The Village Train Station
Friday
February 26, 2021
David Bayne - January 5, 2021
Department 56 Buildings on model RR layouts
Click on either picture above to see David's article.
by Jim Kellow MMR
Mentoring Definition: A Trusted Counselor or Guide
I believe Mentoring is critical for the success of any endeavor for our hobby.
Having the advice of a skilled talented modeler can help us improve our scenes.
Thanks to a reader, I have a great modeler to introduce in this article. I am
honored that Stephen Pepin is the first modeler and village collector that I
am able to profile. I'm sure Stephen's work may be familiar to many of you,
but I believe knowing a little about the person who creates the scenes makes
it easier to talk with them and ask for their help with your modeling issues, or
discuss them building a scene or display for you.
Stephen Pepin
The Beginning
As a kid growing up in Canada I always enjoyed creating miniature landscapes,
little towns and running HO scale trains, but then I became a teenager and
that wasn't cool any more! Things got serious; getting through college
launching my professional life, and eventually starting a family and settling
down in the Phoenix area in 1999.
The magical day as it relates to Department 56 came on Halloween on 2003.
Our family was visiting Salem, Massachusetts, and my wife visited a gift shop
while I stayed outside with my daughter in a stroller. I glanced at the front window
of the gift shop, and there it was; a small but well done Department 56 Halloween
display. I remember seeing the Spooky Schooner and the Shipwreck Lighthouse.
My passion for Department 56 started at that very moment. Keep in mind that at
that point (2003) the Snow Village Halloween Village was only 5 years old, as it
started with the Haunted Mansion in 1998.
The Journey
I started my village with a few Halloween houses. I quickly realized that the
accessories are key for a complete scene, so I added some people and other
accessories like trees, fencing, pumpkins, etc. At Halloween in 2004 we had
a party planned at our house with several families, so I decided to build a
Halloween Village display for the guests to enjoy. It was made in a very
complicated way with the wrong material, like floral foam instead of
expanded polystyrene (EPS) but I was fairly happy with it. I learned
on my own through trial and error.
Later on I decided to make a new display and put the old one for sale
on eBay. I was quite ready to give it away instead of just throwing it
out, but it fetched a surprising amount of money. That is when the hobby
started to evolve into a business. I simply built displays in small sections,
offered them for sale, and I slowly started to get repeat customers.
The next logical step was to build my own brand and website, which
gave birth to Showcase Displays, but at that point I was still making
displays only for private collectors, not commercial work. I was also
collecting more than Halloween - pretty much something from all
villages. I enjoyed designing displays and doing the small details.
I sometime use products associated with other hobbies, like
printed water mats that are used by Warhammer hobbyists.
This corner North Pole display was built entirely with
Woodland Scenics Shaper Sheets as the base.
A great material to shape as desired.
In 2010 came the opportunity to start doing commercial work
for Millie's Hallmark, located in Phoenix, AZ,. where over the
years I have built their entire Department 56 village gallery
and still refresh parts of it every year. I have been helping
modelers since 2010 by teaching 8 display creation classes
at Millie's Hallmark, offered free to attendees by the owners.
These classes include design, foam carving techniques,
painting, landscaping, and more.
A Bachmann tram crosses the bridge above the
Christmas in the City Village.
A Bachmann engine is used as a non-operational prop for a shallow
display. All mountains and train bridge is made of carved foam
using tools from the Hot Wire Foam Factory Company.
In 2015 Department 56 needed help with designing and creating
their village displays at their head office in Eden Prairie, and at
the Enesco (parent company of Department 56) showrooms in
Atlanta, GA, and Las Vegas, NV, which I still do today.
Trains in Villages
Some of the store displays I created included a model train,
typically Lionel or Bachmann. This includes two Snow Village
displays, one at Millie's Hallmark and one at Knott's Berry
Farm in Buena Park, CA. The displays I create for private
collectors are designed based on what the customer has
for village houses and sometimes includes a train as well.
Displays that don't include a train are usually due to the size
of the display being too small to accommodate a train layout.
This Snow Village display at Knott's Berry Farm in
California, features a Lionel Polar Express train.
This project included not only the creation of the Halloween
display in the room, but covering the entire room wall
facade and entrance to look like stone, which was also
made by carving and painting polystyrene foam.
Conclusion
In closing, I would say that for me, the most important
aspects of creating a scene, are designing elevations so the
houses, figurines, trains, etc. can be more easily appreciated.
Ensuring a good level of details across the scene to make it
interesting for the viewer. And, having fun! It's a wonderful
hobby that you can do at home. Relax and enjoy it!
email: stephen@showcase-displays.com
website: www.showcase-displays.com
phone/text: (480) 267-7777
JUST ONE MORE EXAMPLE OF
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