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Model Railways
Oct. 22nd, 2018 08:21 amI felt I should watch The Great Model Railway challenge. Bake off for model railways.
After one episode, I'm really not sure the format works. Model railways are not about speed. It's a relaxing hobby designed for taking time and painstaking precision. I'd far rather have seen a show with the guy who did those forced perspective models, the one who did the awesome scratch building on the "longest Hour" model and maybe a couple of the others spend several weeks slowly put a model together. James May could present.
Still, the end results were very nice, especially the WW2 one.
It made me want to go to a big model railway exhibition. Not a local one. Something big like Modelworld. I was a bit upset to find the next one of a remotely reasonable size was at a weekend I'm otherwise busy. Perhaps a trip down to Brighton to see family and go to Modelworld.
No.
It turns out that Modelworld is no longer a thing. Last time they ran it was 2016, and they didn't make enough money to keep it running.
I'll miss it. There was always so much to see. Not just model railways, but Robot Wars, Scalextric, radio control cars, Lego, and anything else that could be considered "model" related. Every year there was the same guy with his detailed model of Portsmouth Harbour. If someone was foolish enough to ask a question, he'd launch into a well rehearsed, polished 10 minute speech about every single aspect of the model, thus preventing the poor victim from moving until he finished without seeming impolite. Often there would even be a ridable miniature outdoor train offering people rides from one end of the hall to the other. In 2007 (I think) we had Daleks in the entrance.
I was a member of the Shoreham Model Railway club, so I go to run the trains when I was there. It was great fun!
I had no idea how lucky I was to have that near me though. They had over 100 exhibitors. Typically a large event will have 30 or so. Most will have 15. Several tiny ones have half a dozen. The big events are few and far between. I assumed there were a few large events dotted around the country. Apparently not.
I guess there's always one in Leicestershire next year, and there's one not too far away in Wales. Maybe I should go.
After one episode, I'm really not sure the format works. Model railways are not about speed. It's a relaxing hobby designed for taking time and painstaking precision. I'd far rather have seen a show with the guy who did those forced perspective models, the one who did the awesome scratch building on the "longest Hour" model and maybe a couple of the others spend several weeks slowly put a model together. James May could present.
Still, the end results were very nice, especially the WW2 one.
It made me want to go to a big model railway exhibition. Not a local one. Something big like Modelworld. I was a bit upset to find the next one of a remotely reasonable size was at a weekend I'm otherwise busy. Perhaps a trip down to Brighton to see family and go to Modelworld.
No.
It turns out that Modelworld is no longer a thing. Last time they ran it was 2016, and they didn't make enough money to keep it running.
I'll miss it. There was always so much to see. Not just model railways, but Robot Wars, Scalextric, radio control cars, Lego, and anything else that could be considered "model" related. Every year there was the same guy with his detailed model of Portsmouth Harbour. If someone was foolish enough to ask a question, he'd launch into a well rehearsed, polished 10 minute speech about every single aspect of the model, thus preventing the poor victim from moving until he finished without seeming impolite. Often there would even be a ridable miniature outdoor train offering people rides from one end of the hall to the other. In 2007 (I think) we had Daleks in the entrance.
I was a member of the Shoreham Model Railway club, so I go to run the trains when I was there. It was great fun!
I had no idea how lucky I was to have that near me though. They had over 100 exhibitors. Typically a large event will have 30 or so. Most will have 15. Several tiny ones have half a dozen. The big events are few and far between. I assumed there were a few large events dotted around the country. Apparently not.
I guess there's always one in Leicestershire next year, and there's one not too far away in Wales. Maybe I should go.
