Halloween 2017

jhz563 posted:

cswalter posted:

Nice! How do you like the Halloween Mikado?

I have not heard from anyone else who bought one.

The Paint looks really good on these.

 

Only thing I don't like is that the orange paint was a lot glossier in the catalog, I was pretty disappointed that it didn't exactly match the advertising.

That being said it is my first LC+ Loco.  I wish the volume was just a touch louder, but that is personal preference.

With those small things out of the way, I really like this engine.  The blue tooth control works flawlessly.  I may never put batteries in the remote.  The bell is a deep church bell sound.  The whistle and other effects are great too.  I will post some video in the next couple days.

 

Regarding the sound level issue your remote may be different than what they've shown in the instruction because mine was like that on a different Lionchief set so in order to turn up the volume instead of hitting the whistle and the bell button at the same time and turning the power up you push the shift button on the microphone for sound you hold that button-down and then turn the power button clock wise all the way up and then let go of the shift button and you're all your volumes should go up hope that helps.

Joe Gozzo

jhz563 posted:

Joe, that looks great!  I won't have nearly as many goodies as this is my first time around.

Adratic,  that area is to become a tunnel. Once the outer wall sections get glued together I do intend to cut another hole looking in.  This should add visual interest and allow for a hand to reach in without taking the top off, if needed.  The top of the tunnel/ mountain still needs to be resolved in my head but I have plenty of material to play with. The top portion will get some dowel rods for alignment but otherwise will lift straight up to handle the inevitable derailment in the tunnel and make the finished product easier to move through doorways.

Thanks I appreciate the kind words it's taken many years to acquire those items either by buying them or making them but I'm glad you enjoyed it I really like your idea with the engine coming through the school that was pretty cool thanks for sharing that.

Joe Gozzo

   I didn't like the Crusader's looks in the sales photos but it looks really good when surrounded by a proper setting. 

I feast the same way, thought orange was gonna shine

How about this ghostly AF layout ? 

Successful glue job over the weekend 

The Glidden Gripper works very well.

Here is the unit base standing on edge.

Now, time to make a mountain top!

Love these Halloween theme layouts - so creative!

The thread inspired me .......

Two cars and some rolling vignettes aren't done yet, but I haven't given up..

...the ghost 

That's Casey Jones engine pulling the coffin tender  and caboose  though not as a tender yet.

Giant sharks in the Great Lakes region; Erie.... 

I wonder what DNR would have to say about that pole...

"..of course, I am Batman!" 

I dont have enough track to run the R.I.P. Generals too, they get a year off.

(....the witch is for NQDY Nichole, still her's .)

Adriatic

In the first photo, is that some type of skull mounted to the headlight of those two locomotives?

nycoolbreez posted:

Adriatic

In the first photo, is that some type of skull mounted to the headlight of those two locomotives?

Two of them. I suppose Thomas gets some credit too, but someone posted the train cover from the Dark Tower/"Gunslinger" series and I ran with it. The first is a hand painted scull on half a bubble gum machine's prize bubble, trimmed to fit the boiler front on PW (1 screw on these 2) chosen because I shopped for goodies too soon in the season. The 3d engine is from a dollar store skeleton trimmed to fit the same size hole/notch. (both Hudsons 2046 and 

The casket tender(earlier posts) is a gift box.

The skeleton's body served as the skeleton. I was going to invert the thing to chest up and load logs like a skeleton car sould have, but the webbed ribs covered too much of the wood.

I thiink the boiler faces would make a cool 3d printing novelty. Jack o Lantern , vampires, Rudolph, Santa, a bunny, a leprechaun, Uncle Sam, etc.

Since then, a piles of left over bones has found a home, and some black/brown paint and a pinch of putty for hoods ought to change these Holy Roller folks into a candle wielding cult pretty easy

I still need a stake car of wood for for vampire stakes and something silver.

If I get really bored I have a ton of "ivory" plastic beads that with some putty and fiber could become a gondola of garlic. 

Oh, all the shots are not posted here. I've posted a few in " What did you do on your layout today" and once in "a shot in the dark" I think.

Still making mountains.....

Little helper in high gear this morning 

Happy Halloween �� 

Halloween train at home on my permanent Halloween layout.

Jim R. posted:

Halloween train at home on my permanent Halloween layout.

Permanent Halloween layout. You sir are my people. That’s what I’m mid building. I demand a layout vid  

Same train at the Milwaukee Lionel Railroad Club.

Getting closer....

Looking killer 

Pennywise11788 posted:

Looking killer 

Hoping to paint this weekend.  After looking over my inspiration photos I decided I didn't want any flat vertical surfaces.  So last night I attacked the mountain faces.

I also bought some spray bottles and a cheap can off off spec black-ish latex paint.  I intend to water it down and use the bottles for the base coat on the mountain face and edges.  Then i will use rattle cans and whatever other method strikes me for accent colors.

  Craft acrylics available at just about any dept. store (Wallyworld, OK-Mart, etx) are my fav. 60¢/89¢ (sm) to just under $3 (lrg). 

Careful with the spray on the foam and laytex. You should test first, and let it sit overnight . And/or light mists then dry time to avoid paint reactions.

Here is a little something for Halloween.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx47qrH1GRs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOFCQ2bfmHw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBfxl_T6ldg

Photos of 2017 to follow in a few days, still building it.

John P,

I actually had to play Purple People Eater for my oldest son last week. He thought I made it up!

Laid down a base coat on the vertical surfaces tonight. Pictures aren’t great quality.  This was done by watering down some dark grey latex paint with about 1/3 water, 2/3 paint, applied with a squirt bottle.  

Tomorrow I will check it out in the daylight.  If it looks half decent I will start with some accent colors.

 The last thing will be laying light-ish brown on the horizontal areas and sprinkling ground cover.  At this point I have completely missed any self imposed deadlines, but making it ready by Halloween night is still well within sight 

John Pignatelli JR. posted:

Here is a little something for Halloween.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx47qrH1GRs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOFCQ2bfmHw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBfxl_T6ldg

Photos of 2017 to follow in a few days, still building it.

Added photos of the new 2017 Halloween layout,

How about a Halloween version of Disney’s Castle? It looks so cool during the Hocus Pocus show that plays evenings of Mickeys not so scarey Halloween Party. Saw it in person last year.

Plus the intro is a rather contemporary version of Donovan’s-Season of the Witch.

https://youtu.be/_j44KESxvHI

Original Donovan song

https://youtu.be/JAzTnsSgs2s

The pink base was driving me nuts to look at.  I painted it a medium brown I found in the garage, just finished a few minutes ago.  Looks like tomorrow I will be adding some color to the mountain, with hopefully dry brushing Tuesday.  

I love how this mountain face came out so far!!   If I was trying to make a dark mountain for something a Lord of the Rings set I might stop right here.  I have some chocolate, red, and yellow to add a bit of color. Hopefully it a little dab will do without making things too cheery.

jhz563 posted:

The pink base was driving me nuts to look at.  I painted it a medium brown I found in the garage, just finished a few minutes ago.  Looks like tomorrow I will be adding some color to the mountain, with hopefully dry brushing Tuesday.  

 

Looking good. I enjoy the updates you've been posting. I might have missed you telling us, but why that square cutout? What's it for?

ogaugeguy posted:

jhz563 posted:

The pink base was driving me nuts to look at.  I painted it a medium brown I found in the garage, just finished a few minutes ago.  Looks like tomorrow I will be adding some color to the mountain, with hopefully dry brushing Tuesday.  

 

Looking good. I enjoy the updates you've been posting. I might have missed you telling us, but why that square cutout? What's it for?

 

 

Thanks for the feedback, it’s been much more enjoyable to share as I go instead of doing this totally alone.

 The square cut out is for a specific accessory, I think I will keep you in suspense just for fun.  Every thing should be clear by the weekend!

Looks great!

What did you use to mark up the smooth sides to the foam? 

I’ve gotten satisfactory results on the edges, it’s the smooth sides that are the killer!

thank

BK

nycoolbreez posted:

Looks great!

What did you use to mark up the smooth sides to the foam? 

I’ve gotten satisfactory results on the edges, it’s the smooth sides that are the killer!

thank

BK

  I used a hacksaw blade dragged at a 90° from normal use to cover a whole lot of area pretty consistantly. Then carved and scrapped further with saw blades, exacto, steak knives, and my favorite, a serrated butter knife.

(his smooth cuts are a hot wire tool)

   My foam work was purely experimental, so I didn't didn't want to bother stacking, and just used "flat vertical walls". Plus the thickness would have killed my " close quarters"  intentions  Not the best look, but still good enough I expanded on it. I do black, the semi-dry brushing of two greys. Dark first, then highlights are lighter and brush drier.

It is hard to NOT make foam look decent imo.

nycoolbreez posted:

Looks great!

What did you use to mark up the smooth sides to the foam? 

I’ve gotten satisfactory results on the edges, it’s the smooth sides that are the killer!

thank

BK

Thanks much.  I tried the knife bit but wasn’t having much luck.  I had some good luck for material removal  around the edges with 60 grit sandpaper.  But the majority of the material was removed a pumice stone, normally used for taking care of rough skin. By using the edges and varying the amount of pressure, I was able to simply drag it on the surface to rough it up.  Once the top layer is off you have to be careful not to dig a trough!

I added a few halloween items to my halloween float!!! 

Still going strong. Nice ideal adding your floats. I picked up a few gondolas cheap on fleabay so I could do the same

Took some pics and some video of my Halloween collection running on the my layout. Had some fun setting up the lighting. Unfortunately, the camera app on the pone isn't great in low light. Oh well. 

That video above is epic. Some nice cars there. Been looking for the blinking pumpkin car for a while.

top notch man

Pennywise11788 posted:

That video above is epic. Some nice cars there. Been looking for the blinking pumpkin car for a while.

top notch man

Blinking pumkin car eh? That explains it. 

I just thought he had really dirty track      

Boo-tiful 

Enjoyed the video. How did you create the thunder and lightning effects?

Dad's - that's some pretty epic Halloween work!

So for my little project, last night was the last night of painting. (Thank Goodness!)  Actually the painting was pretty fun, One thing I did learn is that you can't really do it wrong, so just enjoy what comes out. 

Here is the mountain piece before and after "dry brushing"

I think for a non-Halloween layout in the future the objective will be to use a lighter color base coat.  I am sure I will also try different method for sculpting and roughing up the surface.

Below is the overall shot before and after dry brushing.  The after picture was taken using the flash on my phone, so the foreground is a little extra washed out.  

Looking forward to moving on to track and decorating.

Pat Kn posted:

Enjoyed the video. How did you create the thunder and lightning effects?

Hi Pat Kn,

The thunder/lightning is a Halloween sound effects CD through PC speakers and also hooked to a box that I bought awhile back that flashes light to music, or in this case the thunder crashes. I connected a shop light and a strobe light to the box for the flashes.

Thanks everybody for the Likes and Kudos. 

 Lighter color base coat; I brushed two coats of Kilz 2 as my surface coat on the pink foam layout I built 

Following along with a build by Jim Policastro, I built this back in 2010. It appeared in OGR Run 245. The layout has been popular with River City 3 Railers fall displays. Over the years, the scenery took a beating. It got a face-lift this year. Last night was the second of five displays planned for this year; Trunk-or-Treat at Wave Church. This afternoon, Trunk-or-Treat at River Road Church. As Jim alluded to earlier, this will be on our front porch again on Halloween delivering the candy to the children. Next Saturday at Ashland Train Day will be it's final appearance for the year. We'll be setup in the Henry Clay Inn.

Update: As of today, the train has "delivered" over 18# of Halloween candy.