whart57

You need animations, but one thing I would say to anyone thinking of taking part in any series three is that the cameras KBG use can do pretty decent close-ups. Animations need to be interesting but they don't need to be three foot tall

49 minutes ago, noiseboy72 said:

.... only 3 of us had built anything in 00 .......

 

None of us had. And we still haven't  :-)

The big adjustment we had to make was accept the idea that trains can go round corners. Our experience is finescale with its sweeping curves (30" radius is tight) and we struggled to lay flex track neatly to a minimum 21" radius. Fortunately we had all that done before we got to Fawley Hill so no embarrassment in front of cameras. (Or bleeping needed on the sound track).

Then when we got there we found the other two layouts had something like 15" curves. And one had gradients more suited to a funicular. Bit of a culture shock.

Didn't alter my opinion that someone made some damn good river and seascape features, and I suspected Corby were the best anyway

10 hours ago, noiseboy72 said:

The budget was generous - and you wonder what the Train Set spent theirs on, given they had 1 operational DMU and little else to show. I think we managed 5 locos, 2 coaches, 9 goods wagons and a couple of guards vans with the same money!

Most of the stuff we bought from Hornby and Bachmann didn't have wheels. And in the end we didn't get much time in the presentation stage to actually run trains anyway.

1 hour ago, sharris said:

This may have been asked in the last series, I can't remember, but may I ask of anyone who's been involved this year - regarding the pre-builds, is there a fixed budget and timescale you're expected to keep to for these parts to ensure a level playing field in this respect?

Not as such. After last year's "this entire street is one item" evasion the rules state what is acceptable - one house, one warehouse, one mine building etc - but in practice the judges went - in our experience anyway - for the spirit rather than the letter of the law. You are asked what your pre-builds will be about a month before recording and you can negotiate. For example we agreed with the producers that if we connected two cottages with a shed then it would be one pre-build instead of two

This year too the pre-builds were vetted on the first morning of recording and weren't allowed on the layouts until the producers approved them

Regarding budget you have limits set and you can't go over them. That's for cash though, no-one is measuring how much time goes into making the pre-builds. In our case it was quite a bit

14 minutes ago, Hull Paragon said:

 

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

Given that the aim is to draw a million or so viewers to Channel 5 on a Friday night the actual railway will be secondary. If you want MRJ TV then I'm afraid it's for YouTube.

But was it that dire? We saw a team of young newbies demonstrate that a bit of intelligence, a bit of research on that dreaded YouTube and a good dollop of lets' give it a go will give good results. As well as demonstrate that last minute adjustments with a jigsaw don't work. But that seascape was pretty damn good and in the end to best railway model went through

The challenge for "real" railway modellers is to take the format and meet it without going too far down the gimmick track. The volcanoes might have been the result of a bit of volcano obsession in the emails from the producers (I had those emails too) leading teams to think one was compulsory. Let's see how the others managed in later heats.

And after all Bake Off is nothing like one of those Fanny Craddock here's how you make choux pastry jobs from forty years ago either.

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.

I picked one up, shuddered at my photo and then read up on the other teams taking part. Interesting bunch, I think that KBG have done a decent job putting together a wide range of people to contest this series.

Yes, the Great Model Railway Challenge does reach the parts Steve Flint's mag doesn't  ;-)

I only checked with KBG this morning and they queried with Channel 5 then.

I contacted the producers about the run time and they say they have delivered 75 minute episodes to Channel 5. Probably worth checking the schedules again later in the week

3 hours ago, Huw Griffiths said:

 

 

I wonder if we might see an On30 entry in a future series?

Our team did consider large scale narrow gauge when we were planning possible layouts. But you get given a theme to work to and it didn't fit the theme so we dropped it

Interesting point about the rail mounted camera wagon. It was actually a loose camera on a wagon chassis, I'm pretty sure it would have worked on a 12mm gauge or even 9mm gauge underframe. Loading gauge would be an issue in smaller scales though

Don't get too excited. While there was a team drawn from 3mm Society members taking part (Heat 4) the rules still demanded 16.5mm gauge track. How we bent those rules to escape from OO is something you will have to wait till October 4 to find out.

Might be an idea to sunset this thread and concentrate on the 2019 thread Phil Parker opened

2 hours ago, montyburns56 said:

 

Did they finish their layout in three quarters of the allotted time?

No, we could have done with 33% more time. (As could everyone I think)

No group photo, but the team of 3mm scale modellers beavering away in Heat 4

On 13/08/2019 at 17:14, Hitchin Junction said:

 

It's not open to all. It's only open to people who don't mind signing up to Facebook.

 

Tim

Well I gritted my teeth and did that. However I'm a bit confused because there is a closed group (open to non-members it says) which I applied to join two weeks ago, but is still closed to me. Now I know it's holiday season and all that but the other groups I have been in turn things around a lot quicker

I made a call to the producers Knickerbockerglory and they say Channel 5 has pushed GMRC back a few weeks, probably to mid-September. New dates are expected shortly

16 hours ago, Huw Griffiths said:

I could also add that, if I were to get the chance to take part in any future series (and follow through with it, without being forced to withdraw, due to family health issues), I'm sure I would also enjoy the experience. Whether this ever happens remains to be seen.

I was a team captain in this series and while it was a lot of work both before and during the recordings it was a great experience and we were really glad to have taken part.

Thanks for the tip. I've been over to Facebook and asked to join that group. Hopefully the group moderators will turn that round quickly

This seems like the best place on here to ask the question

As a change of tack from railway modelling I've started repainting and converting 1:76 scale bus models, EFE ones mainly. Does anyone know of an internet group where I might find those with a similar interest?

This seems like the best place on here to ask the question

As a change of tack from railway modelling I've started repainting and converting 1:76 scale bus models, EFE ones mainly. Does anyone know of an internet group where I might find those with a similar interest?

It depends whether you mean wheels for 3mm scale or continental TT. I would suggest the following:

• If you are contemplating a lot of TT/3mm scale work the best thing is to join the 3mm Society (https://sites.google.com/site/3mmpublic/).
  They do the full range and they are also cheaper to members than anyone else so you'll recoup your membership fee
   
• If you only want a few wheels then try 3SMR. They do most sizes.
   
• If you are after 12mm gauge wheels another place to try may be Dundas models as you will probably find their OOn3 wheels are compatible with most standard TT wheels

Have you thought about gauge? Russia uses 5' gauge, India 5'6" on its mainlines. Do Irish modellers use standard OO (the only Irish prototype modellers I know scratchbuild on 15.75mm gauge which is accurate 5'3" gauge in 3mm scale).