Christmas Village

Each Christmas, I have set up a town layout for the grandkids. Of course, the Christmas train ran around the outside. It has always been built 'flat' on baseplates, roads, etc.

This year, I am attempting to build a Christmas village set in some hills. I have the train track laid and it rises 3 bricks along the length of the table.

This is my attempt to build a river flowing across the countryside.



The winter village sets plus Gringotts bank will be used in the scene.



This is the start of a church and I will also need to build a station.



Following the lead by Mattman, I have built a moving Santa sleigh. It works fine and gives the impression that Rudoff is landing on the house. The carriage was placed up on the hill while some work was done on the track; it looked so good up there that the thing will be re-built as a house on the hill with Santa landing on the roof.





There is still a lot of work to do but it is early days.

Any ideas for winter 'greenery'?

This is going to look brilliant and your grandkids will love it.

I love the little bridge over the river. Can't wait to see it when it is finished.

Seeing these pictures makes me want to put my sets together for Xmas so I can give the local kids in the community a chance to see them on display !!!

Do you have thoughts of maybe including any of the Collectable Minfigs or perhaps the new Advent Calendar # 7553 ???

Thanks Anita; the girls have already given some 'advice'.

Free Spirit, it is being built in modules so that it can be taken elsewhere for display; 48x48 baseplates are great for this. The only thing joining it together is the train track.

The wood cutter is driving the horse carriage with the trees. His axe looks like an axe; not the tiny little tomahawk that came with the winter set.

My first task is to get the contours of the land done and them work out where to best place the road and buildings.

Once that is done, it will be time for 'decorating'.

There will be a small fenced graveyard next to the church so a zombie might appear there; I'll need to leave a hole for him to arise.

Skiers and snowboarders might appear in the hills.

The girl skater could appear on an enlarged rink.

Maybe the painter could be doing a landscape.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery I'd be really keen to see yours tomorrow if bringing it to the meet isn't a drama - would be good to compare notes and see if there's anything we can do to get them both going even better.

We had plans to do a setup around a tree or something at home, too, but i don't think we have the space sadly.

And hey - wipe those fingerprints off your camera's lens!!! (i work at a camera shop - have to say it)

Matt

A small update on the Winter Village!

The church of St Fred's is almost finished and the current Rector is the Rev Harry Potter.

After ridding the magical world of evil with the demise of voldemort, the Reverend turns his hand to solving the problems in the muggle world.

I know that that the folk in the village of Hogsmead are pleased with their new vicar.



"Free Spirit", I threatened earlier to put a zombie in a grave.

I have since realised tht the kids wouldn't understand what is a zombie, so I have a skeleton coming out of the newly dug grave.



There is a huge amount of work to go; hopefully before Christmas.

Hey Brickie

I am interested to learn a bit more about your church roof. Are there any pictures or close-up's or set-by-step descriptions you could share as I cannot make out how you ended up with the final effect?

Village is coming along nicely...was wondering if Rev Potter will be dealing with the skeleton infestation? also was wondering who St Fred was?...they sound important....and patron saint of what?

Here beginneth the lesson:

"Frederick I was Bishop of Utrecht between 815/816 and 834/838, and a saint of the Roman Catholic Church."

My church is not named after this bloke but after Fred Nurk who holds the Butterbeer drinking record in Hogsmead. He would always shout his mates a Butterbeer at the Hog's Head hotel and his mates thought that he was a proper saint.

Thus the naming by the blokes who built the church.

Here endeth the lesson.

I purloined the design of the roof from Anita and Morgan.





The Rev Harry Potter is not concerned about a single Japanese skeleton in his churchyard as he still has vivid memories of facing the inferi just before Dombledore was killed.

In fact he almost feels nostalgic.

It is Christmas and I have almost completed this project.

it was a lot of fun and it would be completed satisfactorily in March if I had the space and patience.

So here is the almost finished display.

The kids are very pleased that I have 4 different things moving on the display; 5 if you count me moving the camers when I fell off the footstool.





An overall shot of the display.





From another angle



Merry Christmas to all at ANZFOL

Wow, the end result is beautiful. Really lovely Brickie, your grandkids would have loved it.

What did you spray on the trees?

Thanks AnitaE.

It isn't 'finished' but I am pleased with what was done.

It was great to be able to do the landscaping on such a large scale. My next step is to remove all the 'winter' sets and snow and then turn it into a medieval village.

I bought a tin of 'snow spray' from Costcutters for $2.

I tested it on one tree, left it for a few days and then put the tree in napisan. The snow came off easily so I went mad on more trees. It gives a good effect.