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I had an idea but I have no idea how to make it work. I wanted to make an abandoned wind farm terrain set for 40k. The catch is I want to have the blades actually move. I was thinking with some kind of extremely low rpm motor but I don't know how to make that happen. Any suggestions?

If you wanted to have several windmill, you could just get a normal motor, and use rope or small chain so that they all run off the same motor, and then you could gear down the motor by using different sized cogs top and bottom of the mills.

Or you could get some of those cheap little hand electric fans that old ladies have. Swap the blades out fir something more suitable add some weights to slow it down - Hey presto!

Why not see about using legos for the fan? A motor with a small gear connecting to a large gear for the fan blades would slow things down. (Belts and wheels are also and option).

You could make a functional lego core for the piece, then use more conventional materials to provide the body work.

+1 Crazymez

Normal motor for all blades, just gear it down.

CrazyMez wrote:If you wanted to have several windmill, you could just get a normal motor, and use rope or small chain so that they all run off the same motor, and then you could gear down the motor by using different sized cogs top and bottom of the mills.

This.

Using a "fast" motor and weighing it down is begging for the motor to die. Gear it down and it'll last just fine.

You can also lower the speed by using less voltage...

Put a variable resister in circuit. and set it to what you want

^ The simplest way to do it without messing about with gears and such.

I've seen educational solar powered "windmill" kits (i.e a small solar panel which produces just enough power to turn a lightweight propellor). So long as you'll be playing in bright conditions, they could be handy, and save on batteries/wiring.

find an old video game controller. the "feed back" system should be a pretty good choice. The speed can be controlled by voltage i believe. Remove the weights strap on some fans and get a voltage controler for the whole thing. devise a way to add batteries. to the system. Xbox conrotller would suite.

What sort of look are you after ?
This one ?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Crazy-Joes-Junkyard-Wind-turbine-sci-fi-25-28mm-scale-/350425985459?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item51970431b3

Lionel sells them in 4 packs, and they move