Halloween Village Started - Frankenstein Castle/Laboratory

As Halloween is drawing closer and closer, I am going to start to take some pics of props and things that I've picked up and share them here with you all.


I have recently this year, started to build a Halloween village complete with a train and two ships that I already have. Most of these are from the Bradford Exchange and Hawthorne Village collections but a few are from Dept 56. The problem in combining these two is that the scales are off and not compatible so I am not too sure how I will handle that except to perhaps put the smaller together or towards the back for depth.


I am waiting on the Dracular car and train tracks before I can go over to Home Depot and pick up a piece of plywood so I can start to build it! :)


This is the most recent piece I received, Frankenstein's Castle/Laboratory.

It came in a nice thick styrofoam packaging and they took time to wrap Frankenstein's monster with a bit of softer foam as well. I love these houses as they have such great detailing!

They are a bit pricey however and I won't go too far in a collection/series as I only want to get certain pieces for sure and then will cancel the subscription. You can get them in monthly payments which is really nice and convenient. Just be sure if you do not wish to have your card charged automatically, you CALL Bradford Exchange to place your order and tell them you would prefer to have yourself billed. They may want to charge you at first for a few times but then you can call them and switch it over. I don't prefer to have my card charged willynilly by them as they are want to do with no warning. I prefer to pay on my own.

Oh and be careful when you do go to order a series, I would definitely call them and talk to them on the phone about it first to find out how long the series has been available and make sure that all the pieces are available! Sometimes if a series has been around for a long time, some of the pieces may no longer be available. I ran into this when I was wanting to get the Nightmare Before Christmas village and when I went to do so it was no longer available. So I gave up on the notion as it was so expensive on ebay for the whole collection that people were selling. Then, a few months later, I saw the village being offered again at the Bradford Exchange! I got all excited and called them, only to find out that no, they only put it back on like that because they had a few extra pieces to the series but I would not be able to get the whole thing and they were not going to be making more! :(
It was a bit of false advertising in my eyes then that they would be offering the series for a subscription when not all are available. So be careful when you start a series to collect!
They do come with a certificate of authenticity as well. Be sure and locate it taped onto the outside of that styrofoam packaging and not toss it out by accident! :)

On this piece, the castle does come with a lightbulb and cord to light the whole thing up. I don't have it put together in these pics so the yellow windows is just looking like that from the flash and they are painted yellow. I was a bit disappointed in that the windows are not real open windows and the chain on the front drawbridge seems like a very fragile fine gold chain instead of a dark black and thicker one that it would be. But eh, not looking for perfection or to be that picky but it's just the little things I wanted to note for you.


I know this will look great once I get it set up on the platform! Once I do, I'll get a better feel as to which pieces I may be keeping or what series I'll continue with and those that I may either move to a separate set up or sell.

Oh and as for the Nightmare Before Christmas? Bradford Exchange started that series over again, brand new and updated it to glow in black light!!! Of course, I had to get that for my daughter who loves Nightmare Before Christmas! :) Our first piece, Jack's house will be the first to arrive in that series!


I just checked online at their site (which is very convenient when wanting to check on your order) and I saw the Dracula car and train tracks won't arrive til September.


Oh and so you have it, here is the number to call The Bradford Exchange as this number is hard to find on their site as they nudge you to email them instead: 1-866-907-3607


They have alot of different themed trains and villages and collectibles. Check them out:


The Bradford Exchange


I saw they have Harry Potter series but I didn't care for how they have the buildings and scenes on pedestals and more like a diorama. It would have been great to have had Hogwarts and other key buildings from the movies and to have created the entire Harry Potter village!


 Aye well...one can dream! ;)