[Banjo]

I was pretty pleased with myself for adapting a pattern to give Santa arms long enough to hold a train engine and a caboose. It wasn't until he was nearly finished and I placed the engine and caboose in his hands that I realized I didn't quite think things through. (I have this problem a lot. ) Between the weight of his out stretched arms and the weight of the engine and caboose, Santa would fall flat on his face with the slightest nudge! Hence, the base! This is the first time I've ever used a base. I had to make an extra litte boxcar to put by Santa's feet to kind of balance it out.

I'm not real happy with the train. It's just too plain. I wish I had some of the painting skills others on this forum have. Anyway, here he is:

[mikeg]

Great job! I think the train looks fine. You did a great job all around.

mikeg

[susieq]

Joy,
He is just lovely! Nice idea and you pulled it off well. Quit being so hard on yourself. We all have the same thing happen to us, think we have it all planned out only to find we have to make an adjustment near the end to compensate for some unforseen thing....like needing a base. Nice Job!!
susieq

[wood-whittler]

joy,

looks good to me, the train looks just great,just one suggestion, what about some peices of track down by his feet? either way it is a great carving, you are doing great with your peices.

bart

p.s i agree with susie quit being so hard on yourself you are doing great.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Oh no....a plain train! lol.....I think it looks great..not a big deal to look around a bit and find little things to dress it up if thats what you want. Take a look at Nancy Goffs carvings, beautiful paint jobs, or Susan's drawings, how about looking at some pics of trains and paint in a few little geegaws that are on trains.....Al has done some trains too.........but all in all, good job and not a thing wrong with putting a base on it!

[Banjo]

Hey, y'all! Thanks for looking at my Santa and all the nice comments and suggestions.

Bart, my husband suggested I make some train track and put on the base, too. Anyone got any suggestions on how to make some real simple train track?

Hi Ho, thanks for your suggestions, too. I can't look at Nancy's or Susie's santas without drooling all over my computer screen!!

[Just Carving]

Looks great! But next time, use different colors than the ones on Santa, say maybe a Conrail blue on the engine, and a dark green or orange on the caboose, and a brick red or gold yellow on the car at his feet--sorta like the real trains. That way the carving doesn't seem as plain to you. Otherwise the carving is fantastic! Good job!

[Kenny_S]

Over all, you piece looks great. You don't want to distract from the over all appearance of the Santa which I believe is the focal point. Nicelt done and the train engine and car looks great, but like Bob said, maybe a different color than the Santa.
I agaree, you are way to hard on yourself. You have a carving piece to be proud of.

[Robert Cahill]

I think you did a nice job on both the santa and train. I probaly would have done as you did but after reading the posts I think bob had a good idea in using differant colors for the train

[Mark N. Akers]

Great job on the Santa and the train.