The MLP Arena

Creativity => Customs => Topic started by: Snapdragon on December 06, 2023, 08:22:50 PM

Title: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Snapdragon on December 06, 2023, 08:22:50 PM

I totally forgot to post this last year, when I actually finally completed it, and told myself around January that I would definitely post it this December! So, without further ado - the G4 Custom Christmas Train!

visitors can't see pics , please register or login
 

And here's more closeups of the individual cars with what their "before" would have looked like, AKA the stock, unpainted trains:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login
 
visitors can't see pics , please register or login
 
visitors can't see pics , please register or login
 
visitors can't see pics , please register or login
 

And I'll put some WIP pics behind a cut, in case you're curious to see some of the painting detail shots!

Spoiler

Here's how I rediscovered the train in 2022, with a base coat and not much else! Oh, I did stick on the peppermint wheel for the locomotive, LOL! (It's the same photo mirrored twice, only because the photo wasn't cropping properly.)
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Here was my attempt to make a blue and silver train... which just looked dirty! So then I tried to put down an orange base to make it gold instead, and it looked like a mac n cheese train! :rofl: But the mac n cheese prevailed, and it came out much nicer!
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Mac n cheese vindicated!
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Here's the ice cream train, getting all those little lattice lines straight was tough for sure!
visitors can't see pics , please register or login
 
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


And I guess I didn't get any WIP shots of the locomotive or caboose, because they weren't as paint-heavy! Oops!)

I originally bought this train on clearance at Toys R Us, which should tell you how long ago I originally planned to customize this! :faint: In 2016, I referenced on my blog that I had been trying to work on this train every December 'for three years', which would make my start date around 2013, which makes this train a decade old! But while the train got shelved and put aside for many (many... many...) years, I continued tracking down various little Christmas decor bits, and I even took a photo of the MASSIVE amount of Christmas doodads and gee-gaws I had been collecting for it in the decade intervening!

visitors can't see pics , please register or login
 

The train, like many toys, has a lot of sculpted details in the plastic that don't really show up because they're not painted! So I tried to highlight as many of the fun little sculpt details as I could (and hide the screw holes), while still changing it enough to feel Christmas-y. For example, I changed the ice cream cone train car into a car with wooden lattice and a snowy mountaintop, complete with glitter and snowmen! I had originally planned to use faux-frosting, but I feared it might just look too chunky and thick, and even more like ice cream. Using glitter made it look more gritty, like ice!

I didn't want to do a full repaint with a full white basecoat, since I worried it might turn out chunky, and also because I also wanted to highlight the original sculpting and color scheme. So that meant I had to get a bit creative with how I would turn each train car into more 'festive' colors! It's still very bright and colorful, but I figure that's more like how MLP would do the holidays anyway! I love to see how much the sculpting work of the original pops with just a little bit of paint to highlight it!

Phew! That's a lot of typing, but it was a lot of work!! I originally got the drive to finish it in time for a 'custom winter collab' last year, and I can proudly say that mine was the only train included, LOL! Thanks for reading!

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: BlackCurtains on December 06, 2023, 11:25:35 PM

omg this is the cutest thing ever! I absolutely love it :D All the detail is amazing.

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: pandabear_chan on December 07, 2023, 01:22:49 AM

You did a phenomenal job on this super cute train and I don't like G4s at all. But the work and detail that went into it is outstanding. You can be very proud on yourself!

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: lovesbabysquirmy on December 07, 2023, 06:03:27 AM

how fun!

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: shockponie on December 07, 2023, 07:43:04 AM

Wow, this is incredible! What a lovely job.  :biggrin:

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: brightberry on December 07, 2023, 09:02:13 AM

Love it! So detailed and cheerful.  Amazing!

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Gator on December 07, 2023, 10:17:18 AM

You did an amazing job!  This is awesome!

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Snapdragon on December 07, 2023, 12:15:04 PM

Quote from: BlackCurtains on December 06, 2023, 11:25:35 PM

omg this is the cutest thing ever! I absolutely love it :D All the detail is amazing.

Quote from: pandabear_chan on December 07, 2023, 01:22:49 AM

You did a phenomenal job on this super cute train and I don't like G4s at all. But the work and detail that went into it is outstanding. You can be very proud on yourself!

Quote from: lovesbabysquirmy on December 07, 2023, 06:03:27 AM

how fun!

Quote from: shockponie on December 07, 2023, 07:43:04 AM

Wow, this is incredible! What a lovely job.  :biggrin:

Quote from: brightberry on December 07, 2023, 09:02:13 AM

Love it! So detailed and cheerful.  Amazing!

Quote from: Gator on December 07, 2023, 10:17:18 AM

You did an amazing job!  This is awesome!

Thank you all so very much!!! :heart: :heart: :heart: I'm glad you guys got a kick out of it too! It may not have taken nine years of consecutive painting/gluing work, but it sure felt like it last December! :lmao: I kept thinking, okay, ONE more night and it'll be done ... and then it would take another week! :rofl:

I'm not sure how to attach videos here, but I'll see if I can get my video linked somehow! I took a cute little shot of it rolling along the floor, it still somehow moves even with all of the doodads weighing it down! :rofl:

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Griffin on December 07, 2023, 01:20:57 PM

That looks amazing, well worth the time invested! Congrats on finally finishing the project!  :accomplished:

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Starflashbaby on December 07, 2023, 02:56:52 PM

the Christmas Train is Beautiful - You did a Wonderful Job at creating it!

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Ponybookworm on December 07, 2023, 05:40:17 PM

This is adorable!!!

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Heart Of Midnight on December 07, 2023, 06:31:13 PM

Wow, incredibly beautiful and great! Lots of lovely and interesting details! :enthralled:
:frolic:

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: ChocolateStarfire on December 07, 2023, 10:43:03 PM

This is amazing! The details and colors are wonderful! :lovey:

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Annie on December 07, 2023, 10:55:21 PM

It's absolutely amazing!  :inlove:
Loving all the details!

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Moonbreeze on December 08, 2023, 08:35:29 AM

Aw, so cool! It's neat to see a playset customized. The colours are amazing <3

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Leave a Whisper on December 08, 2023, 10:35:20 AM

They turned out wonderfully

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Honeycomb on December 09, 2023, 11:14:31 AM

Incredible!!! What a beautiful and special piece!
Do you have it up for display during the holidays?

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Goanna on December 10, 2023, 12:01:13 AM

This is so beautiful! I love your colour choices and all the little details :D

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Snapdragon on December 11, 2023, 11:49:19 PM

Quote from: Honeycomb on December 09, 2023, 11:14:31 AM

Incredible!!! What a beautiful and special piece!
Do you have it up for display during the holidays?

Thank you all so much, you are all so sweet!! :hug: You know, it would be a great idea to get it out for the holidays! Right now it's tucked in with the other train cars in a box in my room, only because I'm so afraid of one of the gazillion little bits falling off and being lost in the ornament boxes, LOL!

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Caysie on December 23, 2023, 10:48:31 AM

Aw, so cute! What a great idea to make a whole set. Absolutely love it!

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: Oniontart on January 01, 2024, 03:35:06 AM

What an original idea! I absolutely love this, putting together many of my favorite things:  trains, ponies and christmas  :inlove: :inlove:
And I feel you with a long term project, had one custom in making for like decade now and not even near ready :blush:

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: shabbychicdee on January 11, 2024, 07:22:01 PM

 :lovey: so in love, well done, i have always loved that set, so cool to see it customised

Title: Re: A Christmas Train Nine Years in the Making!
Post by: maycrestmom on January 14, 2024, 05:47:54 PM

oh my goodness I would find a way to display that loveliness all the year round !  What a fabulous creation that I am sure is going to bring so much joy every time you bring it out for Christmastime :-)