Custom MTH polar express Madison cars

So what did you use for paint? Did you use a rattle can or an air brush? BTW, Great job on the snow effects!

Thank you! The red or burgandy is krylon rattle can, but the blue I mixed and sprayed with an airbrush. 

Great job on both the engine and the cars.  They all look fantastic. Thanks for sharing. Please share a picture the assembled train at Christmas!

Well done sir!

You are very welcome for the info I provided.  You did a fantastic job on these cars.  Hope you enjoy them for many years.

Thank you so much for all the help Keith! Hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving too!

Thank you so much Scott! I will definitely post pics around the tree. 

Your passenger cars look great. I really like the snow effect on the windows. Are you painting up a MTH loco also? Would love to see the whole set before Christmas if it can be done. Maybe even see it on a Youtube video. Thanks for sharing, again it looks great.

They came out great including the snow effect. I see you also modified the observation car too.

Would you please give more detail about how you did the snow effect?

Yes I did make the observation car. It was originally a regular passenger car. MTH doesn't make an observation car with an observation deck in their 60 footers. Only in the larger size cars and in their 027 size. so I had to cut the back off of the car.

Great job on the cars. I really like the snow effect.

I noticed you took your inspiration for the cars from Lionel version. This movie is a favorite of my grandchildren so we watch it often. About the 2nd or 3rd time watching I noticed Lionel got something wrong with there cars. Below is a still from the movie and you will see it. They put the name POLAR EXPRESS in the wrong spot on the cars. Some trivia that not many catch.

Thanks everyone, yes I decided to do what Lionel did haha believe me I thought about this very thing on the lettering quite a bit! lol 

Very nice, I hope we will see some pics at night with passengers riding!

I don't have passengers yet.. I've looked but I can't find children passengers. They're mostly adult that I've seen. I was thinking of painting adult passengers to look like kids but I really would just like to find kid passengers. If anyone has any suggestions I'd really appreciate it.

DAD,

    Use S scale men and women to look like O scale kids.

JohnB

I just checked eBay... Didn't see anything good. I'll keep looking tho. Thanks for the tip!

Here is what I did to make the observation car. Originally I was hoping MTH made an observation car in a 60 footer that already had a platform and I could just cut the platform off and install the Lionel one. But nope! They only make cars like that in the larger one and the smaller one so I had to cut the back off of a passenger car and then I cut the back of of the 60 footer observation car. I liked the door and Windows of the non platform observation car so I cut it and used it to make mine. I hated to do this because I wasted that car completely but I knew I'd never use it. 

Now keep in mind I had dreams of grandeur, and wanted to make a observation car like Keith's. But I've got a 3 year old and an infant, with limited time and I still don't know if I'm talented enough to do what Keith did so this is what I ended up with. I like it and it's around as good as what you'd get from Lionel as far as being close to looking like the observation car in the movie. I still would like to make another one that has the curved roof in the rear with a light, so maybe by next Christmas it would be ready.  I also ended up cutting the two posts for attaching the roof in the rear that are visible in the building stage pictures. I found another way to hold the roof on in the back there. Totally fun project and to think this all started because I bought the lionchief set for my sons first Christmas. There are so many great people on here to help with questions it's a great hobby! 

I love these.  They look great.   If you'd ever be interested in parting with these let me know.

Ah shoot that really is a nice compliment. I made them for my boys so I was hoping they'd have em for years to come.

I think you did a phenomenal job on these cars. They totally capture the look of the cars from the movie. Thanks for sharing. 

Thank you so much Phil! 

Again I have Keith to thank. I didn't know about wheathering powders until he answered a question for me on his YouTube vid and I almost used white paint instead... It would've ruined them. Hahaha 

Howdy friend! Your cars look beautiful! Any pointers you could give to help me with the snow effect would be really appreciated. My painted cars have come out nice, but I really like how well your snow affect came out! Thanks a bunch!! 

Well I missed this topic last November.  Very nice job, Wyatt's Dad!!  Thank you for bringing it back to the forefront with your question, Kurt!

Thank you so much. I hope to see yours on here too! 

Wyatts dad posted:

Thanks everyone, yes I decided to do what Lionel did haha believe me I thought about this very thing on the lettering quite a bit! lol 

Fantastic effort

I've always wondered about Lionel placing the lettering there as well. Looks like the newly advertised cars will have snow and lower lettering. Great job and hoping you'll enjoy them for a very long time!

Lionel is coming out with new cars??? 

Wyatts dad posted:

Lionel is coming out with new cars??? 

Pages 12 and 13.

http://catalogs.lionel.com/17c2/html5/

Yes, I've ordered a new set. But am planning on painting and weathering the roofs because I'm assuming they will come out of the factory looking pretty cheesy. I got an email saying pre orders are due this weekend. Also they're doing another run of locomotives. 

I did a google search on new polar express cars but I didn't have any luck! What gauge are they? 

Thank you

mike 

Oooops, I just saw your link.

ill have to wait until I get home to see them upcolose my iPhone won't enlarge the screen big enough. They look cool though!

They're O scale. Legacy station seems to have the best price. 150 per car for paid in full pre order. 

You did a great job with the cars.

Excellent.   I love the snow effects.   Looks very realistic!   Enjoy!

Thanks all! 

I just saw on YouTube the new Lionel polar express lionchief  cars and Berkshire. They added snow to the roofs and different sillouettes. and you can control with wifi now. Lionel did a great job it looks like! 

Nice looking set!

interested in more info on lettering. Did you have to peel and stick each letter or do they come off a carrier sheet already properly spaced and in line?

Wyatts dad posted:

I just saw on YouTube the new Lionel polar express lionchief  cars and Berkshire. They added snow to the roofs and different sillouettes. and you can control with wifi now. Lionel did a great job it looks like! 

Yes, I saw them too.  Super!  I would like to have them and the Berkshire, but the budget won't allow it.  They look to be well worth what they cost though, just so no one takes me the wrong way.  

I'll happily stick with the old conventional set.