RMweb Premium Dave Searle Posted January 21, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 21, 2016 Ruxley Church, Ruxley Lane, West Ewell KT19 0JG 12 March 2016; 10.30am – 4.30pm free admission 101 Not Out is being held to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Scalefour Society and 61 years of the EM Gauge Society and continues the programme of Chris Kedgley Memorial Skills Days promoted by the EMGS. We look forward to seeing you! Planning for this landmark joint event is now complete. It won’t be a typical model railway experience; rather it’s going to focus - in a number of specific areas - on development of skills for finescale modelling. More than that, we aim to provide inspiration, learning and encouragement. And, of course, enjoyment and entertainment! DEMONSTRATIONS Computer-Aided Technologies Grant Alderson & Peter Warren From Photograph to Model Jonathan Buckie Laser Cutting Rod Cameron The Silhouette Cutter Eric Penn CAD for Etching Mark Tatlow 3D Printing Electronics and Control Steve Carter ‘Hands-on’ Kit Assembly John McAleely DCC and CBUS Keith Norgrove The Practical Approach Bankside Austerity in 1951 Application to a Small Layout Landscape and Architecture John Farmer Trees & Ground Cover Dave Hawkins Townscape Geoff Kent Architecture in Plastic John McRea Uses of Teddy Bear Fur Machine Shop Mick Moore & Vincent Worthington Uses of Machine Tools Brian Self Basic Turning and Milling Permanent Way Howard Bolton Using Functional Chairs Tim Peacock Templot Tony Sullivan Comparative Techniques The Trains Mike Ainsworth Sprung & Compensated Chassis Keith Bradbury Carriages John Chambers Freight Stock Pete Hill RTR Conversions Roy Jackson Locomotives for Retford Tim Venton Locomotive Clinic Test Tracks EM and P4 Several demonstrators will be offering ‘hands-on’ tuition, so here’s your chance to have a go! TALKS Two short talks, each lasting around 30 minutes: 11.30am Martin Goodall An Artistic Approach to Modelling 2.00pm Jim Summers The Evolution of Burntisland 1883 LAYOUTS Complementing the demonstrations, a selection of inspirational layouts: Lower Exbury P4 Alison Barker Middle Peak EM Martyn Harrison & Graham Hudson (winner of EMGS Layout Challenge 2015) The Mill EM Chris Rogers & Jason Thomas Westcliff EM Richard Butler GETTING THERE By train – Tolworth is the nearest station, served from Waterloo. By bus – Service 418 (Kingston to Epsom, passing Tolworth station) stops outside the church. Bus pass, Oyster or contactless payment only – no cash! During the morning, there will be cars meeting each train from London, offering free transport to the venue. A return service will be offered at the end of the day. By car – there is both on-site and on-street parking, Further travel details can be found on www.emgs.org or www.scalefour.org Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 The CAD for Etching demo will be interesting. Hope I can get down there, as it's on a Saturday..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davefrk Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Thanks for posting this Dave. It is unfortunate that it is so far down South that members of both societies in the North would find it difficult and expensive to attend. In fact as far as EMGS members are concerned there was a lot of mumblings last year about the 60th anniversary not being celebrated or hardly even mentioned in 2015 then came news of this joint celebration with the S4 Society in 2016 and the fact that it was to be a 'free do' down South giving more ammo to those that say the EMGS do very little for those up North. I personally know of three members who have recently let their membership lapse sighting that they get nothing out of the Society, okay they may not have put much 'into' the EMGS but I have heard this comment from quite a number of Northern members recently. For the past few years I was helping to run the EMGS stand at some Scottish shows and the amount of interest was minimal with members and ex-members all saying they can model in EM or S4 without the help of any society. The S4 Society do have a few good groups north of the border and S4 North and EXPO EM North do a great job of promoting 'finescale modelling' but how many office bearers or members from down south travel to these shows when others from Scotland are expected to travel even further to get to these shows. As someone said to me last year at Glasgow, 'why would I want to join, it's all down around London', I'm sorry but this event just adds to that impression. There was a recent report from the EMGS about declining membership, I wonder how many lapsed members were in the Northern part of the UK. The late Chris Kedgley always had a good hello for people who like us travelled a distance to visit an event and I'm sure he would have said something about this event being more in the middle of the membership as far as the UK is concerned. Dave Franks EMGS member since 1985 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Dave Searle Posted January 21, 2016 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 21, 2016 Hi Dave, Many thanks for your comments. I believe these events are ongoing and similar ones will be held in different parts of the country. In 2014, members of the Epsom & Ewell MRC hosted the Scalefour Society AGM. They enjoyed this so much (!) that they offered to organise the venue and stewarding for this event. I think the societies may well have taken the view that a team of willing volunteers was a opportunity to make the most of. Best wishes,Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonhall Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Thanks for posting this Dave. It is unfortunate that it is so far down South that members of both societies in the North would find it difficult and expensive to attend. In fact as far as EMGS members are concerned there was a lot of mumblings last year about the 60th anniversary not being celebrated or hardly even mentioned in 2015 then came news of this joint celebration with the S4 Society in 2016 and the fact that it was to be a 'free do' down South giving more ammo to those that say the EMGS do very little for those up North. I personally know of three members who have recently let their membership lapse sighting that they get nothing out of the Society, okay they may not have put much 'into' the EMGS but I have heard this comment from quite a number of Northern members recently. So when did either Society turn down your offer to organise of their behalf something similar for Scotland? Looking at that list of demo's, a fair number are from the local SW London clubs (and a fair number model mostly in 7mm) and I doubt there is all that much 'Central' society organisation for this, its local members putting something low-cost together - as they did last year in a church hall in Byfleet . I'd love to be involved, but alas instead of being less that 10 miles away, I'm doing a railtour that takes me to Cornwall for the day. Jon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 Parking looks interesting.....! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 The CAD for Etching demo will be interesting. Hope I can get down there, as it's on a Saturday.....That is one of 2 or 3 that really appealed to me. Having only just seen this and never heard of it before I am now a little peeved at having already made other arrangements for the 12th. Are there any plans to repeat some of these at some other shows? Or perhaps film/utube some parts to make the information/lessons more accessible to a wider audience. There is an awful lot of that content that will appeal well beyond the EM or S4 membership. My congratulations in putting such a show together but for me <3weeks notice is of little use. Hope it goes well - I'm sure it will. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PjKing1 Posted February 22, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 22, 2016 I would love to attend this show but like mentioned by others it's just to far to travel, I joined the emgs last year and although it's seems quite friendly I don't get much out of it, the website being the thing I'm most disappointed with. Cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 That is one of 2 or 3 that really appealed to me. Having only just seen this and never heard of it before.... That's unfortunate - the publicity for it has been around since at least the start of the year. I really do need to see the CAD demo, as I understand the principles but have real difficulty with the "mechanics" which means that I struggle with AutoCAD'05. I wonder what CAD package the demonstrator will be using.....? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelly Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 A few items would be of interest. Sadly that weekend I have prior engagements Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Enterprisingwestern Posted February 28, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 28, 2016 Just a personal comment. I "get nothing" from membership of a few societies I'm in, apart from the magazines, there is very little to "get" from a society, mostly I find its the camaraderie and it's the "we're all in this together" aspect that gives me the satisfaction of belonging. We need to put more in to get more out, even if that only means attending exhibitions like this one, it's a show of support from the membership, and that's what societies are all about. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 the publicity for it has been around since at least the start of the year. Not where I was for the start of the year. Publicity is only any good if it actually reaches its target audience. I'm not a member of the society any more and don't even have a layout in EM. But that does not mean that I do not support the expo EM as a first rate exhibition. (The same applies to S4 society and its exhibitions. I remain a member of O Guild, but sometimes wonder why. You do not have to be a member of a society to be a railway modeller or to support their shows (thankfully). The camaraderie is only of any use if you take part (or wish to) and for me that is not sufficient reason to join or visit. I don't mind paying extra at the door for the privilege of being able to be there. This skills day is a great idea and I hope it is well attended/oversubscibed so that it becomes a regular feature. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jol Wilkinson Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 At any one time some of the target audience will be, for reasons of their own making, out of range. You can't blame the Societies in question for that, although in today's "it's somebody else's fault" society it would be seem to be the usual attitude. What we get out of membership of any voluntary Society depends as much on each individual member, as much as the ethos of the Society, it's objectives and and it's management by the committee. I am member of five club/societies and find that that three are really worthwhile, the other two increasingly less so. The main difference is the communication between the committee and membership. Where it is not especially good, then there is an increasing sense of poor value of membership, despite access to the information, archives, etc. that each has. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenton Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 At any one time some of the target audience will be, for reasons of their own making, out of range. You can't blame the Societies in question for that I wasn't, but now you mention it ... The choice of location has to be made and I'm not sure how this is done. Also the date is inconvenient (that is my problem and not the organisers) but is probably more a compromise of when the "demonstrators" are available. These things always have to be a compromise. I am fully supportive of the event despite the winge of missing it. I think that most of us would be. As for membership of clubs, that is a whole new can of worms - and one that has been discussed on here before. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Not where I was for the start of the year. Publicity is only any good if it actually reaches its target audience..... Sounds like you need an app for that..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike Bellamy Posted February 28, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 28, 2016 At any one time some of the target audience will be, for reasons of their own making, out of range. You can't blame the Societies in question for that, although in today's "it's somebody else's fault" society it would be seem to be the usual attitude. What we get out of membership of any voluntary Society depends as much on each individual member, as much as the ethos of the Society, it's objectives and and it's management by the committee. The 7mm Narrow Gauge Association holds its Annual show and AGM at Burton upon Trent as most of the organising group are from the local area. For many years this event was in Nottingham (again as the organisers were nearby) but there were complaints from those 'down south' that the East Midlands was too far north and so one year we moved to Bletchley and guess what - those from the north just travelled for another hour and those from the south still didn't bother - there was no change in the number of visitors and the same familiar faces were still there. Since our group took over, the show has been in Derby, Loughborough and now Burton. There are still rumblings from some that we should move further south but that will only happen if someone is prepared to put the time in to organise it. . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Maybe they should just have local shows for local people. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulT Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 It was an excellent day..I picked up lots of tips.In particular, as a moderately experienced use of 2D Cad I took Grant Alderson's 15min crash course on the 3D use of SketchUp Make which is a free 3D drawing and visualisation program and how to import a photo towards producing a cad file.I had found it hard going trying to get started before but his kickstart has paid off already....I have imported a photo of a building for my new model and have the basic shape defined in TurboCad ready for output as drawing for manual cutting or export to modern electric cutters like Die cutter or laser machine.The missing link in Grant's invaluable demo was how to export a.dxf or .dwg for other Cad programs. The SketchUp Make freebie doesn't allow this, you are supposed to buy the pro version for £500.I have found an addon that provides output from SketchUp Make as .dxf for most Cad programs or .stl for 3D printers etc.http://www.guitar-list.com/download-software/convert-sketchup-skp-files-dxf-or-stlIt is small and free, the downloaded file is put into /Sketchup16/shipped extensions. Restart SketchUp and the export file options have the new options. The .dxf works fine for me in Turbocad 16 which cost me a whole £8 a few years ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 It was an excellent day..I picked up lots of tips. In particular, as a moderately experienced use of 2D Cad I took Grant Alderson's 15min crash course on the 3D use of SketchUp Make which is a free 3D drawing and visualisation program and how to import a photo towards producing a cad file. I had found it hard going trying to get started before but his kickstart has paid off already....... I came out of the CAD for Etching demo little wiser than when I went in. It seems that Corel Draw X7 as used by the demonstrator is easier to use than AutoCAD.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Holliday Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 It was an excellent day..I picked up lots of tips. In particular, as a moderately experienced use of 2D Cad I took Grant Alderson's 15min crash course on the 3D use of SketchUp Make which is a free 3D drawing and visualisation program and how to import a photo towards producing a cad file. I have to agree, and thanks, Paul, for the link to the export software.I also thought Martin Goodall's talk on Artistic Layout Design was interesting. He claimed that Iain Rice's book Layout Design published by Haynes was the best available, but at £350 a copy on Amazon I could probably get Iain to personally do all the work for less. I do know it can be bought for less, but can anyone tell me whether it is worth tracking down? I have both his Wild Swan books on the subject and most of his articles in the UK modelling press, as well as Barry Norman's book. It might be nice to have all his wisdom in one volume, but are there any other benefits? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mark Forrest Posted March 13, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 13, 2016 He claimed that Iain Rice's book Layout Design published by Haynes was the best available, but at £350 a copy on Amazon I could probably get Iain to personally do all the work for less. I do know it can be bought for less, but can anyone tell me whether it is worth tracking down? I have both his Wild Swan books on the subject and most of his articles in the UK modelling press, as well as Barry Norman's book. It might be nice to have all his wisdom in one volume, but are there any other benefits? I like it a lot, but to be honest there is little new content that wasn't covered (to some extent) in An Approach to Model Railway Design (Wild Swan) and Designs For Urban Layouts (Atlantic). IMHO it's worth every penny of the cover price (£25), but I wouldn't pay much more than that. It's interesting to see how some of Iain's ideas/plans have evolved (and how little some have changed) and convenient to have them collectively in one handback volume. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisf Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 i found this to be a most worthwhile event. My only regret is that I did not get to see more of the demonstrators but it must be a measure of the event's success that at most tables there was a constant procession of clients and some queues. I would have liked to attend Martin Goodall's talk but I spotted an opportunity to consult the expert that I most wanted to consult and thought it best to grab it! It will be interesting to see what happens next. I hope that both Societies will feel encouraged to present more Skills Days. No-one, in my view, is too old to learn. Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted March 14, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 14, 2016 There could have been a bit more room at some of the demos, I couldn't get anywhere near the machine demos and I dipped out on the Sketchup demo as the demonstrator was mostly involved in a discussion on making videos about using the software, although I did glean some useful info. Another highly sought after demo was on using the Cameo cutter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim V Posted March 16, 2016 Share Posted March 16, 2016 It was a cracking day, and as always, if you think it's too far away, get together with a few mates and organise one yourself. There might even be some funds to help you set it up from the societies, if you ask nicely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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