NTS&B Eskimo Joe's Frozen Delights Igloo

Recently I had to order two decorative LED bulbs for our bathroom. I had replaced three of the four required bulbs already, but then Lowe’s stopped carrying the ones I needed. I therefore had to order it through Lowe’s on-line, and ordered an extra one as a spare. When they arrived on my door step, I had to really laugh at the size of the box that they sent them in. The box took up almost a full cushion on our couch.

What does this have to do with my layout, you ask ??? Anyone who has visited my layout knows that it is not a highly detailed, scale layout. Instead, it is a collection of souvenirs, Dollar Tree items, fast food toys, gifts from my kids, and various other non related items. Part of the fun for me is to try to imagine how to fit these items in with the existing scenery, in a manner that appears logical.
I also like to show people that you can make a fun layout without having to spend a fortune on buildings. Sometimes this means taking an inexpensive item (or piece of trash), and creating something new with it. When I pulled out the first bulb, I realized the shape of the plastic packing looked kind of like an igloo. Hmmm… A light bulb goes on (pun intended) !!!

First, I made sure I had a place where I could fit an igloo in the winter area (no easy task anymore). Then I carefully trimmed the base off the plastic form. Next I needed to paint it. First I tried spray on snow that you use on your windows in the winter, but it just wiped off very easily. Luckily it all came off easily, so I tried plan two. I had some white Krylon Fusion paint that is safe for plastic left over from a previous project, which worked much better. I proceeded to paint the inside and outside of the form to make sure I had maximum coverage. I then took a pencil and drew some lines on it to simulate the blocks stacked up, and then painted a door. Since it was pretty big, I wanted to make it look more like a store, so I printed sign and added a blue LED spotlight to illuminate it on those long winter nights. The assembly is very flimsy, so I hot glued it to the layout in multiple places. Here are a couple pictures of the finished product.  The building cost a little over $12 total. The best part of it was that Lowe’s threw in a decorator LED bulb for free !!!

NTS&B Trolley Bumpers Replaced

The original K-Line Super Streets bumpers were very realistic road barriers, but could not stand up to the forces of a trolley hitting them to change directions.  After multiple attempts to beef up the K-Line bumpers, I finally decided to replace them with Lionel 260 bumpers.  I had to make a modified Lionel track for each end that attaches to the Super Streets to power up the bumper lights.  On the end that is visible, I tried to incorporate the original K-Line barrier.  The other end is not really visible, so I did not try to disguise it.