Lionel Polar Express Elf Warming Shacks - Not What I Expected! Yikes! Decals instead of painted labels and logos? What's up with that? And the front door doesn't open? We're going to have some chilly elves on our hands!
The new Lionel Polar Express O-gauge Elf Warming Shacks 3-pack is a brilliant idea. But it needs a bit more to fulfill the promise of the idea. On a positive note, the windows have working shutters! So there is an opportunity to make the Elf Warming Shacks a lot more interesting by adding a light inside each shack. Since the Polar Express is all about Christmas, using colored lights inside the Elf Warming Shacks will be a perfect way to echo the Christmas theme.
In this video, I go step by step through the process of "electrifying" the Elf Warming Shacks and affixing them to my layout.
Choosing the Lights
I had Woodland Scenics LED Nano Lights on hand in red, green, and warm white. The first step was checking one of the shacks for light leaks and glowing walls. The walls were fine, but the white area on the roof was aglow when I put a nano light inside. I used some light blocking paper stock that I'd removed from a Woodland Scenics building that I installed on my layout some time ago to block light from reaching the roof. The walls and the roofs are molded separately, and the attachment point where they are screwed together provided a ledge to attach the light blocking paper. I used glue dots to affix the paper to the inside under the roof. Then I tested one of the shacks again to ensure that the glowing roof problem had been solved.
Fixing the Windows
The window material used by Lionel doesn't adequately block the view inside the shacks. So I put a sheet of Woodland Scenics Light Diffusing film over each window, attaching it by the corners using glue dots. Then I tested a shack again to see whether the windows looked right - success!
Installing the Lights
The nano lights are very small in diameter. Rather than drill holes large enough to push the Just Plug connectors through, I drilled 3/16 inch holes and pushed the nano lights up through from the underside of the table. To hold the nano lights in place, I used glue dots on the cord a fraction of an inch from the LED light. Then I used Just Plug Extension Cables (JP5761) to connect the lights to the Light Hub that is connected to the power supply.
Blocking Light Leaks
Since the plaster surface that the Shacks are sitting on isn't perfectly smooth, light leaking under the bottom edges would spoil the effect. I used the putty ribbon in the Woodland Scenic Light Block Kit to eliminate the light leaks. The putty also holds the Elf Warming Shacks in place on the surface of the table.
Summary
The Elf Warming Shacks are a clever idea. With just a few easy steps you can make them even more interesting by adding lights to the interiors. I also added an Elf Figure Pack to the scene to add interest. I hope that you enjoyed this video!
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