Subject:
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Re: Crowd Control (was: Train Layout Tables)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains.org
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Date:
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Wed, 23 Apr 2003 13:27:26 GMT
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Viewed:
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1377 times
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In lugnet.trains, John Kelly III writes:
> I think it depends alot on what slant your train club takes. The train
> clubs that are all about the prototypical designs I think have more
> emotionally invested in their designs and display mainly for other train
> modelers.
>
> Since I can't even begin to tell you what is prototypical and what isn't.
> (and don't care to learn either) I don't really care as much if kids touch.
> I kind of like that they do. I like that when their parents tell them it's
> time to go, they throw fits. I like that they race from one end of the
> layout to another to follow the subways. I like that they are constantly
> trying to pull their parents down to their level to show them the things we
> have buried in the layout. I like that they insist that their parents pick
> them up when I pull the roof off of the train station. Hell, I like their
> reaction when I don't flip out when they cause those five car wrecks.
I don't know if it is fair to make generalizations about the relative levels
of emotional investment between clubs, but I doubt that anyone who brings a
MOC out into public for display has less than an exceptionally high
emotional attachment to that design, regardless of who their intended target
audience is.
That being said, when kids see LEGO they want to touch it. As long as they
don't break or take, there is no real harm in letting them do so. We've had
our share of trains hit the floor and other fun minitastrophes, but it is
remarkably hard to damage LEGO by playing with it.
> In general I don't really think there is that much to worry about. We
> haven't lost more than a small handfull of pieces in a very long time of
> displaying models. We lose more to the sun's effects than because of the
> kids. I am inclined to think that is because we have a modular layout and
> it is harder to destory it, no baseplates to move.
>
> If you have a smaller show that you can watch the layout to the extend that
> you feel comfortable, try taking down the barriers. I find it much more
> rewarding.
NELUG has always done our train layouts without ropes or plexi and we've had
great results. Rarely does even a single piece go missing. Kids know where
the limit on touching the LEGO is, and the parents usually remind them if
they forget. We typically have at least four club members monitoring the
layout at any given time, so we just keep an eye on the kids and quietly
make repairs after they move on.
Un-manned displays where the landlord provides "security" are a different
story. When we did our more heavily-visited display of the Leonard P. Zakim
Bunker Hill bridge for the New England Home Show, a few of our cars drove
away. I would definitely seal any un-manned display behind a six-foot wall
of plexiglas.
> On the table subject. Ours are now a metal frame with plywood. Expensive,
> heavy and generally probably not of interest to anyone else except that guy
> who's got the 250lb section.
I started a write-up about NELUG's train tables several months ago that I
will try to finish up soon. We use 40" square plywood tables with legs made
from sections of 2" PVC pipe that pressure fit into rings attached to the
underside of the tabletops. The tables bolt together, and the pipe legs are
not height-adjustable, which hasn't been a problem so far. The tables are
not painted, but we use pushpins to attach black skirting around the edge,
and we cover the entire surface of the display with baseplate, so no plywood
is visible. We have drilled the occasional hole in the tabletop to feed
wires through to power sources beneath the table. We do not currently use
plexiglas guards.
We have a few half-width tables that we bolt into the layout at various
points. The half-size tabletops do not have their own leg brackets, but
attach to other tables. We also have one lowered table which represents a
river canyon cut through the layout. A pair of train bridges cross Le Gorge
with a large dam behind them. This low tabletop bolts to a pair of risers
which then bolt to the adjacent tabletops. The gorge table depth is set to
a specific brick height when the final bolts are tightened.
We just switched over to using the quick-connect PVC legs from a more
traditional bolt-on wooden leg design with height-adjustable feet. These
wooden legs were much sturdier when tested laterally, but tend to warp in
storage, and took too long to attach to the tabletops. We also found that
we never adjusted any of the feet during setup.
We actively discourage club members from dancing on our train tables, but
there's just no stopping Shaun sometimes.
It is possible to fit four of these 40"x40" tabletops into the back seat of
a Honda Civic if you do it right, but not with any LEGO on them. We are
currently considering buying a trailer for the club.
- Chris.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Crowd Control (was: Train Layout Tables)
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| (...) I'm not trying to minimize anyone's investment in time, material, or emotional in their layouts. My generalization (and it definitely is that) is that the closer a model is to prototypical, the more fragile details it has, the more "perfect" (...) (21 years ago, 23-Apr-03, to lugnet.trains.org)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Crowd Control (was: Train Layout Tables)
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| I think it depends alot on what slant your train club takes. The train clubs that are all about the prototypical designs I think have more emotionally invested in their designs and display mainly for other train modelers. Since I can't even begin to (...) (21 years ago, 22-Apr-03, to lugnet.trains)
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