Great Model Railway Challenge - Channel 5

[Andy Y]

Talking to many visitors at Wigan show yesterday the programme was raised by virtually everyone as a discussion point; for good or bad but mostly good - it's no bad thing that the series is being watched and I understand there's some pretty healthy viewing figures looked at.

[Harlequin]

Perhaps a couple of guest judges would help raise the profile? Maybe Chris Leigh and our own Andy Y.

 

Do you think they'd be more "showbiz" than the taciturn Mr Flint?

 

Andy Y would have to declare an interest, having talked to virtually everyone in the hobby here on RMWeb.

 

How about Phil Parker, with all his existing showbiz experience from doing the BRM videos.

[Hobby]

Clearly the programme has got even the RMWebbers out on their keyboards with all their responses and comments.  Now ............if there is a second series - would you put yourself forward with what you now know and have seen?  AM

 

No, not my scene at all... But I would still tune in and watch those who did!

 

Obviously the people I mixed with at Wigan over the weekend were those who hadn't watched it, Andy, probably stuck on the M6 carpark at the time!!

Edited October 8, 2018 by Hobby

[cjlangdon]

It's been fascinating to see what people think of the show.

 

The production company did film loads of pieces on static grass, ballasting, weathering etc but unfortunately, they didn't fit in the 45 minutes running time. They also visited all the teams beforehand but again, time was against them in the final cut.  It's amazing how little you can get into the time and they had 3 cameras running continuously for around 10 hours each for 3 days on each heat plus the pre-visit footage.  I am so glad I didn't have to edit that down!

 

For those of you wondering about Missenden's backdrop, I've added some of the photos I took at the time to my behind the scenes post:  https://www.kathymillatt.co.uk/blog/2018/10/05/great-model-railway-challenge-movies/.  I believe that the terraces were Scalescenes that they changed the door colours on and resized into 5 different decreasing scales.  The backdrop itself was photoshopped from google map views and was several layers deep of cut outs.  It was also lit as all of the terraces were.  The whole lot was made so that when you stood in front, all the pieces seamlessly melded into each other with perspective lines.

 

It was truly a piece of art and I am looking forward to seeing it fully completed at a show soon.

 

Kathy

Hi Kathy,

 

I am pleased that you liked the forced perspective backdrop, and we are flattered by your description of it "as a work of art".

 

For those who are interested, we are running a course on this on our Spring Railway Modellers' weekend at Missenden Abbey. The tutor is Paul Bambrick and the dates are 1-3rd March 2019. Full details are at:-www.missendenrailwaymodellers.org.uk. click onto the Spring Page and follow the link to Backscenes.

 

Christopher Langdon

Missenden Abbey Railway Modelling Courses

[sharris]

1. Missed opportunity for advertising - Hornby/Bachmann etc missed a great opportunity for advertising - tv adverts especially coming up to Christmas during a modelling programme in my opinion would have been a great idea.

 

 

 

Do Hornby and Bachmann even have TV adverts? I'm sure it's some years since I saw a Hornby advert, and have never seen a Bachmann one.

[dibber25]

Do you think they'd be more "showbiz" than the taciturn Mr Flint?

 

Andy Y would have to declare an interest, having talked to virtually everyone in the hobby here on RMWeb.

 

How about Phil Parker, with all his existing showbiz experience from doing the BRM videos.

 

Assuming that 'everyone in the hobby' looks at RMweb, I guess I'd also have to 'declare an interest' on that basis, too, although I was talking to people in the hobby long before RMweb came along and probably before Andy was born! The programme required a substantial commitment of time from the judges and my time was already fully committed. I have nothing but admiration for those who managed to fit it in to their already busy schedules. (CJL)

[ianLMS]

Do Hornby and Bachmann even have TV adverts? I'm sure it's some years since I saw a Hornby advert, and have never seen a Bachmann one.

Probably not, as I guess they dont see the benefit in spending thousands on a 30 second advert. Although, TV advertising is huge and most major companies rely on it, so there must be some value. Just a shame the big companies dont capitalise on these opportunities.

[Nick Holliday]

Programme much better than I feared, and knocked spots off the Walking Tracks programme that followed.

I wonder if the Missenden team had this in mind:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/124446949@N06/35052944483/ for another view of it.

Tram, steam loco, bridge and trompe l'oeil roadway all combined in one!

 

[Guest chris.trebble]

Oh dear! Watched it on My5 as the live transmission clashed with Quins v Sarries on BT Sport. The rugby was outstanding, the Great Model Railway Challenge not so - more like 'The Not So Great Toy Train Challenge'. Here was an opportunity to display the undoubted skills of the participants to the wider public - modellers and non-modellers alike - but no, these were glossed over in favour of public criticism and put down by the judges - an unfortunate trend of TV nowadays. The participant who, on being handed a lady's shoe for scratch building, commented "We're railway modellers but they're trying to make clowns of us" (or very similar wording) hit the nail on the head. Such a wasted opportunity and, in my view, very unlikely to attract newcomers to what is undoubtedly a brilliant hobby with so many interests and skills. Unfortunately, the judges also failed to sparkle - it may have been beneficial to supplement the judging panel with a more experienced TV personality like Pete Waterman. And the so-called reality TV clichés:

 

And the winner is …………

 

 

 

……….. Well, certainly not the real hobby!

[chuffinghell]

I watched it again over the weekend with my 18yr old son, he enjoyed it too........first time I've seen him off his xbox in years

[Ian Morgan]

Now ............if there is a second series - would you put yourself forward with what you now know and have seen?  AM

The reason I initially did not consider taking part when first advertised was that the blurb stated they were looking for "the nation's most talented railway modellers". I knew I was not one of those.

 

However, I ended up being volunteered to be team member, and had a really good time doing it.

 

Would I do it again? Most definitely, YES!

[MRDBLUE17]

Hi everyone,

 

It’s interesting to read the many positive comments from the show. Our team will appear on the 26th October so you’ll need to them in to see how we got on. I think it will be highly entertaining for you all. Ours was the very first heat filmed and the TV company we’re all really nice throughout the process.

 

For me I didn’t think it would be possible to build a layout to a reasonable standard in the time but I enjoy a challenge and thought that we could show the hobby in a fun light as well. I’m sure there will be drama created in the edit that you will see and due to time it’s a shame you won’t get to see the back story that was filmed as we had a lot of fun doing that too. We certainly chatted with the other teams throughout as well as the Judges and presenters.

 

I am amazed at the interest shown by all non Modellers and I hope it gets people into the hobby. I hope our team can return in a future series as well as it was an interesting experience to be a part of.

 

Thanks Mark

The Diesel Dynamos!

[Andy Hayter]

Clearly the programme has got even the RMWebbers out on their keyboards with all their responses and comments.  Now ............if there is a second series - would you put yourself forward with what you now know and have seen?  AM

 

Having seen the first program I would probably say yes if asked, whereas like a previous poster, I would not have considered myself for the first series, albeit for some other reasons.

[wombatofludham]

t may have been beneficial to supplement the judging panel with a more experienced TV personality like Pete Waterman. 

 

Precisely the person NOT to have involved if the programme is to have any interest to Joe and Joanna Normal.  Leaving aside my personal dislike of the individual, he really is yesterday's man with the public.  Plus he seems to be the hackneyed, cliched go to rentagob for lazy producers doing anything on railways just because he's available, a bit like the equally unlikeable Christian Wolmar for rentaquote soundbites for news editors.

 

It sounds like the programme has hit the market and is already having a positive benefit to the hobby without inflicting Marmite characters on us like Waterman.

 

There again if they did a Celebrity spin-off they might be able to use him in that as the definition of "celebrity" in these things is such a broad church even YouTube box openers would get an invite.

[Guest chris.trebble]

Precisely the person NOT to have involved if the programme is to have any interest to Joe and Joanna Normal.  Leaving aside my personal dislike of the individual, he really is yesterday's man with the public.  Plus he seems to be the hackneyed, cliched go to rentagob for lazy producers doing anything on railways just because he's available, a bit like the equally unlikeable Christian Wolmar for rentaquote soundbites for news editors.

 

It sounds like the programme has hit the market and is already having a positive benefit to the hobby without inflicting Marmite characters on us like Waterman.

 

There again if they did a Celebrity spin-off they might be able to use him in that as the definition of "celebrity" in these things is such a broad church even YouTube box openers would get an invite.

 

Sounds like you should be a US Senator!

[Andy Y]

And the winner is …………

 

……….. Well, certainly not the real hobby!

 

Yes, I did remove your previous post but as you appear to be doggedly determined to express your perspective I will challenge this and say that you, maybe subconsciously, think that the 'real' hobby is more worthy than the wider hobby and is just the sort of stance to put off newcomers.

 

The substantial majority of people I have spoken to feel it's a good thing the hobby is getting exposure.

[AndrewC]

Clearly the programme has got even the RMWebbers out on their keyboards with all their responses and comments.  Now ............if there is a second series - would you put yourself forward with what you now know and have seen?  AM

Now.......... that is a question that could fill its own thread. 

 

I'd say no thank you. For me this is a hobby. Something to enjoy at my leisure and pace. I long ago gave up having to build to a schedule to meet an exhibition deadline. If I want to play trains with others I'll drag my modules to a Freemo meet. If there is a bit unfinished, then it isn't a big deal as long as it runs. No competition, no judging, no stress. It's the same reason why I won't enter anything into an NMRA contest, or even consider taking part in the NMRA achievement programme. I can understand why some people would jump at the chance. For them pitting their skills against others is part of their enjoyment. I have enough of that with my day job. Every document has to be reviewed, design reviews, code reviews, hackathon competitions that we "have to" participate in. I'll take the slow road and savour the simple pleasure of building something for myself. 

 

As for the show, I quite enjoyed it. I echo many of the suggestions made by others. As far as the recap following every commercial break, this is done for a couple of reasons. 1 too many people now have goldfish attention spans and will have forgotten everything prior to the DFS advert.    2 it serves as a hook for people that come in part way through. 

 

And now back to work where I have to review 200+ pages of merde from an apprentice that is way out of her depth.  

[Hobby]

The substantial majority of people I have spoken to feel it's a good thing the hobby is getting exposure.

 

I feel it'll do far more to encourage people to get involved in the hobby than the great glen challenge. It's inevitable that we'll not see much of "how to do it" features, that's not the nature of the programme, same as we don't see any similar "how to's" on the bake off programme. So far a thumbs up and the hobby has come over quite well!

Edited October 8, 2018 by Hobby

[Guest chris.trebble]

Yes, I did remove your previous post but as you appear to be doggedly determined to express your perspective I will challenge this and say that you, maybe subconsciously, think that the 'real' hobby is more worthy than the wider hobby and is just the sort of stance to put off newcomers.

 

The substantial majority of people I have spoken to feel it's a good thing the hobby is getting exposure.

 

Thought I had posted first time round! Also thought this was a forum for contributors to express their own views, whether or not they agree with the administrators' views. Perhaps that is not the case, but it would be helpful if posts that you personally deem not fit to be published were at least acknowledged rather than disappearing into a black hole.

[Phil Parker]

Precisely the person NOT to have involved if the programme is to have any interest to Joe and Joanna Normal.  Leaving aside my personal dislike of the individual, he really is yesterday's man with the public.  Plus he seems to be the hackneyed, cliched go to rentagob for lazy producers doing anything on railways just because he's available, a bit like the equally unlikeable Christian Wolmar for rentaquote soundbites for news editors.

 

It sounds like the programme has hit the market and is already having a positive benefit to the hobby without inflicting Marmite characters on us like Waterman.

 

There again if they did a Celebrity spin-off they might be able to use him in that as the definition of "celebrity" in these things is such a broad church even YouTube box openers would get an invite.

 

"Leaving aside my personal dislike of the individual" - Hmmm

 

However, I agree that Pete W isn't the person you want on this. He would have dominated the screen and the show would have been about the judges rather than the competitors. I'm also not a fan of the idea that only a "celebrity" can be allowed on screen. There's a lot of sense in growing more talent rather than relying on the same people time and time again. Not least because those same people then have you over a barrel when it's time to discuss the fee!

 

FWIW - I think the judges are spot on. Steve Flint might not have grabbed much screen time this week, but that will change I'm sure. There is a lot in the editing and I got the feeling that so much content had been generated, cramming it into the 45 minutes was a tough job. This is a learning process for everyone. Bake Off was a very different show in the first series and took 2 or 3 to evolve into the current format. If this gets re-commissioned, then I'm sure everything will be refined.

[30801]

I feel it'll do far more to encourage people to get involved in the hobby than the great glen challenge. It's inevitable that we'll not see much of "how to do it" features, that's not the nature of the programme, same as we don't see any similar "how to's" on the bake off programme. So far a thumbs up and the hobby has come over quite well!

 

I think it's a good format to show that something can be knocked together fairly quickly and have the audience think 'Hey I could do that'

 

As to 'how-to's' and such there could be some webisodes and possibly a companion book out in time for Christmas.....?

[Andy Y]

Also thought this was a forum for contributors to express their own views, whether or not they agree with the administrators' views. 

 

Before you availed us with your thoughts you could have paid the respect of reading my comments in the opening post of the topic.

[SDJR7F88]

The funny thing is they did film a tutorial for every episode from what I understand. Tim did one for Point Motors in our heat (episode 2), and borrow one of our spare motors. I guess like the back story they just didn't have time to fit it in

Edited October 8, 2018 by SDJR7F88

[SDJR7F88]

I feel it'll do far more to encourage people to get involved in the hobby than the great glen challenge. It's inevitable that we'll not see much of "how to do it" features, that's not the nature of the programme, same as we don't see any similar "how to's" on the bake off programme. So far a thumbs up and the hobby has come over quite well!

[Legend]

Well as everyone has said if it increases the profile of the hobby and avoids the usual cliches about grown men playing trains, then it can only be a good thing .

 

It was pleasant viewing . I’m just not a fan of Masterchef, Great British Bake Off formats which this tends to follow. As others have said railway modelling is not a competitive sport and so doesn’t really fit a time challenge . I accept they’ve got to find some format to make it work , though , just watching people laying track or plastering a countryside is probably not that entertaining.

 

I wouldn’t be deluded that the program is there to attract people into the hobby. That might be a pleasant side effect but it’s not the main aim of the program makers who are aiming primarily for entertainment . I suspect that the guy from Missenden was a victim of that and was probably quoted out of context. One way to make it useful and to attract people into the hobby would be to demonstrate how certain things are done . Static grass would have been an example as I bet members of the general public would be intrigued at the use of electricity to create grass in the “I didn’t realise you could do that” way. As far as I could see the program didn’t refer to Model Railway Exhibitions , Clubs (other than the two that were present) or shops . I’m hoping that that might change in future editions . Maybe one of the challenges is to create a model railway on a budget. The program may well attract the interest of the general public but it’s a huge leap from there to actually building a model railway and so far the program hasn’t explained much about how to do that or where to get help.

 

In that respect it might have been good had there been a magazine tie in. There are a few out there just now on how to create a model railway , which is good, but a direct link perhaps with some of the layouts built , showing how it was done, might have been beneficial. Peco seem to be well involved in this, they may have missed a trick there.

Edited October 8, 2018 by Legend