Finally for October . . . Finishing Touches!

Enlarge the Glacier and Illuminate it.

    

And behold the tree!

The Rest of October and The Manual!

I began and spent the rest of October compiling and publishing a How To Assemble Instruction Manual for setting up the platform and all its buildings and wiring by photographing each step as I did it . . . as I assembled it, that is. Manual is a separate publication,

 Here is an example (of one of the photographs/steps in the manual) of the complexity of assembling The Township of Christmas at Christmastime:

OCTOBER 2016 Christmas Preparations

   Work preparations, I find, take scheduling; therefore, I plan the celebrations first! It acts like a carrot in front of the nose!

   My workplan for The Township this year (such workplans always exist solely in my head) was to separate it from the tree this year and table it at waist level. 

Since I would need to fabricate many new assemblies and pieces for this, and did not want to rush it, I needed to start early — October early!

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   Karen loves Christmas all year around (and me too). It's a good environment and is more of a year-round theme for our life together rather than a once-a-year high season.

   We both like to have all gifts bought early and start shopping in January, taking our time and getting special things. We update and improve our home over the year, too.

   Besides, it takes months to set up, include ongoing relaxation, and savor the celebrating of Christmas; and then another month to turn around and take decorations down, pack them up and put them away. So we do all in stages from early October to late January.

   I  call this pictured series of preparations stage one of an infinite (or so it seems) number of Christmas Preparations 2016. Pictures include from top to bottom: 

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   one,
assembling the stage for the Township foundation using two folding tables;

   two,
assembling the foundation by interlocking five separate white-finished platform segments on top of 2x4 joists on top of the tables (3 of 5 segments shown at this photo … All this just to fit and fabricate the skirt!);

   and three, removing the platform and joists, then stitching up the drape and attaching fastenings.

        

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SEPTEMBER 2016 Command Panel Upgrades . . . Again!

Needed precise labeling and fabrication to wire in the new electrical enhancements in and on the new Toy Factory and Plaza. Boosted the lighting with spots at various locations and more blue light for the wild, night areas.  Expanding the tracks, glaciers, tunnels and falls made some great new lighting opportunities. As things get complicated, though,  it's a struggle to make the electrical panel look (and be) simple! And yes, it is possible . . . and a great satisfaction, too.

SEPTEMBER 2016 Install Conveyor Belt

September became a matter of more Toy Factory dreaming which brought on more wiring and modifying and Township refinement with a re-sort and re-fit of interior and exterior storage and display. (Mop-up, the military calls it.)

JUNE-JULY-AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2016

The rest of June, July, and most of August became a matter of . . .  other big projects . . . but that's another story. By August 25, those projects were pretty squared away and I turned to fabricating a Factory Conveyor Belt for Gifts to go inside the Toy Factory.    

JUNE 9, 2016 WIRING FINALIZing . . . !?!

. . . for the year!!! And you ask, where is all the electrical for the hundreds of lights? (both interior and exterior) So, this is ONE hidden panel.