Nov. 9-10. Greenberg Toy and Train Show

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  • #3921
    Benjamin C Good
    Participant

    Greg, if you want the teardrop layout around the tree, the tightest possible construction is three-quarters of a circle of curved track, and then straight track on both ends (off the top of my head, two pieces each) to connect directly to the cross track. I don’t know how nailed down the winter track loop is or if Josh wants to make changes this late in the game, so I’ll let you guys sort that out, but I’ll make sure the piece is available should you decide you want it. The only other consideration then is you have to make sure your train is short enough that it won’t hit itself as it crosses over. If I remember correctly, two cars and an engine (such as the Horizon Express) can do it without problem, but something like the four-car double-engined train we test ran at Josh’s house would not make it.

    #3922
    Benjamin C Good
    Participant

    I’m not yet familiar with BlueBrick so I’ve come up with a quick .jpg to show one basic option for connecting the side street to main roads. In the diagram, the scale is set to that the main road is 16 wide, but I don’t think it’s really essential for the lanes to match up that exactly, anybody who’s driven around the greater Pittsburgh area is familiar with the side street of random width.

    Matching up a snot-brick road to a nonsnot-tile road might be more of a challenge, I figure the only way to sort it out is actually try it and see how it looks. If there’s a slight height discrepancy, there’s a multitude of options of dealing with it, including pieces like these two:

    http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=85984
    http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4515

    Also, it’s possible that as we get into 2014 and I expand my town layout, things can be rearranged and I can abandon the side street. For the time being though, I need to keep it.

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    #3924
    Josh
    Keymaster

    … which means bring your own chair? or someone among the collective we will be providing them?

    sorry, that was a copy and paste from them. they have chairs.

    #3926
    Josh
    Keymaster

    ok, here’s what I’ve got so far. Took me a while to figure out Ben’s corner, but he got me all set!

    Consider this the X and Y layout. Once we get that agreed on, we’ll work on the Z axis – making everything the same heigh(ie: roads, non-mils buildings)

    What I need to know:
    1) If anyone has any problem with the train’s right away around the edges of the table.
    2) If anyone has a butt-load of road plates to eliminate the need to brick build roads.
    3) If Anyone has an inspiration or ideas for the areas with questions marks.
    My plan would be to technic connect all those 16×32 plate/brick built black sections to match Ben’s 2xbrick height plates.

    btw, tim, we discussed eliminating the outer loop around the winter display. Could be a game day decision, because we very well could run out of track.

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    #3929
    Benjamin C Good
    Participant

    re: Josh’s last post

    1) I did think I was going to have a strip of bare table in front of the front baseplates. The support for that bridge I built sticks out four studs in front of the plate, and the overhang at the top is another 8 or so. Tthe construction and connections are solid though, so I think there wouldn’t be a problem with it hanging over the edge, as long as we’re confident the idiot public won’t be donking into it. I did try to come up with a way to rearrange the layout that would push it back from the edge, and I did not come up with much.

    2) I do not have any road plates, sorry. For the T-plate you have behind the Palace Cinema, if you want you can put a straight road there and I will come up with the necessary black tile to connect my alley to the road, which I think will probably look less awkward.

    3) I don’t have any other modular buildings assembled to contribute right now and I won’t be able to come up with any by the 8th. The easiest option I can think of for Modular Row – if Josh can come up with necessary road plates – is T off the main road and have a couple roads going back perpendicular. We’ll be able to see the sides of some modular buildings, but that probably beats leaving those spots blank. If we’re really desperate, I can ask Susie to contribute her Fire Brigade. Two FB’s on Modular Row will look pretty dumb but maybe if we put them adjacent, we could pretend it’s one big-ass Fire Brigade. Not everybody will be fooled (“why did they put 1932 on it twice? that’s stupid!”) but again, it might be better than blank. So hopefully other people come up with better ideas on that. Cause I don’t have any.

    For the ?’s in the upper right (next to my stuff), if they’re green plates, I can just consider it an extension of my park and fill it in with guys n plants n whatnot, but it might be pretty sparse. So again, better than blank, but I’ll defer to any better ideas if they’re available.

    4) I took a look at the outer loop. I easily have enough curved plate for it as it appears, but not even remotely enough straight track needed – definitely less than half. So either somebody else would have to have some serious straight track, or we’d have to settle for the ‘wavy track’ in some stretches, and even then I could come up short, and I would probably need some of Laura’s McGyver flex-tracks to bridge the irregular gaps that such a track would create.

    #3930
    Greg Schubert
    Participant

    If anyone has a butt-load of road plates to eliminate the need to brick build roads.

    I have road plates, including turns. How many do you need and do you want them with green edges or gray edges?

    If Anyone has an inspiration or ideas for the areas with questions marks.

    I have three buildings that can go into the town, McD’s and the pizzeria are a baseplate each. I also have a hospital that is at least two baseplates. (I don’t have a photo on file of the front of the pizzeria, but it is opened up in the second photo below the inside, when opened, can be seen below.)

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    #3937
    Greg Schubert
    Participant

    The only other consideration then is you have to make sure your train is short enough that it won’t hit itself as it crosses over.

    I have no plans to wrap the tree this time around, just providing an example of what to do with it. But your point about the length of the train is good to keep in mind.

    #3939
    Tim
    Moderator

    <div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Josh wrote:</div>
    And yes, we’ll be providing chairs.

    … which means bring your own chair? or someone among the collective we will be providing them?

    I’m bringing my fold out camp chair. Very comfy for long Lego days (I forgot to bring it to KidsFest – grrrr).

    #3940
    Tim
    Moderator

    3) If Anyone has an inspiration or ideas for the areas with questions marks.<br>
    My plan would be to technic connect all those 16×32 plate/brick built black sections to match Ben’s 2xbrick height plates.

    btw, tim, we discussed eliminating the outer loop around the winter display. Could be a game day decision, because we very well could run out of track.

    I’ve got lots of custom buildings for the Town. I will bring what I have and we can work them in if needed. Also, we definitely need to use Greg’s McDonalds. An iconic building.

    #3943
    Matt Redfield
    Keymaster

    Also, we definitely need to use Greg’s McDonalds. An iconic building.

    I do hope we get royalties for displaying a Mickey D’s…

    #3945
    Benjamin C Good
    Participant

    Yeah right, McDonald’s will make you pay them. So, to my question of are we so desperate for stuff that we want put in a second fire brigade, it sounds like the answer is definitely no. (Which is good.) So I’m gonna bail on that. So that takes me back to using the 2nd floor of Susie’s fire brigade with Joe’s fire brigade (I’m pretty sure that was Joe’s fifth building, I defintely remember the other four). Has anybody heard from Joe since Saturday? Hopefully we didn’t scare him off.

    Joe, if you’re not familiar, the idea is we’d lift off the roof of your fire brigade, plop Susie’s 2nd floor right on top of your 2nd floor – we’d put some guys in her so we know whose is whose – and then put your roof back on, so we end up with an extra tall fire brigade that looks extra awesome. I am planning on doing the exact same thing with my Palace Cinema (which is the only other modular she has). So let us know if that works for you.

    And while I’m thinking of it, has anybody modified their Horizon Express cars to be middle cars in the chain? As in, take out that lump the leads up to the engine car. I have not and I’m not sure if I’ll get to it. Awhile ago Laura told me on this board about converter cables so I won’t need an RC controller for the lights, and they just arrived in the mail from Lego today, high five. So I’m looking forward to trying that out.

    #3948
    Tim
    Moderator

    … are we so desperate for stuff… [?]

    No worries there. I have plenty of town building MOCs that we can drop into the town section where ever needed. Ill bring an assortment of them and we can figure it out on Friday.

    #3952
    Josh
    Keymaster

    here’s today’s version.

    Road – Greg – have 13 straight green? could go gray. 2 curves? 1 of those drive ways? I think I might have one if not. The idea would be to use those for this display, until we can revisit taking the time to brick build them. We’ll set them on some 1x bricks on their sides to bring them up vertically.

    Buildings – Doug’s church is in. mcydee’s and pizza are in. I’d say leave out the hospital since it doesn’t have 4 walls, right? Tim – you’ve got at least 4 random buildings to bring along to fill in the blanks as needed?

    Anyone with trees or wants to make some, please do. We’ll need to decorate the heck out of the scene. We’ll have fence, so we could still do the tree farm idea pretty easily.

    cars and minifigs doing stuff are both things people can be working on or bringing if they already have some.

    Ben and I talked off the boards-he’s going to bring down his track (and plates) down to 4 plates (mils height), but the cinema will be 5. Should make it a lot less intensive (work and parts) to bring the rest of the track up to only 4 plates.

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    #3956
    Greg Schubert
    Participant

    Road – Greg – have 13 straight green? 2 curves? 1 of those drive ways?

    yes (with green sides) although some are http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2358p02, yes, yes

    I’d say leave out the hospital since it doesn’t have 4 walls, right?

    That criteria would eliminate the alpine village houses, but I don’t see that changing in the next week, I am still investing a lot of time finishing other MOC’s I have underway for this event.

    #3958
    Josh
    Keymaster

    No worries at all on the alpine village. The winter scene is easily explained away, especially with so many similar buildings. The hospital would just stick out against the modulars. Rock on.

    Sweet about the roads. No worries on the crosswalks either. That will save our butts tremendously.

    #3963
    Greg Schubert
    Participant

    posted August 30th (just sayin’)

    objecting to MILS …

    I am not “objecting”, but I proposed that using something other than a double layer of baseplates to cover the tables would be much less expensive and leave funding for more interesting components. I think it could be a long term goal to make an elaborate surface covering but I think the initial focus should be on the buildings and trains.

    #3969
    Josh
    Keymaster

    posted August 30th (just sayin’)

    objecting to MILS …

    I am not “objecting”, but I proposed that using something other than a double layer of baseplates to cover the tables would be much less expensive and leave funding for more interesting components. I think it could be a long term goal to make an elaborate surface covering but I think the initial focus should be on the buildings and trains.

    I’m sorry, I think I’m missing the context. did you mean double layer of plate for the mils or double horizontal layer of baseplate (road baseplate + modular building on a baseplate)? The only money we’re planning on spending would be on sheets for table coverings, so I’m not sure what you’re saying.

    #3971
    Greg Schubert
    Participant

    The context is that the MILS adventure, as originally proposed for the entire display surface, was not completed.

    #3973
    Josh
    Keymaster

    indeed. So, you got your way, you objector you.

    #3976
    Josh
    Keymaster

    some adjustments in the left corner to make room for evan’s lighthouse, which I had forgotten about, and give more room for the mountain if needed. Moved Doug’s 16×32 church in the building row – which leaves a 16×32 open…perhaps for a graveyard? Tim, you still have your from Kidsfest you made for Greg’s church? It’d be fine to have a little yard/park/vacant lot too. With all of the buildings, they don’t have to go in that order the day of, who every sets them up can take creative license – i just want to make sure we have space.

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    #3988
    Tim
    Moderator

    which leaves a 16×32 open…perhaps for a graveyard? Tim, you still have your from Kidsfest you made for Greg’s church?

    No I took that apart after KidsFest. It would not be hard to whip up another.

    With the discussion about roadplate availability, does that mean that we have abandoned the idea of using brick built roads for the Town portion of this display?

    #3989
    Josh
    Keymaster

    yes, for simplicity’s sake. Trying to cut corners where we can at this point. 1 less thing to worry about having enough of or building. We should revisit this as a lug project though.

    I have 5 48s with green and curved track placed. I didn’t do any fancy ballast work.
    we have 4 48s with white terrain for the forest area. Need more?

    I’m working on finishing the baseplates for the track. also working on a iced skating pond for the 4 32s on the middle right. My idea (and for anyone setting up) will be to scatter white 1x1s or something as a slow transition from the white of the winter village into the non-winter town. The idea will be that it’s still cold, just not snow covered. Doug’s awesome wreath on his church will help set that tone as well.

    #4015
    Josh
    Keymaster

    anyone have any large binder clips? We’ll need a butt load to secure the table covering and skirt.

    anyone have requests on bins of lug parts to have on site? Here’s what I’m thinking so far:

    1. 1 large unsorted bin
    2. the minfig
    3. the plants
    4. the >4x plates
    5. the 1x plates
    6. extra lug track

    I might forgo some, since people are bringing the boxes of lug parts they sorted.

    #4016
    Greg Schubert
    Participant

    anyone have any large binder clips? We’ll need a butt load to secure the table covering and skirt.
    anyone have requests on bins of lug parts to have on site?

    I have thirteen 2 inch binder clips. Seems short of a butt load.

    White bricks and plates would be helpful for making “snow” and 1×1 round plates would be useful as decorations. Also, I would think that a run of white fences along the track somewhere, maybe in the forest, would look nice.

    #4074
    Tim
    Moderator

    We’re now about 24 hours from the start of set up tomorrow and I still have a fair amount to do. Looks like it will be a long night tonight. 🙂

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