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Merry Christmas everyone! This Christmas, I would like to show off my movie accurate custom HO scale Polar Express.
When the movie came out in 2004, I really wanted to get my hands on a Lionel O gauge set. In the years that followed, Lionel really expanded their Polar Express range and eventually got to HO scale. The set was in many ways, a scaled down version of the O, and S scales, and unfortunately carried a few inaccurate things with them. Lionel for some reason kept the big headlight, marker lights, feed water heater, yellow letters, and other details that are fine if you want a semi scale berkshire, but not very movie accurate. Lionel also had a molded in handrail that looks kinda trashy. Fine for younger kids to handle without breaking, but kinda ugly for a super expensive model.
Bachmann makes fairly decent Berkshires, and I found a project loco someone was working on for a great price. I removed the feed water heater, headlight, marker lights, and modified the pilot details. This included making the handle bar that the characters hold onto in the roller coaster scene. I couldn't find a snow plow that was a perfect fit, but I'm happy with the brass one I installed. The headlight was made from a old pen that I shaped to fit. I didn't have white letter decals that weren't stencils , but I carefully added some white paint to fill in the tiny gaps. I removed the tender light, as the locomotive is never seen to go backwards light engine, and mounted it in the cab. When running on DCC it will stay illuminated. When weathering, I was fairly light with snow and ice on the engine itself, as steam locomotives aren't exactly known for being cold surfaces.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Only need to add sound and a crew. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Description
Merry Christmas everyone! This Christmas, I would like to show off my movie accurate custom HO scale Polar Express.
When the movie came out in 2004, I really wanted to get my hands on a Lionel O gauge set. In the years that followed, Lionel really expanded their Polar Express range and eventually got to HO scale. The set was in many ways, a scaled down version of the O, and S scales, and unfortunately carried a few inaccurate things with them. Lionel for some reason kept the big headlight, marker lights, feed water heater, yellow letters, and other details that are fine if you want a semi scale berkshire, but not very movie accurate. Lionel also had a molded in handrail that looks kinda trashy. Fine for younger kids to handle without breaking, but kinda ugly for a super expensive model.
Bachmann makes fairly decent Berkshires, and I found a project loco someone was working on for a great price. I removed the feed water heater, headlight, marker lights, and modified the pilot details. This included making the handle bar that the characters hold onto in the roller coaster scene. I couldn't find a snow plow that was a perfect fit, but I'm happy with the brass one I installed. The headlight was made from a old pen that I shaped to fit. I didn't have white letter decals that weren't stencils , but I carefully added some white paint to fill in the tiny gaps. I removed the tender light, as the locomotive is never seen to go backwards light engine, and mounted it in the cab. When running on DCC it will stay illuminated. When weathering, I was fairly light with snow and ice on the engine itself, as steam locomotives aren't exactly known for being cold surfaces.
Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Only need to add sound and a crew. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a happy new year!