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BEIJIAO - a large Chinese HO exhibition layout set in the 21st century


TEAMYAKIMA
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1 hour ago, peach james said:

And while it might "need" mirrors, it might be even more funny to plant them smashed off on the ground :)

 

Have to agree - sometimes the suggestion that something has happened, is funnier than modelling the event itself. It tells a story the viewer has to work out a bit for themselves. A smashed wing mirror next to a truck is the result of the incompetant moron who was parked next to it, and turned too sharp when he left....

There was a UK layout where a shed was being repainted, but there was a spilt bucket of paint lying by a ladder, and a set of paint-colour footprints leading away to a doorway.

Or on my old layout here - the run-over "Portway welcomes careful drivers" sign was funnier than if the car was still there - certainly got the attention of viewers at the few exhibitions it went to.

post-632-0-91854300-1402782454_thumb.jpg.5300fde86644f3927bad2a1760c339b1.jpg

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A new arrival has arrived - QJ 7143

 

Here is a photo of it at Beijiao

 

IMG_20210401_134222.jpg.d9fda2f934a83e7c0f380a0d9d96e576.jpg

 

And here is a photo of me taking that photo

 

IMG_20210401_095309.jpg.97e73f81b18f250af1c748d86717fd26.jpg

 

And here is the photo I took of the real 7143 in 2004

              800031809_EPSON292(2).JPG.de45532244b5e379b2b331b12753f57d.JPG

 

That makes it at least three locos on the layout which I've seen in real life

Edited by TEAMYAKIMA
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Another bit of work in progress for the truckstop area.

 

A 1970’s Mercedes touring coach having a bit of engine trouble.

 

I've also opened up the side panels and will have the drivers wife/girlfriend doing something in there. 

 

The model is an old Wiking one. Nicely detailed, but very brittle plastic. 

39E8ACC1-85DA-4806-A758-7D7D3592D2E4.jpeg

83A32BDA-E254-4A07-A9DC-36DDA2E33789.jpeg

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15 minutes ago, Al. said:

Another bit of work in progress for the truckstop area.

 

A 1970’s Mercedes touring coach having a bit of engine trouble.

 

I've also opened up the side panels and will have the drivers wife/girlfriend doing something in there. 

 

The model is an old Wiking one. Nicely detailed, but very brittle plastic. 

39E8ACC1-85DA-4806-A758-7D7D3592D2E4.jpeg

83A32BDA-E254-4A07-A9DC-36DDA2E33789.jpeg

 

Nice - I will have to make the truck stop area bigger at this rate!

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2 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

                      And here is the photo I took of the real 7143 in 2004

 

              800031809_EPSON292(2).JPG.de45532244b5e379b2b331b12753f57d.JPG

 

                    That makes it at least three locos on the layout which I've seen in real life

 

I've just realised that I've lied - I didn't take that, my mate Gordon did - I was standing next to him and so busy videoing that I didn't take a still, but asked him for a copy later.

 

 

 

 

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17 minutes ago, Al. said:

 

Its an old Tri-ang EM2. 

Ah. I'd been trying to convince myself it was something more exotic, Maybe something Chinese, or a North Korean K62 Kanghaenggun-class locomotive, or a Soviet VL80!

 

I guess I'm just deluded!

 

Luke

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8 hours ago, luke_stevens said:

Ah. I'd been trying to convince myself it was something more exotic, Maybe something Chinese, or a North Korean K62 Kanghaenggun-class locomotive, or a Soviet VL80!

 

I guess I'm just deluded!

 

Luke

 

No Soviet or Korean, but I have been looking at whether I could get a Swedish X2000 train set. These were exported to China and introduced in 1998 at the beginning of their High Speed Network programme. 

 

I’m thinking we could have one being loco hauled through the layout. 

A22F25A2-6A19-4DD4-BAF6-46FDBCF44B2C.jpeg

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7 minutes ago, luke_stevens said:

ASEA_X2_China_version.JPG

“https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/ASEA_X2_China_version.JPG”

 

Seems the cab is preserver in Sweden...

 

Looks like the Heljan X20000 is long out of stock...

 

Luke
 

 

Keep an eye out on ebay. One might come up.

 

Formations looks like a loco, 5 coaches and trailing drive car. We'd probably want 2 sets coupled together with a DF11 on the front to look the part on Beijiao.

 

 

 

Xinshisu.jpg

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Back to 2001 now ...........................

 

I have been experimenting with pelmet options

 

I have now managed to mock up a pelmet with a bottom edge set at 63 inches. With a baseboard height of 46 inches there is a 17 inch deep 'window'.

 

Here are some photos .....................

 

IMG_20210402_164605.jpg.fa85f7738e10bbf727ccd1fa4d1b915d.jpg

 

 

This is how I (at nearly 6ft 4 inches) see things at about 18 inches away .......................

 

IMG_20210402_164615.jpg.481ae4145ca48f496568786f91fcd489.jpg

 

 

This is how a person of more average height would see it at about 18 inches

 

IMG_20210402_164621.jpg.0dbc4cb39753f900ea1013d50ee9b75c.jpg

 

Experimenting will continue - the operating team are having a VERY interesting discussion as to what the best height is.

 

Personally, it's too low for me, but when I stoop a bit to 'average' height it's great - the pelmet really does enhance the viewing experience - far more than I had appreciated.

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

Back to 2001 now ...........................

 

I have been experimenting with pelmet options

 

I have now managed to mock up a pelmet with a bottom edge set at 63 inches. With a baseboard height of 46 inches there is a 17 inch deep 'window'.

 

Here are some photos .....................

 

IMG_20210402_164605.jpg.fa85f7738e10bbf727ccd1fa4d1b915d.jpg

 

 

This is how I (at nearly 6ft 4 inches) see things at about 18 inches away .......................

 

IMG_20210402_164615.jpg.481ae4145ca48f496568786f91fcd489.jpg

 

 

This is how a person of more average height would see it at about 18 inches

 

IMG_20210402_164621.jpg.0dbc4cb39753f900ea1013d50ee9b75c.jpg

 

Experimenting will continue - the operating team are having a VERY interesting discussion as to what the best height is.

 

Personally, it's too low for me, but when I stoop a bit to 'average' height it's great - the pelmet really does enhance the viewing experience - far more than I had appreciated.

 

 

 

It would be annoyingly low for me too.

 

Low pelmets and many cameo format layouts put me off as the visual element of the layout is too constrained. I get why people want to block the outside world, BUT in reality, at least for me, my brain says there should be open visible  space, it cuts that out in processing the scene but when that space isn’t there it screams wrong and so the blocker pelmet/screen becomes intrusively obvious and false.

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7 hours ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

Back to 2001 now ...........................

 

I have been experimenting with pelmet options

 

I have now managed to mock up a pelmet with a bottom edge set at 63 inches. With a baseboard height of 46 inches there is a 17 inch deep 'window'.

 

Here are some photos .....................

 

IMG_20210402_164605.jpg.fa85f7738e10bbf727ccd1fa4d1b915d.jpg

 

 

This is how I (at nearly 6ft 4 inches) see things at about 18 inches away .......................

 

IMG_20210402_164615.jpg.481ae4145ca48f496568786f91fcd489.jpg

 

 

This is how a person of more average height would see it at about 18 inches

 

IMG_20210402_164621.jpg.0dbc4cb39753f900ea1013d50ee9b75c.jpg

 

Experimenting will continue - the operating team are having a VERY interesting discussion as to what the best height is.

 

Personally, it's too low for me, but when I stoop a bit to 'average' height it's great - the pelmet really does enhance the viewing experience - far more than I had appreciated.

 

 

 

If I were one of your operators, I'd want the pelmet well above my eye line.

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4 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

If I were one of your operators, I'd want the pelmet well above my eye line.

 

I just want to emphasise that I come to this 'discussion' with an open mind. This conversation is being driven by two of my core operating team and I am merely responding to their input.

 

We are not looking at this issue as a single concept ie 'lighting pelmet' - there are two separate issues here - pelmet and lighting.

 

When I originally started building this layout I was totally against a 'lighting pelmet' for two reasons ..................

 

1. Industrial China was heavily polluted 20 odd years ago and when photographing in cities we rarely saw sunshine - here is a photo I took looking back at Datong from a train window in 1994.

 

2014347515_EPSON016(2).JPG.d1f637a1f5bc8615b3f88f8ee5a769ab.JPG

 

2. I had no room to store a lighting rig.

 

I am now convinced that a pelmet (with or without lights) focuses the viewers mind onto the layout and greatly enhances the whole experience, but I need to emphasise that this is an ongoing experiment - the current height of the pelmet was set not by me, but one of my team who is just fractionally below 'average height'. 

 

The experiment continues.

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Hi Paul

 

I'm a big fan of the 'theatre' concept of presentation i.e. that the layout is framed from the public viewing side, it concentrates the public towards what you have modelled and provides a neat finished item. The viewer is not distracted by someone moving around behind or next to the layout.

 

I cannot recall when I saw the layout at Warley so I ask the question Is the layout operated from the front or the rear? If it is the rear then surely the height of the pelmet should be of no issue to the operators?

 

Steve

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52 minutes ago, steve45 said:

I cannot recall when I saw the layout at Warley so I ask the question Is the layout operated from the front or the rear? If it is the rear then surely the height of the pelmet should be of no issue to the operators?

17 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said:

It is if the lighting is fixed to it. 

 

 

The layout is operated from the back

 

The lighting will (if we add lighting that is) be diffused LEDs and pointing downwards - not into the operators eyes.

 

Every time we consider a move to improve one aspect, it has an impact on other aspects - often negatively - certainly that is the case here.

 ASPECT 1

 

A pelmet with or without lighting tends to hide the operators and other distractions - POSITIVE!

 

ASPECT 2

 

Partly because we are such an unusual layout (Chinese) we want to encourage questions and interaction between the viewers and the operating team so that we can explain all the novel features of the layout (real every-day working steam in 2001??????????????????????). That interaction will be far more difficult to achieve with the operators hidden from general view- NEGATIVE!

 

 

 

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57 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

The layout is operated from the back

 

The lighting will (if we add lighting that is) be diffused LEDs and pointing downwards - not into the operators eyes.

 

Every time we consider a move to improve one aspect, it has an impact on other aspects - often negatively - certainly that is the case here.

 ASPECT 1

 

A pelmet with or without lighting tends to hide the operators and other distractions - POSITIVE!

 

ASPECT 2

 

Partly because we are such an unusual layout (Chinese) we want to encourage questions and interaction between the viewers and the operating team so that we can explain all the novel features of the layout (real every-day working steam in 2001??????????????????????). That interaction will be far more difficult to achieve with the operators hidden from general view- NEGATIVE!

 

 

 

On the positive though that might suggest having an 'out-front' explainer which in turn allows the operators to get on with operating without distraction. The downside is it adds extra crew member(s) to the cost and logistics of getting to the show.

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8 minutes ago, john new said:

On the positive though that might suggest having an 'out-front' explainer which in turn allows the operators to get on with operating without distraction. The downside is it adds extra crew member(s) to the cost and logistics of getting to the show.

 

Yes, I have floated that idea several times myself but my team are 100% against it and as we already need 6 operators (3 rooms) I don't want to add to the costs/logistics by adding a 7th.

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20 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

 

Yes, I have floated that idea several times myself but my team are 100% against it and as we already need 6 operators (3 rooms) I don't want to add to the costs/logistics by adding a 7th.

 

Make one of the operators a belligerent Yorkshireman and he can shout from the rear.

 

Mike.

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