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GMRC Series 2 - Episode 6 - Semi-final 1 - 'Myths, Monsters, Legends and Fables'


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2 hours ago, jwealleans said:

 

We were at the filming of Heat 5 and they did at least four, possibly as many as 6, takes of that moment.  I did note at broadcast that they didn't use the first one where a number of Team Grantham members had their heads in their hands.

 

Just for the record, in Heat 4 there was just the single take

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To clarify - there were two takes of the Heat 5 '...and the winner is...' moment. They primarily re-did it because of the need to declare the best runner up spot. So on the second take, Tim Shaw's calling us back to the line-ups was genuine and how it happened.

 

In general, many bits like this were subject of two takes (three, four or more when the presenters fluffed their lines), it appeared to me at least to give the production company two versions to pick the best bits of during editing. That in itself does not seem unreasonable?

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I just want to say that I’m pleased that Corby’s youngest team member Will, was interviewed as he put in a lot of hard work.  Left mainly on his own and for only a 16 year old, it worked first time, every time though I think when the scenery went it, me and the rest of the team undid some of his hard work lol.  Huge pat on the back from me.

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Orders that were delivered to Fawley for teams that didn't in the end make it through would have been returned to the suppliers. In our semi layout our Hornby order got messed up and arrived at my house after we had left for Fawley. So the production team got them to send a duplicate to Fawley which failed to arrive until after filming wrapped. They wouldn't let us have the duplicate and sent it straight back to Hornby (we did get to keep the original order which was waiting at home when we got back)

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14 minutes ago, Jenny Emily said:

Orders that were delivered to Fawley for teams that didn't in the end make it through would have been returned to the suppliers. In our semi layout our Hornby order got messed up and arrived at my house after we had left for Fawley. So the production team got them to send a duplicate to Fawley which failed to arrive until after filming wrapped. They wouldn't let us have the duplicate and sent it straight back to Hornby (we did get to keep the original order which was waiting at home when we got back)

 

I have to say that the Hornby ordering was really poor, because we ordered stuff which was claimed to be available, suddenly wasn’t.  We had to then source alternatives which again shown as in stock but wasn’t, so we went for a Class 08 which like Jenny’s order was supposed to come directly to Fawley, only to arrive after filming.

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21 hours ago, jwealleans said:

We were at the filming of Heat 5 and they did at least four, possibly as many as 6, takes of that moment.

 

Certainly as we were announced as the Wild Card that was done three times - for continuity sake I had to say the same reaction word 3 times, luckily that wasn't caught on mic. I suspect they used the first take.

 

To be fair to the production company, by this time we were used to the retakes and from the otherside of the fence I know that having several versions of something to edit from gives you a lot more freedom to tell a story or the they way you would like it to be seen. Reality and truth are in the eye of the beholder

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Can I just send my sympathy to Simon of the Rail Riders following his accident with the drill.

I don't know anyone else who would have been so ham fisted with a power tool....      ....oh wait....

But it may not have been caught on camera :) 

Edited by Professor Yaffle
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1 hour ago, Professor Yaffle said:

I don't know anyone else who would have been so ham fisted with a power tool....      ....oh wait....

But it may not have been caught on camera :) 

 

Perhaps ... but I know of one guy who was every bit as clumsy with a stapler, about 47 years ago.

 

That's right ... a left handed Welshman, whose first attempt at card modelling involved using a stapler, pressing against the left thumb, in an attempt to hold together a few pieces of thin card.

 

Not surprisingly, this ended in tears. The next day in school, my form tutor was trying to teach the 7 year old "me" how to do "joined up writing" - which proved rather difficult, with my left thumb hidden behind layers of bandages.

 

A week later, with the bandages gone, I picked up a pencil in my left hand - at which my teacher said something along the lines of: "You can write with your right hand, Huw. Carry on!"

 

Obeying this "suggestion" was the biggest mistake I've ever made.

 

 

Huw.

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3 hours ago, Professor Yaffle said:

Can I just send my sympathy to Simon of the Rail Riders following his accident with the drill.

I don't know anyone else who would have been so ham fisted with a power tool....      ....oh wait....

But it may not have been caught on camera :) 

You obviously do not follow the Early Risers thread on Wheeltappers.<_<

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I watched it on catch-up last night and wasn't impressed. It wasn't the standard of the modelling, which was high, or that the wrong team(s) won but that it had very little to do with railway modelling. Fantasy gaming, yes. Model railways, no.

 

I appreciate the teams are given the theme and they have to do something with it, but can somebody explain to me what knights in armour, rockets, giant trees and Godzilla have to do with railway modelling?

 

The judges went on about wanting to see "great layouts" but in that show there weren't any model railway layouts as I understand the term.

 

I will stress again, I am NOT blaming the teams for anything, good luck to all of them, it's just that as the series progresses it seems to get further away from what it purports to be in the title.

 

steve

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3 minutes ago, steve1 said:

I appreciate the teams are given the theme and they have to do something with it, but can somebody explain to me what knights in armour, rockets, giant trees and Godzilla have to do with railway modelling?

 

The judges went on about wanting to see "great layouts" but in that show there weren't any model railway layouts as I understand the term.

1

 

The key phrase is " there weren't any model railway layouts as I understand the term". Railway modelling is a broad church and yet not a religion. GMRC is entertainment, pure and simple. Not everything will be to everyone's taste. Quite how there was nothing you recognise as a layout is a mystery since two of the models very clearly had trains running around. Corby produced many features that could appear on "normal" layouts and the Rail Riders trains might have looked a bit weird, but there were odder locos produced in the very early days of railways.

 

It's interesting (to me at least) to see the boundaries pushed a bit. Does it make any difference to how most of us will do our hobby?  Nope.

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7 hours ago, Professor Yaffle said:

Can I just send my sympathy to Simon of the Rail Riders following his accident with the drill.

I don't know anyone else who would have been so ham fisted with a power tool....      ....oh wait....

But it may not have been caught on camera :) 

We bandaged you up with paper towels and electrical tape as I remember. The show must go on!!

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1 hour ago, Phil Parker said:

 

The key phrase is " there weren't any model railway layouts as I understand the term". Railway modelling is a broad church and yet not a religion. GMRC is entertainment, pure and simple. Not everything will be to everyone's taste. Quite how there was nothing you recognise as a layout is a mystery since two of the models very clearly had trains running around. Corby produced many features that could appear on "normal" layouts and the Rail Riders trains might have looked a bit weird, but there were odder locos produced in the very early days of railways.

 

It's interesting (to me at least) to see the boundaries pushed a bit. Does it make any difference to how most of us will do our hobby?  Nope.

 

Phil, even Team Grantham's layout was based on OO locos and track, but in our case the railway was relegated to a supporting role.  We did use all our modelling skills to build the layout and meet the challenge set and for a couple of months this has proven to be an interesting and enjoyable diversion from our normal activities.  But it may please readers to know that we have returned to reality and the team will be at the Hartlepool Show this weekend, either organising the exhibition or running our second layout The Spirit of Shap.

Edited by LMS29
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Apologies all but I found this semi final to be quite cringeworthy. I was looking at the teams as they were being told what was going to happen; the body language was just a bit too much to bear and the presenters were just over the top awful. Really sorry but this was far too gimmicky and although the teams came up with some really clever stuff I just couldn't appreciate this as a model railway challenge, it was more of a circus show. That's just me though; I enjoyed most of the first series and it resulted in some good publicity and real people turning up at shows and finding their nearest MR Shop. This series has fallen short and gone too far down the fantasy path a lot of the time and that is with complete respect to the teams who are all damn fine modellers with a huge range of skills. If the programme were to show the actual model railways that so many of the teams are involved in as part of the programme (have they and I've missed it?) I think that could also inspire many people watching as well as entertaining youngsters, along with these layouts produced on the programme with loads of gimmicks.

OK I am out of touch with what floats peoples' boats in modelling these days, but  again I am sorry but this particular part of the series was just too silly.

Sorry to all involved.

Phil

 

Edited by Mallard60022
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A number of people make interesting points about the themes the teams have to work to - and how much (or little) they seem to have in common with the sort of "hyper-reality in miniature" themed purist's layouts you might normally find at shows.

 

I'm not arguing with this - "left field" themes aren't to everyone's taste - for all I know, they might not even be to the tastes of the teams taking part, or even of the judges, for that matter.

 

However, does this stuff even matter?

 

No - I don't think this question is quite as crazy as it might sound - from what I can see, the real objective of these challenges seems to owe rather more to ensuring that the teams are forced well out of their "comfort zones" - well, that and trying to generate a load of TV that a number of people who've never been interested in our hobby actually choose to watch.

 

I think they've succeeded in this - and I hope there's plenty more where this lot came from.

 

OK - so effectively using some model locos to operate a large turntable in one challenge might seem slightly offbeat - the same might even be said for using a similar form of propulsion for a rocket launch pad in one heat (which I've been led to believe has also been done in real life) - but is this any more crazy than using locos on rails alongside locks on the Panama Canal to move ships? For that matter, is it any more crazy than using a trainset loco, wagon chassis and track to move small objects around at a nuclear power plant (yes - I seem to recall being told about that one being real, too).

 

As for whether these programmes (and the non standard themes) are working, well I know that some people with no interest in the hobby are going out of their way to watch the programmes (my mother for instance)  - whilst some other people (also with no previous interest) have started visiting model railway shows.

 

Yes - I think these series have been a success - and also "good for business", as far as the hobby in general is concerned.

 

I hope we soon get to hear about further series being commissioned - I also hope we get to see people from the production company (and possibly even Channel 5) showing up on a sponsor's stand at this year's Warley show.

 

As for them being able to find enough people willing to take part in future series, I don't think there's a problem there - after all, we already know that some teams were turned down (certainly at first - and I wouldn't be surprised if there were also some teams turned down that weren't invited to take part in the "extra" heat).

 

More to the point, would I be prepared to turn words into action and take part in a future series myself?

 

Since I applied to take part last year - and was accepted - before being forced to drop out, due to my parents' health taking a nosedive, I've certainly got no issues in principle about getting involved. Were it not for my parents' health (and if I could find a team willing to accept me at the time), I'd jump at the chance.

 

OK - we might all be able to think of a few things we might like to see changed about these series - but, overall, I think they're still pretty good. I'm certainly not complaining - in fact, some people might draw a comparison with Oliver Twist: "Please Sir, I want some more."

 

Somehow, I think that's more than enough English literature for now ... .

 

 

Huw.

Edited by Huw Griffiths
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I must admit that the GMRC is very much a “Marmite” thing and we (the Corby team) jumped in knowing that it wasn’t to everyone’s tastes but we took the view that some positive outcomes are better than nothing at all.  To a certain extent it does promote the hobby and what can be accomplished with some imagination (some very left field).  We also wanted to promote the Corby club though unfortunately, one did it for ego and personal glory but I think you get one in all teams.

 

It does somewhat annoy me to hear criticism from what I would call “armchair” modellers who berate the blood (in the case of Rail Riders), sweat, tears and most of all, sheer hard work that’s put into building the layouts.  All I’m going to say if you don’t like it or think you can do better, get off your bums, form a team of six and apply for the next series and we can all have a pop at your efforts.

Edited by jools1959
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Themes have taken over , fantasy etc , actual model railways are sidelined .  This is not model railways as we know it , nor is it model railways that people will recognise in exhibitions .  I haven’t caught all the episodes but the last one , which I think was a semi final seemed to have departed from reality. Ok if that’s what you like , but I don’t think it’s what 99% of Railway modellers actually like . Oh I know it’s for the general public , but I think we are selling them a dummy here !

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52 minutes ago, Legend said:

Themes have taken over , fantasy etc , actual model railways are sidelined .  This is not model railways as we know it , nor is it model railways that people will recognise in exhibitions .  I haven’t caught all the episodes but the last one , which I think was a semi final seemed to have departed from reality. Ok if that’s what you like , but I don’t think it’s what 99% of Railway modellers actually like . Oh I know it’s for the general public , but I think we are selling them a dummy here !

I think you may be happier with the layouts in Semi-final 2. There might be the odd dinosaur, armoured train and broomstick, but all three layouts are most definitely railway based!

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It's been said before but perhap needs to be repeated; GMRC is NOT a specialist programme dedicated to hardcore railway modelling, it is made for the general public, and if it does not entertain them, and hold their interest in sufficient numbers, it simply will not be made.

 

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3 hours ago, jools1959 said:

It does somewhat annoy me to hear criticism from what I would call “armchair” modellers who berate the blood (in the case of Rail Riders), sweat, tears and most of all, sheer hard work that’s put into building the layouts.  All I’m going to say if you don’t like it or think you can do better, get off your bums, form a team of six and apply for the next series and we can all have a pop at your efforts.

 

Yes try and keep the criticism constructive.

 

Having been there, done it and (literally) got the tee-shirt, I have huge sympathy with the three teams in this semi-final. It was a pig of a theme, and not easy to interpret and not made easier by the toy train track plan they were gifted and the challenge of carrying something from one end to the other. TG's forget the railway approach worked but at the expense of no longer being a model railway.

 

Let's see what Saturday brings. The three teams there had the same given track and the same challenge, but the theme did at least allow railways to take centre stage.

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3 minutes ago, caradoc said:

It's been said before but perhap needs to be repeated; GMRC is NOT a specialist programme dedicated to hardcore railway modelling, it is made for the general public, and if it does not entertain them, and hold their interest in sufficient numbers, it simply will not be made.

 

And the simple fact is that it's encouraging more people to become involved and interested in model railways. Exhibitions where former GMRC layouts are shown are almost universally reporting an increase in visitors - and alongside these layouts, they get to see "real" model railways and will start to understand the hobby a little more.

 

We've loaned our layouts to a local model shop and he's rented extra space to display them  - and is looking to establish a model railway club to encourage more people into the hobby. 

 

This can only be viewed as positive outcome from the program and speaking for myself, if my participation encourages 10 people to get into the hobby, I'll consider it a success! 

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1 hour ago, Legend said:

Themes have taken over , fantasy etc , actual model railways are sidelined .  This is not model railways as we know it , nor is it model railways that people will recognise in exhibitions .  I haven’t caught all the episodes but the last one , which I think was a semi final seemed to have departed from reality. Ok if that’s what you like , but I don’t think it’s what 99% of Railway modellers actually like . Oh I know it’s for the general public , but I think we are selling them a dummy here !

Maybe not 99% but certainly half, if the other modellers I meet regularly are typical. I watched the first series but something (I'm not even certain what it was) by the fourth programme in this one, put me off it.

 

Many participants are clearly very able modellers, given the quality of (some of) what gets "thrown together" against the clock. I'm always curious as to what they can produce "in the real world".


The false jeopardy that seems to infest nearly all such TV has got very "old" for me but, so long as one accepts that the GMRC is essentially a game show, it's entertaining enough. I also recognise that many of the "animations" are very clever. However, it's not railway modelling as I do it, want to do it or (as I now realise) want to watch others doing it. One of the attractions of the hobby, for me, has always been that it keeps me away from the TV!

 

Whilst "selling a dummy" may be a bit strong, I do agree that, the GMRC does inspire non-modellers to go to exhibitions, but those that haven't spotted that very little "reality TV" gets within a country mile of "reality", will not see much (other than featured GMRC layouts) to correlate with expectations the series may raise.  

 

John

 

PS. I've never liked Marmite either, despite never tasting it - I can't get past the smell.:jester:

Edited by Dunsignalling
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4 hours ago, jools1959 said:

I must admit that the GMRC is very much a “Marmite” thing and we (the Corby team) jumped in knowing that it wasn’t to everyone’s tastes but we took the view that some positive outcomes are better than nothing at all.  To a certain extent it does promote the hobby and what can be accomplished with some imagination (some very left field).  We also wanted to promote the Corby club though unfortunately, one did it for ego and personal glory but I think you get one in all teams.

 

It does somewhat annoy me to hear criticism from what I would call “armchair” modellers who berate the blood (in the case of Rail Riders), sweat, tears and most of all, sheer hard work that’s put into building the layouts.  All I’m going to say if you don’t like it or think you can do better, get off your bums, form a team of six and apply for the next series and we can all have a pop at your efforts.

I really understand what you are saying here and that this is a TV show for fun . However, I shall repeat, it is just not my cup of tea and that is what I emphasised.

Let me liken this show to something in sport; the elite swimmers that can do the Medley with ease, are asked to take part in the Synchronised swimming event to try to get more folk interested or just to entertain. They may well agree and it could be hilarious and some will prove they are very good at the Synchro as well....but is that something I would volunteer for as an elite swimmer? Nope! I'd rather work at encouraging any age person to have a go at the swimming they want to do or are already quite good at and in this case of the GMR Challenge idea, play with trains by going to shows with a mate and showing how a simple layout can be fun and also not too difficult to construct in the first place or offering to support some interested schools in running some workshops. In my experience most younger teens do not watch a lot of TV these days!

 

Again, I admire you all for doing what you are doing and I await the next Semi, however my TV taste is not for crazy game shows or X factor style contests and in fact TV is not of real interest to me at all these days except for some good, factual and educational style programmes that I can watch at my leisure. GMRC is great for some but not for me so thanks for the invite to get off my bum and do it....no thanks and I'm not good enough at working hard anyway.

Phil

Edited by Mallard60022
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38 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Maybe not 99% but certainly half, if the other modellers I meet regularly are typical. I watched the first series but something (I'm not even certain what it was) by the fourth programme in this one, put me off it.

 

 

Now I'm wondering what we did wrong in the fourth heat ........

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