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It was such a long, long time ago (in a galaxy... yada yada yoda...) that we
began our quest for a Classic Space Layout at our OBB shows (and 5 years seems
to be the time-frame to do a retrospective--italic text comes to mind)
We had a few ‘dabbling’experiences prior to 2007--Greg Hyland brought his CS
sets to one of the Hobby Shows (which I apparently have no pictures of, which is
surprising...), and a few Moonbase-compliant modules made their appearance here
and there.
However, at the 2007 Christmas Train Show, it all began in ernest
Flickr 2007
Christmas Train Show link
Very Bad YouTube Video showing
LL924 in flight
Items of note--
•6 CS baseplates by 9 CS baseplates, or 2 modules by 3 modules, or 5 feet x 7.5
feet
•First Collaborative Classic Space Layout at a show.
•First appearance of Jeff vW’s awesome 9v Classic Space train, capable of
transporting 2 rockets!!
•1 monorail loop
•1 9v train loop
•1 ‘flying’ Classic Space ship LL924
•3 Galaxy Exploreres (928)
•at least 1 representation of every Classic Space set released in the first 2
years
This layout was more of a protest by me for lugging in so much stuff for town
train layouts. I thought that doing a space layout, with the stock baseplates,
would be much easier to transport and set up (future deemed otherwise, but we’ll
get to that...)
Anyway, onto 2008, in which we did 2 shows--
2008 Spring
Toy, Train and Doll Show
Items of note--
•7.5 feet x 7.5 feet, or 3 mods x 3 mods, or 9 baseplates by 9 baseplates
•1.5 monorail loops
•1 9v Classic Space Train
•4 Galaxy Explorers
•Derek’s ultra-huge 886
•the first show demonstrating the Classic Space Engineering Repair Bay (very old and crappy video)
•the first
show with what would become the Classic Space Crater, with
the moving vehicle! (another crappy
old movie)
Let’s see, do I have a video of the layout at the show?
Unfortunately, yes. A crappy one.
Maybe I should go into my archives and get the originals again--YouTube back
then minced all of my movies...
Better movies to come, trust me.
Anyway, on with the show--
The 2008
Christmas Train Show
(Yeah, this is when we started getting serious about the OBB CS Layout. Well,
as serious as I am about, well, almost anything else)
Anywho, highlights--
•9 bps by 18 bps or 7.5 x 12.5, or 3 x 6 mods
•first OBB CS layout to be drafted in TD (and updated a billion times)
•1 9v CS train loop
•3 separate monorail loops with 3 different monorail trains!
•5 LL928’s
•Crater build complete, with everything working! (for once)
•first appearance of Jeff vW’s Classic Space 2 tier monorail station
•first appearance of Jeff vW’s CS coloured Mega Core Magnetizer
•fleebnork, mini-craters and Jeff’s motorized ‘solar panels’!
It was a fantastic and integrated display, and yes, the video is better
Classic Space Layout at the Toronto
Train Show 2008
I think this was the last appearance of the ‘flying’ LL924. I always thought
the mechanism was really ugly (even though it did the job) and it detracted from
the layout.
Then we get to 2009--big year for the space layout
2009 Spring
Train Show
•full bore--7.5 feet by 15 feet (or 9 x 24 bp, or 3 x 8 mods)
•4 separate monorail loops
•1 9v loop
•yada yada yada
The YouTube vid
Nothing really new in the layout, ‘xept waaaaay bigger (not the biggest, that’s
yet to come), just lots of classic space sets. This was the best balance
between big and ease of setup. Going forward, we got a little crazy...
Which brings us to...
The 2009
Christmas Train Show
The show we all want to forget. OMG (details after the good stuff)
•12.5 x 12.5 feet or 5 x 5 mods, or 15 x 15 bps (with a hole in the middle for
access)
•can’t remember how many separate monorail loops--6 or 7 I think
•1 CS 9v train
•First inclusion of a ‘separate’ module from Janey--a multi-layered monorail
track--waaaay cool!
•1st appearance of Jeff’s big rocket
•1st inclusion of Jeff’s Classic Space transparent logo
•1st working appearance of my longer-than-2-cars monorail train
•1st appearance of Jeff’s CS ‘air’ station
•1st appearance of Jeff’s ‘air’ monorail train
We just went crazy on this one. I can’t even remember how many back ‘n forths
of TD emails between Jeff and me to get this ‘finalized’. We even did a moc-up
at his house of the center bit with all the monorail track to make sure we could
pull this off.
We both set up all day the first day of the show, and I think it was noon on the
next day when it was (mostly) done and ready--4 hours before the end of the show
The most intricate of all our layouts, but, in the end, just too busy.
Here’s the YouTube
In 2010, we took the layout to a foreign country,,,
OBB Classic
Space Layout at BrickWorld 2010
Somewhat cut down in size from the previous incarnation
•7 baseplates by 18 bps--odd dimensions to be sure, but meh....
•1st time shown in a separate country!
•3 monorail loops
•1 9v loop
•1st display of my new CS space station
•Jeff’s trans CS logo building became sloped
•Iain was instrumental in this, and the first inclusion of a SHIP--his CS cargo
ship, in the layout
And yes, we have a vid
At the end of 2010, we went back to--
2010 Christmas
Train Show
•7.5 x 10, or 3 x 4, or 9 x 12
•3 separate monorail loops
•only really one radical addition to this
layout--externally powered monorail
trains
Yes, I did it--i massacred monorail into a 9v train experiment
And I even have a vid showing it
work
We have done many shows, but these shows were always for someone else. In 2011,
this was to change.
2011 BrickFete
Space Display
Now it’s our turn!
Actually, not that many differences--
•Jeff’s air station still there
•My crater with moving vehicles still there
•Jeff’s trans CS building still there, though now it’s a monorail/9v CS train
station
•oh wait, that CS space station! Yeah, that’s new
•so this layout was 7.5 x 10 feet, or 9 bp x 12 bp, or 3 mods by 4 mods (much
downsized)
•4 separate monorail loops
•1 9v train loop
•can’t remember how many galaxy exploreres--like 6 or 7
•and the start of the
Classic Space
Engineering Bay/Crater
The very best bit, it was up on a stage (thanks Janey!) with a black background,
so ppl got shots like this--
and this--
The location did make for a spectacular visual display. And then, Janey did
this--
Lights Out!
OMG!
Yeah, I still have to light it more, but OMG!
Video - 2011 Classic Space Layout at
Brickfete
Brickfete was a huge success all around, but the OBB CS Layout ‘popped’!! It
was utterly fantastic!
At the end of 2011, after coming off the cloud that was BrickFete, we did
(again)--
2011 Christmas
Toy, Train and Doll Show
Almost the identical layout as at BrickFete 2011
I think we added 1 monorail loop, so highlights--
•7.5 x 10 feet (and everything else)
•4 monorail loops
•1 9v CS train loop
•and more of the same
The truly good bit, this layout was getting easy to set up. We’ve done this
layout--the tracks, the monorail, the baseplates, very similarly for 2-3 shows
by this time. No radical changes. It was good.
And there’s a vid
Not being satisfied with all this, I undertook a ‘virtualization’ of the OBB CS
Layout
This wasn’t a show, but I’ll put it here anyway--
OBB Virtual Classic Space Layout
This layout was a tentative representation of where I was going with the layout.
I used a variety of LDraw type tools that everyone here knows about. It was fun
seeing the layout virtually.
However, we have to love in the real world, so...
Brickfete 2012
(another completely awesome show)
Yeah, we got big again. This time, there was a really good plan.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to actually build what I had planned.
Anyway, time for highlights--
•7.5 x 17.5 feet, 3 mods x 7 mods
•Classic Space Engineering bay
fully complete (yea!!)
•Jeff’s new habitat building
•finally, a fully working shuttle
mover
•5 monorail loops
•1 9v CS train
My son, Josh, helped me with this show--his first time to be an attendee.
I didn’t actually get a video of this layout in it’s entirety--first time at any
show when that didn’t happen. However, I did capture this layout during the
‘lights out’ portion of BrickFete 2012--
Lights Out - BrickFete 2012
(you can watch the whole vid, ‘cause there’s lots of cool stuff there, or jump
to the 2:20 mark)
And the pics! people (who aren’t me) took the best pics--
Anyway, that’s 5 years worth of OBB Classic Space shows. It’s been a great ride
thus far, and there’s no plan to stop.
Thanks for reading/viewing/watching, and I hope you liked it!
Dave K
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