Halloween Village

[Brutus]

Maybe an old beat up blender would do it on chop mode?

[dougdagrump]

Jim, I used scrap pieces of 1x2 to make a rigid frame then just wadded up newspaper trying to achieve some sort of shape and size, wedged them into the frame and taped them in place. Next came some plaster cloth, some plaster of paris and just a little joint compound. Most of the stuff was leftovers from various past projects. [:o)]
[?] But now I have a question [?]
Since this is only goig to be up for a few days I don't want to make a major investment in landscape materials. To cover the homasote, between buildings etc, I was thinking of buying some of the cheap spanish moss, $1.48, at Michael's. But before putting any of it down I was going to try running it thru my leaf blower/vacuum to see if the impeller would kind of chop it up into much smaller pieces.
Any thoughts or ideas or comments [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [?] [:o)]

[Jumijo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dougdagrump

emmaandy, . . . You had asked about the rock background, they are just wadded up newspaper and covered with plaster cloth. The diagonals were done just to break up the horizontal lines a little bit and maybe another surface for some sort of decoration. [:o)] [:D]

Doug, you did that with only wadded up newspaper covered with plaster cloth?! That came out great! I'm going to try that technique on my layout's tunnel. I hope it comes out as nice as yours.

Jim

[FJ and G]

Tom,

I really like how you showed the entire process from start to finish.

Sweet!

[Brutus]

I ordered the Spooky Sounds boxcar which will complete my 2005 Transylvania RR. I have the bobbing ghost from the 2001 (?) releases. I was checking on ebay and apparently they had 5 cars that year, including a lighted bat aquarium car, but it is selling for about $100 on ebay. Is it really that rare? What is the trade price for this car? I ordered the Greenberg's book for 2006, but haven't gotten it in the mail yet.

[Anonymous]

Thanx doug

If you wanted when I visit I could drive my layout over. It is built in a 10 foot long trailer. I put windows in it for veiwing and it has a futuristic sci-fi theme. I am thinking of getting an external generator but for now it just needs one extension cord to plug it in and it's all set.

[dougdagrump]

emmaandy, You are more than welcome to come out to see it, when halloween gets closer I'll e-mail you my address. We have a lot of fun with halloween, even some of the neighbors come by and visit for awhile.
You had asked about the rock background, they are just wadded up newspaper and covered with plaster cloth. The diagonals were done just to break up the horizontal lines a little bit and maybe another surface for some sort of decoration. [:o)] [:D]

[Anonymous]

Neat idea Dougdagrump it will seem a little like that scene in "Fantasia" set to "Night on Bald Mountain". The sequence with the montain that turns to a demon and directs the phantoms to fly around. By far the spookyest part of that film.

I live in SD myself as a student and would like to see this layout if possible.

[dougdagrump]

I wonder how the Transylvania will look under blacklight, we use only blacklights in our "Haunted Garage" when we pass out the candy. Big Lots has a really neat animated gargoyle that we picked up about a month ago, I was going to use it outside over the garage door, motion activated. But I think that I'll make some sort of column in the back center of the layout about two feet taller than the other items so it can be kind of like a gaurdian. [:o)]

[Brutus]

Fired up my new Transylvania Choo Choo (ja, ja, track tventy nine, und can I gif you a shine?) this evening = terrorific! Can't wait to get the spooky sounds boxcar though! I've got the engine, caboose with spiders, and an older boxcar with a bobbing ghost so far - they are haunting my hobo set right now, pulled up at the hobo depot. Next weekend I think my wife is getting out all the Halloween stuff she picked up, including neat light-up trees from Hallmark, and the layout will start to take shape. I'll have to check the FAQ or something to find out how to post pics - or can you just upload them?

Anyway, thanks for all the inspiration guys!

[Anonymous]

Wow! That looks great Dougdagrump.
I love the rock work in the back. What is that material? The symmetrical diagonals look interesting, are those roads or steep grades? It bears an uncanny resembilance to the cardboard backdrop and plastic mat of the 1983 Lionel Black Cave Flyer that I coveted as a Dungeons and Dragons playing kid. On that back drop the tunnel entrances looked like rock monster mouths. Reall spooky. To me the Translyvania Flyer engine is the way the black cave train should have been. I wi***he next train set "shout out" Lionel does is the early 80's TRON inspired L.A.S.E.R. train set. A chrome with glow-in-the-dark high lights Phantom would be the way to go. Now come to think of it the Transyvania engine should glow too.

Very nice work. It is fun to see imaginative variations on the hobbies theme. It seems so much more creative than the same old things.

[dougdagrump]

The work on the layout has been temporarily halted, but should start up again saturday. My halloween 4-4-0, caboose and boxcar should be here next week.


[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[dougdagrump]

We were at one of the discount stores the other nite and they had some kind of squishy eyeball toys that would be good for maybe work caboose or small gondola loads. They also had some kind of skeletons that were made of some kind of slimey/sticky stuff.

[Anonymous]

I got my Transylvania Flyer 4-4-0 the other day and am very happy with it. I didn't get the caboose because I have always felt that car was not so great looking. But now I am having second thoughts. I would have been happier with one of those MPC era bobber cabooses.

As far as Skeletons, Mega Blocks toys has some sets that have some really nice poseable versions in their "Pyrates" toy line. They are Lego man sized and some sets have larger toy skulls too, along with some ramshackle scary bits.

I am thinking of running my General followed by some some log cars except replacing the logs with dried out chicken bones. Any other ideas for creepy loads?

[underworld]

jaabat Fimo and Sculpey are great for little projects like your pumpkins. They come in many shades of orange and yellow. You can also mix them to come up with custom or streaked colors. When you are ready it bakes in the oven to make them permanent. Available at most craft stores.

Everyone Has anybody seen little plastic skeletons??? I'm looking for ones about 3 inches tall for 1/32 scale.

Big Lots has a lot of Halloween houses and figures etc. Much like the Lemax line. Really good prices too! Check at different stores as I have found many store got different shipments. I also saw them setting up a display at WalMart the last time I was there. Some more stuff like Lemax....I got to go back and check them out.

underworld

[}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)][}:)]

[Jumijo]

Making scale pumpkins:

Last night my daughter and I decided to try our hands at making some pumpkins for our layout's farm stand. We made them out of Play-Do. The key, as Tom mentioned above, is that pumpkins come in different sizes. We made round ones, squat ones, tall ones, big ones, small ones. In no time at all, we had a good sized pumpkin patch. I used an exacto blade to score some vertical lines down each one. They look great.

Jim

[Jumijo]

Thank you, Tom.

[spankybird]

The good thing is pumpkins come in all sizes. K-line had some last year. BTW they are the same as Lexmark. Check out Michael’s.

Here are some that I have found over the past years

[Jumijo]

Does anyone know where I can find 1/48 pumpkins? My layout is going to be set in autumn, circa 1956, and I have a Plasticville farm stand that needs some pumpkins. If none are commercially available, what could they be made out of?

Jim

[dougdagrump]

Good news, the "SpookySounds Boxcar" is supposed to ship to dealers this week. This info comes from a Lionel dealer that normally posts Lionel shipments on another train site. [:D]

[dougdagrump]

Thanks Tom. [tup]

[tmcc man]

Hey spankybird,
those are good pictures. I am planning one right now, and will have it outside this Haloween for the kids to see. I am going to use the Lionel transylvania engine, and the caboose, and the boxcar

[Anonymous]

And for Halloween it's almost certain that instead of going "Woooo.... Wooooo"

your loco goes "BOOOOOOO...... BOOOOOOOOO", right?

[spankybird]

Doug, I measured from the top of the track to the bottom of the tunnel and I have mine at 5". My MTH engines are slightly taller than my Lionel 4-4-0's.

tom

[spankybird]

I will check my tunnel height tonight for you.

[dougdagrump]

Thanks Tom, unfortunately it is going to be for the Halloween 4-4-0 and I haven't received it yet.

[spankybird]

HI Doug,

Is the tunnel stright [?] if so, then 4 1/2 " width should be enough. As for height, check your tallest car or engine and add 1/4 more to it. My tallest engine stack is my MTH 4-4-0.

tom

[dougdagrump]

Need some info, if I scratch build a tunnel for 0/027 locos what dimensions should I use for width and height(from the top of tracks) ?

[spankybird]

Thanks Jim. I am glad it has been a help to you.

The Video was shot with my Digial Cam Recorder, then down loaded to my pc and then Up loaded to my Yahoo site. As part of my DLS package, I have some storage space for short Videoes. It is not a good site for hosting pics, as they will not post here on the forum. I use Shutterfly for hosting pics.

tom

[Brutus]

See my separate thread - I ordered the Transylvania loco, caboose, plus ghost boxcar. I think I paid too much for the boxcar, though - it was $49, which was full list price in 2000, per the Lionel site, but I saw a pumpkin boxcar on ebay that is currently bid very low....

Anyway - can't thank you enough for this great thread and especially all the pics and the video! Does Yahoo let you post movies and pics for free? How do you get to that feature?