to become a distributor, he started getting bulk fuel from Texaco delivered on rail cars and Lefty then began supplying fuel to service stations along Route 66. No one was ever sure what brand of gas Lefty was selling, but Lefty always had gas.

There are multiple iconic Oasis Palms stories attributed to Lefty.

1. Lefty added the mid-town railroad loop (essentially cutting the town in half) just to make it less expensive for him to take delivery of bulk fuel to the back of his service station.
2. Lefty stopped the building permits of the A&W as a year-round structure to prevent competition with his wife’s Hotrod Diner.
3. Lefty blew up the Barco Distillery still and subsequently burned the Oasis Palms Resort Hotel to the ground to make room for the track to be laid to access his Oasis Palms Scenic Railroad loop over Oasis Palms.
4. Lefty got into a fight with the owner of the Flamingo Motel and erected the huge Mobilgas neon sign on his roof simply as spite to block the Flamingo guests’ view of the plateau and downtown.

In Midtown on the east side of Main Street across were the A&W Drive-in and the Hotrod Diner.  The diner was built by the Smith family in the 30s shortly after the theater was completed. The A&W was the last building built in Oasis Palms. It was built in the 1950s on a postage stamp-sized lot with limited access off Oasis Road.

To get to town from the East automobile traffic came in on Oasis Road. When leaving town Oasis Road took visitors out of town under the railroad bridge, out past the Vulcan Gold Mine site, and then finally reconnected with Route 66 in Danby California. This was the last remaining buildable spot when an entrepreneur from Northern California approached the Smiths asking to build an A&W franchise in Oasis Palms.

To reduce competition for their family-owned diner, the Smith’s issued building permits for an outdoor dining establishment. As an outdoor-only establishment the A&W was only open in the summer after dark as it was too hot to sit on the stools mid-day and in the winter it was only open for a few hours in the middle of the day while the sun was shining as it was too cold to operate after dark. Despite the setbacks, the A&W was popular with both the locals and visitors to town.

The Hotrod Diner was a classic diner converted from a scrapped railroad diner car purchased from the Santa Fe Railroad. Owned by Lefty and Molly Smith, it was originally named Molly’s but was rebranded in the 50s to take advantage of the popularity of the newly emerging California car culture.

The Horod diner was open 24 hours a day 7 days a week and sat at the corner of Main Street and Barco Road. Being caddy-corner to Lefty’s garage and featuring a full bar and liquor license, it was the most likely spot to find Lefty at any given time.