Hallo Charles,

wouldn't this circuit make the same?



Above circuit provides some advantages:

1. Only one capacitor is needed.

2. As a high ohmic resistor can be used to define the time constant, capacitor need not necessarily to be an electrolytic one.

3. As the 'GATE' signal is fed to the input of both gates, a true alternating blink performance can be accomplished, which might be useful for model railroad applications: Either the both LEDs are blinking alternatingly, or both LEDs are off, controlled by the 'GATE' signal.

Regards,
Kai