It wouldn't be a Scooby-Doo mystery if there were no haunted place for them to investigate. Big spooky mansions and hotels always played a significant role in the cartoons and this set delivers with this hotel. It's not actually big - because this whole set is small - but it implies big. Good 'nuff for me. The Haunted Hotel measures 3.5" (8,89cm) L x 1.5" (3,81cm) W x 2.375" (6,03cm) H.
Ed
Here we have Ian McKellen as Gandalf in his now iconic "You shall not pass!" pose, and while it's very appropriate to this set, he can still be used in battle scenes by adjusting the figures hands and torso.
Ed
I call my Milwaukee North Western train layout in The Cave a 'slow leak in progress' because it has taken me forever to get anything done on it. This holiday train layout has proven to be the same thing. My energy levels are much lower this year and the desire to do much of anything requiring work has dwindled. I did want a layout though, so work on it has been deliberately slow. Also, there were some very special things I wanted for this years setup but they cost more $$$ than what I had available. All is not bleak though and things are starting to gel.
The layout board is 4'x6' and has been a permanent resident here in our small living room since I built it in 2022. It is where my Moonscape diorama had been resting all year and it was home to several quick table-top diorama setups over the years. The Moonscape is now tucked underneath the layout and the holiday train stuff has taken over.
From the get-go, LEGO Harry Potter was going to be the theme and late last year / early this year, several LEGO sets were purchased for inclusion on the layout. Unfortunately a couple of sets I want are a tad bit pricey and those weren't able to be added this year - yet.
Generally speaking, scenery on my holiday layouts is minimal: plop buildings and a whole bunch of miniature trees on the board and run trains. This year I did something a bit different by constructing a terrain piece specifically designed for this layout. Okay, most of the board is still going to be buildings and trees plopped down on it, but this will be a nice addition. Also, once this layout is taken down, the scenery piece can be used for perhaps military setups, or other temporary Harry Potter setups. There will be a mix of LEGO buildings and figures, but also more realistic figures thrown in just because I like them.
The train is Lionel's Hogwarts Express and, although I have all nine cars Lionel made for the train, I'm only going to use the three cars which came in the boxed set.
Still a lot of work to do but I did buy spackling compound the other day to cover the foam. I prefer lightweight spackling compound because it's much easier to 'plant' trees by poking holes in it. Plaster, Sculptamold, and tile grout all dry rock-hard and require major construction tools to drill holes in. I do that stuff outside and it rained yesterday and it's s'posed to rain again today so progress is delayed. In addition, I have a shipment of trees coming in from Amazon next week - a bit late for Halloween but this is a holiday season layout. Also, I'm waiting on the LEGO Hagrid's Hut set to come in.
Another munitions troop, but this one has a missile ready to place under the wing of an aircraft. It would have been awesome if Tim-Mee had made support equipment for their figures like tow tractors, dollies with munitions, generators, etc.
Ed
A few photos of this set were featured in posts back in 2023 but I never got around to posting the whole set as a series. As a fatter-of-mact, I totally forgot about this set until stumbling upon the photos today!! Okay, let's finally take a look at this set which has hanging around here since at least 2016 - or longer.
Ed
