Well at least from my end this was the easiest. There were not as many problems, however, there did seem to be some misunderstanding as to what was the goals. There were a lot of LDE type layouts although, when it time to establish the rules that requirement was axed. Still some good layouts got low votes.
What next guys–a rest or another one? How does a 2 x 4 N-trak sound?
What, you want MORE pain?
How about a 1 x 8 N-scale book shelf switching module that must allow for a through single track mainline say 3" from the front?
Have fun
Narrow gauge logging! Short cars. Tight turns, switch backs and steep elevations.
Nope, I’m content to let sleeping dogs lie, so to speak.
I will second the logging
This concept cleanly needs more work, but provide a frame work for discussion
Goals;
Possible approach;
When a contest is initiated, the contest manager makes starts the thread and makes three posts;
The exact form of the three posts will need to be fought out later, but;
The first post might include such items as;
Nope. Speaking as a voter, I’d pass and just look at the entries.Way too complicated for this MRR.I quit reading the voting explaination half-way thru.[%-)]
Terry
I like the idea Mouse, it would draw some good ideas from the N scale people, it should be a good contest.
I thought it would be fun to enter, but quickly discovered that I do not have what it takes to compete here.
I had hoped to “Throw out” an idea for a layout someone might see, and think (it) would be fun to build, and possibly study up on,vs the 10,000 (weekly) posts of “gimme a layout idea” (ad nauseum)
I still think my layout was a sound concept, I got mired down in the fastrak software, and will NOT return to it. Ever. Unfortunately, my redrawn (over super light blue) fastrak submission looked poor. I did not expect to be lambasted over every detail, but that was due to my naivete’ in how this works.
You may note that I did not vote at all.I will continue to enjoy the forum, but will shy away from the building contests and their threads.
IMHO ; Contests and challenges are a waste of bandwith - ‘someone else’s’ bandwith. Aren’t these forums supposed to be the sharing of info et al ? Not to be cranky about it but isn’t that why most forums discourage the - ‘what color is your favourite …?’ polls that were trendy for a while.
There is alot of perhaps useful information that I have missed or not passed on because I avoid these type of threads.
Just a thought - sorry to rain on the parade.
Your completely entitled to that opinion and I do respect it, but I have to strongly disagree, and BTW you’ve contradicted yourself [;)], you said forums are about the sharing of ideas, well isnt that EXACTLY WHAT THESE CONTESTS DO?[:D]
To me, contests like this are whats great about these forums, we get to see how different modelers respond to a given set of criteria that is often very similar to what alot of us run into planning our own layouts, be seeing these different responses we are able quite often to find solutions to our own problems or inspiration to try something that one of the contestants has show on their entry. This MIX of ideas is what these forums are all about. So I say keep em up, they generate a tremendous amount of creativity and great discussions.[:)]
I’d be up for a logging layout. My current mining layout is actually based on a lot of logging influences.[:-,]
It’s too bad that you feel that way. While I think that a design should work, and it’s a limitation of drawing a plan without either software or a template, a person should not be dragged over the coals for an attempt.
For what it’s worth, there were some good innovative components to your submission. Too bad you had a problem with the software.
People enjoy different parts of the layout building process otherwise few layouts would never get built. Some people like track work, some like scenery, some like building structures, and some like layout design.
The ones that like layout design, have fun helping people and facing new and greater design challenges. Many times the way they solve a problem becomes part of their layout.
Now you can see this as a waste of bandwidth, but it is very small a because except for the funny mouse pictures, there aren’t a lot of graphics, and text is relatively a small bandwidth user.
If you want to conserve bandwidth, go yank the chain of the people who post multiple large pictures on photo fun. Besides, a thread doesn’t use any bandwidth if you don’t click on it.
Sharing ideas - and competing are TWO different things.
Some people won’t share and will purposely not - because it turns into a competition.
So what do you think about chess, baseball, ping-pong, football, golf, or monopoly? Can’t competition be fun?
If you “share” an idea online, dont you automaticly open your self to critisism by any randon replier anyway, or someone posting a “thats good, but this is better” reply, isnt that in itself a form of “mine ideas better” competition? so wheres the difference?
Little tough to consider it “competition” when you dont know what the other entrants have till Chip posts it. Its quit literally a case of “run your idea up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes”.
No one really wins ANTHING in these competitions, there just a little creative fun, theres no REAL competition, no prizes, no ribbons, just people showing their ideas and design approaches. I pulled my own entry out of this last go around. I knew it didnt fit the criteria, so I yanked it. No big deal.
Besides those who won’t share, wo
All of life is competition, even when you’re only competing with yourself. (If that wasn’t true, nobody would play solitaire and Rubic would never have sold a cube.)
Some people won’t share - because they don’t want to lose their edge in the competition or because they don’t want to admit that they’re behind in the competition. (If that hadn’t been true all through recorded history the words military secret would be meaningless.)
Good clean fun competition is interesting from the point of view of both the competitors and the spectators (who often learn things that they would have never thought of themselves.) The problem is, too many people only think competition is fun IF THEY WIN. It never occurs to them that they can learn from failing to win.
About learning things - I, personally, would never have thought of a mushroom farm as a source of traffic. Now, I’m thinking of suggesting the idea to the folks who run my ‘Three couples and a dog’ marginal coal mine. (I have a sister-in-law who makes very good money collecting mushrooms, which are obscenely expensive in Japan.)
I enjoy these layout competitions, even though I’m unlikely to enter one. Since I’m more than a little challenged when it comes to creating and transmitting graphics, I’ll be content to hang out on the outskirts, observing and learning.
I already know that I’m not too old to learn. I certainly hope I’m not too stupid to learn.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - good ideas welcome)
Once again I would have to say good contest. Next time I will make sure I read the rules more closely to be sure I am within the specifications of the contest.
To be honest with no prizes, ribbons or special ceremony I have taken the last two contest I have taken part in as a “what is your idea” than a competition. I find that it is nice to have people with different ideas than I do, some I like, some I don’t. But that is the great thing about this forum you get many ideas from many different skill levels.
I like the idea of an n-scale contest. That gives those n-scalers a bone that complained about the contest for this one being HO only. Plus that will make me look into those n-scale rules and change my thinking from 1/87th to 1/160th.
Chris
Lancaster, CA
1train1, These contest are fun for allot of people, some do enter, and allot of people share their thoughts and Ideas in this type of contest. Its a good learning curve so to speak if you really think about it.
If you really stop and think about it, someone may or could build a small layout or section from the drawings and ideas, so many people profit from this type of contest. Stick around and watch this thread, their are plenty of people who are very talented in designing, and in the end we all learn something.[:)]
Mmm - yes and no.
I can see that some people maybe would shy away from participating in a contest like situation that would expose their idea to being judged and critiqued by others. Like the person who posted one of the layouts in the 2x8, and then felt that his idea had been “dragged through hot coals” or some such thing, after it had been pointed out that his design just would not be possible to build within the available footprint.
But at Tomikawa points out, this can happen with any post, not just posts in contest threads.
Whenever I share something on a public board, I open myself up to having someone pointing out that my idea is somewhat less brilliant that I thought.
Has happened to me a lot down through the years. Bad for my self esteem, good for my ability to learn from my mistakes bef