The Great Model Railway Challenge

[kirky]

On another (members only) forum , the Missenden Abbey Railway courses organiser has posted to explain some facts. The team was a team of Missenden students, not tutors. They were there to show off their newly acquired modelling skills. They were attempting to build something to the 'Missenden standard'. There was an agreement between the team and the judges about what was acceptable but the judges did not seem to be aware of this.
The organiser is of the opinion that they were continually asked leading questions. There is even a suggestion that the producers encouraged the team to misunderstand the rules for the sake of good TV.

IMHO, the programme did not show the incredible hard work that the team had put in for the project, albeit before the challenge began. It is possible that the Missenden courses might suffer as a result. I should say I have no association with Missenden and I have not attended one of their courses, but I do feel they got a raw deal on the programme and that it would be unfair if the courses suffer as a result.

cheers
Kirky

[silly moo]

  As I mentioned in a previous post if you have some 'baddies' it makes for more interesting TV, the rather obnoxious man from Missenden may have been deliberately chosen and his comments given more air time just to make the programme more exciting.

The programme must have made some impact as we are all still talking about it 

[Dorsetmike]

Don't forget, this weeks episode has one of the forum advertisers in one of the teams, Mr Peedie models, Paul Tyer.

[cudders]

Hi chaps,

I have now seen it. Hmmmm,

Well I do like all things railways so that's a plus. The scratch build challenge is ok as is the general programme.

I have to say those miss' cheaters were really bad. So much pre-made. That bloke doing the Oscar' crying made the hobby look awful. So cringworthy. Hopefully no more of that! 

The right team won for sure.

Cudders

[daffy]

I note that this week's episode  (Friday 8:00pm in the UK) will include a layout themed upon the popular "Eastenders" TV soap opera.
I wonder if we shall hear the judges utter the immortal words "What's going on?" 


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E1iMJNYHe1I

Another team has a cunning plan  based on the Blackadder series, while the third team will be temporally involved with Dr Who.

I shall look forward to the fun.

[Fardap]

On C5 now as a repeat they are certainly giving it plenty of air time. 

The Missenden model was great, mainly the preprepared bits though, and from what I could see the on-site modelling was pretty low standard.

I thought it seemed clear, what was shown, that it was up to them if they planted all their prebuilt parts.  Maybe what wasn't clear was what the penalty would be if they did.
Best team won on the day.  Looking forward to seeing how the series develop

[RailGooner]

I've just watched the repeat too. I haven't felt belittled or ridiculed by it. In the intro modellers were described as 'Artists'. Rules were enforced - which is good in my book. The best team won.

Will I watch again? Yes, because it's entertaining.

[Train Waiting]

Mrs Train Waiting is out this evening, so Poppy and I were left in charge of the television set.

We settled down with wine and 'Dreamies'* to view this televisual feast that Mrs TW had recorded for us.

I thought that the programme was good (Poppy fell asleep... again).

It's 2018 television.  It's not the old television with Bob Symes or Peter Purves and the Blue Peter layout.

But the programme was fun and entertaining.

The presenters were good (first time I had seen either of them) and the judges were excellent.

Perhaps not a BAFTA winner, but I'll gladly watch the rest of the series.

And the scenes on the 'Ratty' were wonderful!

*I hope Poppy enjoyed the wine - I was not at all enamoured of the 'Dreamies'!

Toodle-oo.

John

[port perran]

Mrs Train Waiting is out this evening, so Poppy and I were left in charge of the television set.

We settled down with wine and 'Dreamies'* to view this televisual feast that Mrs TW had recorded for us.

I thought that the programme was good (Poppy fell asleep... again).

It's 2018 television.  It's not the old television with Bob Symes or Peter Purves and the Blue Peter layout.

But the programme was fun and entertaining.

The presenters were good (first time I had seen either of them) and the judges were excellent.

Perhaps not a BAFTA winner, but I'll gladly watch the rest of the series.

And the scenes on the 'Ratty' were wonderful!

*I hope Poppy enjoyed the wine - I was not at all enamoured of the 'Dreamies'!

Toodle-oo.

John

OK....I'll ask.....Dreamies??

[emjaybee]

Keep up sunshine, they're cat treats, ask either of ours, they love 'em.

[The Q]

OK....I'll ask.....Dreamies??

https://youtu.be/4PRB4mbNHWw

[njee20]

Watched it last night. I enjoyed it.

My sole television experience was appearing on an episode of "The Weakest Link" with Anne Robinson nearly 10 years ago, and I can attest to the fact that vast swathes of editing goes on to make sure the producers get the desired outcome. In that instance the 'roast' from Anne was actually a 10 minute dialogue with each player, which was then edited to ensure that any witty retorts were removed and that you were shown in a light which made you look a bit silly - but I don't think anyone expected any less!

To that end, as Silly Moo says, I wouldn't be surprised if the Missenden team were purposely cast as the bad guys for the sake of entertainment. I'd be astounded if it had a negative impact on the courses, I imagine any impact will only be positive as they made a big thing of the fact the courses actually exist, which many (myself included) won't have known. I really can't imagine anyone thinking "well I was going to do one, but they cheated, so now I'm not".

I certainly didn't think it belittled or poked fun at the hobby or its participants in any way, and whilst it was certainly fairly high level I think it would be naive to expect anything less given the 'prime time' slot it occupied. I applaud them for not dumbing it down too much - there were people talking about DCC and what not without the need for an explanation for the uninitiated on what everything was.

My major criticisms would be that the theme is a little weak, and doing film one week and TV the next is a bit daft - surely they could have done "film & TV" as one and then had something more imaginative on the others. I also didn't like the scratch building challenge, seemed a bit contrived, but as others have observed it's just trying to introduce a consistent format with Bake Off/Sewing Bee etc, which again isn't surprising.

I'll certainly be watching all subsequent episodes, may even subject mrs njee20 to it for her verdict!

[Bealman]

This is becoming tiresome for a guy who lives away away.

Let me know how episode two is, though!! 

[njee20]

What about using this, which will enable you to pretend to be in the UK so you can watch this?

I caught up with the F1 on Channel 4 from Sardinia last week. You only get a free allowance of a certain amount with Tunnelbear, so go for a lower quality stream, but it works for me. I'd do it on mobile/tablet to avoid you seeding from your computer, although I'm pretty sure they don't do that by default, and give you an extra allowance if you do.

[Newportnobby]

I caught up with the F1 on Channel 4 from Sardinia last week.

I never realised there was a circuit in Sardinia let alone a race being on the schedule