I know I'm late to the topic and don't want to take anything away from the original post, but related, a good friend of mine who is big in 3D printing and electronics made this Alien Abduction 3D printed model roughly O scale. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDEYqk9pSOU
I know, not as cool and not motorized, but maybe inspiration code wise for an even more show stopping LED sequence.
The code library used https://github.com/jethomson/ReAnimator-demo
The 3D print and final project is based on this https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3492682 and here is the revisions made to the original design by James https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3661093