I know that this is a very old post at this point, but I did want to add a comment to it, as I am currently starting the preliminary stages of a smaller scale project centering around the Hogwarts Express -including Hogwarts School, Hogsmeade Station, the castle grounds, as well as King's Cross Station and Diagon Alley- that we can use seasonally which will be modular and store-able.

Its at the earliest of planning stages, but I will be sharing my goals and progress along the way, so would love any input people might have as the project progresses.   I'll not spam the web address, but if you're interested, you will be able to find it in my signature, as well as my profile.

I'll make sure to update a new thread I'll post, once I actually have something worthwhile to share.  Until then...

The station at either hogwarts or London would be a start. 

Photo from Universal last year. 

I don't ever think I have seen anything as impressive as TW TrainWorx Harry Potter layout>

Here is the link to the Facebook photo album of the layout:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/T-...m_id=688667714502440

Scott Smith

This Lego version certainly isn't small, has over 400,000 bricks.

http://www.brothers-brick.com/...-from-400000-bricks/

I had gotten the Lionel Hogwarts Express set for Christmas as a gift some years ago and run it as an elevated line. As it is towards the back of the layout (which is in a 12 foot by 9 foot setup) I started looking at murals of Hogwarts as background and I found some possibilities on Amazon.

JohnF

scott.smith posted:

I don't ever think I have seen anything as impressive as TW TrainWorx Harry Potter layout>

Here is the link to the Facebook photo album of the layout:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/T-...m_id=688667714502440

Scott Smith

Scott, that one was on a whole different plane than we're probably considering!  It is one seriously impressive effort, I was marveling when they originally posted the images here.

When the first or second movie came out, there was a plastic HW which looked S to HO, and figures which looked O.  The school is located at a corner of the layout.  Figures are over the layout.  I also have a bare willow tree with a Blue Ford in it.

Anything is possible if you have enough money: TrainWorx , Dunham Studios et al!

John F posted:

I had gotten the Lionel Hogwarts Express set for Christmas as a gift some years ago and run it as an elevated line. As it is towards the back of the layout (which is in a 12 foot by 9 foot setup) I started looking at murals of Hogwarts as background and I found some possibilities on Amazon.

 

JohnF

John,

I considered a Harry Potter layout at one point when I was in the design phase. I came to the same conclusion, a painting or mural of Hogwart's Castle in the distance would be visible from the train station at Hogsmeade. Much easier than trying to model the castle in terms of scale.

Bruce

I have two HP Lionel sets....but never cared for the books  or films.

Now the 'Fantastic Beasts' HP pre-quile set in 30's era NYC would make a cool layout.

scott.smith posted:

I don't ever think I have seen anything as impressive as TW TrainWorx Harry Potter layout

Wow, thanks for the link.  That is truly impressive and has given me some additional ideas / modifications on my current plans.  I doubt mine will be quite that well constructed...

AMCDave posted:

Now the 'Fantastic Beasts' HP pre-quile set in 30's era NYC would make a cool layout.

You'd need a heck of a lot of neon but yes, that would be fantastic.  Maybe mixed trolley and subway..
 

Thanks for the lively responses guys! My preliminary plans will have two separate 'trays' that will go on either side of our Christmas tree on the floor.  They'll be connected to each other by a series of looped tracks that will encircle the tree.   One half will be London, with King's Cross Station (a mix of backdrop and scratch built 3D model; essentially half a 'tunnel') and Diagon Alley (3D models).  The other half will be Hogsmeade Village & Station (3D models), Hogwarts Grounds (medium background 3D models) with Whomping Willow, Black Lake, Hagrid's Cottage, and the Quidditch Pitch and then Hogwarts Castle, again a mix of 3D model and backdrop, sitting on a cliff on top of a tunnel.

Something like this:

WOW, can't wait to see the pictures, this should be a really cool setup!

SILLY question: Is "3D" a brand or a modeling technique?

Tinplate Art posted:

SILLY question: Is "3D" a brand or a modeling technique?

Sorry about that!  Yeah, I simply meant constructed, dimensional parts of the display as opposed to a painted or photographic backdrop.

PRR Bruce posted:

I considered a Harry Potter layout at one point when I was in the design phase. I came to the same conclusion, a painting or mural of Hogwart's Castle in the distance would be visible from the train station at Hogsmeade. Much easier than trying to model the castle in terms of scale.

Bruce

I'm going to do somewhat like they did at Universal Studios, taking the scale down to 1:72 or perhaps higher.  It will look big from where the viewer will be or POV for Hogsmeade, but obviously be only a sliver of the Castle.  I do want some dimensionality to it though and I plan to have the village facing side lit and the Dining Hall large enough to be both lit and house a hidden Blu-tooth speaker to play music from.

I have always been looking for buildings and figures to add to the Lionel train since it came out. As I do many model train displays a year and would like a Hogwart's theme display.

This is what I have to date.  The 3D Puzzle 2 building sets came out recently and can be found in stores that sell puzzles. While I would like something with more detail I put the 2 puzzles together in a week and used glue and sticks and cardboard behind each wall to add strength and glued to a wood base with the green grass covering. The other buildings I found at Walmart near the start of the Hogwarts's craze. The figures have been an issue I have looked a long time for something suitable but nothing on the market, these over sized head figures were on the tops of pens that I chopped off.  Perhaps we could get Lionel to make a figure set to go with the train sets like the Polar Express figures they make? I also took photos of the Hogwart's castle in Florida with the idea that I could use this as a backdrop to the train set as a large poster size image, but the puzzle sets will do for now.  Click on the photos for a larger view. The platform with cart was from Hallmark a couple of years back, bit oversized.

These are the puzzle buildings and engine that are currently available.

http://www.wrebbit3d.com/products/27-harry_potter

I was very lucky and managed to find the Weasley family's powder blue ford Anglia on Amazon and it comes with a 1:48 Harry & Ron.  The rest I'll be scratch-building from materials as much as possible.  I found a reference to a now discontinued Quidditch miniatures game by Games workshop that had created a few sets of prototype minis for the players.  I'm hoping to created a mold from the images and 3D print a small set, even though they'd be the wrong scale for my purpose.

At this point, other 'people' in the display will need to have some work done.  It's too bad one of the Brit train hobby suppliers doesn't have an 'Oxford professor' set.  Oh well.

As for Hogsmeade, I know that there's a 1:32 scale model of Goathland stattion, so I'll keep looking for a 1:48 if it exists.  The rest will just get created form scratch most likely....

I was just looking at the 3d puzzle of hogwarts castle (with hall) and I'm totally glad to find pics of it here.   So it does look like it could be o scale?  It looks like several people on amazon had the same idea.

 https://www.amazon.com/Hogwart...Puzzle/dp/B01ABYSY34

Any updated pics or video?  My wife just found the hogwarts express lionchief on 50% clearance at barnes and noble (for 200 bucks) and got it for me as an advanced bd present.  Now, its time for me to build around it...

Do you think putting a village light inside the puzzle would light it up?  Is it transparent enough?

The 3D Puzzle is a much smaller scale would look good on the top of a hill over a loop of track for the train.

As for light in it, no do not think that would work, it is printed paper face and foam behind for structure. I think at best a light inside would just show up the jagged puzzle edges.

Sure wish there was a good source for the figures though, perhaps we could Lionel to make them?

Thanks for the response.  You just saved me 80+ bucks. People on amazon said O scale but I guess its not really.  You are probably right about placing it on the hill.  They have the diagon alley puzzle too.  Sigh.  

Regarding the figures, I wonder if the lego figures would work.  Size wise, it may... ?

scott.smith posted:

I don't ever think I have seen anything as impressive as TW TrainWorx Harry Potter layout>
Scott Smith

I would agree with you!! Thanks for the link as that is an amazing layout. Holy cow!!! Those guys at TW are beyond talented. 

kj356 posted:

The 3D Puzzle is a much smaller scale would look good on the top of a hill over a loop of track for the train.

...

Sure wish there was a good source for the figures though, perhaps we could Lionel to make them?

I'm planning on scratch building a proportional model for a portion of the castle to reflect perspective and use a backdrop for the rest.

As for the models, I believe Lionel lost their license to the Hogwarts Express as most merchandising is now being handled by Universal Studios under the Wizarding World of Harry Potter license.  I'm not sure if Lionel is working to regain the license or not .

Proportional model?  Sounds very very cool.

I hadn't heard that they lost the harry potter license - they still sell their trains everywhere. 

I did get mine on clearance at Barnes and Noble but I do see their lionel train sets go on clearance after christmas all the time. 

Its too bad that they don't sell the accessories like they do with polar express. 

I'm going to do some measuring to see if this might work:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HARRY-...%26sd%3D162489911248

I take it back, the figures look terrible :-/

7years ago I had a Polly Pocket Hogwarts on the top of my mountain, since been replaced with a mine.

If you all are looking for accurate HP figures, there are some options on the way.

Knight miniatures is coming out with a Harry Potter miniatures game. If it's similar to their other games (They make the Batman and other DC miniatures games) the figures should be very close to 1/48.  Knight models are typically what is known as 35mm (sole to eyeline measurement of an average human). That is right around 1/43 scale,  Should be out soon.

Their page for the game is here.  Not much there yet but a bunch of pictures of the figs painted up are here. They look dang good which is no surprise from Knight models.  The figs will be nicely cast in metal and top notch quality but they'll also likely be 7-12 bucks each.

Those figures you posted look good but the link you have says they are 28 mm high and unpainted you have to paint them. An average O scale figure is around 50 mm high!

As for the Diagon Alley puzzle this is much closer to O scale the the castle and I was thinking of getting it as a background building for the layout in general.  The Hogwart's Great Hall and Astronomy Tower I have pictured above built up you can see the scale with the train passenger car in front of them. The board I have them on is 3 feet by 18 inches just the right size to hold them.

I would not give up on the Puzzle of Hogwart's Castle as I think it is the best thing cheap enough on the market that looks good and if you use it at the top of a forested hill looks about right for forced perspective. As an example the Universal studios versions of the train and Diagon Alley and Castle towering away high above!

Link to the puzzle website.;

http://www.wrebbit3d.com/produ...10-diagon_alley.html

Eilif posted:

If you all are looking for accurate HP figures, there are some options on the way.

Knight miniatures is coming out with a Harry Potter miniatures game. If it's similar to their other games (They make the Batman and other DC miniatures games) the figures should be very close to 1/48.  Knight models are typically what is known as 35mm (sole to eyeline measurement of an average human). That is right around 1/43 scale,  Should be out soon.

Their page for the game is here.  Not much there yet but a bunch of pictures of the figs painted up are here. They look dang good which is no surprise from Knight models.  The figs will be nicely cast in metal and top notch quality but they'll also likely be 7-12 bucks each.

 

 

 

 

 

Very nice figures. How many characters in total?

Sean

Sean007 posted:

Eilif posted:

If you all are looking for accurate HP figures, there are some options on the way.

Knight miniatures is coming out with a Harry Potter miniatures game. If it's similar to their other games (They make the Batman and other DC miniatures games) the figures should be very close to 1/48.  Knight models are typically what is known as 35mm (sole to eyeline measurement of an average human). That is right around 1/43 scale,  Should be out soon.

Their page for the game is here.  Not much there yet but a bunch of pictures of the figs painted up areA. They look dang good which is no surprise from Knight models.  The figs will be nicely cast in metal and top notch quality but they'll also likely be 7-12 bucks each.

  

Very nice figures. How many characters in total?

Sean

The link shows 10 so far, but that's just the initial offerings.  Most games launch with a small selection and grow from there and this will likely be no different.  There will probably even be different sculpts of major charachters over the various releases. I personally wouldn't mind some more sedate and less in-the-wind versions of the main charachters.

kj356 posted:

Those figures you posted look good but the link you have says they are 28 mm high and unpainted you have to paint them. An average O scale figure is around 50 mm high!

 

A bit of confusion there. In current wargaming parlance, "28mm" is a catch-all term for most wargaming minis that range from 28-35mm in height (measured from sole of foot to eyeline). The size range seems to get bigger every time a new figure comes out, a phenomenon we refer to as "Scale Creep".

I don't think Knight has officially named a scale but their previous models were some of the largest in the industry, being around 35mm from sole to eye which is about 1/43.  

I will defer to you about O scale figure height, but 50mm seems shockingly tall.  A figure that is 50mm high  is probably about 48mm to the eyeline, which would make it somewhere between 1/32 and 1/35.  That's considerably larger than O gauge which I've understood to be either 1/43 or 1/48.

You would definitley have to paint them or pay to have them painted if you didn't want them all to be sliver-grey.

For more about the vagaries of scale and how millimeter and fractional scales are calculated, there's a very handy document at The Miniatures Page .

Regarding the figures, nice find!  They look super detailed and, for 7 bucks + cost of some paint, it seems doable. I mean, the lionel polar express figures cost about the same.  26 bucks for 4 on amazon.  When's the release date?

I saw that Knight models sell an Arkham asylum.  I have to wonder if a hogwarts is in the works!  However, it won't be cheap.  Arkham is 280 euro!  Plus some paint?  

https://knightmodels-sore.com/epages/afaa2a23-c31d-4ae6-b1cd-12757513fd3b.sf/es_ES/?ObjectPath=/Shops/afaa2a23-c31d-4ae6-b1cd-12757513fd3b/Products/AKL002

Ouch.  

If I go for the puzzle castle I figure I could get an exacto knife to carve out around the windows to let the light shade through? Do you think that would work?  Maybe use some electrical tape on the inside to block the light from coming through the puzzle pieces.  Might be too much work with all those windows and no guarantee it would work while ruining the puzzle.  

Ballz2 posted:

Regarding the figures, nice find!  They look super detailed and, for 7 bucks + cost of some paint, it seems doable. I mean, the lionel polar express figures cost about the same.  26 bucks for 4 on amazon.  When's the release date?

I saw that Knight models sell an Arkham asylum.  I have to wonder if a hogwarts is in the works!  However, it won't be cheap.  Arkham is 280 euro!  Plus some paint?  

https://knightmodels-sore.com/epages/afaa2a23-c31d-4ae6-b1cd-12757513fd3b.sf/es_ES/?ObjectPath=/Shops/afaa2a23-c31d-4ae6-b1cd-12757513fd3b/Products/AKL002

Ouch.  

If I go for the puzzle castle I figure I could get an exacto knife to carve out around the windows to let the light shade through? Do you think that would work?  Maybe use some electrical tape on the inside to block the light from coming through the puzzle pieces.  Might be too much work with all those windows and no guarantee it would work while ruining the puzzle.  

 

I haven't heard about any models and I'm not sure if Hogwards will make it but I wouldn't be surprised if they made some sort of terrain items from HP.

There's a whole batch of small lasercut wood accessories to go with Batman as well as the big model.  

Very interesting.

Eilif posted:

If you all are looking for accurate HP figures, there are some options on the way.

Knight miniatures is coming out with a Harry Potter miniatures game. If it's similar to their other games (They make the Batman and other DC miniatures games) the figures should be very close to 1/48.  Knight models are typically what is known as 35mm (sole to eyeline measurement of an average human). That is right around 1/43 scale,  Should be out soon.

Their page for the game is here.  Not much there yet but a bunch of pictures of the figs painted up are here. They look dang good which is no surprise from Knight models.  The figs will be nicely cast in metal and top notch quality but they'll also likely be 7-12 bucks each.

 

Oh yes, those would do very nicely!  Thank you for the link.

 

 

 

Eilif posted:

If you all are looking for accurate HP figures, there are some options on the way.

Knight miniatures is coming out with a Harry Potter miniatures game. If it's similar to their other games (They make the Batman and other DC miniatures games) the figures should be very close to 1/48.  Knight models are typically what is known as 35mm (sole to eyeline measurement of an average human). That is right around 1/43 scale,  Should be out soon.

Their page for the game is here.  Not much there yet but a bunch of pictures of the figs painted up are here. They look dang good which is no surprise from Knight models.  The figs will be nicely cast in metal and top notch quality but they'll also likely be 7-12 bucks each.

 

 

 

 

 

11/2 inches = 38mm. That equates to a 6-foot tall figure in 1:48. So these 35mm figures will be nearly perfect as 1:48 figures.

kj356 posted:

Those figures you posted look good but the link you have says they are 28 mm high and unpainted you have to paint them. An average O scale figure is around 50 mm high!

As for the Diagon Alley puzzle this is much closer to O scale the the castle and I was thinking of getting it as a background building for the layout in general.  The Hogwart's Great Hall and Astronomy Tower I have pictured above built up you can see the scale with the train passenger car in front of them. The board I have them on is 3 feet by 18 inches just the right size to hold them.

I would not give up on the Puzzle of Hogwart's Castle as I think it is the best thing cheap enough on the market that looks good and if you use it at the top of a forested hill looks about right for forced perspective. As an example the Universal studios versions of the train and Diagon Alley and Castle towering away high above!

Link to the puzzle website.;

http://www.wrebbit3d.com/produ...10-diagon_alley.html

A 50mm figure is nearly 8 feet tall in 1:48. Most O gauge figures are closer to 38mm.

Well, I was lucky enough to snag one of the Blue Ford Anglia 1:48 die-casts and it comes with 1:48 scale Ron and Harry figures, although they are not nearly as attractive as the Knight models.

My primary hope is to find the more noteworthy professors and especially something to represent Hagrid, and a dozen or so 'students'.  My greatest need and least likely to easily resolve however will be the half-dozen or so Quidditch players, on-broom.  OI plan to have an animated pitch need Hogwarts and these are more or less a necessity.

My research shows me that it looks like Citadel had a canceled project for this.  They weren't pretty, but they would definitely work.  I'm trying to see if I can find a way to take those images and perhaps extrapolate them into a 3D model to 3D print, although I fear that would (at least) skirt the edge of legality in many ways.

KJ346, it looks like someone posted the castle from the same maker as your quidditch field:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harry-...2:g:KFUAAOSwTM5Y7Q39

 

BMMR posted:

Well, I was lucky enough to snag one of the Blue Ford Anglia 1:48 die-casts and it comes with 1:48 scale Ron and Harry figures, although they are not nearly as attractive as the Knight models.

My primary hope is to find the more noteworthy professors and especially something to represent Hagrid, and a dozen or so 'students'.  My greatest need and least likely to easily resolve however will be the half-dozen or so Quidditch players, on-broom.  OI plan to have an animated pitch need Hogwarts and these are more or less a necessity.

My research shows me that it looks like Citadel had a canceled project for this.  They weren't pretty, but they would definitely work.  I'm trying to see if I can find a way to take those images and perhaps extrapolate them into a 3D model to 3D print, although I fear that would (at least) skirt the edge of legality in many ways.

If the game does well, it's very likely that more of the hogwarts professors might make an appearance.   I don't have any ideas about the quidditch players though.  

Here's a few more options for Hogwarts (some quite affordable) though they're all smaller "top-of-a-hill" type models.

Figurine:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Univer...%26sd%3D322480365906

Paper:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/univer...%26sd%3D301971423043

The previously mentioned Polly Pocket:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harry-...8:g:w70AAOSwDKtY1wic

A different version?

1oAAOSwvihY-qqR" target="_blank">http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harry-...4:g1oAAOSwvihY-qqR

Hallmark

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hallma...4:g:cUoAAOSwcLxYHlXy

Thanks for the update on Figure size this then looks perfect for layout and trains, just a lot of work to paint them.

As for the Hogwart's Castle with the LED lights that was posted above on e-bay. Yes looks like the one from the series that I got the Castle was sold out before I could get it. Think it was around Christmas they were with the Christmas village houses etc,. Was around 30-50 $ as I recall at the time? Castle on e-bay below;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harry-...2:g:KFUAAOSwTM5Y7Q39

As for cutting out windows in the 3D Puzzle there are hundreds of them not sure how well that would work with the puzzle pieces. I would think it would look better just building it and lighting it with light in front. 

The puzzle looks really good.

Man, that does look good.  And I think you are right - putting the lights outside, in would work as well.  I have these copper lights that would look amazing (magical even).  

I just ordered the great hall puzzle.  Looks like its at the historical low right now:

https://camelcamelcamel.com/WR...e/product/B016NWRFGA

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I just got the great hall puzzle part.  holy moly it's gonna take a load of time....  look at all the pieces in the box!  

Although I am primarily an AF S gauger, I bought the Lionel O gauge Hogwarts Express as a Christmas gift for my wife several years ago.  She and the grand kids are big HP fans, and I admit I really enjoyed all the movies. We just got back from joining our sons and grandkids at Universal StudiosParks in Orlando.  Sherry could spend all day just soaking up Hogsmead and Diagon Alley, and I really like the train ride between the parks.

I missed the Ford Anglia and the Harry and Ron figures when they came out, but I found these figures on eBay.  I think they were from Italy and were originally intended to be put in a plastic bubble to be sold in "gumball" machines that dispense toys rather than gumballs.  Mine also came with a second set of the of the same figures but unpainted.  Although Platform 2 is a Department 56 piece, I put the Platform 9 3/4 magnet I bought on an earlier trip to Orlando, set up the figures on the platform next to the train, and call the resulting diorama: "Trouble on Platform 9 3/4."

Cheers!

Alan

Alan B posted:

Although I am primarily an AF S gauger, I bought the Lionel O gauge Hogwarts Express as a Christmas gift for my wife several years ago.  She and the grand kids are big HP fans, and I admit I really enjoyed all the movies. We just got back from joining our sons and grandkids at Universal StudiosParks in Orlando.  Sherry could spend all day just soaking up Hogsmead and Diagon Alley, and I really like the train ride between the parks.

I missed the Ford Anglia and the Harry and Ron figures when they came out, but I found these figures on eBay.  I think they were from Italy and were originally intended to be put in a plastic bubble to be sold in "gumball" machines that dispense toys rather than gumballs.  Mine also came with a second set of the of the same figures but unpainted.  Although Platform 2 is a Department 56 piece, I put the Platform 9 3/4 magnet I bought on an earlier trip to Orlando, set up the figures on the platform next to the train, and call the resulting diorama: "Trouble on Platform 9 3/4."

Cheers!

Alan

Those look great. How tall are the figures?

From one of the early play sets shortly before the release of the first movie. These inch-and-a-half figures, based on the book art, have adorned my Halloween layout for almost 15 years now.

Cool. Those figures look they are o scale too.  Do you recall what the search term was for those figures?  What was the ebay title?  Better yet, if you have the link to the completed listing, I wonder if its some ebay company that makes a bunch of cheap figures.... 

Jim R. posted:

Alan B posted:

Although I am primarily an AF S gauger, I bought the Lionel O gauge Hogwarts Express as a Christmas gift for my wife several years ago.  She and the grand kids are big HP fans, and I admit I really enjoyed all the movies. We just got back from joining our sons and grandkids at Universal StudiosParks in Orlando.  Sherry could spend all day just soaking up Hogsmead and Diagon Alley, and I really like the train ride between the parks.

I missed the Ford Anglia and the Harry and Ron figures when they came out, but I found these figures on eBay.  I think they were from Italy and were originally intended to be put in a plastic bubble to be sold in "gumball" machines that dispense toys rather than gumballs.  Mine also came with a second set of the of the same figures but unpainted.  Although Platform 2 is a Department 56 piece, I put the Platform 9 3/4 magnet I bought on an earlier trip to Orlando, set up the figures on the platform next to the train, and call the resulting diorama: "Trouble on Platform 9 3/4."

Cheers!

Alan

Those look great. How tall are the figures?

I just measured Ron Weasley, and he is about 1 5/8 inches tall without his stand which is removable.

After digging around in the "train room" this morning, I found the rest of what I got from Signore Roberto Satta in Italy along with these figures.  

The material that came with the figures included several small identifying/promotional/licensing/choking hazard inserts to be included in the gumball capsules with each figure.  Gotcha, Tomy and Gotcha International are mentioned on the insert.  I see that Gumball.com still supplies "Tomy Gotcha" Toy Capsules, but they don't show Harry Potter figures at this time.

It has been two or three years since I found these on eBay. I was looking for the Ford Anglia and its figures (which I found to be too expensive!), and these showed up.  

Alan

Alan,

You are awesome.  The hunt is on!  I found this video of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxmYBY56SDM

Finally finished the great hall half. I haven't done a regular puzzle in decades and so it took me about an hour a week. 

I just purchased the "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Trivia Game".  Same as this one on amazon except mine is missing one of the bludgers.

It's the game with the 8 quiddich player figures .  Here's the Harry.

From the very back of his right heel to his right eye he measures about 28mm (1.1 inches) which is  pretty close to 1/48.  In that scale he's probably closer to the size of an adult than kid, but sideways flying on a broom I don't think anyone's going to notice. Fairly rudimentary as far as sculpt detail and paintjob but no worse than many of the classic style O figs I've seen.

Not sure if I'm going to keep the set as I got it on a whim with ideas for wargaming.  It would be fun to show up with a squad of flying quiddich players to a game of "Song of Blades and Heroes" but I'm not sure if there's enough detail to be worth giving a proper wargaming paintjob.  However, I'll probably at least try the game with my wife as we do both like Harry Potter.

for anyone interested in WWII and vintage aviation, there is a Mid-Atlantic Aviation Museum near Reading, PA.  I just discovered it last year.  They put on what looks to be the Mother of All events to honor and remember WWII including bucket list flights in many of the era aircraft.  The musical entertainment looks amazing, too

http://www.maam.org/wwii/ww2_sched.htm

sorry, the above post was not intended for the Harry Potter thread!  sorry

Eilif posted:

I just purchased the "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Trivia Game".  Same as this one on amazon except mine is missing one of the bludgers.

It's the game with the 8 quiddich player figures .  Here's the Harry.

From the very back of his right heel to his right eye he measures about 28mm (1.1 inches) which is  pretty close to 1/48.  In that scale he's probably closer to the size of an adult than kid, but sideways flying on a broom I don't think anyone's going to notice. Fairly rudimentary as far as sculpt detail and paintjob but no worse than many of the classic style O figs I've seen.

Not sure if I'm going to keep the set as I got it on a whim with ideas for wargaming.  It would be fun to show up with a squad of flying quiddich players to a game of "Song of Blades and Heroes" but I'm not sure if there's enough detail to be worth giving a proper wargaming paintjob.  However, I'll probably at least try the game with my wife as we do both like Harry Potter.

Nice find and great info. Thanks! I'm going to hunt for the trivia game just for the figures. A lot of decent O gauge figures can be found in this manner. 

Jim R. posted:

Nice find and great info. Thanks! I'm going to hunt for the trivia game just for the figures. A lot of decent O gauge figures can be found in this manner. 

You're very welcome.

       I just noticed that there's examples in the used section of Amazon and on Ebay for around $15 shipped.  That seems pretty reasonable for 8 painted figures. 

One warning though, there seems to be a version of the game (possibly only in the UK?) where only two of the 8 figures are painted.

Eilif posted:

Jim R. posted:

Nice find and great info. Thanks! I'm going to hunt for the trivia game just for the figures. A lot of decent O gauge figures can be found in this manner. 

You're very welcome.

       I just noticed that there's examples in the used section of Amazon and on Ebay for around $15 shipped.  That seems pretty reasonable for 8 painted figures. 

One warning though, there seems to be a version of the game (possibly only in the UK?) where only two of the 8 figures are painted.

 

Thanks. I did find one for about $16 shipped on eBay, literally minutes after I read your first post. Bought it now.

Shoot, does this mean I'll be modeling a quidditch pitch next?

Garrett76 posted:

sorry, the above post was not intended for the Harry Potter thread!  sorry

I was wondering. You can easily delete it. 

Jim R. posted:

Eilif posted:

Jim R. posted:

Nice find and great info. Thanks! I'm going to hunt for the trivia game just for the figures. A lot of decent O gauge figures can be found in this manner. 

You're very welcome.

       I just noticed that there's examples in the used section of Amazon and on Ebay for around $15 shipped.  That seems pretty reasonable for 8 painted figures. 

One warning though, there seems to be a version of the game (possibly only in the UK?) where only two of the 8 figures are painted.

 

Thanks. I did find one for about $16 shipped on eBay, literally minutes after I read your first post. Bought it now.

Shoot, does this mean I'll be modeling a quidditch pitch next?

Yes. It most certainly does!

gunrunnerjohn posted:

WOW!  I agree with Lee, I think the only hope is a compressed model, that's a bit large for most layouts.  It would probably fit at the NJ-HR layout, maybe they should add this.

 

Actually John I think it is a littler much for even the NJ HR layout.  

But it sure is impressive.

If anybody is looking for the non LionChief  Hogwarts set, the shop in Zionsville Indiana has a second hand boxed set in the shop.  I have been tempted to get it myself, but chose to go another route instead.   Mike

How much is it going for?  I got the Lionchef set on clearance at Barnes and Noble for 200 a month ago.  You might be able to find a set at one of their stores... maybe.  

Eilif posted:

I just purchased the "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Trivia Game".  Same as this one on amazon except mine is missing one of the bludgers.

It's the game with the 8 quiddich player figures .  Here's the Harry.

From the very back of his right heel to his right eye he measures about 28mm (1.1 inches) which is  pretty close to 1/48.  In that scale he's probably closer to the size of an adult than kid, but sideways flying on a broom I don't think anyone's going to notice. Fairly rudimentary as far as sculpt detail and paintjob but no worse than many of the classic style O figs I've seen.

Not sure if I'm going to keep the set as I got it on a whim with ideas for wargaming.  It would be fun to show up with a squad of flying quiddich players to a game of "Song of Blades and Heroes" but I'm not sure if there's enough detail to be worth giving a proper wargaming paintjob.  However, I'll probably at least try the game with my wife as we do both like Harry Potter.

Thanks for the great lead.  I managed to google a copy of these on ebay and snagged them.  That was a huge potential obstacle to one of my plans and I knocked it out of the way before i even needed to. Thanks!

Thanks to the inspiration of the postings on this thread, I gave my wife, the Harry Potter fanatic and a puzzle aficionado, the Diagon Alley puzzle today for Mothers Day.  Of course, she saw right through me and pegged my ulterior motive, but she really is looking forward to assembling the puzzle and seeing it on the train table along side her O gauge Hogwarts Express.

I was also inspired to search again for an affordable Corgi Ford Anglia and found this one on eBay.  The box is a little rough and the car and figures needed a thorough cleaning, but it was very reasonably priced and the seller threw in the keychain with an HO sized diecast Ford Anglia that will actually work very nicely with my own HO Hogwarts Express.

Anybody

Cheers!

Alan

For inspiration : ) Hogwarts Castle in the making...

I posted a page on my blog with the finished photos...

Enjoy!

In the Style of Harry Potter Custom Layout by TW TrainWorx

Happy Tracks!

Traindame aka Dorcie Farkash
TW TrainWorx
Dallas, Texas USA
(214) 634-2965
www.trainworxlayouts.com 

Thank you, Dorcie, for these pix and the link.

I was planning to find the finished TrainWorx Harry Potter layout pix again for yet another look, and now I don't have to search.  A truly inspired and inspiring creation.

Cheers!

Alan

Wow! Amazing. 

Alan B posted:

Thank you, Dorcie, for these pix and the link.

I was planning to find the finished TrainWorx Harry Potter layout pix again for yet another look, and now I don't have to search.  A truly inspired and inspiring creation.

Cheers!

Alan

My pleasure Alan

Wow Dorcie, that is something else. Magnificent.

Traindame posted:

For inspiration : ) Hogwarts Castle in the making...

....

I posted a page on my blog with the finished photos...

Enjoy!

In the Style of Harry Potter Custom Layout by TW TrainWorx

Happy Tracks!

Traindame aka Dorcie Farkash
TW TrainWorx
Dallas, Texas USA
(214) 634-2965
www.trainworxlayouts.com 

Thank you very much for the inspiration.  I'm always very impressed with the scope and impact of that set.  I truly with I had to space and resources to do something as impressive.  Still, it'll be a challenge to try working in a more compact work space and condense some of the magnificence you have on-the-track into my own work.  Thanks!

Amazing Dorcie.  I saw you used the Lego HP figures, but have you looked into any other figure sets?  

I thought about adding the Horntail dragon to the hogwarts roof and low and behold:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...an-horntail/30078852

It says that the display is 7 inches, but I figure that's with the case, so the dragon itself is 5 - 5.5?  A bit large but Doable. The Detail is amazing.  

I think Barnes and Noble regularly has coupons that we could apply to this. Right now there is a 15% off 35 dollar purchase w/ code MOREISMORE.  Personally, I'll wait until the coupon hits 25-30% off. I just need to find suitable figures now!  That Quiddich set was tempting...

I finally finished the hogwarts puzzles.  Scale wise a tad smaller, like what was already said but not too bad. Definitely works when put on a hill. Any bigger and you would really have to dedicate some real space to it.  I took someone's advice and taped the puzzle pieces together and was glad that I did. 

Now, onto finding the figures! 

Nice job on the puzzle.  Looks perfect size for the background.

Wow, that Hogwarts model is impressive. Oh to have a lasercutter of my very own....

Also, it appears we'll have to wait until the fall for the Knight Models Harry Potter miniatures to be released.

https://www.knightmodels.com/h...k-lord-has-returned/

Ballz2 posted:

I thought about adding the Horntail dragon to the hogwarts roof and low and behold:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...an-horntail/30078852

It says that the display is 7 inches, but I figure that's with the case, so the dragon itself is 5 - 5.5?  A bit large but Doable. The Detail is amazing.  

I think Barnes and Noble regularly has coupons that we could apply to this. Right now there is a 15% off 35 dollar purchase w/ code MOREISMORE.  Personally, I'll wait until the coupon hits 25-30% off. I just need to find suitable figures now!  That Quiddich set was tempting...

We put the Dragon over one of the tunnels... Roger found the Dragon on Ebay:

Happy Tracks!

Traindame aka Dorcie Farkash
TW TrainWorx
Dallas, Texas  USA
(214) 634-2965
www.trainworxlayouts.com 

I have added a couple of items that I have acquired since I first posted my little Harry Potter vignette that I set up on my O gauge loop.  Mr. Weasley's Ford Anglia has now landed beside Platform 9 3/4, and it looks like a dragon (possibly a Hebridean Black?) has joined the fray.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I found the Ford Anglia on eBay.  I haven't figured out how to use the extra Harry and Ron figures that came with it yet.  Perhaps I can work in a Time-Turner Device so that Harry and Ron can reverse time, see their previous selves and save the day as Harry and Hermione did in "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." 

The dragon I picked out from a group of dragons for sale in the Tudor Gift Shop at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR where my wife and I attended several plays last week.

Cheers!

Alan 

Cool. They sell a time turner key chain thing at universal studios and even cheaper on eBay. 

Nice Alan,

      The scene is really coming together.  Perhaps a piece of Lemax vinyl cobblestone under the whole thing would really bring it all together?

Apparently Lionel will be releasing another Hogwarts Express lionchef set (this time with bluetooth).  So it appears that they still do have license to the property.  I went ahead and contacted lionel support, asking to sell us accessories!  You guys should do the same.  Hopefully, if there are enough of us asking, they will do something by Christmas time!

http://www.lionelstore.com/Hog...ss-LionChief-174-Set

Ballz2 posted:

I finally finished the hogwarts puzzles.  Scale wise a tad smaller, like what was already said but not too bad. Definitely works when put on a hill. Any bigger and you would really have to dedicate some real space to it.  I took someone's advice and taped the puzzle pieces together and was glad that I did. 

Now, onto finding the figures! 

The puzzle castle looks great!  Thank you for posting photos!!

The castle in the story intrigues me more than the story itself.  I'm not much into fantasy, but our grown daughters and their husbands grew up with Harry Potter and friends, so I bought one of the LionChief sets for Christmas.  The young adults all like it, and I like it a lot too!  I wouldn't mind getting a castle, but as you mention, I don't know where I would put it.  I do think the puzzle option may be an option for us too.

Thanks Mark!  FYI, the puzzles were a real chore to put together because, the way that they package it, the puzzle have ALOT of junk pieces that you have to pick out and throw away.  Also, because the pieces are made of this foam type material, they can get loose so I recommend taping the walls together.   Needless to say, this is gonna take some time. 

Luckily, when I decided to buy it, it happened to be on sale on amazon for 27 - 28 bucks each.  Good luck!

Ballz2 posted:

Thanks Mark!  FYI, the puzzles were a real chore to put together because, the way that they package it, the puzzle have ALOT of junk pieces that you have to pick out and throw away.  Also, because the pieces are made of this foam type material, they can get loose so I recommend taping the walls together.   Needless to say, this is gonna take some time. 

Luckily, when I decided to buy it, it happened to be on sale on amazon for 27 - 28 bucks each.  Good luck!

Thank you for the tips!!

Hey guys, I know most of us here have the train set already but it just went on sale for 200 bucks.  Its the historical low.  

https://www.amazon.com/Lionel-...ativeASIN=B01C35QNMS

Ballz2 posted:

I thought about adding the Horntail dragon to the hogwarts roof and low and behold:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...an-horntail/30078852

It says that the display is 7 inches, but I figure that's with the case, so the dragon itself is 5 - 5.5?  A bit large but Doable. The Detail is amazing.  

I think Barnes and Noble regularly has coupons that we could apply to this. Right now there is a 15% off 35 dollar purchase w/ code MOREISMORE.  Personally, I'll wait until the coupon hits 25-30% off. I just need to find suitable figures now!  That Quiddich set was tempting...

That would make a really hot head end  load for a flatcar on the HW Express.

Interesting idea.  You could put him in a cage on the flatbed so its like they are transporting him around (like they did in one of the books).  FYI, they were sold out at my local Barnes and noble but I noticed a similar item was sort of heavy.. with the case though.  I'm not sure the puzzle's roof will be able to handle the weight...

Ballz2, it would be so cool to add a small gear motor with a stiff wire to your dragon, to make it slowly dip itself forward and back, like it's looking for the train to come out of the tunnel.

Dave Zucal posted:

Ballz2, it would be so cool to add a small gear motor with a stiff wire to your dragon, to make it slowly dip itself forward and back, like it's looking for the train to come out of the tunnel.

I'm thinking of doing something similar for a number of my scenery pieces, like the Whomping Willow, my Quidditch players (using an old turntable motor), 12 Grimmauld Place, and Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes in Diagon Alley.

In other news, finally about ready to begin construction.  Here's my mock up for the entire display:

Now its just down to actually constructing that.

Here's my forum post on the process.

Ballz2 posted:

Hey guys, I know most of us here have the train set already but it just went on sale for 200 bucks.  Its the historical low.  

https://www.amazon.com/Lionel-...ativeASIN=B01C35QNMS

Wish I would have found that about a week ago before I bought my set on Ebay, though I can't complain because I didn't pay that much more than the Amazon price.  It's almost tempting to buy a second one for a backup at that price.

kj356 posted:

I have always been looking for buildings and figures to add to the Lionel train since it came out. As I do many model train displays a year and would like a Hogwart's theme display.

This is what I have to date.  The 3D Puzzle 2 building sets came out recently and can be found in stores that sell puzzles. While I would like something with more detail I put the 2 puzzles together in a week and used glue and sticks and cardboard behind each wall to add strength and glued to a wood base with the green grass covering. The other buildings I found at Walmart near the start of the Hogwarts's craze. The figures have been an issue I have looked a long time for something suitable but nothing on the market, these over sized head figures were on the tops of pens that I chopped off.  Perhaps we could get Lionel to make a figure set to go with the train sets like the Polar Express figures they make? I also took photos of the Hogwart's castle in Florida with the idea that I could use this as a backdrop to the train set as a large poster size image, but the puzzle sets will do for now.  Click on the photos for a larger view. The platform with cart was from Hallmark a couple of years back, bit oversized.

These are the puzzle buildings and engine that are currently available.

http://www.wrebbit3d.com/products/27-harry_potter

Ok guys I came across the little pop figures that kj356 had and decided to pick them up.  Even though I was going for something less cute and more realistic, let me just say that it fits better than I had imagined with both the puzzle and the train. The figures fits inbetween the train cars (I always thought the cars were a little boring so this spices them up). And using the lights in the castle I got them to "fly."   Anyways the cheapest I found them online was at GameStop for 3.99. I got some from target on clearance for 2.99 but I think I got lucky as they don't seem to have them online not at any other targets.  Anyways check out the pics!  

http://m.gamestop.com/product/...ter-quidditch/138881

Oh, now I see; the little people are made to fit on top of pencils.  That's what it's like now, our kids are grown but we don't have any grandchildren, so I didn't know what gamestop was.  The puzzle castle still intrigues me, but I don't know where I would put it.

Talking about the hogwarts puzzle, it looks like they are releasing another one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...&pf_rd_i=desktop

I'm thinking about modifying the roofs of one of the cars and remove some of the plastic to allow the window to show some figures through it. I wonder if I can cheaply order a replacement roof so I won't ruin the set...  

So I just found these at walmart, diecast metal and 97 cents each!  Online its 5 bucks each so i think its in store only.   It might be a little big - maybe 1.75 inches in height?  I'll try them at home to see.  Will update soon.  I hope it works cuz they have a bunch of different characters.. and they very affordable. 

Not sure if anyone follows this anymore, but the diecast metal figures turned out to be a tad too big.  Its almost 2x taller than the pop pen figures, which seem to fit the hogwarts express train perfectly (see pics from before).  The puzzle castle, scale wise, was already smaller than the train so the figures didn't quite work.  They would work on traindame's huge castle though. 

Speaking of puzzle castle, looks like its on sale again on amazon for 27 bucks.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The figures were only a buck so I'll probably keep them. 

Yes, I'm following.  Thank you for the tip on the puzzle sale!  It is tempting, I wonder how it would do in a hot attic when the special layout season is over.  I'm thinking of it for my 'temporary ' layout that changes with the seasons.  Shows how busy we have been, the Christmas building s and snow are still there!!!  The point is, Hogwarts could become one of the seasons, fall probably. Maybe I can find a place to store it in the garage.  Probably better than the attic!!

It's Christmas in July!  The Puzzle is this plastic foam material with paper graphics stuck to it. My guess is the heat would be fine, just as long as it doesn't get too humid or wet.  For 27 bucks, I'd try it. The other part of the castle isn't on a good sale yet, but probably by the time you finish that half, it'll go on sale again.  

Also, my christmas town is also still up too - I moved it to a corner.  It seemed like a shame to disassemble it.

Ha, seems like we are thinking alike; on this at least!

Well I ordered the puzzle castle last evening.  My wife loves to build flat jig saw puzzles, so we will see what she thinks of this one.  It will be cool running the Hogwarts train around the castle if that is all I do with it. Once my wife and daughters see it, I can come in and who knows what additions I will find!  

Great!   Good luck!  I'll keep my eyes out for a sale on the other half and let you know

Ballz2 posted:

So I just found these at walmart, diecast metal and 97 cents each!  Online its 5 bucks each so i think its in store only.   It might be a little big - maybe 1.75 inches in height?  I'll try them at home to see.  Will update soon.  I hope it works cuz they have a bunch of different characters.. and they very affordable. 

I picked up a batch of these.  I measured Arthur Weasley and he's about 38mm sole-to-eye.  That puts him at almost exactly 1/43 scale.

For the overall height in inches, he's 41mm which is just a smidge over 1 and 5/8 inches 

As you point out, they'd probably not work with some of the buildings that have been mentioned but it seems like they'd work pretty well in the foreground of alot of O layouts.   At a buck each I got every charachter I could find and I think I'm going to collect all of these if only for the possibility of doing some gaming with them someday.

Awesome.  Over here, I went to three Walmarts and I couldn't find Snape and Hagrid.  Also, I couldn't fit them inside the train, like I could with the funko pen tops, but you are right, I could probably position them in the foreground. 

Happy hunting. 

Were they in the toy department? I couldn't find them last weekend locally.

At my local WalMart they were in toys, on an end cap.   They were mixed in with some super hero die cast.

I think I saw Snape and Haggrad in one of the 5 packs.

Gene Anstine

Yep, the toy section.  In two of them, it was hanging near an endcap in a Nano box enclosure, mixed in with Marvel and other figures under the nano brand. In the super walmart I went to, there was a big box that they were in. 

So Nano is the brand name?  I'm totally out of it on action figures.  We just have adult daughters who never were interested in action figures.  No grandchildren yet either.

Nano metalfigs is the brand?  Its this one:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nan...ure-Year-1/184704363

Cool!  I'm going to take a spin down to the WalMart right now at lunch time.  Thank you!

oh, I got an email from the Big River that my puzzle should be delivered tomorrow 

Ballz2 posted:

Nano metalfigs is the brand?  Its this one:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nan...ure-Year-1/184704363

Yep "Nano Metalfigs" (from Jada) is the figure line but don't buy there. It's not actualy Walmart, it's a separate reseller "Toywiz".  If you're willing to wait, there's no reason to pay much more than a buck each.

Currently the line is only at 2 of the 7 local WalMarts around me. I was able to find about 2/3 of the total of 25 HP figures and 3 Fantastic Beasts figures that have been listed so far.  It appears that the line is exclusive to Walmart first but should be hitting wider distribution very soon.  Here's what's coming very soon from Entertaiment Earth:

http://www.entertainmentearth....etalfigs&eeshop=

Looks like there's a Hogwarts interior playset coming too...

There are still some figs not in the multi-packs, so I'll have to be patient and get the whole line at regular retail.

I'll have a review of the figs and more pics up soon on my wargaming club's blog. I'll let you all know when it goes up.

EILIF,

Thank you for the link to the Entertainment Earth.  I see the whole group scheduled for August.  I just got back from WalMart.  I got the last Harry and Draco at 97 cents each.  If I get the whole set later, you can always have 2 Harry Potters. Thank you!! 

Good find on that link.

Hmm reg price is 30 bucks for 20 figures.  I would've figured it would be cheaper to buy the set.  That's surprising.

That Gryffindor Tower playset is interesting with some pretty good detail. It probably won't work as part of the train set since its an interior shot. Still a good find.

Mark Boyce posted:

EILIF,

Thank you for the link to the Entertainment Earth.  I see the whole group scheduled for August.  I just got back from WalMart.  I got the last Harry and Draco at 97 cents each.  If I get the whole set later, you can always have 2 Harry Potters. Thank you!! 

You're very welcome.  Note that the whole group doesn't include every fig. There are still a couple including McGonagal and Snape that aren't included in that set.  However, McGonagal is the only one not included that isn't available separatley (outside her 5-pack) at this time.

Ballz2 posted:

Good find on that link.

Hmm reg price is 30 bucks for 20 figures.  I would've figured it would be cheaper to buy the set.  That's surprising.

That Gryffindor Tower playset is interesting with some pretty good detail. It probably won't work as part of the train set since its an interior shot. Still a good find.

I'd keep an eye on other outlets when the set releases.  The price might be lower when there's a bit of competition.  Entertainment Earth doesn't always have the lowest price.

I received my Great Hall puzzle yesterday!  Very nice!   It was a surprise for my wife, and she likes the puzzle and the plan to have some appropriate scenery for the Hogwarts Express to run around!  Good deal all around!  Thank you!!

Finally reviewed the batch HP (and some Guardians of the Galaxy) "Nano Metalfigs" I got from WalMart last week.

Despite some shortcomings and a scale of 38mm sole-to-eye (1/43 aprox), there's alot to be said for these cheap little figs. This is epecially true considering the dearth of other affordable Harry Potter miniatures.

Review here:
https://www.chicagoskirmishwar...hero-nano-metalfigs/

Pretty extensive review.  Especially on the paint detail.  Would you say that the hero click scale is more in line with O Scale?  It seems that O scale would be 1:50?

Ballz2 posted:

Pretty extensive review.  Especially on the paint detail.  Would you say that the hero click scale is more in line with O Scale?  It seems that O scale would be 1:50?

Thanks1

       As far as I know O scale is properly 1/48, but of course alot of it is actually smaller as well as being compressed in size.    Heroclix vary quite a bit, but the current ones seem to vary from 33 to 35mm (to the eye) which is pretty much right on for 1/48.

One thing to note about Heroclix figs is that they will be a bit thicker than proper 1/48 figs because they are intended to hold up to handling.  Pretty good overall though.  

Alot of wargame shops will have bins of the less-desireable heroclix for a buck or less.  I've been slowly acquiring most any heroclix that have a civilian look as scenery for my wargames layout.

Figures are not usually measured sole to eye, so I think I understand why you say these figures are 1:43.

But a figure measuring 38mm head to toe, using metric conversion, is 1.5 inches. In O scale (1:48), 1.5 inches = 6 feet, the typical height of a hero figure (or average adult male) who is standing straight up.

Naturally, if a figure is crouching, and it still stands 1.5 inches, you could guesstimate it's closer to 1:43.

Again, for those who seem to not have heard this before, when you are talking about O scale, a distinctly American shorthand reference, it is referring to 1:48, or 1 inch to 4 feet. 1:50 has no scale name. Europeans are more apt to model 1:43, which is also not typically called by a letter scale. 1:43 is the traditional European proportion for O gauge trains. Gauge is the distance between the rails, and that's where the letter names Z, N, HO, S and O came from and over time were applied to the proportionate scales associated with each gauge. (Technically, we should say 1:87 scale trains run on HO gauge track, but no one says it that way anymore.)

Anyway, I picked up some of the Harry Potter figures as well as the Nano Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers figures, and they are all well done and close to 1:48. I now have too many options for Harry Potter scenes, but appreciate the tip nonetheless.

If you want to dramatically add to forced perspective, you can add the new Harry Potter Gringotts Bank that Hallmark released in July. It measures something close to N scale, though I have no idea of the dimensions of the prototype because I can't seem to find my way to Diagon Alley.

man the gringotts bank and the olivander's wand shop look so cool.  too bad they are crazy small. 

http://www.hallmark.com/orname...ent-2495QXI3045.html

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C...gid=pla-300456395506

Jim R. posted:

Figures are not usually measured sole to eye, so I think I understand why you say these figures are 1:43.

But a figure measuring 38mm head to toe, using metric conversion, is 1.5 inches. In O scale (1:48), 1.5 inches = 6 feet, the typical height of a hero figure (or average adult male) who is standing straight up.

Naturally, if a figure is crouching, and it still stands 1.5 inches, you could guesstimate it's closer to 1:43.

Again, for those who seem to not have heard this before, when you are talking about O scale, a distinctly American shorthand reference, it is referring to 1:48, or 1 inch to 4 feet. 1:50 has no scale name. Europeans are more apt to model 1:43, which is also not typically called by a letter scale. 1:43 is the traditional European proportion for O gauge trains. Gauge is the distance between the rails, and that's where the letter names Z, N, HO, S and O came from and over time were applied to the proportionate scales associated with each gauge. (Technically, we should say 1:87 scale trains run on HO gauge track, but no one says it that way anymore.)

Anyway, I picked up some of the Harry Potter figures as well as the Nano Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers figures, and they are all well done and close to 1:48. I now have too many options for Harry Potter scenes, but appreciate the tip nonetheless.

If you want to dramatically add to forced perspective, you can add the new Harry Potter Gringotts Bank that Hallmark released in July. It measures something close to N scale, though I have no idea of the dimensions of the prototype because I can't seem to find my way to Diagon Alley.

Yeah, the to-the-eye measurement is a wargaming convention used to take the variable of headgear out of the equasion when comparing minaitures.  38mm (nano Metalfigs) is close to 1/43 and 34mm (Heroclix) is close to 1/48.  There's a page here that explains the conversion of to-the-eye scales to fractional.  

http://theminiaturespage.com/ref/scales.html

It's good stuff except that the author is a wargamer and not a train buff so he or she mislabels O as 1/43.

Glad you found the figs useful, if perhaps a bit too useful!  :-)

It looks like some of the walmarts got some more in stock and they have that hogwarts interior scene in stock.  It shows that its available for "free in store pick up today".  Might check it out for lunch.  

 la-51320962143&wl5=9007585&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=146045010&wl13=&veh=sem" target="_blank">https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nan...mp;wl13=&veh=sem

Ballz2 posted:

It looks like some of the walmarts got some more in stock and they have that hogwarts interior scene in stock.  It shows that its available for "free in store pick up today".  Might check it out for lunch.  

 

 la-51320962143&wl5=9007585&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=online&wl12=146045010&wl13=&veh=sem" target="_blank">https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nan...mp;wl13=&veh=sem

Thanks for the update?  Have you by any chance seen Snape, Moody, Hagrid, Ginny, Kowalski or Neville in any of the single packs?  Those are the last charachters I'm looking for.

Hard to tell from the packaging render, but entertainment earth says Snape is one of the figures that comes with Gryfyndor tower.  I might pick that up just as a neat display place for my wargaming miniatures.

So I finally had the chance to go and just checked out one of the smaller Walmarts near me.  This place was almost sold out before but they were stocked up again. Looks like single packs had the same characters that I had before however they did have a new 5 pack with mcgonagall and Marcus flint. Even though I had the other three characters I decided to buy it - it was less than 5 bucks.  

Greetings all,

There are three Walmarts in the Salem, OR area, none of which are convenient to me.  I tend to decide to pay a little more and drive significantly less to get what I need; however, the posts about the Harry Potter Nano Minifigs available at "Wally World" peaked my interest.  A couple of days ago, I stopped by the nearest Walmart while running errands to check them out.  To my surprise, they were well stocked with HP, DC, Guardians, and other theme figs.

I bought two different five packs and one of each of the other individual HP figs I could find that did not duplicate a figure in a five pack.  I haven't checked yet, but I am probably short one or two of the HP group.  I also bought Newt and Tina from Fantastic Beasts (It's my layout!) and Wonder Woman for "Wonder Woman" (my Wife!).

As has been reported, the individual figs were $.97 each. The two five packs saved about $.05 on each of the 10 figs.  Several of the Hogwarts Gryffindor Tower display sets were there as well for under $25, but I didn't see it fitting into my little set-up, so I passed.  Besides, I am looking forward to "Wonder Woman" putting together the Diagon Alley puzzle I got her earlier and using it as a background piece for my Harry Potter Vignette.

Cheers!

Alan

Alan, were you able to find a Snape?  If so, I might have to make a trip to my larger walmart to see if i could find him

Sorry for the delay in responding, but we were at our beach house to watch the eclipse, and I just got back home to where I left my WalMart bag of goodies. I didn't remember getting Snape at the WalMart I got to, and I have confirmed that I did not.  I don't who was in any of the the Gryffindor playsets except for a younger Harry Potter.  Here is a list of the figures I found and bought:

Harry Potter Series:
Singles:
Lord Voldemort HP6
Argus Filch HP8
Nearly Headless Nick HP9
Dementor HP10

First Five Pack:
Harry Potter in Robe HP1
Ron Weasley HP3
Hermione Granger HP4
Percy Weasley HP25
Arthur Weasley HP26

Second Five Pack:
Harry Potter with Wand HP2
Albus Dumbledore HP5
Draco Malfoy HP7
Prof. McGonagall HP27
Marcus Flint HP28

Fantastic Beasts Series:
Singles:
Newt Scamander HP11
Tina Goldstein HP12

And for fun:

DC Series:
Singles:
Wonder Woman DC4

 Let me know who I may be missing in the HP series, and I will keep an eye out.

Cheers!

Alan

Sent from my iPhone

The set of 30 figures doesn't include everything.  There another fifteen or so that aren't included.  Additionally, not all of the figures have bene released individually or in the small 5-pack,  I know that Hagrid and Genny Weasley have not been released yet, except in that 30 pack.

Myself, I'm conflicted because Hagrid is a must-have for my layout, but I already have all of the available minis and that would make for quite a few duplicates.  I'll have to see just how many.  I guess I could always sell the excess, yeah?

on another topic, I'm looking for some suggestions.  I've done some research but my experience and expertise is limited on this so I'm hoping that someone might have a bit more experience and can lend me an idea or three.

I am going to be constructing a 'carousel' in my layout, something that will continually move (so not a railroad turnaround).  All of the mechanics will need to fix within a 2" high space with virtually unlimited horizontal space.  I am looking for suggestions on how to power it and was thinking about using a small electric RC motor then attack a gear to it and another gear under the turntable to translate the rotation from motor to disk.

I'll try and put up a diagram it I can to better illustrate my plans, but does that sound reasonable?  Has anyone else done something like this?

Thanks for your help!

Do a Google search for "jewelry display turntable"...I expect you'll find something useful...

Howard...

www.littleglitterhouses.com

Cool search term.  Depending on weight, 35 bucks or less. 

Oh my.  Perfect.  Thank you for the laser sharp suggestion.

I'm curious to see what you got and if it works.  It would be cool if I set it some kind of rotating hanger thing for harry, etc to fly around and between the hogwarts castle.

So I stumbled upon this today:  http://www.factoryent.com/metal-miniatures-s/135.htm

So first, while the justice league figures are really well done, the harry potter ones are.. very very bad.  I was surprised because I was initially drawn to it by the detail on the justice league figures and had heard they also carry harry potter.  Then I saw it.  No way these guys are worth 40 bucks. 

Man, the $1 ones we got are much better.

P.S. while the justice league ones are much better.. are they 40x better?  Probably not...

Ballz2 posted:

So I stumbled upon this today:  http://www.factoryent.com/metal-miniatures-s/135.htm

So first, while the justice league figures are really well done, the harry potter ones are.. very very bad.  I was surprised because I was initially drawn to it by the detail on the justice league figures and had heard they also carry harry potter.  Then I saw it.  No way these guys are worth 40 bucks. 

Man, the $1 ones we got are much better.

P.S. while the justice league ones are much better.. are they 40x better?  Probably not...

Took a look at that website, very high prices for what they are offering. I think the lower cost metalfigs were a better buy for the money. I haven't found them all yet but I will check walmart again this weekend.

Sean

I just came back from walmart and they restocked a bunch of figures - I think they released some mickey mouse disney figures so I imagine it all shipped with them.  My walmart was fully stocked but only had the figures I already had    

Still no Snape or other missing figures listed in the back which leads me to believe they haven't been released yet. 

Ballz2 posted:

I just came back from walmart and they restocked a bunch of figures - I think they released some mickey mouse disney figures so I imagine it all shipped with them.  My walmart was fully stocked but only had the figures I already had    

Still no Snape or other missing figures listed in the back which leads me to believe they haven't been released yet. 

I keep a watch in my walmart too and its the same figures. None of the others are available yet.

Sean

Ballz2 posted:

If you want better quality Justice League figures, checkout the Heroclix line.  The more recent heroclix are much better than the Nanofigs and most are much cheaper than the Factoryent figures.

If you want really high quality superhero figs and are willing to pay for it, There's a fair number from Knight Models (the company soon to release HP miniatures) that are unpainted but retail for $20 or less.

Ballz2 posted:

I just came back from walmart and they restocked a bunch of figures - I think they released some mickey mouse disney figures so I imagine it all shipped with them.  My walmart was fully stocked but only had the figures I already had    

Still no Snape or other missing figures listed in the back which leads me to believe they haven't been released yet. 

I've been back to walmart a few times -some of which were very well stocked- and I'm pretty confident that Snape, Ginny, Moody, Neville and Hagrid are not in the current regular single assortment.  Except for Snape, they are all in the 20 pack  which costs $30 but I'm probably going to spring for it anyway.  I'll just sell off the extras. I might strip the paint from the extras and sell them for a modest upcharge to folks who want to paint them.

At this point it looks like the only way to get Snape is in the Gryffindor Tower set. I purchased and assembled the set.  I've submitted a full review to our club's blog and it should be up within a week.  I'll let you all know when it's up.

Yea I was just looking for the harry potter figures and trying to figure out what had more detail, etc for the train set.  

Ballz2 posted:

Yea I was just looking for the harry potter figures and trying to figure out what had more detail, etc for the train set.  

-The upcoming Knight figures will have the most detail by far but will be unpainted and around $15-$20 each.

-The FactoryEnt 1/32 figures have pretty good detail and are painted but they look to be around $40 each and of course are going to be quite large if the scale is correctly labeled.

-The Nanofigs have the worst detail of the batch but I think it's good enough and at $1 the price is unbeatable.  I do think they're good enough detailed to be worth stripping and repainting if wants a bit more detail for foreground scenes.  It's a pretty easy process to strip the paint away with MEK from the hardware store.  Just use solvex gloves as MEK can be nasty stuff.

Alternatively, just putting some matte varnish over the glossy metalic paint jobs might make them a bit better for display.

___________________________________________________________________

In other news my review of the Gryffindor Tower playset is up.  It's slanted toward wargamers, but I think you all may find it useful.

It's a rather neat set, though saddly one-sided.  Still, if there was some front corner of the layout where this could be placed facing outward and a suitably castle'ish facade added to the bare side, it would be a pretty neat attraction for viewers and it doesn't take up a huge amount of real estate.  It also comes with Snape! 

There's quite alot going on here for just $25!

Our local Walmart didn't have the Harry Potter figures but Walmart.com did. Walmart used a subsidiary called ToyWiz which actually shipped the figures. The price was not such a bargain when shipping and handling was added. The irony was this was my first ever order from Walmart.com and the shipment was "lost" in transit (a curious route of UPS to USPS then me). After several weeks went by past the delivery date I contacted Walmart which was unhelpful, telling me to contact ToyWiz. ToyWiz was considerably more helpful and sent me a duplicate order at no cost to me but the very next day the original order showed up. Apparently the US Post Office misdelivered the items to the wrong address but it took someone at that address more than 2 weeks to finally return the misdelivered item. I had a hassle in returning the original package (opened by someone who initially received the items). Needless to say, this is the first and last time I ever order anything from Walmart.com.

The figures themselves are cast metal and painted, 5 per package, with Harry Potter repeated in each set. They are not bad looking and roughly the correct size. I have the Hogwarts express on an elevated line along with a station with a red roof. Right now I have the Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger figures standing on this platform.

John

John F posted:

Our local Walmart didn't have the Harry Potter figures but Walmart.com did. Walmart used a subsidiary called ToyWiz which actually shipped the figures. The price was not such a bargain when shipping and handling was added. The irony was this was my first ever order from Walmart.com and the shipment was "lost" in transit (a curious route of UPS to USPS then me). After several weeks went by past the delivery date I contacted Walmart which was unhelpful, telling me to contact ToyWiz. ToyWiz was considerably more helpful and sent me a duplicate order at no cost to me but the very next day the original order showed up. Apparently the US Post Office misdelivered the items to the wrong address but it took someone at that address more than 2 weeks to finally return the misdelivered item. I had a hassle in returning the original package (opened by someone who initially received the items). Needless to say, this is the first and last time I ever order anything from Walmart.com.

The figures themselves are cast metal and painted, 5 per package, with Harry Potter repeated in each set. They are not bad looking and roughly the correct size. I have the Hogwarts express on an elevated line along with a station with a red roof. Right now I have the Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger figures standing on this platform.

John

 

 

 

 

Did Walmart.com have a ship to store for pickup option for these figures? I've found that option is generally faster with no added shipping charges than having items shipped directly to my residence.

John F posted:

Our local Walmart didn't have the Harry Potter figures but Walmart.com did. Walmart used a subsidiary called ToyWiz which actually shipped the figures. The price was not such a bargain when shipping and handling was added. The irony was this was my first ever order from Walmart.com and the shipment was "lost" in transit (a curious route of UPS to USPS then me). After several weeks went by past the delivery date I contacted Walmart which was unhelpful, telling me to contact ToyWiz. ToyWiz was considerably more helpful and sent me a duplicate order at no cost to me but the very next day the original order showed up. Apparently the US Post Office misdelivered the items to the wrong address but it took someone at that address more than 2 weeks to finally return the misdelivered item. I had a hassle in returning the original package (opened by someone who initially received the items). Needless to say, this is the first and last time I ever order anything from Walmart.com.

The figures themselves are cast metal and painted, 5 per package, with Harry Potter repeated in each set. They are not bad looking and roughly the correct size. I have the Hogwarts express on an elevated line along with a station with a red roof. Right now I have the Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger figures standing on this platform.

John

I'm not trying  to defend Walmart but I've ordered from Walmart.com several times.  I always order from Walmart only and unless there's enough for free shipping  I have it shipped to my local Walmart for free pickup.  Never had a problem.  

When you order from a different seller you're pretty much using Walmart.com like ebay.  Lots of companies are doing things this way. Usually I'll just head to Amazon rather than use a second party dealer on a store platform.  

Ogaugeguy,

      Items from other sellers on Walmart.com usually cannot be shipped to stores.  There's not much from Walmart.com that can be ordered from the metalfigs line.

Despite having most of them already, for the sake of completionism I'm probably going to order the 20 pack of figures this weekend to get every character. If there is someone who doesn't live near a stocked Walmart and would be interested in buying my extras let me know and we'll work something out.   I'm darn sure I can offer a better price per-fig than Toywiz.

Thanks for the responses. The bottom line is that I ordered these figures through Walmart and payment went to Walmart, not ToyWiz. Therefore Walmart, in my eyes, is responsible. Walmart made little effort beyond telling me to call UPS to see what happened to my stuff. UPS in turn told me to call USPS. My local postman informed me of the misdelivery. The only information that Walmart had was the items had been delivered but they didn't know of the misdelivery. In effect they did absolutely nothing to find out what happened and left it to me.  In the end I did get what I ordered but it took almost a month to get the stuff.

As far as getting more figures I don't plan to get any Hogwarts buildings but rather a backdrop which I found on Amazon. I can place some of the remaining figures in front of this backdrop. Not exactly complete realism but for me its okay and I like the Hogwarts Express with the 4 extra cars I bought (the engine has no problem in pulling the tender and all 7 cars).

John

very cool John.  Send a pic to show us.  I was sort of interested in buying one of those dementor coach but it was essentially a regular coach with some dementor stickers and a flickering bulb.  Played around with an idea of cutting the sides of the roof to show actual figures in the window - the harry potter pop pen toppers fit perfectly - but I couldnt bring myself to do it. 

ToyWiz is not a subsidiary of Walmart. It’s a dealer. Walmart.com is the equivalent of Amazon.com, which is a website venue that can have many dealers. When you’re ordering from Walmart.com, you have to watch who the seller actually is.

There is no ship-to-store option if the seller is someone other than Walmart itself.

ToyWiz sets its own price and ships from its own location.

According to this article, it looks like we are looking only at wave 1 of the harry potter figures:

"The first waves for each brand will have over 20 figures to collect and multiple waves are planned for year one."

http://www.figures.com/2017/06...nano-metalfigs-line/

I've noticed some sites marking the harry potter figures we have as "wave 1" too so I'm curious to see what'll come out next.  $1 is the perfect price on these. 

Ballz2 posted:

According to this article, it looks like we are looking only at wave 1 of the harry potter figures:

"The first waves for each brand will have over 20 figures to collect and multiple waves are planned for year one."

http://www.figures.com/2017/06...nano-metalfigs-line/

 

I've noticed some sites marking the harry potter figures we have as "wave 1" too so I'm curious to see what'll come out next.  $1 is the perfect price on these. 

I'm sure the comic IP's will get a second wave and I really hope HP does too.  The price point and subject material is perfect. I'd love to see more minor charachters and especially some more bad guys.  DeathEaters please...

Target now sells nano figs..  the 20 pack!! For 20 bucks.   Hagrid and moody are the new ones here.  These guys are pretty sneaky -trying to get you to buy full sets to get all the characters.  Wished we realized that earlier... ah well. 

Fantastic! 

Thanks for the heads up. I'll pick that up shortly.