Great Model Railway Challenge - Channel 5

[MarkSG]

Something else which may be relevant is that my 8 year old daughter has correctly predicted the winner of every episode she's watched (the first three, she didn't watch ep 4 with me). She's not particularly into railways, either real or model, but she has found the programme fun to watch and every layout that was her favourite was the winner.

 

I think that, too, says a lot about how the programme appeals beyond the modelling fraternity and indicates that the judges have probably got their assessment right when it comes to deciding which team best combines skill and fun.

[Bonafide]

Hullo! Another Railway child (or Toddler Modeller) here!

 

As Captain Luke (ExplosiveCookie) has mentioned before, we originally wanted to make something much more traditional. Our first plan, I believe, was actually a slightly rejigged version of a station on the Garstang & Knot-end Railway. This fell to the wayside when the theme was revealed to us, however, so we considered making a wintry steelworks scene instead.

 

This didn't go down too well with the TV folk for one reason or another and we eventually ended up with a plan for something that would've made a nice train set for kids (if pulled off). At the end of the day, it was all great fun to make - even if it was very stressful at times!

 

I'd also like to mention that both the Diesel Dynamos and the Fawley Fliers were not only great modellers but were very encouraging, helpful and - above all - very very funny!

 

Viewers do not see the difficulties experienced by some teams, and your explanation helps to put the challenge you faced into context.

 

You have commented on so many good aspects, and is the most positive post I have had the pleasure of reading for a long time.

 

Participating certainly seems to have been an experience, and it's great that your team enjoyed it.  It was just a shame that you didn't win your heat!   

[ejstubbs]

Hi all,

 

Who asked about The Rules?

 

They are attached somewhere near the start of the thread.

 

Any chance of a link to the relevant post?  I've searched for "rules" on the first ten pages of the thread and still not found any attachments.

 

There was a previous thread running before the series started which seems to have been deleted now - at least, I get "You do not have permission to view this topic" if I try to follow the link that Google returns.  This is probably as a result of Andy Y's shutting down of those threads as he stated in the first post of this thread.  If they were attached somewhere on that thread then maybe they're gone.

Edited October 27, 2018 by ejstubbs

[Rivercider]

The thing which really and repeatedly irritates me is nothing in the show itself but the bloomin' linked advert where the narrator manages to mangle 'Eskdale' into 'Exdale'.  

 

Agreed, though I think I might be starting to annoy Mrs Rivercider as well, as I can't help correcting to Eskdale out loud each time!

 

Cheers

[Rivercider]

I was disappoint Fawley didn't just make theirs winter themed, fickering smokeboX fires, smoking and maybe flicking devils under the water cranes.

Would a working model steam lance have won it single handed?

 

cheers

[ExplosiveCookie]

This may be of interest to some - Max along with Matt, two of our team members, have made a wonderful behind the scenes video from during the filming of our heat - explaining pretty much everything.

We have also set up a thread for our layout if anyone wants to ask any questions more directly or see some more pictures. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/138795-gmrc-the-railway-children/

[57xx]

Come on Fawley Flyers! (Anyone recognised "Castle" yet?)

 

Spotted him 3 weeks ago in the "walking along" cut scenes. Can't miss The Hat!

[Scottish Modeller]

Any chance of a link to the relevant post? I've searched for "rules" on the first ten pages of the thread and still not found any attachments.

 

There was a previous thread running before the series started which seems to have been deleted now - at least, I get "You do not have permission to view this topic" if I try to follow the link that Google returns. This is probably as a result of Andy Y's shutting down of those threads as he stated in the first post of this thread. If they were attached somewhere on that thread then maybe they're gone.

OK - I cannot find them in this topic - you may be correct and they are in the original topic that has now been locked and blocked (for good reason too).

 

So - Rules - See attached pdf.

 

Please note that I was a latecomer to the competition and only have the rules valid from the date I became involved.

 

Also note that, at later dates when rules were changed they were not added to the original Rule Book - they came as email clarification.

 

As a result - I cannot put the later emailed changes up here - tried but just won't copy over into the message and not addable as attachment due to file type.

 

Thanks

 

 

Edited November 30, 2018 by Andy Y
Attachment removed due to legal issue.

[Marcus-Jay]

Uhmmmn... 

 

Your post makes no sense.

[rue_d_etropal]

At last a realistic looking winner. Fawley looked great.

Pity it totally missed the theme, and unfortunately did not have much to entertain anyone watching. Sadly one of the problems these days. Working signals are not that special, and Ithink Dapol are working on some sort of moving water crane. Firebox glow has been around since Triang in the 60s.

I gather from other threads that much of the Fawleyteam's  layout was built before, cetainly right up to the limit of the rules. The Railway Children actually built everything(with a little bit f help) in the 3 days.

If there is a repeat of this TV priogram, then the pre-build stage has to be dropped as it is not an even playing field(one reason some dropped out when we saw the rules). What some have shown is that with a bit of hard work, and luck, you can build a layout in 3 days, and have fun.

[Marcus-Jay]

Sorry if I've missed it but can anybody tell me what happened to this weeks layouts after the show?

Steve.

I understand Fawley's layout is on display at Fawley.

The Railway Children I'm unsure but I beleive the layout has been trashed (< I welcome correction)

The Diesel Dynamos layout (Mattford - NOT MAPford) is being refurbished and will be on display at the CMRA show in January 2019 and a few other places.

[Clive Mortimore]

OK - I cannot find them in this topic - you may be correct and they are in the original topic that has now been locked and blocked (for good reason too).

 

So - Rules - See attached pdf.

 

Please note that I was a latecomer to the competition and only have the rules valid from the date I became involved.

 

Also note that, at later dates when rules were changed they were not added to the original Rule Book - they came as email clarification.

 

As a result - I cannot put the later emailed changes up here - tried but just won't copy over into the message and not addable as attachment due to file type.

 

Thanks

 

GMRC - Build Rulebook.pdf

Phil took over from me, one of the reason's I dropped out was the ever changing rules and wishes of the production team. So the rules when it all started are different to those Phil has linked to and as Phil stated they were different by the time the filming started. 

 

Well done to all the teams for keeping up with the rules.

[Geoff Endacott]

The thing which really and repeatedly irritates me is nothing in the show itself but the bloomin' linked advert where the narrator manages to mangle 'Eskdale' into 'Exdale'.  

 

I didn't get as far as the adverts before I switched off.

 

Geoff Endacott

[ExplosiveCookie]

The Railway Children I'm unsure but I beleive the layout has been trashed (< I welcome correction)

 

We have cleared the boards sadly - we're unsure what to do with it at the moment, but we're thinking of possibly using them to either A. Re-build it the way we envisioned or B. Make a completely new team layout we can all use to learn and take our time with.

 

Here's what it looked like after it was moved away from Fawley Hill.

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2018 by ExplosiveCookie

[Captain Kernow]

So you're allowed to keep the boards and take them home?

[Pete Thorpe]

Yup, we've got both of ours though the one we built for the final now looks a bit different from what you'll see in the programme.

[ExplosiveCookie]

We were allowed to keep all the stuff that was bought with the budget - that we used - that includes buildings, rolling stock, building materials, the boards etc etc. Any un-used materials were gathered up by the production crew to be used in the future heats - Episode 4 was the first to be filmed - in case people needed a hand.

[Ohmisterporter]

So you're allowed to keep the boards and take them home?

 

May as well, they won't be suitable for use by another team in the next heat. Actually, that may be an interesting challenge.

Edited October 27, 2018 by Ohmisterporter

[Pete Thorpe]

Well the lady doing the trees (Fawley Flyers?) said she takes about 20 hours to make each one, and there where probably half a dozen there......

PARTIAL SPOILER ALERT - 20 hours seems a bit of an exaggeration as she produced over 50 in the 4 days of the final.

Edited October 27, 2018 by Pete Thorpe

[Huw Griffiths]

PARTIAL SPOILER ALERT - 20 hours seems a bit of an exaggeration as she produced over 50 in the 4 days of the final.

Certainly sounds that way - unless the glue or paint were slow drying.

 

 

Huw.

[RJS1977]

I do agree with that, it's important to remember that what interests non-modelling punters at shows is, in many cases, not what interests 'serious' modellers. But that's fine and the main thing is to keep attracting new people to the hobby, who can then progress their personal interests in whatever direction they choose - OO roundy-roundies or P4 branch lines or sci-fi layouts with space ships landing or dinosaurs and other pre-historic stuff or P4 dinosaurs with pre-historic modellers etc. etc.

 

 

And I, for one, being a bit of a prehistoric traditionalist, was glad that Castle and team won last night, as I thought they had the highest standard of modelling on display, plus the overall layout was superb (absolute, utter, top respect for including point rodding, by the way and the moving water cranes were ingenious - never seen that done before, ever!).

 

There is a moving water crane on my father's layout, but I suspect it's rather lower tech than what the Fawley team did!

 

Hornby used to make a cast metal water crane that came in two parts - a base section and the top section which includes the arm and the 'bag'. We very carefully drilled out the base section to accept a Meccano axle, then used a piece of plastic tubing to attach the axle to the top section. The axle was then fed down through a hole in the baseboard, and a Meccano pulley wheel fitted to it, which can be rotated by hand underneath the board!

[bgman]

***FAKE NEWS ****

 

Local Police were called to a public house in the Midlands this evening following reports that a fracas had broken out.

 

One eyewitness told of a certain gentleman who has since been named as a Mr.York attempting to stack items of a Model railway nature on the pool table and challenging anyone present to "make summat of it".

 

 

No arrests were made and the Police are currently following up other eyewitness accounts.

[PatB]

Wouldn't it be more instructive and illustrative of the broader hobby for the GBP and especially its younger members attending to have the Missenden lot mentor (not control) the 'Railway Children'? That would be much more realistic and attainable by a wider section of the potential modelling community - other layouts present will adequately demonstrate 'proper' modelling.

Sorry, but I can think of few things better calculated to put off the young person I once was. Even the older chap I now am wouldn't be keen. I don't dismiss what can be learned from the more experienced but I prefer to pick and choose the what and the how. Something that is difficult in the mentor/mentee relationship. Successful mentoring is at least as much a function of people skills as about technical ability.

[t-b-g]

Sorry, but I can think of few things better calculated to put off the young person I once was. Even the older chap I now am wouldn't be keen. I don't dismiss what can be learned from the more experienced but I prefer to pick and choose the what and the how. Something that is difficult in the mentor/mentee relationship. Successful mentoring is at least as much a function of people skills as about technical ability.

 

There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding about the Missenden team. It was made up of people who know each other and have attended courses at Missenden. They are not tutors there.The tutors there are people like Barry Norman, Paul Bambrick, Norman Soloman, Ian Rathbone, Tim Watson etc. A full list is available on the Missenden website. How ever I got on a list like that is a mystery but there you go! 

 

http://www.missendenrailwaymodellers.org.uk/tutors.html

 

One of the courses is run by Paul Bambrick on backscenes, including 3D perspective. Sound familiar?

Edited October 28, 2018 by t-b-g

[PatB]

There seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding about the Missenden team. It was made up of people who know each other and have attended courses at Missenden. They are not tutors there.The tutors there are people like Barry Norman, Paul Bambrick, Norman Soloman, Ian Rathbone, Tim Watson etc. A full list is available on the Missenden website. How ever I got on a list like that is a mystery but there you go! 

 

http://www.missendenrailwaymodellers.org.uk/tutors.html

 

One of the courses is run by Paul Bambrick on backscenes, including 3D perspective. Sound familiar?

 

My point was not specific to the Missenden team, or even the GMRC, but more to indicate that mentoring is not for everyone, whether as mentor or mentee.