David Koudys' LEGO Animation

Dave Koudys has been working on animating a LEGO classic space vehicle. His work has come to fruition...

First he shared some of the preliminary mechanization with us... going in a circle is hard enough...

but he's managed to do a dogbone covering 3 Classic Space grey baseplates.

Here it is in action:


And here is the mechanism that does the magic:


Dave is also working on a crane/gantry/repair bay:


Animation is a great way to make displays more exciting and keep crowds interested.

Dave's work, like that of many other hobbyists, no doubt takes inspiration from and builds upon earlier work, like that of the GMLTC (members animated a mine truck) and Steve Ringe of MichLTC, who has animated cars in a street, including two way traffic. Both of these earlier works used the general principle of a magnet moving beneath the baseplate that "couples" to a magnet on the vehicle being animated, but the drive mechanisms differ.

What have you done in your displays to improve crowd interest? Or if you're not a LEGO builder, what sorts of animation do you enjoy the most?