GMRC Series 2 - Episode 1 - 'The Restless Earth'

[Jim Connor]

I liked the new scoring system too. There was very little between the teams at the end. They all put up a good show and I certainly enjoyed watching it. 

[NIK]

Hi,

 

I noticed in the Hornby advert in the first episode that on the layout that seemed to represent the present day of Hornby railways there was a 4 VEP.

 

Hopefully that will encourage Hornby to reintroduce the 4 VEP albeit with improvements including the replacement of the pizza cutter wheels and the plastic inside bearing slots. Judging by the slope of the incline it was parked on it will also need 8 wheel drive or possibly more.

 

Regards

 

Nik

[noiseboy72]

I enjoyed it! 2 of our models made the opening credits which was great to see, but it was a shame that there was so much overlap between the layouts. Putting 2 volcanoes up against each other was interesting to see the approaches.

 

It looked like all the teams had problems with running and getting all their animations to work. Maybe that's why we were pushed hard in our heat to ensure they were operational.

 

It was good to see more scenic construction and I'm sure that will continue. I loved the smoke effects on the The Train Set's layout, but they were not particularly repeatable, with dry ice being quite am expensive way of creating the effect.

Edited September 14, 2019 by noiseboy72

[class27]

Speaking as a Railway Modeller it would have been nice to have a bit more Railway in it, but my wife really enjoyed it, so well done to all concerned as the idea is to make modelling and railways more appealing in general, which I think it did. Also all the teams efforts were very good considering the time element. I look forward to ep2

[RLWP]

4 minutes ago, noiseboy72 said:

It was good to see more scenic construction and I'm sure that will continue. I loved the smoke effects on the Railway children's layout, but they were not particularly repeatable, with dry ice being quite am expensive way of creating the effect.

 

I have been pondering this (a bit)

 

Do the effects have to be repeatable? The sink hole wasn't particularly

 

More to the point, would a more spectacular volcano that destroyed the surrounding countryside be a higher scoring model? Uncomfortable for a modeller, it would be a superb piece of theatre - much like a film explosion

 

Richard

[Ian Morgan]

And there is a bit more of the teams' back stories his time too

 

[whart57]

Nothing to do with model railways but I loved the way the young boffins played up their characters - lab coats, safety specs, weird chemicals - made great TV against the more staid logoed teeshirts of the other teams. And didn't they run their more experienced rivals close. No disrespect to Corby but I was disappointed the lab didn't make it through.

[caradoc]

I really enjoyed Episode 1 and thought it much better than Series 1. I'm not a fan of the new scoring system however, being able to change points awarded earlier is confusing, perhaps more weighting could be given to the final assessment of overall impression instead ?

 

All three teams came across really well, and of course it was a pity there had to be two 'non-winners' !

 

[EWS FAN]

I enjoyed last night's episode. The extra 15 mins made a lot of difference as it allowed more time to see some actual modelling taking place..  I'm looking forward to episode 2.

[Markwj]

I thought there was little railway too with most of the emphasis on the effects but appreciate most of the people watching would be happy with a roundy roundy with not much authentic operation to start the hobby with. I guess the animations make it more interesting for the prime time tv audience it's aimed at who may be bored without the gimmicks. 

I wonder what the viewing figures were and I guess the true test is how may view next week (i.e. How many have been turned off).

 

But just to say I really enjoyed it!

[Neil]

41 minutes ago, whart57 said:

Nothing to do with model railways but I loved the way the young boffins played up their characters - lab coats, safety specs, weird chemicals - made great TV against the more staid logoed teeshirts of the other teams. And didn't they run their more experienced rivals close. No disrespect to Corby but I was disappointed the lab didn't make it through.

 

Yes I was disappointed too. I would have loved to see what fresh and creative ideas a team of new to the hobby boffins would come up with.

[lapford34102]

12 minutes ago, Neil said:

I would have loved to see what fresh and creative ideas a team of new to the hobby boffins would come up with.

 

They might get through as high scoring runners-up, they deserve to.

 

Stu

[GeoffAlan]

I too feel it's a better stab at the concept than series 1.  I think the judges have emphasised operational reliability, not that it was evident in all cases! Not my favourite TV format really but worth a watch.

[LNER4479]

As one of this year's competing teams (Heat 5) it was certainly more than interesting to watch the first in the series. (a couple of snippets of our efforts in the opening sequence as well - but of course I am not at liberty to say which!)

 

It was interesting to see how the scoring system was portrayed and I think that was done quite well, adding to the tension / excitement.

 

I thought the teams were hampered somewhat by the theme which really forced them to have to concentrate on pyrotechnics rather than good, solid railway modelling - most of the time the railway seemed to be there because it had to be, rather than being an integral part of the overall picture.

 

The scientists certainly made a good first of it and gave the experienced modellers a run for their money. I did notice a slight adjustment from the provisional to final scores. A cynic would say that the scoring was contrived to be a close run thing but talking to Steve (Flint) during our heat, he did say that he was being very careful to judge things exactly as he saw them so it genuinely appears to have been a close run thing. Be interesting to see if they're all like that - we were given some snippets but not told our overall score.

 

Despite the additional time, I felt that there still seemed to be precious little time for the details of the actual modelling. As a competitor, you are obviously well aware of the amount of filming going on but, based on last night, it seemed like 99.9% of it ended up on the cutting room floor.

 

Ah well, that's show business I guess!

 

Looking forward to the next episode.

Edited September 14, 2019 by LNER4479

[MarkSG]

4 hours ago, RLWP said:

 

I have been pondering this (a bit)

 

Do the effects have to be repeatable? The sink hole wasn't particularly

 

More to the point, would a more spectacular volcano that destroyed the surrounding countryside be a higher scoring model? Uncomfortable for a modeller, it would be a superb piece of theatre - much like a film explosion

 

That's one of the reasons why I wasn't over happy with the theme. It makes for good TV, but it's not really a useful way to build a layout that can be viewed repeatedly. Imagine any of those layouts at Warley, say, and think how much effort would be required to keep resetting everything over and over again throughout the day.

 

In fact, if I was able to make one tweak to the rules, what I'd do is have it so that all three layouts have to be running continuously before the judges inspect them, and continue to do so while the judging is in progress - a bit like they would be at an actual exhibition (which judging day is, almost, given the friends and family who are present). Big set-piece effects can still be held back and triggered specifically when that particular layout is being viewed by the judges and TV crew, but being able to keep things moving over a longer period should be part of the judging criteria.

 

I'm hopeful that next week's theme - "favourite books" - should make for layouts that are more amenable to continuous viewing.

[RLWP]

8 minutes ago, MarkSG said:

 

I'm hopeful that next week's theme - "favourite books" - should make for layouts that are more amenable to continuous viewing.

 

I think it depends how you approach the theme. The entries this week went for a linear narrative (this happened which caused that, then something else) which doesn't lend itself to continuous viewing. Corby seemed to get closer with the lava mining for the lamp factory

 

Richard

[caradoc]

2 hours ago, lapford34102 said:

 

They might get through as high scoring runners-up, they deserve to.

 

Stu

 

Agree, but IIRC both non-winners finished on the same points ?!!

[Captain Kernow]

I thought it was fab.

 

[TravisM]

As a participant with Corby Steelmen, I found the scoring a tad lame and to add drama to the program.  When we were filming there was lots of muttering about “only one point in it” over the three days.

[Budgie]

4 hours ago, Markwj said:

I thought there was little railway too with most of the emphasis on the effects but appreciate most of the people watching would be happy with a roundy roundy with not much authentic operation to start the hobby with. I guess the animations make it more interesting for the prime time tv audience it's aimed at who may be bored without the gimmicks. 

I wonder what the viewing figures were and I guess the true test is how may view next week (i.e. How many have been turned off).

 

But just to say I really enjoyed it!

 

I thought that yesterday's episode showed that the ethos hasn't really changed since the previous series. As I see it modellers build layouts that depict either a real scene or a freelance scene that is a real scene in the modellers' imagination. What we have had up to now is scenes that are fantastical and not real. For example, we don't have active volcanos in the UK, and we don't get many earthquakes and sinkholes that affect the railway.

 

One of the judges is the editor of the Railway Modeller. I mention this as RM has published many "plans of the month", and it seems to me that the challenge would be better if the teams were given a selection of these plans and told to choose one to model. This way we would see how people build models that could go on the exhibition circuit, and be exhibited for several years. A good example of what I am thinking of is "Recycle by Rail" in the October 2019 issue of RM, even though that is in N gauge, and the challenge seems to be all in OO.

 

I'd be interested to hear what other folks have to say about this idea.

[AY Mod]

16 minutes ago, Budgie said:

be interested to hear what other folks have to say about this idea.

 

As someone who likes my modelling to have a basis in prototype with a hint of 'finescale' I think it would make a very boring TV entertainment show.

[Hull Paragon]

13 minutes ago, Budgie said:

 

I thought that yesterday's episode showed that the ethos hasn't really changed since the previous series. As I see it modellers build layouts that depict either a real scene or a freelance scene that is a real scene in the modellers' imagination. What we have had up to now is scenes that are fantastical and not real. For example, we don't have active volcanos in the UK, and we don't get many earthquakes and sinkholes that affect the railway.

 

One of the judges is the editor of the Railway Modeller. I mention this as RM has published many "plans of the month", and it seems to me that the challenge would be better if the teams were given a selection of these plans and told to choose one to model. This way we would see how people build models that could go on the exhibition circuit, and be exhibited for several years. A good example of what I am thinking of is "Recycle by Rail" in the October 2019 issue of RM, even though that is in N gauge, and the challenge seems to be all in OO.

 

I'd be interested to hear what other folks have to say about this idea.

 

At the risk of offending almost everyone....................

 

I watched the episode last night. Despite the obviously excellent efforts and skills of the participants, I thought it was awful. (I seem to be in a minority here but there you go). The whole programme seemed to be about special effects.....the railway was secondary. If a programme was made about ship modellers building a harbour with a tsunami feature it would have been no different. In my opinions as a railway modeller it is almost unwatchable. Apart from a few short glimpses there is nothing to help a budding railway modeller and apart from the name of the show, nothing that sells railway modelling as a hobby.....my opinion of course!

 

So I agree with you. The show is supposed to be about model railways....so set challenges that domonstrate this and do away with the trashy 'let's make it exciting' scenario that seems to be endemic nowadays. Lraelsie that in itself, modelling layouts is probably quite dull for a TV audience, but maybe the production team can introduce their own version of 'innovation' to overcome this.

 

OK....now I'll sit back and wait for the flak!!

 

Ray

[RLWP]

4 minutes ago, Hull Paragon said:

In my opinions as a railway modeller it is almost unwatchable.

 

In my opinion as a railway modeller, I enjoy it!

 

I find it hard to talk about what modelling means to me - it was something likely to get you picked on growing up so I don't talk about it. Here is a programme that, although desperately superficial due to being crammed into a competition format, is still actually about railway modelling. And it is entertaining even if the standard of modelling is often necessarily basic, so non modellers watch it. 

 

If nothing else, it is a starting point for a conversation abut how what I do is different from what is on the telly. I must say those short shots of Clarendon do help illustrate the contrast

 

And I'd still be proud to have made that beach and cliffs 

 

Richard

[TheQ]

Just watched a recording of the show,  

The programme.. 

One to many presenters

Kathy still hasn't got the ability to seem natural,  it seems too scripted when she speaks . If not scripted just rehearsed. Steve is only a little better.. 

 

Too many bits of presenters explaining, when the voice over could do it, while watching  the modelling.. 

 

The layouts. 

Too much emphasis on effects, not enough on railway modelling.  An option of end to end modelling rather than roundy,  perhaps by issuing baseboards that are halved lengthways that can be clamped either way or even in an L.. 

 

Yes Corby had the best operational layout,  but I was impressed by the the sea and river effects of the lab coats.

I notice pre-built houses seem To be standard Metcalfe  , if you're going to pre build then you should have "finescaled" the pre build.. This is a modelling competition.. 

 

 

[sharris]

One thing I did think a little harsh this week was the dismissal of one part of the Train Set's scratchbuild challenge because the materials would only show their effect during the final display rather than half way through the build when the scratchbuild took place. I think the scratchbuild challenge results should be considered in the context of the final work.