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In lugnet.announce, Ted Michon wrote:
Very nice work. Is this the first show you all have done with ballasted track?
Looks very good. With all of that ballasted, I suppose your track lines and yard
are fairly fixed, no? I think I may “borrow” that cow design.
I see that someone is doing some
tagging. You’d have thought he was too busy. ;p
The elevated rail station’s roof has a delicate look, which is so hard to
accomplish in lego. I’m diggin the use of binoculars and light sabers for the
lights. In this
picture, is that a vending machine to sell tickets? Cool. Neat
Skate Park, more colorful than ones I’ve seen, but I’m sure they come in a
variety of colors. Looks like it is attached to a skate board shop?
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If you missed the chance to see the show in person, good news! The entire
show, plus more, will also be at the 2005 Orange County Fair for 3 weeks in
July. See www.scltc.org for more information.
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Jason Spears | BrickShelf Gallery | MichLUG | CLB
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Jason Spears wrote:
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Very nice work. Is this the first show you all have done with ballasted
track?
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Yes. We had and “event” in which members spent a day putting down ballast, but
in the end Susan Michon did about 90% of the work (and has the dimpled thumbs to
prove it). We use mosaic kits from LLCA and have been chastised for buying them
out (didn’t seem that way at the time). Turns out 1 mosaic will handle 24 pieces
of track.
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Looks very good. With all of that ballasted, I suppose your track
lines and yard are fairly fixed, no?
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We always move things around. We sort of viewed the track only as fixed within
individual 32 x 32 baseplates. We can mix and match as necessary in the future.
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I think I may “borrow” that cow design.
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Well, we of course already borrowed it from the guys who did the original
motorized cows. We made a few changes and put in the linkages, but we have yet
to animate them at a show. Maybe for OCF.
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I see that someone is doing some tagging
You’d have thought he was too busy. ;p
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No comment.
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The elevated rail station’s roof has a delicate look, which is so hard to
accomplish in lego.
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That was built by David and Thomas. They do some of the best work in the world.
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I’m diggin the use of binoculars and light sabers for the
lights. In this
 picture,
is that a vending machine to sell tickets?
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Yup. Similar machines are in the big station.
BTW: To make the embedded pictures you chose show up, you need to right click
the image in scltc.org and select properties. Then use the URL that appears
there instead of the URL at the top of the page with the photo.
-Ted
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Ted Michon wrote:
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Jason Spears wrote:
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Looks very good. With all of that ballasted, I suppose your track
lines and yard are fairly fixed, no?
|
We always move things around. We sort of viewed the track only as fixed
within individual 32 x 32 baseplates. We can mix and match as necessary in
the future.
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Interesting. How much rework would you have to do, with the switches and curves?
MichLTC is looking at ballasting right now and it seems like a LOT of
permeatations would have to be prepared. Or rework before an event.
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I think I may “borrow” that cow design.
|
Well, we of course already borrowed it from the guys who did the original
motorized cows. We made a few changes and put in the linkages, but we have
yet to animate them at a show. Maybe for OCF.
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Oh, I guess I hadn’t noticed that it was a borrow from them.
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I see that someone is doing some
tagging
You’d have thought he was too busy. ;p
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No comment.
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I’m diggin the use of binoculars and light sabers for the
lights. In this
picture,
is that a vending machine to sell tickets?
|
Yup. Similar machines are in the big station.
BTW: To make the embedded pictures you chose show up, you need to right click
the image in scltc.org and select properties. Then use the URL that appears
there instead of the URL at the top of the page with the photo.
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I actually got the effect I was looking for, as I wasn’t trying to imbed the
images, just link to them. I don’t like the look of such big pictures in a
lugnet post. Guess I could have used the thumbnails though.
Oh and I use Firefox, not IE, so I would only have to right click and then “copy
image location” to get the individual image url. Mmm... Firefox. Just updated to
1.0.3 today actually.
Jason Spears | BrickShelf Gallery | MichLUG | CLB
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Jason Spears wrote:
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Interesting. How much rework would you have to do, with the switches and
curves? MichLTC is looking at ballasting right now and it seems like a LOT of
permeatations would have to be prepared. Or rework before an event.
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The jury is out, of course, since this is the first time we have done
ballasting. My feeling is that we will be able to reuse quite a bit even with
big changes. The primary reason we used ballast this time is because we wanted a
big meandering layout so we could enjoy running the trains with our first DCC
setup. Getting the big layout meant putting down a lot of track. We think plain
track on baseplates doesn’t look very good - or at least it looks just out of
the box with no imagination. Adding all that ballast, however, changed
everything.
Two things not shown in the ballast photos:
- We put 2 x 8 (new) light gray plates under the tracks between the ties (there’s nothing under the ties). These plates support the track and hide the green baseplate.
- We used a ton of 1 x 1 light grey tiles under the curves and switches. Why 1 x 1’s? PAB at LLCA had a lot of them.
One issue with ballast is that it’s easy to remove the track, but not so easy to
put it back down. If the baseplate is off the table, it’s pretty easy because
one can flex the baseplate. If the baseplate is on the table, it’s easier to
remove the plates that get in the way than to fuss and fidget until the track
fits back in place.
-Ted
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Ted Michon wrote:
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Jason Spears wrote:
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Interesting. How much rework would you have to do, with the switches and
curves? MichLTC is looking at ballasting right now and it seems like a LOT
of permeatations would have to be prepared. Or rework before an event.
|
The jury is out, of course, since this is the first time we have done
ballasting. My feeling is that we will be able to reuse quite a bit even with
big changes. The primary reason we used ballast this time is because we
wanted a big meandering layout so we could enjoy running the trains with our
first DCC setup. Getting the big layout meant putting down a lot of track. We
think plain track on baseplates doesn’t look very good - or at least it looks
just out of the box with no imagination. Adding all that ballast, however,
changed everything.
Two things not shown in the ballast photos:
- We put 2 x 8 (new) light gray plates under the tracks between the ties (there’s nothing under the ties). These plates support the track and hide the green baseplate.
- We used a ton of 1 x 1 light grey tiles under the curves and switches. Why 1 x 1’s? PAB at LLCA had a lot of them.
One issue with ballast is that it’s easy to remove the track, but not so easy
to put it back down. If the baseplate is off the table, it’s pretty easy
because one can flex the baseplate. If the baseplate is on the table, it’s
easier to remove the plates that get in the way than to fuss and fidget until
the track fits back in place.
-Ted
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I’ve been using the bags of grey and dark grey plates, where one bag does either
one straight plus one curve or one switch. This one is plain grey:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1150115
This one is an experiment in adding tan 1x1s to change the colour of the track
bed, having seen more tan on a real track bed in a magazine (Tim’s photo). Look
particularly by the bogie of the Class 66 (red+yellow engine):
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1206253
I will be using a range of overall shades, from plain grey, adding various
amounts of dark grey and tan, to dark grey with black between the tracks where
trains have to stand (and oil accumulates). I too am using lots of mosaics for
the intermediate shades. The 2x2 and 2x4 plates in the plates packs are enough
to do plain grey. The only shortage from the packs is enough 1x2s to go between
each sleeper on the outside edges.
Our small (8’x6’) layout, which is still laid on boards rather than built in
scenic modules, was much improved by the addition of ballast. This shows how it
fits with green painted boards:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1149838
BTW I’ve used a permanent track bed scheme on the curves, so that I don’t have
to re-lay any ballast. The track is divided up into sections of 2-3 pieces.
Within each section I’ve used some of the plates from the packs to join the
baseplates under each track piece together, adding strength to each section.
That way the track stays in its designed sections and withstands the handling of
set-up, take-down and transport. For example, I might use four 1x8s by the side
of the track for a straight on its own, but use 2 1x8s and 2 1x10s in order to
overlap onto the plates attached to the adjacent curve.
Mark
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This is one of those photo galleries that makes me depressed (wait!) but also
spurs me on to do Lego stuff. I look at it and think, I could never do that, but
of course its not just the work of one person and if I work as part of a team I
CAN do it!
The photos are the most consistantly excellent I have seen of a train show and
there have been some good ones. The extensive use of the minifig veiwpoint both
engages you in their world and also makes the layout seem huge. Careful planning
of shots means that you can’t see the edge of the ‘world’ and also splits the
layout up.
I’m interested in how you acheive all this, I see from the site that you have about fifteen members (or is that just the main members?) Do
you meet regularly and do you have a base to build together in or is it all done
individually and brought together for the shows? Do you have ‘club’ Lego such as
the track or is again all owned by individuals. My knowledge of US geography
isn’t that great, how geographically spread out are you?
The reason I ask is because I imagine you to be roughly similar in spread and
numbers to active train members of the UK Brickish Association but the whole
style of layout (especially in consistancy of direction) seems different (please
note, any Brickish Association members reading this that I am not critisising,
and am in no position to do so anyway as I have not contributed anything to the
layout, YET) and I was wondering whether a difference in organisation, or maybe
the fact that you see each other often (do you?), or perhaps simply national
attitudes to model railway building were the cause.
Tim
PS, one thing tho’, where are all the trains?
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Tim David wrote:
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This is one of those photo galleries that makes me depressed (wait!) but also
spurs me on to do Lego stuff. I look at it and think, I could never do that,
but of course its not just the work of one person and if I work as part of a
team I CAN do it!
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Well, one member in particular, my mom, Susan, worked tirelessly graveling
practically every curve and switchtrack in the layout!
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The photos are the most consistantly excellent I have seen of a train show
and there have been some good ones. The extensive use of the minifig
veiwpoint both engages you in their world and also makes the layout seem
huge. Careful planning of shots means that you can’t see the edge of the
‘world’ and also splits the layout up.
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I’m glad you like the pictures. As the photographer, I thank you =). I try to
take ‘all LEGO’ shots in which nothing in the shot is not made out of bricks.
This frequently involves minifig-closeups or using other buildings as the
background. I also judge every image before I take it using the LCD screen on my
camera, and then screen them again before posting them. I use my favorite images
as desktop wallpapers.
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I’m interested in how you acheive all this, I see from the
site that you have about fifteen members (or is that
just the main members?) Do you meet regularly and do you have a base to build
together in or is it all done individually and brought together for the
shows? Do you have ‘club’ Lego such as the track or is again all owned by
individuals. My knowledge of US geography isn’t that great, how
geographically spread out are you?
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We have members as far south as San Diego and members as far north as
Bakersfield (a little over 200 miles), so it is difficult to get everyone in one
place very often except for shows and occasional major meetings (layout planning
sessions). Everything is individually owned, though lately we have started
buying ‘club’ baseplates and track to cover large expanses.
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The reason I ask is because I imagine you to be roughly similar in spread and
numbers to active train members of the UK Brickish Association but the whole
style of layout (especially in consistancy of direction) seems different
(please note, any Brickish Association members reading this that I am not
critisising, and am in no position to do so anyway as I have not contributed
anything to the layout, YET) and I was wondering whether a difference in
organisation, or maybe the fact that you see each other often (do you?), or
perhaps simply national attitudes to model railway building were the cause.
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We’ve always had a layout-first-then-build style which has worked most of the
time. We decide what things we want to see (member suggestions, pre-built
sections, etc) and then piece them together with new things we feel would look
cool. As someone who plays SimCity, I like to plan layouts as though they are
‘zoned’ and have geography (for instance rivers and hills).
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PS, one thing tho’, where are all the trains?
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They all ran away while I was taking pictures. At one time, thanks to DCC, we
had five trains running on two loops of track, with reversing loops for extra
carnage. In addition, when I was actually running trains (which was a lot of
fun), I wasn’t taking pictures!
Thanks for the kind words!
- Thomas Michon
Webmaster, SCLTC
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Tim David wrote:
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This is one of those photo galleries that makes me depressed (wait!) but
...
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Tim-
First, take 2 Vallium and come back in an hour...
Seriously, thanks for the comments.
SCLTC is of course a club. As you note, we have 15 members. Of them, 13
contributed to this layout. The contributions ranged from modifying a few
switches to various items across serveral tables to one table to a few tables to
a family of 4 who contributed over 30 tables of stuff.
Thomas Michon is our club photographer and webmaster. He takes shots with the
website in mind and uses a very good Sony DSCF717 (if you’ve seen it, you’d know
it: it’s mostly lens with a little bit of camera attached). The camera has high
resolution, great depth of field, and macro mode focus.
Thomas does like to shoot from a low point of view, often looking upwards.
As for “making the layout seem huge”, truth is, it IS huge.
How our club “works”: We “meet” almost entirely on the Internet using our own
private email list. We meet in person just a few times a year just to have fun
and we occasionally meet to do a trial run if we are doing something completely
new. Oddly, this last layout contained the highest percentage of all new stuff
since our first layout in 2002, but we did not have a trial run for it. The key
to our layout success is having a detailed plan that we can distribute
electronically and update as needed. We used to use Track Designer, but we now
do our layouts entirely in Adobe Illustrator and distribute them as PDFs so the
Mac and LINUX folks can read them too. We draw mulitple transparent layers that
correspond to track/table levels and add layers for structures, ownership, and
other information. For this layout, we imposed a grid coordinate system so that
every table section could be referred to by coordinates. This proved to be
extremely useful in planning, setup, and teardown. By labeling each table with
its coordinates and labeling each crate slot with the coordinates of the tables
it held, the setup and teardown process became much easier.
We don’t meet to build. Building is 99% handled by members individually or
working in small groups. This layout all came together for the very first time
at 15:00 on Friday afternoon and was substantially completed at midnight (we had
a few wrinkles owing to new members and some first time issues using multiple
reversing loops). But we were well enough organized that we had the truck locked
up just 3 hours after show close.
We have a little club LEGO track and baseplates to cover emergencies if someone
cannot make it at the last moment, but 99% of what’s on the tables is owned by
individual members.
SCLTC covers the region from the Mexican border to Bakersfield, which is the
southern half of California.
The quality of the layout is driven by the work of several members who relish
doing the best work they can. At this point, we have a core group of reusable
high quality structures that make it easy to set a style and standard for
growth.
We are very well organized with respect to putting on shows. Key elements are
our investment in infrastructure, meaning our versatile system of
interconnectible LEGO dimensioned tables, the custom crates we store and
transport the tables in, curtains, acrylic panels, poles, ropes, and (most
recently) modular wiring system for DCC.
Regarding “where are all the trains?”, we did have as many as 6 running at one
time (and have the equipment to run 12 simultaneously). This layout did not have
a yard, which is rare for us, so most of the rolling stock and engines was in
boxes under the tables. But because we ran DCC for the first time and had 6
reversing loops, we had a blast running the trains (and avoiding too many
collisions).
A final word: When a small child asks the common question “How on earth to you
build these incredible things?”, I often answer “Just like you, one brick at a
time.”
-Ted
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Samarth Moray wrote:
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In lugnet.announce, Ted Michon wrote:
I normally don’t check out layout pics, but this time I did. Does anyone know
where I can find more pics of the chopper in the upper right corner of this
pic?:
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Samarth-
The motorcycle was designed and built by Chris Brill of SCLTC. You can reach him
via email at chris@scltc.org.
-Ted
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Jason Spears wrote:
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Ted Michon wrote:
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In lugnet.trains.org.scltc, Jason Spears wrote:
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I think I may “borrow” that cow design.
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Well, we of course already borrowed it from the guys who did the original
motorized cows. We made a few changes and put in the linkages, but we have
yet to animate them at a show. Maybe for OCF.
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Oh, I guess I hadn’t noticed that it was a borrow from them.
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“them” are
Jason Allemann http://www.truedimensions.com/lego/customs/5500/index.htm
and
Erik Amzallag http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=93293
Regards,
Didier Enjary
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