Malcolm7mm

Perhaps low on the list of production company objectives for the GMRC was that of encouraging occasional visitors to RM Web to finally sign up and join the party, but it's worked for me!  As a seasoned armchair modeller of many years' experience (but no real layouts), I tuned in to episode one partly out of curiosity and partly out of some ill-defined sense of duty to our great hobby.  I'm not a fan of what's been well described as "false jeopardy TV" but the series grew on me, and I'd like to add my thanks really to those who stepped forwards and took part - and showed us through the creation of 20 different layouts what really can be done: I was in awe of what all the finalists came up with.  For me personally, my favourite layout - and the one that got me hooked - was "The Longest Day" put together by Strangers on a Model Train in the first episode that was broadcast.  If there was one layout that made me think, "I could do this too, I can and I should" it was that one.  The other thing that has come across to me has been a sense of camaraderie and mutual respect between teams (reflected in their contributions throughout this conversation, I think).  That too I'd like to acknowledge as something that has come across well for me.  I am however one of those left to work out how to respond to the comment already echoed earlier in this thread, more than once, "If they can do it, why haven't you?" 

thanks for your support just a few clarifications we were only ever 5 members the episode you saw us in was the last to be filmed but the first to be shown we had considerably less time than any other team to do our pre-build and in the final we only had 4 days to work out a theme and get it all together again we were 5 people not 6 i was very proud of our team and wonder what we could have  accomplished if we had had the numbers and time the other teams had : Strangers captain from his garden centre

Thanks!

 

Actually, for the final, Aberdeen were the last to know the rules and theme. Each heat winner was told the theme and that it would be a 50' layout when they were announced as winners. We were in heat 4, so were not aware until last. That's because the final was filmed the week after heat 5, so all of heat 5 teams were advised of the rules one week before our filming. So really, Aberdeen and the winners of heat 5 had a monster task to get ready in time! On top of this, there was no clear way forward on how the production team were planning on controlling the "star train" across all 5 layouts. This is why I wrote a set of instructions and supplied the busses to all teams. There was enough to do without everyone needing to think about how to do this!

 

Again, well done to all and thanks to the production team. See you at Warley!

as team leader of strangers we were not told until the end of heat 5 (Saturday) so we had 4 days to find an idea organise all the supplies and get our team into final mode  i found the interaction of the judges and presenters a great irritation this time  

The rules indicate that there is a "shop" of sorts set up in the 'studio' (it can be seen in some shots) from which competitors are able to purchase any items they may run out of (e.g. ballast), though there is a penalty for doing so.

 

Otherwise the nearest model shop is the Berkshire Dolls House & Model Shop in Twyford.

there was supposed o be a shop but all there was was the shop that is at Fawley for tourists  in the final there was a box of leftovers that could be used but in the main if you didnt bring it with you then it wasnt there 

I expect I've missed it somewhere over the last 6 odd pages, a reference re. beach huts in Friday's broadcast, 

but why did that chap, seemingly spend the whole time, in some discomfort, assembling and painting the beach huts?

Could they not have been a 'pre-assemble' item.

if he had been sensible he could have made all the huts stuck them together sprayed it ib one go and fixed on the flags this could have been one of his 6 items 

God no. I'm all for a variety of prototypes and scales and I'm irritated that apart from a couple of bits of N gauge and OO9 everyone has gone for British outline OO. I love foreign railways and especially narrow gauge and like different scale combinations. More obscure the better. For example, I'd have done the movie challenge as High Noon in Fn3. 

 

But whatever the prototype, for me the emphasis is on translating that prototype into model form with a degree of verisimilitude. GMRC has almost no proptype element at all and gives the impression model railways exists in a bubble completely separate from real railways. 

this was always in oo permission for n gauge if required

I thought it was a good use of a product that could easily be dismissed as toy like. Certain quicker than traditional methods, gaugemaster or woodland scenic?

And does it count as pre built

guagemaster i think does not count as a prebuild  nor do figures fyi

Static grass over the top of it basically

the mat was laid over a foundation of lattice card board  and then i moulded it into the down land effect you get if you look at it from a distance 

the edges were blended into the chalk face using a plaster/paint mixture to take the sharp white colour away i then added  tufts of grass on a random basis also rubberised horse hair was used to make hedges at the end we sprayed shadows with an air brush to give a light/dark effect 

as you are no doubt aware i was team leader of strangers so first a bit of info:-

the spitfire was built from an airfix kit and sprayed  to the period then 2 tubes were fixed on the underside of the wings nylon fishing line was secured to each end of the layout and the plane suspended horizontally between the two wires by threading through the tubes .A loop of line was then fixed to the propeller longer than the baseboard this was threaded through the bracket at the left hand side and secured to a windlass run by an electric drill this pulled the plane from one end to the other .in order to steady the plane another length of line was secured to the tail and passed through a hole om the right hand side this was used to draw  the plane back for a rerun .in order to keep tension on the line two steel nuts were attached to the end of the line and dragged across the floor when the plane was flown.

now as to the final ,the episode screened first was actually the last  which finished on the Saturday we did not know we were in the final until Saturday evening  nor did we know the final theme .this meant that we would be back at  Fawley filming the next Wednesday.In the final we had 4 days to build a layout .this time all we had were bare baseboards no pre built items .i had to meet with the team on Sunday conceive a layout get some sort of plan together order supplies and get ourselves together for the start 

basically this meant we had been working on these two layouts for about 6 weeks .which is why i  i was concerned about my garden centre Other teams had  up to 5 weeks to work on the final  layout alone

i hope this clarifies some points

Why do people assume they know stuff when patiently they  do not