This Flying Dutchman Model Hides Arduino Innards to Offer a Convincing Light and Sound Show Too
With full instructions, schematics, and source code available, you too could have a haunted smartphone-controlled ship to enjoy.
Model-maker Miguel, of Modelismo Naval para Todos (Naval Modeling for Everyone), has put together a miniature replica of the Flying Dutchman with a difference: it includes an Arduino-controlled light and sound system, connected over Bluetooth to a smartphone app.
"The Flying Dutchman was Davy Jones' mythical ship that Disney rescued for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies," Miguel explains. "A ghost ship with a cursed crew that could only set foot on land once every hundred years. Making a model of the Flying Dutchman in wood is a real challenge because of the amount of imperfections and defects that must be achieved in the ship."
The model itself is produced from wood using plans created by a fellow modeler, Mellpapa, and scaled to 120cm (around 4') in length. The body is made from 6mm plywood, with the exterior filled and decorated with Fimo modeling clay.
It's what's hidden inside the model that impresses, however. "The fundamental idea with electronics is that we want to achieve the following objectives," Miguel explains: "Light candles in the aft cabin; light up the cellars; simulate the cannon firing; simulate the ghostly light of the ship. All effects are accompanied by sound [and] controlled from a smartphone."
The electronics package is based around an Arduino Mega 2560-compatible development board, a DFPlayer audio module with integrated SD card storage, STMicro IRG520 MOSFETs, and an HC-05 Bluetooth module for connection to the smartphone.
Once fully assembled, the craft impresses: Miguel has put considerable effort into decoration, and the light and sound show only enhances the effect — with movement the only missing piece to really get the ship screen-accurate. The base even includes the Kraken's tentacles, breaching the surface of the water and grasping at the ghostly ship.
Miguel has published a full build log with plans, schematics, and reciprocally-licensed Arduino source code to the Naval Modeling for Everyone website.