I’ve been looking at everyone’s Christmas layout’s and they all look great. Its been giving me idea’s for a direction on what kind of town/village I want to do for mine.
Nothing is set in stone yet. My wife wants to go with a Thomas Kincade type village. Personally, I saw some buildings from Dept. 59’s North Pole series and I liked them, especially considering the age of my daughter. They looked like something a child would appreciate and enjoy seeing all lit up. It seems like there are a ton of buildings to choose from too, which is appealing.
So I was just wondering what are some of everyone else’s favorites to work with? Again, graet jobs and pics on all the layouts Ive seen.
My wife likes the Dept. 56 “Christmas in the City” and “New England Village” pieces because they have a matte finish compared to the shiny “Snow Village” collection. I do have a Dept. 56 “Lionel Hobby Shop” with the shiny finish and I think it blends in okay.
Lemax has improved their various village collections, in my opinion. While not quite as detailed as Dept. 56, they are very nice pieces and I have a few. I picked up “Al’s Gas Station” at K-Mart for $19.99. It has great detail and looks good with the Dept. 56 buildings. Lemax is also much cheaper than Dept. 56 and easier to find, especially in the fall and winter. Michael’s, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. carry Lemax pieces under various names.
I also have two pieces from Hawthorne - a Dairy Queen and an older style McDonalds with the arches. I have to repair one of the arches on the McDonalds, as it broke in shipping.
I’ve never seen any of the Thomas Kincade buildings in person - are they similar to Dept. 56?
To me there will only be one Christmas Village…Plasticville!
They have a “patina” and a “train” quality about them. I
grew up with Plasticville under the tree at Christmas.
Besides, they look neat with a christmas light inside them.
They have that “glow” that you can’t get with a ceramic
building.
I have a fairly large collection of Original Snow Village, from Dept. 56. I think it’s about the ideal Christmas village series, from the standpoint of size (for O27 or S gauge), quality, and variety. As a bonus, a lot of the older “retired” items are now worth a heck of a lot more than what I originally paid for them.
Dr. John, Ive not seen any yet either, my wife just said to look for some because she thought the style would look nice with the train. Ive seen smaller stuff from places like Bradford Exchaneg and Franklin Mint, but nothing that would be decent with a train set. I think if I show her the Dept 56 stuff she will like it.
NYC Fan - Love that layout, thats great [:)]
Take a look at the pictures of my layout. These buildings are the Norman Rockwell Village from Bradford Exchange. They are neat little buildings so you can get quite a few into a small space, problem is O guage trains look too big with them, maybe more to scale with S or HO, not sure.
My wife likes the look of them, I’ve had them for a few years now - before I met her, and I told her that I want to start switching them out with Dept. 56 buildings as they are more to scale. We’ll have to see…
