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This thread is a spinoff from the “Christmas/winter display discussions” thread. For layout planning purposes, I felt that the main thread was too random and that we needed another thread to concentrate on just this section. I will probably do another spinoff thread for the Town section once I have a preliminary layout plan for that section. I would encourage others working on additional sections to also creat spinoff threads for those sections – i.e. space section, etc. I also suggest that each spinoff thread be entitled “____ Section of Winder Display” so that it will be easier for Section contributors to concerntrate on each section’s layout. Any discussions about fitting different sections together and/or the overall layout can remain in the original thread. I hope that is not too confusing.
Here is my preliminary layout plan for the North Pole section. This assumes a section that is six 32×32 baseplates deep by 10 baseplates wide. This would basically cover two 30″x96″ tables (it might need to be trimmed to 9 baseplates wide). This also assumes that this Section will be located on a corner of the display.
The basic layout idea is that two train tracks will run in front of a factory building where toys/presents are being made and in front of an “administration” building where Santa’s office and communnications and computer equipment are housed. My inspiration for these two buildings is the Heinz plant complex on the North Shore.
Located next to the admin building is the elves Village. Greg’s Alpine Village buildings, any Winter Village sets, and any other victorian/half-timbered or similar buildings can be incorporated here as a “residential living area”. If we need additinoal room for more Village buildings, we can use the space behind the Admin and Factor buildings (marked as “Alpine Village, Winter Village II buildings” on the layout). Behind the Village area can lie Greg’s Santa’s Castle.
One potential modification to this is that the inner train loop may need to peel off and run back behind the Admin and Factory buildings. This would be the Polar Express line and would run between the North Pole Section and the Town Section with a Forest Section in between.
Please let me know what you think of these ideas. Nothing location-wise is set in stone yet.wow, you guys have been pouring a lot of work into this! I can’t wait to see the results!
Thanks for the sketch, but this all needs to be put into a blue brick file eventually. I can take the task of merging them all into 1 if you can help put your section in so I don’t get anything wrong.
Greg also sent me a mail about the track – are you opposed to just having 1 (or 2) tracks that cover the whole display and having the polar express run on that? I’m all for it connecting the town and running through the forest, I was just worried we’re 1)going to run out of track for the display 2) put on more track on the display than what looks good 3) have another track to manage. if it’s part of your vision to have it on it’s own track, then so be it.
Greg also sent me a mail about the track – are you opposed to just having 1 (or 2) tracks that cover the whole display and having the polar express run on that? I’m all for it connecting the town and running through the forest, I was just worried we’re 1)going to run out of track for the display 2) put on more track on the display than what looks good 3) have another track to manage. if it’s part of your vision to have it on it’s own track, then so be it.
We could do one or two long tracks. A potential problem (with 9v) is that a very long track loses some power at the points furthest from the power regulator. For visual interest, I have always found that a greater quantity of shorter length tracks work best since it provides more movement.
So the Polar Express could run just between the North Pole and the Town. A HE track could run in the Town and Space sections. Etc.
I made a valiant effort at the Christmas tree for the North Pole. As usual, it took longer and did not turn out as I had imagined. As built, it can take advantage of an internal light source to see the full effect. In retrospect, putting lights inside structures that will be viewed at a well lit convention hall may not be worth the effort.
Nice tree! But yeah, may not have the desired effect in a convention hall…
I swear I’ll contribute to this build. If you guys don’t hear something substantial from me by Friday, come beat me up.
I made a valiant effort at the Christmas tree for the North Pole. As usual, it took longer and did not turn out as I had imagined. As built, it can take advantage of an internal light source to see the full effect. In retrospect, putting lights inside structures that will be viewed at a well lit convention hall may not be worth the effort.
What did you use for a light source? The globe that I intend to light will be inside a building so it will be darker and hopefully will show up even in a well lit convention hall. Although some halls are better lit than others and I have never been to the Monroeville Convention Center.
What did you use for a light source?
A toy lantern with a halogen bulb, it was actually very bright.
Plan B involves an entire tub of green bricks, DUPLO scaffolding and no light.
The conifer is perfect for the North Pole town square. It’s huge! Lots of 1×1 trans round plates in red, yellow and clear would look great as “lights”. Great job!
The conifer is perfect for the North Pole town square. It’s huge!
Thanks, this project was a good mental challenge. Obviously, Santa has to have an impressive tree! Eventually it will be decorated.
The base barely hangs over a 32×32 baseplate, so it could fit inside a loop / turn for the train.
Here is my first attempt at BlueBrick. Greg and I got together this weekend at my house and did some layout planning for the North Pole section of the display. This section will encompass Santa’s Castle and Alpine Village buildings (mainlg Greg), Santa’s Admin Building (Tim), the Forest (Greg, Josh, and anyone else who can contribute here), and the Winter Village area where the Polar Express picks up the children (Greg, Tim, anyone else who can contribute houses). The Polar Express will run on a dedicated line while a second outer line is shown in case we want to connect a larger loop around the entire outside (if so, we may have to power it with multiple transformers to keep the power supply consistent).
After discussing what we have to display, Greg and I concluded that we will need most of the one side of the main table layout. In Evan’s previous layout, these sections were labeled (from the top) “Joe”, “Josh”, “Greg”, and “Dan/Rich” (on my BlueBrick, these sections are shown left to right). As previously mentioned, the Polar Express track will be laid directly on the tableclothes rather than be worked onto baseplates. All the other buildings and Forest can be built up to MILS standard.
Please let me know what you think. Thanks!
Awesome. Thank you so much for taking that on. I’ll try to get something for the entire display by the end of this week in preparation for rework saturday.
I suppose I can get the details from Greg, but does everything need to be viewed from the bottom up? Specifically, santa’s castle and the top winter village section. Should we rotate those out to their respective sides for 360 degree viewing, or are they already facing that direction?
All the other buildings and Forest can be built up to MILS standard.
Who is providing the MILS baseplates for this? Will the baseplates around the North Pole buildings be covered in white?
I suppose I can get the details from Greg, but does everything need to be viewed from the bottom up? Specifically, santa’s castle and the top winter village section. Should we rotate those out to their respective sides for 360 degree viewing, or are they already facing that direction?
Are you asking about the orientation of the North Pole / Forest / Town? The diagram Tim created covers the left side of Evan’s “sweetness.png” diagram with the bottom of Tim’s diagram being the same as the far left side of Evan’s diagram. In other words, rotating Tim’s diagram 90 degrees to the right would give both diagrams the same orientation. Is that what you were asking?
Also we envisioned that the modular city would go next to the town. If you were making a mountain, I suppose that could go next to the North Pole as a visual divider with outer space. Honestly we didn’t think that far ahead. 😛
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tim wrote:</div>
All the other buildings and Forest can be built up to MILS standard.Who is providing the MILS baseplates for this? Will the baseplates around the North Pole buildings be covered in white?
I am covering the area around the Admin building with white bricks (there are about 6-8 studs of exposed baseplate on every side). That should transition nicely between the building itself and the white tablecloths.
yinz got a gingerbread house yet? I got one of the series 11 guys…
also, digging this log cabin – might adapt it if no one has a gingerbread house…
http://gallaghersart.com/LEGO_forums/viewthread/40/we need a gingerbread house in the northpole.
yinz got a gingerbread house yet? I got one of the series 11 guys…
[…]
we need a gingerbread house in the northpole.Yes, Greg has a sweet gingerbread house (no pun intended).
Does anyone have an ent?
lol. man, would be nice to break out the tower of orthanc…but, we should really just let the sets sit until we have time to be wise and discuss. Could be easy enough to bust an ent out though…
btw, those trees look splendid. quite clever. simple, yet effective. I’m surprised how well they work.
Yes, Greg has a sweet gingerbread house (no pun intended).
I thought i remembered seeing it or hearing about it. Good. saves me from building it, and greg’s better than me anyway. 🙂
Greg posted a virtual picture of his gingerbread house at the very beginning of the “Christmas/winter display discussions” thread.
got ginger?
non-virtual version
Not sure which forum this belongs in, but I’ve been trying my hand at some brick built evergreen-type trees. (I’ve spent enough already and don’t need to be going out and buying lots of foliage!) I’ll winterize these and also add snow to the knarly trees from the medieval village. I figure it’ll look best if we mix different types of tree.
PS: THAT GINGERBREAD HOUSE IS OUTSTANDING. My fav detail are the trans-green 1×1 tiles around the walkway. I can almost taste them…sour apple maybe?
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