Halloween Village

[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]

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.

[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.

[FJ and G]

Tom,

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

Sweet!

[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

[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)]

[Brutus]

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

[1688torpedo]

If Vincent Price was alive and well; He would most likely become a collector and set up a Halloween layout yearound after reading this thread[;)][:)]

[dougdagrump]

But then I wouldn't have anything to make my Margueritas in. [:(]

[Brutus]

LOL

So, you don't like chunky style margarittas?

I am seriously thinking of doing a "real" layout with a halloween/monster theme - I was checking out some of the different Dept 56, Lemax etc stuff and also thinking of some stuff I could build with the kids - I think it would be really cool!

[Anonymous]

Tom you still amaze me with all you have, cant wait for Halloween

[spankybird]

QUOTE: Originally posted by scratch b rules

Tom you still amaze me with all you have, cant wait for Halloween

So is my wife [^]

This weekend we are starting on both, the Halloween and Christmas layouts.

[Jumijo]

Doug, I'm not sure about the leaf blower cutting it up fine enough, but you might try running some through a food processor, blender, or even a paper shredder.
Jim

[Anonymous]

Love your village. We did something very similar this year. We built a platform similar to yours with an HO train oval on the bottom. Then we made a platform in the center about 12 inches above the first level and put an N scale track on that. We ran purple and orange rope lights around it. I love yours though...we are missing the trick or treaters...just beginning to get into this. How do I attach a picture to a message? Sunshine[:)

[spankybird]

HI Sunshine25, welcome to the CTT forum [#welcome]

For instructions on post photos, click here

Photo Posting

hope this helps
tom

[dougdagrump]

Looking for some info.[D)]
When I first tested my halloween 4x4x0 with the spooky boxcar the horn/whistle lever, for boxcar sounds, on the Lionel TW transformer it would make the loco actually spin its wheels and accelerate although the sounds did work. I tried the K-Line whistle/bell activation device wired into the transformer per instructions and it was a little better but still not acceptable results. I have a 1044 transformer that I actually plan on using for the halloween layout but now I am begining to wonder if the results would be the same.
It tested perfectly on the club layout yesterday but it was powered by an MTH transformer which makes me wonder if one of the smaller MTH units would be better. [%-)]

[Anonymous]

Interesting.

Do you have other newer sound cars. If you do try them with your transformer set up. If they work then it's the sound car that has the problem. Maybe the newer transformers are better able to do this delicately. I don't have any $ound cars so I have no idea. Maybe a new thread is in order for a quicker solution.

Dougdagrump, I went by your museum today for the swap meet and hopeing to meet you. The nice people at Frank The Trainman now have some of my money because I broke down and finally got the matching caboose for the Halloween General. They also had the bobbing Vampire car from a few years ago. If anyone in the San Diego area wants a General and caboose they have some at the Valuecraft in Escondido.

[Anonymous]

Great idea! Nice work too! Thinking about incorporating a little bit into the layout I'm building.
choochoo52

[laz 57]

TOM,
WELL DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
laz57

[dougdagrump]

Well, I tried the leaf vacuum. Unfortunately it didn't chop it up very much but it sure did make it light and fluffy. [(-D] Maybe tomorrow morning I can check some of the thrift stores for a really ratty looking food processer.

[spankybird]

Things are coming along well on the years village

[Brutus]

re chopper - you might be able to find an old hand food chopper (I think pampered chef makes one) where you could have good control over the results....

Man - that layout is looking nice!

[dougdagrump]

I tried one small area with the moss that I put thru the leaf vacuum/blower and it worked real good. It didn't chop it up but it did break it up and fluff it to where you could put down a layer of thinned out white glue sprinkle a thick layer of moss and pat it down for a good contact and adhesion. After it dries thouroughly I'll just lightly vacuum off the excess again with the leaf vac, about a third of it is done. [^]

[Brutus]

Got my Spooky Sound Car today!

I've got a Lionel CW80 transformer hooked up to an oval of fastrack. When I slowly ran up the power, the sound kicked in. At low power, not enough to run the train, the sound is like static or something, but when it gets up to the level of power needed to drive the train, the sound evens out into wind etc. The first time when I had it in neutral and held down the whistle button, the train engine sort of moved up a little and then stopped, but after I ran the train around a few times then stopped and ran it up in neutral, while working the bell and then the whistle and alternating, it didn't move. Af ter that it worked about as I hoped it would - the howl is pretty good, the scream is very good and made my dog very excited indeed!

[Brutus]

Here's some pics from our first Halloween layout - hope they post correctly! [:D]

[spankybird]

Very nice Jim,
I like your town folks.

[Blueberryhill RR]

I agree, Jim. Very nice. What runs on the inside track?

Chuck

[wrmcclellan]

Spanky - great pics and nice job.

Jim - I like your setup. What are you running on the inner loop (looks like K-Line Shadow Rail)? We have the Dept 56 first Haunted House and additional figures we put on the mantel each year - no room for a train (but a real toy train railroader would never say that would he/she?).

[Brutus]

[:-^]
Um - I forgot to take that down before I did the pics - that's my new K-line KCC handcar set with ore and tool cars - I found it online and set it up to run to make sure it is working alright - it's pretty cool and I have a plan to have it running through a mine sort of off to the side of my permanent layout - one of these days!

[Anonymous]

Very nice town.

I saw that row of stores for sale at Hallmark. I really liked the wry humor in the names and I liked the interiors as well. I was debateing wether to get it because it seemed a little on the large side. Recently I got one of the K-line porters and some superstreet tracks (was excited about both and really like both of them). Anyway the Porter is a bit on the large side as well so now I think maybe my porter and town could be in the same area set off from the other loop a bit so it is not as jarring.

I've seen the movie theater but not the other large building. Is that from the same series as the Hallmark stores? Do you know if there are other items in that series?

Again, it looks good.