Scottish Modeller

Hi there, Most of the coaches in the images are ex LNER non corridor or suburban stock. Most of the common varieties are available in 4mm scale as RTR products Thanks Phil H

Hi all, OK - time to feed the rumour mill! I've registered an interest with the producers to have an N Gauge layout/team in Series 2 I had to decide on a name for the entry - 'The N'gineers' was the name I decided on. So - before you all ask questions……. It's a bit early to say much as the actual rules for Series 2 are still under discussion It is unlikely that there will be a separate GMRC competition for N Gauge layouts The rules for the N Gauge entry will be the same as for all other entries. I've had to submit a proposal to the same casting email address as everyone else - no preferential treatment. Nothing much else I can say until a few things happen. 1 - The Rules are fixed and circulated and the themes decided 2 - The Venue and Dates are announced 3 - The proposed entry is confirmed as participating. So - time to dream. thinks of a few things to incorporate on a potential layout entry! Thanks ps - I've allready posted regarding this on the N Gauge Forum...……………………….

I can confirm that Castle was seen to be wearing this every day during our heat...…

Hi there, You are correct - it was a loan from Bif.....

Hi there, Well, I've had stands at 4 exhibitions since the first heat was televised. There were lots of folk asking about the show at all of them. Whether or not that indicates more people becoming involved or more modellers becoming aware - I don't know. I have, however, agreed to help 4 people who had started out, but then became dispirited or confused, to make something out of what they have. There are a lot of 'lost modellers' out there and this program seems to have reawakened their interest in the hobby. I found one lost soul less than 3 miles from me! I've been to see him once and got him on the task of clearing out the shed he started to build a layout in. Once he lost heart in the layout idea, the shed became a dumping ground for anything that needed put away under cover. So - Yes, it would seem that some good is coming out of the GMRC! Thanks

Hi there, Nothing wrong with having ideas for layouts in future events. In fact, my experience with the production team confirms that they are open to new ideas and welcome suggestions. However, the best way (to me at least) is to gather your ideas, see if they make sense, then suggest them to see if they make a basis for forming a team. If they do... You know the drill!! Send your proposal to the casting email address that Bryher provided elsewhere. Thanks

OK - Lets kill all this talk about cheap v expensive products in model railways and related items. Why? It isn't relevant to the GMRC at all. All the teams had the same budget, the same product list and it was up to each team to decide how to spend that budget. All of the product lists were priced at the current retail for each item. Thanks

Hi Phil, OK - Sort of agree with a lot of what you have posted. However, I have to correct you when you say 'there would have been behind the scenes help that we won't see'. You won't see it because it didn't exist. There was no help available - you had to rely on your own team to provide the assistance or skills base. Of course, being modellers with the intent to portray the hobby in the best way possible, some help was provided to other teams. Certainly was in our heat.... Thanks

HI all, OK - Once I get the team organised we will put up what we have about our modelling of the Diesel Dynam's layout - Mattford. Thanks

Hi all, Thankfully the tannoy announcements did not happen during the recording the first heat (televised as ep 4). We did have people shouting out across the room as the deadlines approached, but no tannoy was seen or heard. Thanks

Hi all, Whilst this isn't really related to what the topic is intended to be about - I tend to agree that the mispronounced names are annoying. My Mrs actually cringes everytime she hears Exdale instead of Eskdale. However, this is not the only program to have used the same pronunciation! Thanks

Hi all, As a result of a discussion related to The Great Model Railway Challenge - I need some help to help someone else! I've agreed to help a somewhat 'lost' modeller and get him back into the hobby by counteracting the reasons he stopped trying to do things. He has a lot of 'Projects' that are stalled for one reason or another. Graham Farish - Hall class tender body - Great (crest) Western green Nameplates Class A4 - Golden Plover 60031 (not worried what colour background) Class 47 - Strathclyde 47706 Class 47 - Waverley 47708 Class 60 - Great Gable 60006 Class 55 - The Black Watch 55013 Class 55 - Royal Scots Grey 55022 Class 55 - Nimbus 55020 Class 9F - Evening Star 92220 Class 9F - Black Prince 92203 Anyone got anything to help me get this started for him? If I can get him through this little lot then it may be easier to get him back to building his layout.

Hi John, You are correct - there are no new ideas... Just old ones to be updated and relevant to the higher quality products that are now available. Since the start of GMRC I have been contacted by several modellers who had an initial attempt at making a model railway - but failed (for whatever reason). I put this down to my attitude at the exhibitions when demonstrating on a stand. Some people have an 'exclusive' attitude and that is quite the opposite of mine. Of the people who contacted me I have agreed to help 4 out and get them back into the hobby instead of them just having stuff lying about. Postitve mental attitude! Yes - I tell them that if I can do it, so can they - with a bit of help/guidance from me or my friends.

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

Hi all, Who asked about The Rules? They are attached somewhere near the start of the thread. Those are the rules AS FIRST ISSUED and they changed more than once before we got to Fawley.... Between first getting issue one of the rules and the final set of rules Diesel Dynamos had to change a fair amount of what we intended to model in order that we complied with the rules as they were changed. One thing we were going to prebuild as was the roadway for the Faller vehicles. However, our interpretation of the rules left us feeling that we would no longer be compliant with the 6 articles pre built before the event. The prebuild for the roadway would have had 12 pieces, so whilst it would have prevented the crashing lorry situation, we could have been penalised for having too many prebuilt items. If we had know what we now know.... We would have prebuilt the roadway. Thanks

Hi all, Those of you who have watched this evenings episode may have noticed there are differences in the way the presenters and film team worked with those of us taking part. Whilst this has been shown as the 4th part - it was actually the first heat held. Why? Don't know enough to say. However, whilst The Railway Children took on an awful lot of modelling, they did better than the Diesel Dynamos when it came to the important bit - running the trains. We feel that we didn't achieve reliable running of either the trains or the road vehicles, whereas they did. Over the filming we helped them out when they got into difficulties, indeed some of their scenery is supported by scenic mesh that I gave them to save them time. So - this was a very congenial heat to have been in and it was good to see the broad age spread of the competitors ps - We got to do the tourist run through the centre and a ride on a train down the line and back. Of course, we got to ride on the diesel......

I'm the same one as I always have been - just with even less hair...… Diesel Dynamos - Phil

Hi all, Counting down to the appearance of Diesel Dynamos in this night episode...…. Even the mother in Law will be watching! Not sure which is most scary - being on the tv or the fact that mother in law will be watching. She already promised a 'phone call with her critique on what we have done. Don't forget - Tonight at 8pm on Channel 5

Hi there, OK - there was a shop of sorts at the event- or so it appeared. We were not able to buy anything from the shop at all. Part way through our heat it was being taken down and everything on it packed away. Fortunately between us we had taken a shop full of reserve items - just in case.... Thanks

Hi all, I took part in GMRC because I believe that the program will make a difference in how the hobby is perceived. I have always been a believer in taking the hobby to the people. who know little, if anything, about our great, multi skilled and multi faceted hobby. I've taken model railways to a lot of places that you wouldn't expect to see them and would still do this if the opportunity arose. So, car showrooms, fire stations, shopping malls, events that are not specifically model railway related - I've done the lot over the years. This one series of programs will, hopefully, have opened our hobby up to a lot of potential modellers, now they can see what is involved. Another series? Well - if what I hear is correct, we should find out more in the not too distant future. One series a year? I'm on the fence about that - too much exposure is as bad as no exposure. Thanks

Hi Huw, Yes - there was A Song of Ice and Fire.... But we ignored it and did our own thing(s) So, from that you may surmise that I was involved in the heat that features this theme. Correct. We were the first to be filmed and the learning curve was quite steep for the film crews. I won't say more - just have to get you to watch and then comment! Roll on week 4.....................................

Oh look!...... It's a post from down under!

Hi Paul, I agree with what you say - mostly. There are loads of modellers out there that don't frequent web places like this, don't belong to a club and are solitary modellers who are happy to carry on that way with the occasional visit to an exhibition. An introductory episode was filmed prior to the competition which would have provided the introduction to the modellers and teams and also set the scene for a lot of what happened at the event. It's a shame the C5 decided that they didn't want this and just took the actual competition. This competition has found some unknown talents, you have to keep watching to find that out though! I agree with you about Bob Symes - not your typical modeller in my experience. Thanks

Hi John, That is exactly the reason for doing this challenge. It isn't aimed at the already active modeller. It's firmly aimed at getting more people involved - ie those who thought about doing a bit of railway modelling, but didn't. Hopefully the series will give them enough enthusiasm to actually do something. Thanks

Hi JMG, If you were involved - you did make a commitment of more than 3 days. 1 day pre filming to get background 1 day travelling to be there 3 days working on it once there. Plus we were allowed to pre-build some elements in the period between the pre-build filming and the actual event. So, some teams did a lot of prebuilding and others didn't. That will become more obvious as the series progresses. Thanks