Thinking About Hogwarts Castle

I thought about adding the Horntail dragon to the hogwarts roof and low and behold:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...an-horntail/30078852

It says that the display is 7 inches, but I figure that's with the case, so the dragon itself is 5 - 5.5?  A bit large but Doable. The Detail is amazing.  

I think Barnes and Noble regularly has coupons that we could apply to this. Right now there is a 15% off 35 dollar purchase w/ code MOREISMORE.  Personally, I'll wait until the coupon hits 25-30% off. I just need to find suitable figures now!  That Quiddich set was tempting...

I finally finished the hogwarts puzzles.  Scale wise a tad smaller, like what was already said but not too bad. Definitely works when put on a hill. Any bigger and you would really have to dedicate some real space to it.  I took someone's advice and taped the puzzle pieces together and was glad that I did. 

Now, onto finding the figures! 

Nice job on the puzzle.  Looks perfect size for the background.

Wow, that Hogwarts model is impressive. Oh to have a lasercutter of my very own....

Also, it appears we'll have to wait until the fall for the Knight Models Harry Potter miniatures to be released.

https://www.knightmodels.com/h...k-lord-has-returned/

Ballz2 posted:

I thought about adding the Horntail dragon to the hogwarts roof and low and behold:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...an-horntail/30078852

It says that the display is 7 inches, but I figure that's with the case, so the dragon itself is 5 - 5.5?  A bit large but Doable. The Detail is amazing.  

I think Barnes and Noble regularly has coupons that we could apply to this. Right now there is a 15% off 35 dollar purchase w/ code MOREISMORE.  Personally, I'll wait until the coupon hits 25-30% off. I just need to find suitable figures now!  That Quiddich set was tempting...

We put the Dragon over one of the tunnels... Roger found the Dragon on Ebay:

Happy Tracks!

Traindame aka Dorcie Farkash
TW TrainWorx
Dallas, Texas  USA
(214) 634-2965
www.trainworxlayouts.com 

I have added a couple of items that I have acquired since I first posted my little Harry Potter vignette that I set up on my O gauge loop.  Mr. Weasley's Ford Anglia has now landed beside Platform 9 3/4, and it looks like a dragon (possibly a Hebridean Black?) has joined the fray.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I found the Ford Anglia on eBay.  I haven't figured out how to use the extra Harry and Ron figures that came with it yet.  Perhaps I can work in a Time-Turner Device so that Harry and Ron can reverse time, see their previous selves and save the day as Harry and Hermione did in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." 

The dragon I picked out from a group of dragons for sale in the Tudor Gift Shop at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR where my wife and I attended several plays last week.

Cheers!

Alan 

Cool. They sell a time turner key chain thing at universal studios and even cheaper on eBay. 

Nice Alan,

      The scene is really coming together.  Perhaps a piece of Lemax vinyl cobblestone under the whole thing would really bring it all together?

Apparently Lionel will be releasing another Hogwarts Express lionchef set (this time with bluetooth).  So it appears that they still do have license to the property.  I went ahead and contacted lionel support, asking to sell us accessories!  You guys should do the same.  Hopefully, if there are enough of us asking, they will do something by Christmas time!

http://www.lionelstore.com/Hog...ss-LionChief-174-Set

Ballz2 posted:

I finally finished the hogwarts puzzles.  Scale wise a tad smaller, like what was already said but not too bad. Definitely works when put on a hill. Any bigger and you would really have to dedicate some real space to it.  I took someone's advice and taped the puzzle pieces together and was glad that I did. 

Now, onto finding the figures! 

The puzzle castle looks great!  Thank you for posting photos!!

The castle in the story intrigues me more than the story itself.  I'm not much into fantasy, but our grown daughters and their husbands grew up with Harry Potter and friends, so I bought one of the LionChief sets for Christmas.  The young adults all like it, and I like it a lot too!  I wouldn't mind getting a castle, but as you mention, I don't know where I would put it.  I do think the puzzle option may be an option for us too.

Thanks Mark!  FYI, the puzzles were a real chore to put together because, the way that they package it, the puzzle have ALOT of junk pieces that you have to pick out and throw away.  Also, because the pieces are made of this foam type material, they can get loose so I recommend taping the walls together.   Needless to say, this is gonna take some time. 

Luckily, when I decided to buy it, it happened to be on sale on amazon for 27 - 28 bucks each.  Good luck!

Ballz2 posted:

Thanks Mark!  FYI, the puzzles were a real chore to put together because, the way that they package it, the puzzle have ALOT of junk pieces that you have to pick out and throw away.  Also, because the pieces are made of this foam type material, they can get loose so I recommend taping the walls together.   Needless to say, this is gonna take some time. 

Luckily, when I decided to buy it, it happened to be on sale on amazon for 27 - 28 bucks each.  Good luck!

Thank you for the tips!!

Hey guys, I know most of us here have the train set already but it just went on sale for 200 bucks.  Its the historical low.  

https://www.amazon.com/Lionel-...ativeASIN=B01C35QNMS

Ballz2 posted:

I thought about adding the Horntail dragon to the hogwarts roof and low and behold:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...an-horntail/30078852

It says that the display is 7 inches, but I figure that's with the case, so the dragon itself is 5 - 5.5?  A bit large but Doable. The Detail is amazing.  

I think Barnes and Noble regularly has coupons that we could apply to this. Right now there is a 15% off 35 dollar purchase w/ code MOREISMORE.  Personally, I'll wait until the coupon hits 25-30% off. I just need to find suitable figures now!  That Quiddich set was tempting...

That would make a really hot head end  load for a flatcar on the HW Express.

Interesting idea.  You could put him in a cage on the flatbed so its like they are transporting him around (like they did in one of the books).  FYI, they were sold out at my local Barnes and noble but I noticed a similar item was sort of heavy.. with the case though.  I'm not sure the puzzle's roof will be able to handle the weight...

Ballz2, it would be so cool to add a small gear motor with a stiff wire to your dragon, to make it slowly dip itself forward and back, like it's looking for the train to come out of the tunnel.

Dave Zucal posted:

Ballz2, it would be so cool to add a small gear motor with a stiff wire to your dragon, to make it slowly dip itself forward and back, like it's looking for the train to come out of the tunnel.

I'm thinking of doing something similar for a number of my scenery pieces, like the Whomping Willow, my Quidditch players (using an old turntable motor), 12 Grimmauld Place, and Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes in Diagon Alley.

In other news, finally about ready to begin construction.  Here's my mock up for the entire display:

Now its just down to actually constructing that.

Here's my forum post on the process.

Ballz2 posted:

Hey guys, I know most of us here have the train set already but it just went on sale for 200 bucks.  Its the historical low.  

https://www.amazon.com/Lionel-...ativeASIN=B01C35QNMS

Wish I would have found that about a week ago before I bought my set on Ebay, though I can't complain because I didn't pay that much more than the Amazon price.  It's almost tempting to buy a second one for a backup at that price.

kj356 posted:

I have always been looking for buildings and figures to add to the Lionel train since it came out. As I do many model train displays a year and would like a Hogwart's theme display.

This is what I have to date.  The 3D Puzzle 2 building sets came out recently and can be found in stores that sell puzzles. While I would like something with more detail I put the 2 puzzles together in a week and used glue and sticks and cardboard behind each wall to add strength and glued to a wood base with the green grass covering. The other buildings I found at Walmart near the start of the Hogwarts's craze. The figures have been an issue I have looked a long time for something suitable but nothing on the market, these over sized head figures were on the tops of pens that I chopped off.  Perhaps we could get Lionel to make a figure set to go with the train sets like the Polar Express figures they make? I also took photos of the Hogwart's castle in Florida with the idea that I could use this as a backdrop to the train set as a large poster size image, but the puzzle sets will do for now.  Click on the photos for a larger view. The platform with cart was from Hallmark a couple of years back, bit oversized.

These are the puzzle buildings and engine that are currently available.

http://www.wrebbit3d.com/products/27-harry_potter

Ok guys I came across the little pop figures that kj356 had and decided to pick them up.  Even though I was going for something less cute and more realistic, let me just say that it fits better than I had imagined with both the puzzle and the train. The figures fits inbetween the train cars (I always thought the cars were a little boring so this spices them up). And using the lights in the castle I got them to "fly."   Anyways the cheapest I found them online was at GameStop for 3.99. I got some from target on clearance for 2.99 but I think I got lucky as they don't seem to have them online not at any other targets.  Anyways check out the pics!  

http://m.gamestop.com/product/...ter-quidditch/138881

Oh, now I see; the little people are made to fit on top of pencils.  That's what it's like now, our kids are grown but we don't have any grandchildren, so I didn't know what gamestop was.  The puzzle castle still intrigues me, but I don't know where I would put it.

Talking about the hogwarts puzzle, it looks like they are releasing another one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...&pf_rd_i=desktop

I'm thinking about modifying the roofs of one of the cars and remove some of the plastic to allow the window to show some figures through it. I wonder if I can cheaply order a replacement roof so I won't ruin the set...  

So I just found these at walmart, diecast metal and 97 cents each!  Online its 5 bucks each so i think its in store only.   It might be a little big - maybe 1.75 inches in height?  I'll try them at home to see.  Will update soon.  I hope it works cuz they have a bunch of different characters.. and they very affordable. 

Not sure if anyone follows this anymore, but the diecast metal figures turned out to be a tad too big.  Its almost 2x taller than the pop pen figures, which seem to fit the hogwarts express train perfectly (see pics from before).  The puzzle castle, scale wise, was already smaller than the train so the figures didn't quite work.  They would work on traindame's huge castle though. 

Speaking of puzzle castle, looks like its on sale again on amazon for 27 bucks.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The figures were only a buck so I'll probably keep them. 

Yes, I'm following.  Thank you for the tip on the puzzle sale!  It is tempting, I wonder how it would do in a hot attic when the special layout season is over.  I'm thinking of it for my 'temporary ' layout that changes with the seasons.  Shows how busy we have been, the Christmas building s and snow are still there!!!  The point is, Hogwarts could become one of the seasons, fall probably. Maybe I can find a place to store it in the garage.  Probably better than the attic!!

It's Christmas in July!  The Puzzle is this plastic foam material with paper graphics stuck to it. My guess is the heat would be fine, just as long as it doesn't get too humid or wet.  For 27 bucks, I'd try it. The other part of the castle isn't on a good sale yet, but probably by the time you finish that half, it'll go on sale again.  

Also, my christmas town is also still up too - I moved it to a corner.  It seemed like a shame to disassemble it.

Ha, seems like we are thinking alike; on this at least!

Well I ordered the puzzle castle last evening.  My wife loves to build flat jig saw puzzles, so we will see what she thinks of this one.  It will be cool running the Hogwarts train around the castle if that is all I do with it. Once my wife and daughters see it, I can come in and who knows what additions I will find!  

Great!   Good luck!  I'll keep my eyes out for a sale on the other half and let you know

Ballz2 posted:

So I just found these at walmart, diecast metal and 97 cents each!  Online its 5 bucks each so i think its in store only.   It might be a little big - maybe 1.75 inches in height?  I'll try them at home to see.  Will update soon.  I hope it works cuz they have a bunch of different characters.. and they very affordable. 

I picked up a batch of these.  I measured Arthur Weasley and he's about 38mm sole-to-eye.  That puts him at almost exactly 1/43 scale.

For the overall height in inches, he's 41mm which is just a smidge over 1 and 5/8 inches 

As you point out, they'd probably not work with some of the buildings that have been mentioned but it seems like they'd work pretty well in the foreground of alot of O layouts.   At a buck each I got every charachter I could find and I think I'm going to collect all of these if only for the possibility of doing some gaming with them someday.

Awesome.  Over here, I went to three Walmarts and I couldn't find Snape and Hagrid.  Also, I couldn't fit them inside the train, like I could with the funko pen tops, but you are right, I could probably position them in the foreground. 

Happy hunting. 

Were they in the toy department? I couldn't find them last weekend locally.

At my local WalMart they were in toys, on an end cap.   They were mixed in with some super hero die cast.

I think I saw Snape and Haggrad in one of the 5 packs.

Gene Anstine

Yep, the toy section.  In two of them, it was hanging near an endcap in a Nano box enclosure, mixed in with Marvel and other figures under the nano brand. In the super walmart I went to, there was a big box that they were in. 

So Nano is the brand name?  I'm totally out of it on action figures.  We just have adult daughters who never were interested in action figures.  No grandchildren yet either.

Nano metalfigs is the brand?  Its this one:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nan...ure-Year-1/184704363

Cool!  I'm going to take a spin down to the WalMart right now at lunch time.  Thank you!

oh, I got an email from the Big River that my puzzle should be delivered tomorrow 

Ballz2 posted:

Nano metalfigs is the brand?  Its this one:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nan...ure-Year-1/184704363

Yep "Nano Metalfigs" (from Jada) is the figure line but don't buy there. It's not actualy Walmart, it's a separate reseller "Toywiz".  If you're willing to wait, there's no reason to pay much more than a buck each.

Currently the line is only at 2 of the 7 local WalMarts around me. I was able to find about 2/3 of the total of 25 HP figures and 3 Fantastic Beasts figures that have been listed so far.  It appears that the line is exclusive to Walmart first but should be hitting wider distribution very soon.  Here's what's coming very soon from Entertaiment Earth:

http://www.entertainmentearth....etalfigs&eeshop=

Looks like there's a Hogwarts interior playset coming too...

There are still some figs not in the multi-packs, so I'll have to be patient and get the whole line at regular retail.

I'll have a review of the figs and more pics up soon on my wargaming club's blog. I'll let you all know when it goes up.

EILIF,

Thank you for the link to the Entertainment Earth.  I see the whole group scheduled for August.  I just got back from WalMart.  I got the last Harry and Draco at 97 cents each.  If I get the whole set later, you can always have 2 Harry Potters. Thank you!! 

Good find on that link.

Hmm reg price is 30 bucks for 20 figures.  I would've figured it would be cheaper to buy the set.  That's surprising.

That Gryffindor Tower playset is interesting with some pretty good detail. It probably won't work as part of the train set since its an interior shot. Still a good find.