Redford Theatre Christmas Layout 2018-2019

Very cool! Is that the famous Barton organ console on the pit lift in the background?

NYCBuffalo posted:

Very cool! Is that the famous Barton organ console on the pit lift in the background?

Thanks!  Yes, that certainly is our amazing Barton organ console.  The Redford holds the distinction of being one of only two theaters in the City of Detroit that retains the original pipe organ from the time it was constructed.  I believe currently ours is the only one of those two that's playable (at least in full) and we utilize it at nearly all of our shows for a mini concert before the show and at intermission.  It's truly the reason the theater survives today.  As we like to say, the Motor City Theatre Organ Society (the owners of the theater) bought an organ and it came with a theater.  They were out to preserve the organ, and what better place than in its original building.

Oh Jake it's that time already? As always your 2018 layout will be enjoyed by many.

Jim

Pretty much the same story as the Riviera theater north tonawanda and the original wurlitzer. Ive volunteered many hours working on and playing the organ there but never found a way to sneak a christmas train setup in. 

Jim 1939 posted:

Oh Jake it's that time already? As always your 2018 layout will be enjoyed by many.

Jim

It certainly is Jim.  It seems like we just took the last one down!  Thanks for the support!

NYCBuffalo posted:

Pretty much the same story as the Riviera theater north tonawanda and the original wurlitzer. Ive volunteered many hours working on and playing the organ there but never found a way to sneak a christmas train setup in. 

I was lucky and inherited the train tradition that the theater has had since the mid-late 1980's (I believe).  Several members used to construct a large scale layout as part of the Christmas decorating and that grew to be more complex each and every year.  I started it in 2011 after they were unable to do it a couple years previous.  I saw that original layout once or twice, and a local Boy Scout troop filled in with their HO modular layout for a couple years.  We've been able to bring some of the essence of the old display back and we try to make ours bigger and better every year.

Due to a hectic theater schedule, last night was our first work night since my last report. We're running way behind from last year, but it's still looking like we'll have it operable and presentable for the first Christmas movie in December.

My goal last night was to lay the LED light strings out on the platforms and lay the snow material down over them. I didn't quite get to the snow part, but the LED's are all ready to go. We experimented with the LED's a few years ago and found it helped show off the exteriors of the buildings better in the dark theater atmosphere.

Today's goal is to get the snow material down and then wire and screw down the tracks. Hopefully we'll be test running trains tonight.

Keep it up Jake!

Thanks Bobby!

Here's a short video showing progress on the layout up to today. I put in a 10 hour day today while enjoying a vacation day from work and finished wiring and screwing down all five tracks. The trains are running great so far. I'm looking to start unpacking the village items this weekend and into next week. The first Christmas movie is a week from Friday, so we're getting close to the unveiling weekend.

jake,

It does make it easier when it's not a new design or layout change. Nice to see you are keeping up the tradition. Many will remember the trains at theater.

Thanks Carl.  It's a tradition we definitely enjoy working with.  People come every year just to see the trains and all the enjoyment everybody gets out of it makes it worth the effort.

We made some good progress last night, although we still have a long way to go. My family assisted yesterday in unpacking all of the buildings. Somehow we managed to fit even more than last year on the layout They're all pretty much in their final locations, but everything still needs lights installed.

I also made an executive decision to rework the upper platforms. Traditionally I've wrapped snow blankets around the platforms stretching from the upper level to the lower like a sloped wall of snow. I used kaleidoscope lights to backlight the snow which gave a nice effect. This year I decided to do away with the snow, and use solid panels of masonite with tunnel portals cut out of the sheets for the tracks to run through. They'll be painted with a textured rocklike paint and eventually a nicer tunnel portal overlay will be glued around the openings. I think it'll give us a cleaner look with a more believable sort of geological appearance. It also opens up a small amount of surface area on the main level to place more buildings.

Jake, The changes look great.  It was so nice of your family to spend their time helping out. You will WOW the crowds again this year.  Azgary

AZGARY posted:

Jake, The changes look great.  It was so nice of your family to spend their time helping out. You will WOW the crowds again this year.  Azgary

Thanks for the kind words Gary.  My family is always willing to help out and have been quite involved the past couple years with setup and teardown.  It's been nice having them around as it definitely made the work day go by quickly with lots of progress.  I'm looking forward to running some trains this weekend!

We pushed through with a couple of very late nights and got the layout finished in time for its unveiling during the first Christmas shows this weekend.  We had somewhere around 600 patrons during the matinee show of Miracle on 34th Street which I attended to make sure things operated smoothly.  We still have a few small details to add that we ran out of time for this week, but everybody seemed to enjoy it as it sits so far.

I haven't had a chance to do much photography or video recording yet, as we were up until 1 am the night before the show and still had stuff to do up until about 15 minutes before the door opened, so this is the best video I have for right now.

great work Jake!

Thanks!