Hey,

I've been collecting some material for a build I'm currently preparing and stumbled upon some microcontroller development boards that come at a very attractive price. This made me wonder if there would be any use for them in the scale modeling world.

My initial thought was using them for the following:
- control LEDs (e.g. position lights, fix or blinking)
- control DC motors (for moving propellers)
- sound generation (engine sounds)

Do you think this could be something people would be interested in? I'm thinking of a build blog of some kind with provided BOM, directions on how to extend the hardware/software functionality and the like.

This is a very crude idea right now so I'd be happy to hear more opinions.

Thanks a bunch!
Cristian

I have been looking into this as well, for a number of years, things have changed quickly in those years. Post what you have if possible.

I don't have much yet... I pretty much set my eyes on the ATmega32u4 and some low cost, ready-made H-bridges that can control both DC and stepper motors. As for the LED control, I'll have to find out how many can be driven directly by the ports simultaneously and if there are any ready-made boards for multiplexing them.

How far have you got with this?

Cheers!

I bought some Parrallax kits , I think they can be used for the controller suggested.

Never heard of these kits before but they certainly look interesting.

My focus was more on small boards that can be added inside the models.