Sorry I'm late to the party. Thanks for posting, Brian.
You are all very kind. Thanks for the nice comments about me, this car, and other projects...I very much appreciate it.
Me and Brian both have a shared passion for the Polar Express. Brian is the reason I did my car in the first place. He suggested the book "The Art of the Polar Express" to me. There is a page showing an all white card stock model of the observation car. The more I looked at the model, the more I wanted to change mine.
As soon as he noticed me working on my observation car, he wanted one too and asked if I would do one for him. I was hesitant at first because I had never done a customization like this before and never thought I would do one for someone else. In emails exchanged between me and Brian, he expressed that he liked Lionel's PE Observation car but wished it was closer to the movie car. Brian was cheering me on though my car's progress. After I finished mine, I decided to modify Brian's car. I started his at the end of April and finished recently. Once the paint cured, I was able to assemble the car and send it off to him.
This car is still not exactly like that in the Polar Express movie. Given what I started with it is much closer. Lionel gave their interpretation of the PE obs car and this is my interpretation. There had to be give and take, but I am happy with the results. The important thing to me was to shape the roof correctly and extend the observation deck...and put in the three deck lights.
I enjoyed doing this car for Brian and am very glad that he liked it. I am honored to have my creation sitting on his beautiful layout.
