I've always thought that PCs look like cities, and I love miniature city models. I also love model train layouts, and I've been looking for an excuse to build one for a long time. Throw all that together and you get the Micro City PC. (Video with train running and short video tour!) The build name refers to the micro ATX motherboard, as well as the Z scale (1:220) size of the model train. Everything is Z scale, from the train to the city and its surrounding cactus and trees.

I carved the landscape base from a 24" x 24" x 12" block of high density polystyrene. The desert landscape idea came from the tower formed by creating the 360 turn through the tunnel. The tunnel was necessary to add a second level to the train layout and the second level was necessary just because it's better that way. The landscape shape and coloring is a combination of the pink rock of Bryce Canyon and the rock towers of the Colorado National Monument.

I cut and assembled the case out of Lexan polycarbonate sheet, and I used brass corner brackets, hinges, and a lid handle to give it an antique look. The building with the RGB LED lighting is covered with about a hundred little heat sinks. The green tower is made out of six old DDR2 memory modules and some capacitors. The lighting is run by an Arduino Uno and powered by a modified Molex peripherals cable connected to the EVGA power supply. The train controller is powered the same way. It took a lot of soldering and crimping wires, but I wanted everything to turn on with the computer. Only the PSU cord is needed to supply power for the whole build.

This was my first model train layout and it was not easy. There's a limit to how much slope the train can climb without spinning its wheels. I spent a few weeks just trying to get the train to go around the track. To reduce the slope, I had to add a second story to the bridge that runs across the front of the layout. I 3D printed all the bridge pieces and gorilla glued them in place onto the styrene layout block.

If you want to see posts of the build process, see #microcitypc on Instagram.

Why did I do this? Because I love building and playing with PCs and trains. Life is short, and now I can do both at once!