Guess it's fitting then that I'm stripping M10000 (Marx) cars for my Disney monorail!
Becky
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Penny Trains THAIawatha!
THAIawatha!
Becky,
Very nice and colorful. You may want to send some photos to Roger Carp again. You did well with the December issue and could well score again. Great work.
Keep on training,
Mike C. from Indiana
Hiya!
After a year's unintentional hiatus, the Thai layout has returned! Happy new year!
A truly beautiful layout! Sorry you did not see trains in your visits to Thailand. The trip to River Kwai by train is a terrific experience that should not be missed! It is all diesel locomotives however.
Bob Osterhoff
www.trainpaper.com
Thanks!
It really looks great today against the 3 inches of snow that have fallen in the last 5 hours!
I really like what you've done.
Firesteel Becky, I just took a look at the 1966 Batman website that you provided a link to above. It sure looks like those folks enjoyed seeing your layout too. Who knows, maybe some of them will become interested in our toy train hobby. Karl
Becky, I just took a look at the 1966 Batman website that you provided a link to above. It sure looks like those folks enjoyed seeing your layout too. Who knows, maybe some of them will become interested in our toy train hobby.
Karl
We've talked about it here and there, and the boomers especially remember their childhood trains. But one of our members deserves to be singled out since he's a professional layout builder! He goes by the handle of hobbybuilder01 and his work is outstanding!
tailpipe62 This is beautiful! The temple in the middle takes me back to the main temple in Bangkok. You did an outstanding job. Patrick
This is beautiful! The temple in the middle takes me back to the main temple in Bangkok. You did an outstanding job.
Patrick
Ah yes, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Or as it's known in Thai, Wat Phra Kew, which is a name many westerners can't pronounce properly! Kinda like that island down south whose name (Phuket) sounds suspiciously like a swear word when many of us try to read it for the first time?
Just favorited it, thanks Ms B.
Heh-hem; Bob Keller are you out there....?
From the land of Drew Carey to the Garden of Eden! Yes I do love the Thai Culture, spent a lot of time there in the 80's. Still have friends that are there. They and others still use their hospitals...can't beat the care.
Thank you so much for the layout, you brought back a flood of fond memories.
India is the same. Beautiful open country, a deep ancient culture with what we would call squalor. I was just outside the city of Bangalore for 4 months studying Ayurveda.
Penny Trains Thanks! That's what you see all over Thailand, islands of incredible beauty surrounded by irrepressable urban blight and poverty. The Buddhist monks keep the gardens around the Wats so meticulously tended while on the streets food vendors dump their cooking grease right out on the concrete. The whole country is absolutely alive with some of the most wonderful people you could ever hope to meet. So that's what I tried to reproduce here, an island of beauty in the center of the mundane. And I say mundane because there's nothing particularly spectacular about my train collection.
That's what you see all over Thailand, islands of incredible beauty surrounded by irrepressable urban blight and poverty. The Buddhist monks keep the gardens around the Wats so meticulously tended while on the streets food vendors dump their cooking grease right out on the concrete. The whole country is absolutely alive with some of the most wonderful people you could ever hope to meet. So that's what I tried to reproduce here, an island of beauty in the center of the mundane. And I say mundane because there's nothing particularly spectacular about my train collection.
bogaziddy Sheesh! ... Where are my sunglasses? Seriously, great job with a toy train layout featuring a foreign accent. It's got me thinking about dropping down to a local Thai restaurant for dinner tonight. Hot Thai chili peppers anyone?
Sheesh! ... Where are my sunglasses?
Seriously, great job with a toy train layout featuring a foreign accent. It's got me thinking about dropping down to a local Thai restaurant for dinner tonight. Hot Thai chili peppers anyone?
Mmmmm...chicken satay........(Homer Simpson drooling noises)
scrambler81 Very cool, I love all that color. Can I ask - why Thailand? Just curious.
Very cool, I love all that color. Can I ask - why Thailand? Just curious.
I've been there twice, for medical reasons. (But of course, I can't discuss the specifics.) Needless to say those 2, 30 day trips made quite an impression on me. I spent all but maybe 4 of the 60 days in the small city of Chonburi, which is about halfway between the megatropolis of Bangkok and the resort city of Pataya on Thailand's southeastern coast. (The country is "U" shaped) I lived in a 4 star hotel for 30 dollars a day and only spent 10 bucks a day for excellent steak dinners! Can't beat that!
Anyhoo, this layout is a tribute to the friends I made along the way and all the people and places I'm just dieing to visit again. (Without the medical piece! ) But most importantly, I fell in love with Thai culture and Thai architecture. The whole Buddhist/Hindi lexicon that's developed there over the centuries is fascinating and many mythological creatures have been spawned by it. In short, I left my preconceptions at the gate and immersed myself in the culture and walked away with a greater understanding of how people on the opposite side of the planet live. The layout is supposed to be up by Chinese New Year, which Thais celebrate, but I haven't made it yet!
fifedog Ok, I really admire those palm trees! You have created a true train garden. Nicely done, Ms B.
Ok, I really admire those palm trees! You have created a true train garden.
Nicely done, Ms B.
Well, if you want to try your hand at them, they're not hard to build. All you need is a printer, some 65lb cardstock, scissors and Elmer's glue. Here are the parts:
I originally designed these to go with a model of Sleeping Beauty's Castle which is closest to S scale in size, but not exactly. (That model can be downloaded for free at DisneyExperience.com.) The original plan used pennies as base weights, but since then I've been using irregularly shaped bases made of foamcore. I also now recomend using hot glue for final assembly since it sets a lot faster than Elmer's. But you'll still need a thin layer of Elemer's for glueing the leaves front and back.
Firesteel Becky, your layout is very impressive. I always enjoy looking at layouts depicting other parts of the world as it adds variety to the layout themes we normally see. I also like the Batmobile.....but unfortunately I now have the Bat Music running through my head. Karl
Becky, your layout is very impressive. I always enjoy looking at layouts depicting other parts of the world as it adds variety to the layout themes we normally see. I also like the Batmobile.....but unfortunately I now have the Bat Music running through my head.
Come visit us at the 1966 Batman message board:
http://www.66batman.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl
We'll get your Bat-mojo working!
arkady Penny Trains: Mopeds may be a preffered method of transportation in Thailand, but I don't know about Hudsons! That's a nice and very unique layout, Becky. But the car is a Buick.
Penny Trains: Mopeds may be a preffered method of transportation in Thailand, but I don't know about Hudsons!
Mopeds may be a preffered method of transportation in Thailand, but I don't know about Hudsons!
That's a nice and very unique layout, Becky. But the car is a Buick.
Hey, you're right! I was going back and forth between the Hudson and the Buick and I ended up going with the Skylark because it was a convertible!
As for the lighting, I took advantage of a perk that comes from having a layout at ground level: natural sunlight. The layout is under a westward facing window and all I had to do was wait for sunset before I snapped the pics. Otherwise the only lighting in the room comes from the two CF bulbs in the frosted glass light fixture on the ceiling.
Thanks everybody!
That is a really beautiful layout! Thank you for sharing it with us.
J White
WOW, a very nice small layout and very, very colorful. You have done a terrific job in building your seasonal layout.
Bill T.
As for the Batmobile....I attend a horror movie convention here in Jersey twice a year, and there is a guy who parks his 1:1 scale Batmobile out front at every show. Always have to fight the urge to steal it so I can go out and fight some crime.
Hi Becky,
My wife and I love your layout! We both enjoy different and colorful themes. This layout is wonderfully unique and fun. The paper buildings are just great. Love the rail road crossing signs in Thai, so cool! We are just starting the scenery stage on our living room layout and most of the buildings will be paper. My wife is using the Model Builder software to create the unique buildings we need. Our layout is based in the alternate Lord Darcy World as created by the late Randall Garratt. Everything is steam powered or horse drawn and the year in 1986.
ps: love the Batmobile but I think I need to go get the Batman music as a mp3. It's running in my head now.
Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono
Very nice, I can almost feel the humidity and the mosquitos
Have fun with your trains
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