Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Sights of Sodor - The Skarloey Railway Viaduct

This week on the Island of Sodor, we journey up the line to see the Skarloey Railway Viaduct! Watch from the sidelines as the engines go about their work on the viaduct by checking out the latest video!


 How well did I do at recreating this set from the TV series?

I've never had such a large and difficult set to work with until I had to film on this. The Skarloey Railway Viaduct has always been an iconic part of the Skarloey Railway, even reappearing recently in the TV series' 18th season. This bridge is huge! And very difficult to film with. If you can't tell, the bridge itself was taller than the sky background that I had so I had to make a special blue background poster that was big enough for the sky background to sit on. 


Watch video: Click Here!

What do you think of the Skarloey Railway Viaduct? Wanna see more episodes with the viaduct in it? Let us know by commenting down below or in the YouTube comments section. I always appreciate feedback from my fans.

Come back next Wednesday to see another amazing location on Sodor!

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Sights of Sodor - The Lakeside Station

This week on the Island of Sodor, we journey up the line to see the Lakeside Station! Watch the little narrow gauge engines doing their day's work around the lake and village by checking out the latest video!


What do you think? Did I do a good job recreating this set from the TV series?

This set has always been one that has fascinated me and I'm really glad I got the chance to remake it. In the Railway Series, the lake that the narrow gauge engines run around is just a simple lake, but in the TV series there was this awesome village that was situated around it. I loved watching the different scenes that take place here. I'm still very impressed with the modelers from the original TV show and what they made to bring Thomas & Friends to life.



Watch video: Click Here!

When I was replicating the village I tried to get as close as I could with each of the buildings. I think I did a pretty good job, but you guys will have to let me know what you think. Sadly it was too hard to try and remake the blue bridge that normally appears on the left side of the village, so instead I added a little customized area of my own that has a shed for the narrow gauge engines to stay at. 

What do you think of the Lakeside Station? Would you like to see more of the Lakeside Station in future episodes? Let us know by commenting down below or in the YouTube comments section. I always appreciate feedback from my fans.

Come back next Wednesday to see another amazing location on Sodor!

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Sights of Sodor - The Hill

This week on the Island of Sodor, we journey up the line to see the big narrow gauge hill! Watch as Sir Handel tries to make it up the hill by checking out the latest video!


Everyone knows Gordon's Hill that the standard gauge engines have to get over, so I wanted to have a similar challenge on the narrow gauge line. So I made a hill that the engines have to get over. So today's video is Sir Handel's experience of trying to take a goods train over the hill.

When I made the hill it was originally a lot shorter. It was suppose to be the height of two of the Tomy yellow plastic supports. The process of making the hill was me filling the area with newspaper and covering it in Woodland Scenics plaster cloth. The newspaper ended up making the hill much taller than I thought it would be so now the hill is much more difficult than I originally planned. If you look closely at my other sets you can probably spot the hill somewhere in the background being used as scenery. 



Watch video: Click Here!

Do you like the narrow gauge counterpart of Gordon's Hill? Let us know by commenting down below or in the YouTube comments section. I always appreciate feedback from my fans.

Come back next Wednesday to see another amazing location on Sodor!

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Sights of Sodor - Sodor Castle Causeway

This week on the Island of Sodor, we journey up the line to see the Sodor Castle Causeway! Watch the little narrow gauge engines journey up and down the line throughout the whole day by checking out the latest video! 


Did I do a good job trying to replicate the castle in the TV series?

I don't know of anyone else who has remade this castle, but it was pretty fun to do out of foam. I drew up a design of what the  castle looked like and cut it out of foam and painted it and made the island that it is on. The building itself is actually a façade. The building is only painted on the front side just for filming these scenes. I was disappointed that the castle itself was never actually used as part of a story in any of the earlier TV series episodes so I made at least one episode that centers around the castle. I think you guys will really enjoy it.



Watch video: Click Here!

What do you think of the time lapse of the whole day? Would you like to see more of the Sodor Castle Causeway? Let us know by commenting down below or in the YouTube comments section. I always appreciate feedback from my fans.
Come back next Wednesday to see another amazing location on Sodor!