Now here is something that has very little, if not absolutely nothing to do with trains. Here is a photo of a full moon rising over an unnamed but fictitious city in New Jersey on my layout:
Nothing in that photo is photo shopped or altered in any way. That is a 3D printed, fully lit, model of the moon. I was ordering something totally non-lunar related on Amazon, and their algorithm decided I needed to buy this. Out of curiosity I clicked on it. But my curiosity morphed into rabid interest when I read all the complaints….the model was only 3” in diameter. Now rather than get into an argument with myself and a calculation of how big an O Scale moon in the sky should be, I simply bought it because it’s cool.
This is what you get:
This is the back side:
The thing has an internal battery that is charged up by a USB power supply. (The cord is provided) That is the black plug you see. Fully charged, the moon will stay lit for 3 hrs. That little silver button activates the moon. Push it once you get a warm white moon:
Push it a second time, and you get a bluish white moon. This is the setting in the photos
Push it a third time and you get a yellow moon. Which is my grandson's favorite
Push it a fourth time and you get a dark moon
The moon is suspended on a thin thread. But I wanted to make the mount on the moon as unobtrusive as possible. I also needed to make the mounting connection removable so I can charge the moon up. (I don’t need to remove it to turn it on and off in place). So I made this magnetic based mount.
There is a 1/8” x 1/16” Nd magnet glued into a 5/32” OD styrene tube. The magnet sticks out the past the end, to make gluing easier. The tube continues some 3/8” past the magnet. There is a ¼” collar glued on the end of the tube opposite the magnet. Sand that collar after gluing so it is only about 1/16” thick. I drilled a 3/16” hole into the moon, and then counter bored that hole to ¼” diameter and 1/16” deep. I then glued the mount into the hole.
You can see that because of the counter bore, the mount does not stick out past the lunar surface.
The mounting thread is glued to a small finishing nail (< 1/16” diameter) that is cut down to about 5/16” long. That can be seen in the photo above, The other end of the thread is glued to a finishing nail that is pushed into the ceiling. Your approach may vary, depending on what kind of ceiling you have.
To install the moon, insert the cut finishing nail into the magnetic mount. The magnet is more than strong enough to hold the moon in place. To remove the moon for charging, hold the thread in one hand, the moon in the other, and pull them apart. By the way, the moon will spin for a good half hour after you mount it.
I have squelched any internal desire to have Apollo 11 orbiting the moon. Or having a Saturn V being launched from my Layout. At least temporarily.
There are many places selling this thing. Just Google “3d printed moon lamp.” They are available in a myriad of diameters and illumination color options. Some are dimmable, and controllable by a remote control, which would be useful.
If there was a pig farm anywhere near, it would be The Moon Over..........wait for it...........My-Hammy. 
I know, it was silly, but I had to give it a try. Besides, it's late. Maybe I should just go to bed. 
