A little insight
 

My mother is really into those Department 56 houses (dept. 56 = company) for X-mas, the ones you can make little towns out of. Well, shes into the homes, and I'm into making scenes for them. They're in Las Vegas right now, and I want to setup a nice for when she comes back. . .with a little suprise. hellfire:

I want to put in my Metallica Boxset from McFarlane Toys, complete with stage, lights, and all. But, I want to build a mini-stadium around it. The only thing I could think of, without having to build it from scratch, would be to use a large bowl and cut out the bottom. Does anyone else have any ideas?

BTW: If you have any tips for a layout of the city, I'm welcome to suggestions. Here's the things she has:

Old style church
Newer Church
Cafe
Apartment Building
Piano Shop
Fire House
Bagel Shop
Pottery Shop
School
Pharmacy
Grocery
Skating Pond

I'm going to make a backdrop that my friend will paint, and use fiber-optics for making light-up stars. The old church will probably go on a hill, and all the shops will go in one general area. I also have one of those electronic skating ponds, which would probably go either near the school or in the town center. Get Creative! rock:

Got any pics of the scene already?

Unfortuneatly, my battery in my digital camera is dead, and I dont have the charger. I so wanted to take one before I started.

I bought a peice of sheet wood, about 8 feet by 4 feet. Im going to make this the table, then use a peice of insulation sheet (like stayrafoam) and paint it black for the backdrop. Add some clouds, mountains, and put x-mas lights in it for stars. I'll let you know how it goes. Off to work!

As for the city, you forgot the all exclusive Department 56:

a.) corner bar

b.) whorehouse

c.) crack house

d.) opium den

e.) rehab center

f.) prison

I'm sure your mother will appreciate these fine additions to her collection this Christmas.

i think joe has been watching queer eye for the straight guy.

...stick a bandless watch on a dildo,
hey-presto!, your town has a clock-tower that's as modern as tomorrow.
Plus the components can probably be aquired in-house beer:

Well, it's all done! Took 11 hours straight, plus the cleanup was about another hour. It came out rather well, but one thing that bothered me was the star-lit backdrop. Even after painting it black, the backdrop lights (stars) showed up tinted pink, due to it being the color of the styrafoam. Oh well, though. I think she will really like it. It took up alot more space than I thought, too.

I'll take some pics tomm when I can get my hands on their battery in their camera when they come home.

Does it look any better than beetlejuice's crib?

you mean from the movie? I wish it looked THAT good, heh. YOu'll see, they come home tonight Midnight EST.

You are queer eye for the straight guy

Here we go! rock:

[img]http://members.aol.com/nray7882/village1.jpg[/img] [img]http://members.aol.com/nray7882/village2.jpg[/img]

The thing is ginormous. I dunno how we're going to setup the dinner table for X-mas heh But I dont care! Metallica was on the corner where that blank snow spot was, but my mom took it off. BooO!

A few more pics. Max res on the camera is 640x480, sorry for the bad quality.

1) Church, tombstones on left. Road was made with roof shingles.
[img]http://members.aol.com/nray7882/village3.jpg[/img]

2) Pond, made with blue tablecloth-type material, surrounded with rocks to shape it, and some bushes.
[img]http://members.aol.com/nray7882/village4.jpg[/img]

3) The town, a few stores, with a path going down it. Cramped, but gives the feeling that it's a traditional town.
[img]http://members.aol.com/nray7882/village5.jpg[/img]

4) Stone path & skating pond, leads to other church, the pond actually has magnets moving the skaters.
[img]http://members.aol.com/nray7882/village6.jpg[/img]

That's pretty elaborate, man!

I like it. I'd never have the patience to build it myself, but I like it! biggrin:

[img]http://primetimetv.about.com/library/graphics/group08.jpg[/img]

I'm guessing thats the queer eye for a straight guy crew, I don't watch TV oOo:

Just call me a Metrosexual.