I had been planning to do another contest as a response both to posts and PM's.
The two most requested were 1) an N scale layout and
2) an HO layout inside the 4 x 8 footprint. (They claimed it would much more valuable than a rehashed 4 x 8)
However, also noted was the last contest took up a lot of valuable forum space and bored some people to tears.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
I'd like to see a bedroom sized pike layout contest. Both HO & N 12X10 around the wall.
Something for those who want to move beyond the ole 4X8 but don't want to spend the time/money for some basement monstrosity.
Just my
SpaceMouse wrote: I had been planning to do another contest as a response both to posts and PM's. The two most requested were 1) an N scale layout and 2) an HO layout inside the 4 x 8 footprint. (They claimed it would much more valuable than a rehashed 4 x 8) However, also noted was the last contest took up a lot of valuable forum space and bored some people to tears.
SM:
If webspace was so valuable, then they'd tear down Myspace and build a Walmart. On with the contest, I say.
Driline wrote:I'd like to see a bedroom sized pike layout contest. Both HO & N 12X10 around the wall. Something for those who want to move beyond the ole 4X8 but don't want to spend the time/money for some basement monstrosity.
But why 12x10? Why not something a bit smaller, say 7x10? I just made the final decision to switch from Märklin to 2-rail last weekend, spent $400 on Peco turnouts and flextrack, and am starting all over again from scratch.
My own layout plan is almost finished, an ISL along one wall, which later can be expanded around the room. However, it would be nice to see other people's ideas of what can be done in such a small space.
Svein
If you do start another contest, the Old Dog would suggest you do on the layout planning forum since layout design is the topic of that forum.
The Old Dog would also suggest that you include some info on the needs and desires of the operator of the contest pike. So people enjoy just watching the trains run. For some, the layout is an excuse to build rolling stock or structures. Others enjoy certain types of scenery like the tall pines of the Old West. Other people are into operations or switching. Some people are into dispatching.
The Old Dog has often thought that a layout featuring a large mechanical interlocking plant might be interesting.
One may or may not want to also specify a scale and theme such as common carrier, logging, old time, traction, and so on.
The Dog would suggest that a layout must be judged in terms of meeting the requirements of it's owner, not in a vacuum.
Have fun
SpaceMouse wrote:I had been planning to do another contest as a response both to posts and PM's. The two most requested were 1) an N scale layout and 2) an HO layout inside the 4 x 8 footprint. (They claimed it would much more valuable than a rehashed 4 x 8) However, also noted was the last contest took up a lot of valuable forum space and bored some people to tears.
Go for it. We'll all comment on your parameters and the resulting designs, but so what - that's part of what the forum is about. And we must like it since we keep hanging out here.
Enjoy
Paul
exPalaceDog wrote: SpaceMouse wrote: I had been planning to do another contest as a response both to posts and PM's. The two most requested were 1) an N scale layout and 2) an HO layout inside the 4 x 8 footprint. (They claimed it would much more valuable than a rehashed 4 x 8) However, also noted was the last contest took up a lot of valuable forum space and bored some people to tears. If you do start another contest, the Old Dog would suggest you do on the layout planning forum since layout design is the topic of that forum.The Old Dog would also suggest that you include some info on the needs and desires of the operator of the contest pike. So people enjoy just watching the trains run. For some, the layout is an excuse to build rolling stock or structures. Others enjoy certain types of scenery like the tall pines of the Old West. Other people are into operations or switching. Some people are into dispatching. The Old Dog has often thought that a layout featuring a large mechanical interlocking plant might be interesting.One may or may not want to also specify a scale and theme such as common carrier, logging, old time, traction, and so on.The Dog would suggest that a layout must be judged in terms of meeting the requirements of it's owner, not in a vacuum.Have fun
Dog,
You have some valid points. Designing a layout for someone without knowing what they want is worse than a person choosing a layout out of 101 Track Plans. But since there is no perspective end user, we have a problem. Sure it would be fun for one or two of us to design a logging layout in Northern Wisconsin in January 1910 incorporating geared tractors, but many people wouldn't be willing to wager the time it took to plan something they had no interest in.
By defining a space only, we give people a lot of latitude. They can say it was designed for rail-fanning, interchange operations, or passenger service and then the voter decide if the planner did the job. Now granted in such a case, the bias of the voter will have a big effect, and freight operations are popular. But at least the planner can air out the plans they've thought about but never built.
What, another 4x8? yawn....
How about a Microlayout?
It can be any scale, any theme, the only caviet is not to exceed 4 square feet, which is the generally accepted designation of "Microlayout", smaller the better of course, extra points if you actually build it...
Have fun with your trains
So here is my current thinking. I was going to do a contest for a 30" door in N-scale, but we just did a table layout.
So what I was thinking is using the suggestion above and working with a 10x12 room. We will assume no closets or windows but a 30" door 6" from the shorter wall as such:
You can use either N scale or HO scale or O scale, but each scale will be judges separately. Narrow gauge will still go by scale.
The contest will be held in the Layout Forum, but the voting will be in the General Forum.
This time instead of posting your entry with your account, email me the layout Pic and I'll post it. I would like to avoid any "popularity" contest and bruised egos.
Stein: I know rooms are smaller in your part of the world, but I chose this size because it is the minimum foot print of a 4 x8, and it is a room, and it can be either N or HO, so I hit most of the bases suggested by people.
Comments? Suggestions?
SpaceMouse wrote: So what I was thinking is using the suggestion above and working with a 10x12 room. We will assume no closets or windows but a 30" door 6" from the shorter wall as such: Comments? Suggestions?
No Closets ?????? No Windows ???? Really ????When MR was running their contest i wrote to them saying how totally unrealistic
that was. They wrote back in aggreement but said that even the door was giving
people hissy fits
Most bedrooms have atleast one closet and most have a window or two
But it's your contest soooooooooooooooo
It's just that in my house i don't have a room like that
As modelers we face many such design obstacles but usually find a way to
hide the ugly post in the middle of our space etc etc
TerryinTexas
See my Web Site Here
http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/
I'm open to a window and closet.
What do the rest of you think?
SpaceMouse wrote:I'm open to a window and closet. What do the rest of you think?
I'd add the closet, but the question is: Can we use the closet? or just have to maintain access to it?
If you're using the room for a layout I don't really see a need for window access, put one in but make access optional.
Also, can we specify rehanging the door to swing outward?
Another also, if you're allowing 3 scales why not all of them?
Why only N, HO or O?
Why not Z, S or G as well?
We can get well into the weeds, but what would local fire regs, or one's insurance policy, dictate about access through a window, no matter where it is in the building exterior?
How big a window? Would the closet be on the wall opposite the door or one of the adjacent ones? Walk in or smaller? Ceiling height? Is the room a dedicated area for the layout, or must there be storage/sharing of the space? Single level layout, or multiple?
It gets hard to set parameters on something like this because if they are not realistic or meaningful for enough prospective participants,...it will be relatively quiet in that thread, too.
Just musing. Don't really know what to suggest, except stipulate some quick and easy parameters and let it ride. People bite or no.
vsmith wrote: Why only N, HO or O? Why not Z, S or G as well?
How about NO.
Stick with HO & N. That hits about 85% of us anyway.
Folks:
I like this. 12 x 10 is good. No closet, I think. A lot of houses have at least one room without. Now, speaking hypothetically, if you had two bedrooms with a closet, and one without, which one would the Authorities be most likely to release as a layout room?
(This has nothing to do with the fact that my own house just happens to have one closetless bedroom, roughly 12 x 10, with the door in one corner, opening inward...SMRS has quite the spy program...)
selector wrote: We can get well into the weeds, but what would local fire regs, or one's insurance policy, dictate about access through a window, no matter where it is in the building exterior?How big a window? Would the closet be on the wall opposite the door or one of the adjacent ones? Walk in or smaller? Ceiling height? Is the room a dedicated area for the layout, or must there be storage/sharing of the space? Single level layout, or multiple?It gets hard to set parameters on something like this because if they are not realistic or meaningful for enough prospective participants,...it will be relatively quiet in that thread, too.Just musing. Don't really know what to suggest, except stipulate some quick and easy parameters and let it ride. People bite or no.
I say let Spacemouse go for the 10X12 room, with or without a closet SINCE ITS HIS CONTEST, and let the rest of the model railroader whiners & bellyachers chime in afterwards to do all their poo pooing.
Uh,...bite me.
SpaceMouse wrote: So here is my current thinking. I was going to do a contest for a 30" door in N-scale, but we just did a table layout.So what I was thinking is using the suggestion above and working with a 10x12 room. We will assume no closets or windows but a 30" door 6" from the shorter wall as such:You can use either N scale or HO scale or O scale, but each scale will be judges separately. Narrow gauge will still go by scale. The contest will be held in the Layout Forum, but the voting will be in the General Forum.
To the Old Dog, such a space would be canine heaven. One could probably even include space for a work bench.
The Dog would suggest that a window might be useful. Some model paints are hard on the old muzzle!
But the catch is that the Old Dog is thinking in terms of a shelf switching layout. One could even stack two or three layer above each other assuming that "car floats" could be used to contect the layers and interchange with the outside world.
The "fun" with that space begins when one tries to allow for continuous running while avoiding the dreaded "duckunder". That is what made MR's contest interesting.
The Old Mutt must wonder what the gang would do with a 2" by X' N-Trak type mudule or a 18" by 12' shelf.
Driline wrote: vsmith wrote: Why only N, HO or O? Why not Z, S or G as well? How about NO. Stick with HO & N. That hits about 85% of us anyway.
Hmmm...I didnt realize it was YOUR contest, pardon me for treading into you scared basement. Sheesh!
SpaceMouse wrote: vsmith wrote: Why only N, HO or O? Why not Z, S or G as well? Uh,...bite me.
Have you seen the latest Star Wars movie with the droid 4Q2 ?
vsmith wrote: SpaceMouse wrote: vsmith wrote: Why only N, HO or O? Why not Z, S or G as well? Uh,...bite me. Have you seen the latest Star Wars movie with the droid 4Q2 ?
LOL! For that you can build whatever scale you like.
We'll call it the VS scale and you can use those fancy-dancy custom engines of yours.
How about a contest where the maxiimum total square footage of the layout is established and then let the contest entrant determine the scale and the layout of the square footage?
For example, a 4x8 sheet is 32 square feet. That 32 square feet can be left alone as a 4x8, ripped into four 12" wide sections for a total length of 32 feet or ripped in half and placed end to end for a 2' x 16' space. There are a whole bunch of combinations you can come up with when you start with a set size and break it up into smaller pieces.
This concept would give us the possibility of seeing a variety of shapes and track plans plus (hopefully) a cross section of different scales. It would also give more people the freedom to be really creative.
SpaceMouse wrote:Sure it would be fun for one or two of us to design a logging layout in Northern Wisconsin in January 1910 incorporating geared tractors, but many people wouldn't be willing to wager the time it took to plan something they had no interest in.
I personally would like to see a lot more focus on the purpose and theme of the layout design rather leaving it wide open. It is way hard to compare two layouts and choose one when they have been designed for completely different reasons.
P.S. I really wanted to do a logging road for the last contest. I was going to use some ideas that were quite like the helix mountain.......
vsmith wrote: Driline wrote: vsmith wrote: Why only N, HO or O? Why not Z, S or G as well? How about NO. Stick with HO & N. That hits about 85% of us anyway.Hmmm...I didnt realize it was YOUR contest, pardon me for treading into you scared basement. Sheesh!
Apology accepted Captain Needa
SpaceMouse wrote:What do the rest of you think?
Texas Zepher wrote: SpaceMouse wrote:What do the rest of you think?I think it looks very much like last years MR layout design contest room. Just a bit larger and the door is against the side wall instead of being displaced. Hey, I could just use my non-winning entry from that one in!
I"m personally not above bribing if thats what your'e asking.
Since its Spacemouse's contest you'll have to ask him.
Texas Zepher wrote: SpaceMouse wrote:What do the rest of you think?I think it looks very much like last years MR layout design contest room.
If the contest were to be centered around the MR contest footprint TZ mentioned or the (roughly 12X12) "MRP Bedroom" from Model Railroad Planning magazine, there would be some equivalent published designs for inspiration and comparison. (If you want to see a great variety of approaches to scale, era, and concept in the same space, check out the 1996, 1997, and 2000 issues of MRP for these spare bedroom designs. Allen McClelland's HO branchline design from MRP 1996 is one of my favorite spare-bedroom-sized HO designs.)
Of course, developing a quality design for a hundred-square-foot + space takes quite a bit of time. If the desire is to gain lots of entries, a smaller shelf layout contest might attract more participants.
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