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RAILEX 2019 (Aylesbury) 25 & 26 May


David Bigcheeseplant
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14 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

My layout has been invited next year and does not and will not have its own lighting - for various reasons including the fact that its set in early morning and in winter/early spring and in a apart of the world (non-Uk) that is noted for being overcast and lastly many of the shops/apartments have fully detailed and lit interiors and they stand out better in average lighting conditions.

 

If I was modelling Cuba in high summer at mid-day I would flood the layout with light, but to be 'prototypical' I don't.

 

No lighting means you ceed the look of your model to luck. In some halls it will look dingy, in others, where there is a window, overly bright. You are assuming you will be in evenly lit, halls with low light levels. And no-one leaning in the barrier to provide extra shadow over the model. You can be confident that most halls won't give you a realistic overcast look. 

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14 hours ago, PenrithBeacon said:

I thought the lighting levels were fine, no problem at all. Looking at the smoke effects on Kensal Green I thought they let the layout down being hopelessly unrealistic and I do wonder about their legality, bearing in mind that vaping isn't permitted indoors. I look forward to  somebody much cleverer than me inventing a blower for 4mm

 

Is it actually "illegal" to vape indoors, or just something individual venues have decided to ban? There is a big difference.

 

That said, the emissions from those model locos are pure water vapour with none of the other chemicals found in vapes, and at a MUCH smaller volume than those vaping seem to delight in producing. I'd rather sniff them than the burnt oil from a traditional smoke unit, or the noxious emissions from some flatulent visitors :mocking_mini:

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16 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

 

No lighting means you ceed the look of your model to luck. In some halls it will look dingy, in others, where there is a window, overly bright. You are assuming you will be in evenly lit, halls with low light levels. And no-one leaning in the barrier to provide extra shadow over the model. You can be confident that most halls won't give you a realistic overcast look. 

 

Good point - well taken - but I still won't be adding lights and so I will make a point of mentioning this to exhibition managers when they book us.

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Couple of observations about the lighting:

 

We were aware of how dim everything looked as we set up the layout. Once we got the lighting rig in place and switched on ...

the layout still looked too dimly illuminated. When we put the valance on, though, and the screened off the LED tubes from

direct line of sight, the layout "popped out" and started looking good.

 

During tear-down someone cut off power to the layout while we still needed to do some fiddly, manual stuff, and this was

difficult with just the hall's ambient lighting. 

Edited by Barry Ten
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14 hours ago, PenrithBeacon said:

I thought the lighting levels were fine, no problem at all. Looking at the smoke effects on Kensal Green I thought they let the layout down being hopelessly unrealistic and I do wonder about their legality, bearing in mind that vaping isn't permitted indoors. I look forward to  somebody much cleverer than me inventing a blower for 4mm

In terms of what PenrithBeacon has said above, I would agree that the lighting levels were fine for just walking around, looking at trade stands (some of which had their own lighting anyway) or just chatting to people. I certainly didn't think it was adequate to admire the universally excellent modelling on display, but then again, we are all different.

 

As regards Kensal Green and the smoke effects, I wasn't going to stick my head above the parapet, but if it's true that there's 'safety in numbers', then I will share my view on the layout.

 

- the overall standard of modelling is excellent and the locos in particular were very nicely done. The ambience of a fairly large and grubby steam shed were well captured.

 

- as regards the steam effects, I also wasn't convinced, as you would have to have the blower on continuously on the real thing to achieve the effects shown on the models. A continuous stream of steam and smoke just didn't seem convincing to me, but if the system is still under development, then fair enough and please accept this as constructive criticism. Is it planned to replicate a loco blowing off as well, for example?

 

- one other thing that stood out (or rather, didn't) was the plain backscene. Apologies if this is still a work in progress, but I would have expected some kind of West London skyline.

 

- operationally, I watched a train (with a breakdown crane in the consist, from memory?) be propelled off the main line into the yard, whilst a suburban passenger train was approaching a colour light signal, which looked fairly close to the points into the yard, that were fouled by the propelling movement. My point was to query whether, in real life, the overlap of that colour light signal wouldn't be sufficient and the passenger train would have been held at the signal next in rear?

 

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44 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

Good point - well taken - but I still won't be adding lights and so I will make a point of mentioning this to exhibition managers when they book us.

As said above, you will not be able to control your lighting.

 

If you have this approach, make sure you have a roof/cover over the layout, that way the light falling on the layout can be controlled.

 

Remember the orange glow in the NEC in previous years? Do you really want that tinge on your model?

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1 hour ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

Good point - well taken - but I still won't be adding lights and so I will make a point of mentioning this to exhibition managers when they book us. 

 

But what do you expect them to do about it? Lighting is your problem, not theirs. It's hard enough laying out a show without thinking "TEAMYAKIMA crossing doesn't have lights, we must find somewhere where the illumination is suitable for him." Even if they are willing to think this, the venue (as someone has said, orange NEC) might not have anywhere that works. You are just as likely to end up in a dingy corner where no-one can see your work.

 

To be fair though, exhibition managers will have seen the layout and made their own mind up.

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I'm in a similar boat to Teamyakima in that my current layout is mainly intended to be set at dusk:

 

 

IMG_2371a.jpg

 

While it would definitely benefit from being set up in a dingy corner (so that the whole thing isn't washed out by daylight or bright overhead lights) I can control the illumination to some degree using variable intensity and colour-variable LEDS to flood the overall scene, and because it's encased, I could add a lid to stop straylight getting in from the top - in fact it's on the list of things to do for the next outing.

 

Photo courtesy of Wenlock.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

 

- as regards the steam effects, I also wasn't convinced, as you would have to have the blower on continuously on the real thing to achieve the effects shown on the models. A continuous stream of steam and smoke just didn't seem convincing to me, but if the system is still under development, then fair enough and please accept this as constructive criticism. Is it planned to replicate a loco blowing off as well, for example?

 

 

I think the ultimate realism is limited by the decoder, you could vary it manually to get the realistic effect but to do it automatically will require sophisticated programming linked to speed steps and bemf, I don’t think the decoders are quite that intelligent yet, it’s probably possible with pc control but that means you’re supervising rather than driving ;) . It looks far more convincing than all oil ones I’ve seen in OO or HO and close to the stunning gauge 1 system I’ve seen in Germany. 

Personally with 20-30 functions on some decoders and dyno-hyperspace drive selection type stuff I don’t want to play with a games console set of buttons so I tend to turn the dial and press the whistle! 

It’ll come in time and such people ultimately push what’s possible forward :)

 

Quote

 

- operationally, I watched a train (with a breakdown crane in the consist, from memory?) be propelled off the main line into the yard, whilst a suburban passenger train was approaching a colour light signal, which looked fairly close to the points into the yard, that were fouled by the propelling movement. My point was to query whether, in real life, the overlap of that colour light signal wouldn't be sufficient and the passenger train would have been held at the signal next in rear?

 

 

Ah but until you interlock it to prevent that you’re at the mercy of the operators knowledge and most people don’t think of overlaps or shunting our behind a signal rather than the set of points they need to change :)  I know my crew sometimes roll their eyes when I point out such things ;) 

Edited by PaulRhB
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On 29/05/2019 at 12:28, Barry Ten said:

I'm in a similar boat to Teamyakima in that my current layout is mainly intended to be set at dusk:

 

 

IMG_2371a.jpg

 

While it would definitely benefit from being set up in a dingy corner (so that the whole thing isn't washed out by daylight or bright overhead lights) I can control the illumination to some degree using variable intensity and colour-variable LEDS to flood the overall scene, and because it's encased, I could add a lid to stop straylight getting in from the top - in fact it's on the list of things to do for the next outing.

 

Photo courtesy of Wenlock.

 

 

 

Likewise, although at 5'x18" it was easy to provide a lid from foamcore board with one support in the middle, so I can see why TeamYakima's Chinese layout would be more difficult to provide a cover for.

 

I too have requested a dingy corner on the layout's rider, although I'm not impressed that I've specifically build a location that would have been lit by orange sodium lighting and then find that the hall lighting has been improved.... (And TBH the issue I found was the colour contrast between layouts with daylight hues and the ambient colour, and not necessarily the background colour itself.

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On 30/05/2019 at 12:15, Redkiterail said:

Here are my pictures:

 

Thanks very much for posting all these Redkite. I was going to post some of mine but I think you've covered the exhibition very comprehensively including a few layouts I only glanced at. I noted the pictures of a red kite at the end - nice signature touch. 

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