The Great Model Railway Challenge - Series 2

[port perran]

Thanks for getting it this far.
I guess it's a wait and see now but , of course, the problem will be in selecting a team from amongst the NGF membership.
I suppose , as has been mentioned before, it is good to have a team made up of people with specific skills and interests eg specialists in
Layout planning
Track laying
Electrics
Scenery
Buildings
On-layout gimmicks eg something other than trains that moves or does something interesting (the judges in Series 1 appeared to like that).
Anyway, let's wait and see for now.

[jacowin80]

Hi all,

Sounds like a fantastic idea. I won't volunteer myself as am pretty crap and very slow.

Also, I'd be suggesting DC Kato Unitrack with a teetotal expert airbrusher so we could have all the track down and wired by 11 am on day 1 and leave him/her to make it look prettier while the rest us have a boozy lunch    .

Seriously, hope this goes ahead, it would be great to see.

Cheers weave 

I have been thinking right through the current series how great kato would be for this!  The production team seemed to make quite a thing of the sponge ballast, what they would make of kato?  I think it would be another level!  I do think it would be a great advert for the N gauge side of the hobby, if the baseboard was the same size as the OO you could do some serious length trains, HST, Freight and steam tours.  Imagine the channel tunnel layout with a full sized Eurostar instead of the deltic? they were using with only a few coaches.  It would also show people new to the hobby what can be achieved with N gauge and something like kato.  It could also prove that you don't need masses of space to make an impressive layout.  Would be good for the team members to also push this across all the time and really promote N as the go to scale for new modelers.

[weave]

Hi Phil,

When you say 'think of things to incorporate on a potential layout entry' can I ask when they give you the subject theme. Sorry if asked before.

cheers weave 

[Philip.]

My modelling skills are still in their infancy so I won't put my name forward for the team, but if Italian coffee and homemade cake takes your fancy then I'm the man 

[RailGooner]

..
I had to decide on a name for the entry - 'The N'gineers' was the name I preffered to use.
...

The N'gineers. Yes! Got a nice ring to it that Phil.

[ScottishModeller]

Hi Phil,

When you say 'think of things to incorporate on a potential layout entry' can I ask when they give you the subject theme. Sorry if asked before.

cheers weave 

Hi Weave,

Once the rules are set up - the production company will decide the themes.

But - think outside of that prospective box and see what ideas come along.

Incorporated ideas as part of the layout don't have to match the producers spec - they would be added extras!

One thing I learned from series one is....

Have all the working gizmos you can incorporate!

But build them all as 'plug and play' or ready to place, complete items.

Thanks

[Railwaygun]

Hi Phil,

When you say 'think of things to incorporate on a potential layout entry' can I ask when they give you the subject theme. Sorry if asked before.

cheers weave 

Hi Weave,

Once the rules are set up - the production company will decide the themes.

But - think outside of that prospective box and see what ideas come along.

Incorporated ideas as part of the layout don't have to match the producers spec - they would be added extras!

One thing I learned from series one is....

Have all the working gizmos you can incorporate!

But build them all as 'plug and play' or ready to place, complete items.

Thanks

Off the shelf level crossings and turntables would be  a doddle with Kato - and any excuse for a Shinkansen?? ( or an armoured train..)

[Steven B]

You're not going to get to use Kato track... Teams were provided with a budget together with Hornby, Bachmann/Farish, Peco and Metcalf catalogues.

Similarly, plans to fill layouts with full length HST may come unstuck if all trains have to be bought within the budget. Most of the layouts on the current series could have managed much longer trains but I'm guessing the teams chose to spend their money on scenic items too.

Perhaps Phil can fill us in on what was provides/allowed for series one before we get carried away with spending the whole budget on a Kato turntable.

[Newportnobby]

I can imagine Steve Flint spitting feathers if Peco track isn't used

[Bealman]

Good point (!)

But then we're reduced to Peco Setrack

[Trainfish]

.............. the rest us have a boozy lunch   

Cheers weave 

I can organise this part 

[rhysapthomas]

Hi

Just like to flag up interest in this if it happens.  My main interest in in the electrics side of railways and i do like make these animated feature which seem  to be a feature of the comptition.  Keep up the good work!. 
It will be interesting to see the rules i wonder if stock is not included in the cost because the last one i saw the winner had maybe 12 DCC locos whereas the others had just one or two?

[ScottishModeller]

You're not going to get to use Kato track... Teams were provided with a budget together with Hornby, Bachmann/Farish, Peco and Metcalf catalogues.

Similarly, plans to fill layouts with full length HST may come unstuck if all trains have to be bought within the budget. Most of the layouts on the current series could have managed much longer trains but I'm guessing the teams chose to spend their money on scenic items too.

Perhaps Phil can fill us in on what was provides/allowed for series one before we get carried away with spending the whole budget on a Kato turntable.

Hi Steven,

My understanding is that Series 2 will be different to Series 1.

The product list for Series 1 may not be relevant to Series 2 - especially as this will be an N Gauge entry.

There was very little N Gauge in the Series 1 product list.

So - as I said, it's a case of waiting patiently to see what happens regarding the rules and the product list.

I don't have a crystal ball and would not like to pre-empt anything to do with Series 2!

Thanks

[ScottishModeller]

Hi

Just like to flag up interest in this if it happens.  My main interest in in the electrics side of railways and i do like make these animated feature which seem  to be a feature of the comptition.  Keep up the good work!. 
It will be interesting to see the rules i wonder if stock is not included in the cost because the last one i saw the winner had maybe 12 DCC locos whereas the others had just one or two?

Hi Rhys,

We will need someone like yourself who is good at creating animated scenes. The cost for these would be built into the overall budget.

Stock is a different situation. For Series 1 a certain amount of stock was listed in the product list and some teams did buy stock.

However, as there was nothing in the rules to prevent it, some teams (including mine) brought there own stock to run on the layout.

Doing this allowed more money to be spent on the layout itself.

How this will work in Series 2 is unknown

I keep saying it, but - you have to wait to see what rules and product lists are supplied for Series 2.

Thanks

[rhysapthomas]

Absolutely We must wait and see what the rules for the next series is.  They may not even allow N I suppose