Polar Express Cars Modified w info from Forumites!

Looks great!  I think i will repaint some mth Madison cars to save me the work of building the interiors... when i run out of current projects this century!

Outstanding job. Now you have to tackle the end of the Observation car.

Passenger Train Collector,

I have thought about it, but I don't know if I have the skill.  

 

Hey doug here is the thread I mentioned. merry christmas

simply beautiful!

Great job.

I plan to add Artista cab figures to the Berk as well. I am not confident I can do much more than that.

Beautiful!

 

Congratulations on making a really good set far better.  Frankly, I'm always pleased to see folks modify and improve on what LIONEL or the others make.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

The only way to make this thread better is for T4TT to explain how he did it.

Great upgrades to these cars!  If you do decide to take on the observation end, I can send you my online photo album of the build.  Photos are from when I did my obs car and Passenger Train Collector's.

What fire kit did you use?

Hi Keith,

seeing your work inspired me!  I pretty much copied what you did.  The only additional thing I did was strip the abandoned toy car of its oem plastic strip (which was a poor excuse for toys) and made that an empty coach.  I bought a bunch of 1:48 doll house toys, painted them and glued them in the combination car.  You can't see it in the photos but there are toy chests in the luggage storage area of the combo car.

 

The fire is not a kit, I scratch built it.  I took one of my wife's led candles and cut the tip of the flame off (good thing she doesn't visit this forum).  I installed Evans design flickering fire light inside the flame top.  I glued a few strands of a cotton ball on the flame-wisps of smoke.   I had to cut the 6 wires to the 3 leds because the board prevented the wires from being routed through hole I drilled in the roof.  After cutting the wires between the bulbs and the board I routed them through the hole and then soldered them back together.  That was a bit of a pain.  I used small twigs for the kindling and the uprights and crossmember for the coffee pot (berkshire valley).  The figure is from Artista, I gave him an ink wash for the 5:00 shadow.  I had the crate, it is die cast, but I had to cut it down to the correct height for the hobo.  the hobo was a bit of work, and everyone that saw the display loved the hobo!

Very nice mods.....especially like the way you got rid of those hideous tinted windows. They would  not be so bad if Lionel was consistent with the tint color.

 

Curious as to what you used for the clear windows and where you sourced it?

 

thanks, Pete