Polar Express Movie 10th Anniversary and still no elves!

It is a ridiculous oversight by Lionel. They could make a 5 pack of elves and we would all be ordering 20 - 40 packs to fill out our North Poles. There are a lot of PE North Pole replicas being made every year, some year-round. I think PE elves is a "No-Brainer". 

For now, I make due using Hawthorne Village elves. They are a nice size and have a familiar look.

Emile

Those are nice elves, Emile.

Lionel needs some "kids" to give them advice. No elves for PE, and no batman figures for the subway set. These simple add-ons add play value.

I can't remember for sure, but didn't K-Line offer Alien style Christmas Kosmic Elves?

The regular Kosmic aliens were catalog priced at $9.95 for 30 aliens.

Jerry

Proud Member Of The Peanut Gallery

I see Brian is hiding all his 2015 Christmas surprises for the big reveal of his and Elisabeth's new layout when the 2015 Holiday Season begins.

This has been a fun thread. Trivial but fun. Kind of surprised at its longevity a salute to Paul for starting it back in October.

Matt, the area where we are going to use a large quantity of elves is the last portion of the layout to be completed. We started at the back wall and built the mountain scene. This was a real challenge for me as I have never constructed a mountain for a layout before. It had to look correct and it is large. We are now working our way down the layout, but there is a lot of work between Hugger Mountain and the Center of the North Pole. So the elves will have to wait for awhile.

Those that are looking for elves, it is a challenge. The ones we are using for the Center of the North Pole are actually bigger than O-Scale, but will work for our purposes. Most of you however would chose not to use them because of the height.

It may possible that the reason lionel has not made these is because they may be too small and could represent a choke hazard for smaller children.  I know that the train is obviously not meant for tiny children but certainly it will be played with on the floor with children of all ages.  I know it's something of a reach but it's really the only thing I can think of unless they just can't make the tooling within a cost point that would be recouped by the sales.

Part of the reason maybe that elves for O-Gauge layouts is a rather small market and manufacturers are worried about sufficient demand to make a project like this worthwhile. If Lionel did this with the PE theme, royalties would be involved as well that would inevitably jack up the price. How many would pay $ 8-10 per figure, probably not many.

I think you are spot on.  It's the price.  I believe the pack of four add-on figures right now for the Polar Express runs around $30.  Which means if you want even just 50 elves, it would be a major cost.  And most people would likely want at least a hundred or two.

Still hoping for a Christmas miracle.

Hey, you never know!!

George

Jerry

I'm surprised a forum member or someone in another forum who's a sculptor hasn't started a cottage industry for this. Find someone to sculpt four or five different elves to use as masters for creating cast molds used to make resin elf figurines. They could be sold unpainted to keep down costs. After all, not too difficult to paint elves as they'd all be painted the same. If I had the skill set, I'd certainly attempt it. A few years ago a gentleman produced unassembled, unpainted O scale Amish buggy kits and advertised them for sale on the forum. There's certainly a larger market for Christmas elves than Amish horse buggies!!!

These might be useful:

http://thechristmasshop.8m.com/Lemax_SW_2006Figs.htm

The description says they're between 4cm and 5cm tall.

I have to say Lionel's figures in general are disappointing. They make high-end scale locomotives and put weeble-looking figures in the cabs; and most if not all of their figure packs lack good detail and size ranges are all over the place. This is one are where MTH is light-years ahead. MTH has made a Christmas figure pack that includes one elf, but to amass dozens of elves one would have to spend $20 per pack X 24 which is cost prohibitive.

4-5cm is too tall

Was in AC Moore and Michael,s this week (in Eastern Pa) and they have a few 1.125" tall nutcrackers, santas, snowmen, deer, and other Xmas figures already up but still no elves.... anyone else have luck finding o gauge elves anywhere?

maybe a Christmas miracle will occur by Xmas and we will have o scale elves Delivered from China

Finally, o scale elves are almost here!

Like other o gaugers, I have searched long and hard for o scale elves for my Christmas layout.  After not seeing what I wanted and not wanting to buy a pack of 5 items containing just 1 elf, I decided to have a custom mold of an elf made. I wanted at least 100 for my layout and got a couple of hundred extra made. Not knowing what the demand for these may be, I may be able to get extra if there is interest.

The mold that is being made is based off the attached image.  Elves with brown hair, black hair, and yellow hair were made (so not every elf has the  same hair color). There might be some slight variations as I am doing some last minute changes (having the belt be all brown, no yellow buckle).  The height will be approximately 1.125" - 1.25". 

I expect them to arrive at the end of October and can begin shipping them domestically the first week of November.

Introductury prices  three for $10.80 +$2 shipping          ($3.60 each not factoring shipping) six for $19.20 INCLUDING free USPS 1st class shipping      ($3.20 each) nine for $25.20 INCLUDING free USPS 1st class shipping       ($2.80 each) twelve for $28.80 INCLUDING free USPS 1st class shipping     ($2.40 each)

(the prices above are 20% off list price)

I am offering this discount to o gauge forum members before I put the remainder on ebay. Introductory prices will be for bagged elves, that is they are sealed in a bag from the manufacturer but contain no fancy packaging or "gift" type box.  I tried to keep production costs as low as possible. One extra benefit of the introductory price (besides the lower price!) is that I will have the ability to give a custom number of elves to buyers in the first few weeks.  So if you want 6 elves with brown hair and 3 with black and no elves with yellow hair that is completely possible.  The elves will be bagged 3 per bag (1 of each hair color) but I am happy to break bags if someone has a need for a particular hair color.

If anyone is interested please let me know.  I understand that people aren't likely to commit to a purchase until a picture of the final product is available but if there is anyone out there like me who want 100 of these things, I need to know that by Thursday before the elves in China finalize production. This isn't a "preorder" announcement or solictation of funds yet, I expect to have plenty available in quantities of three to a dozen - but again I need to know if anyone is interested in 50+.  Once they arrive, I will be able to accept payment via check/money order (sorry, no paypal).

Stay tuned.

Thanks Tom West Chester, PA tome223@gmail.com

Tom,

finally, ELVES, that is great news.i m in for 12 .

thanks rich

Very good job, Tom.

I sent an email.

Thanks!