Announcing OcTRAINber, the first contest by Brick Model Railroader!

[raised]

Hi all,

You might have already seen it on the blogpost, but Brick Model Railroader is going to organize their first building contest. As we speak the rules are still being fleshed out, so this is just a pre-announcement, but do keep October blocked in your agenda and start stocking up on bricks, cause the contest will be all about 'the longer, the better'.

The official annoucement is below (or you can just click on this link for the whole topic):

Quote

 

All aboard the Hype Train!

For the moment we cannot unveil all the details yet, but yes, Brick Model Railroader will indeed be hosting their first ever building contest. Behind the scenes we are currently discussing rules and prizes, which will be made public before October 1st.

What we can however tell you is that it will be known as OcTRAINber, which also means that the contest will start on October 1st and end on October 31st.

The other thing we can tell you is that the contest will be centered around building something* (with train wheels!) that that looks absolutely silly when it goes through regular corners but looks awesome when going through some R104’s or R120ies. Think very long car or locomotive. Call it the Train-equivalent of the Swoosh, or just call it the reason why you never built it in the first place. Both are fine, just as long as you realize that this contest will be about finally building that monster!

Anyways, OcTRAINber is now officially a thing, so get ready to participate!

 

Also, no proper contest is without its logo, so here it is as well:

Keep you eyes open for more details, October 1st we will start and I'm for sure looking forward :)

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by raised
Updated text

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Beautiful contest!

[ritzcrackerman]

Alright!  This is a build contest I can get behind. :)

[Beck]

Are digital builds accepted?

[raised]

On 20-9-2017 at 12:06 AM, Beck said:

Are digital builds accepted?

We are thinking about it, but as a seperate category, ie. not in the main category. Not sure as of yet however. 

Edited September 25, 2017 by raised

[raised]

On 25-9-2017 at 1:59 PM, raised said:

We are thinking about it, but as a seperate category, ie. not in the main category. Not sure as of yet however. 

As a follow-up to this reaction: Yes, we are going to accept digital builds as well! Indeed in a different category (we still need to sort out how we will be doing this price-wise, because yes, there will be prices!) but we will accept them!

Also, the official announcement including the rules of the contest will be up this weekend, both on BMR and here on Train Tech!

[marbleman]

Old work accepted or must be new？I think one month is tightly for a new work.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

I think I'll be in...

[raised]

1 hour ago, marbleman said:

Old work accepted or must be new？I think one month is tightly for a new work.

Only new or maybe unpublished work that fits the rules. In the end it's a building contest to activate people to build ;)

Edited September 29, 2017 by raised

[M_slug357]

yay, I have many unpublished/ unfinished projects to use for this

:)

[UrbanErwin]

This sounds exciting, I'll try to make something too.

[raised]

All aboard OcTRAINber!

Quote

As you might have seen and read in our previous post, this October (meaning from tomorrow on) BMR will run their first ever contest! So, without further ado, we would like to introduce this contest to you.

OcTRAINber

First of all, the name. It’s called OcTRAINber, if somebody had not noticed yet. Why OcTRAINber? Well, because it’s a great intermediate month between SHIPtember and Novvember. Also, TRAINS.

The Rules

The rules are simple. Build something with train wheels attached to it that is long enough to look absolutely silly to go through a R44 curve, better known as the Regular Lego Train Curved Rail. To make sure “silly” is an objective term, we have made a minimum size requirement: 60+ studs for any single item (can be a carriage, a locomotive, a crane, you name it) and 70+ for a combined (and permanently coupled!) consist. This means we are accepting anything from a steam engine + tender to a diesel loco + slug, or maybe even semi-permanently coupled freigh carriages or EMU’s. However, this also means we will not allow a consist of loco + carriage. It has to be semi-permanently coupled!

Both Real Life and Ditigal builds are allowed and both will have their own category. Since BMR is a weblog that emphasises and supports building Real Life models, the prices in the Real Life category will however be bigger and better (if you ask us at least!) then the ones in the Digital category.

Points

Points will be awarded for 3 things: Length, credibility of the prototype and “The Swoosh”.

First of all, length. This is a short one; The longer, the better. Simply put: any studs over 60/70 (depending on if you build a single or a semi-permanently coupled unit) gives you pluspoints.

Second, credibility of the prototype. This means we will be looking at how much the build represents the real life prototype. This means the quality of the build, but potential scale etc. If you are sending in a fantasy model, we will look at how credible the build is; would it fit in, does the backstory make sense?

Thirdly, The Swoosh. What is The Swoosh, you ask? Well, thats pretty simple: it’s a video of your train running through a R44 curve. It’s the same as The Swoosh as the Spacers know it, but even more awesome, because it uses a train and track. Please keep in mind that only R44 curves are allowed for The Swoosh!

The Judges

This contest will have four judges. Why four? Well, because it’s more than three, and, as you now should now, we are a fan of ‘more and longer’. The judges will be, in no particular order:

• Glenn Holland
• Cale Leiphart
• Matt Csenge
• Gerbrand van den Eeckhout 

All four have a history in building trains that look absolutely silly when going through curves and are thus the perfect people to judge!

Timeline

Since this is OcTRAINber, entries will be accepted from October 1st to October 31st.

Entries

Entries are to be send in via our own BMR Flickr! There are two discussions; one for the Real Life entries and one for the Digital entries. Also, feel free to add your pictures in the pool!

The Prices

No contest without prices! We are very happy to tell you that The Lego Company was generous enough to donate four sets which we will be giving away as prices. Next to that, we are at least equally happy that BrickTracks has donated some of their new curves as well. Which prices specifically will be made public as soon as possible, so to keep the hype train running for a little bit longer!

Extra Parts

We here over at BMR are very, very excited about this first contest and we are looking forward to all those entries. We are really looking forward to see what the community has to offer in terms of creativity and we hope that all of you will be stimulated by this contest to finally build that one beast of a train / loco / waggon that you always wanted to build, but never did.

During the contest, we will regularly post updates about the entries that have entered the contest here at BMR.

By the way, if there are any things that aren’t fully clear, you can always reach out to us by posting your message below.

All aboard OcTRAINber!

 

BTW: All entries will have to be posted in the Flickr Group to be part of the contest, but for sure feel free to post them here as well! 

[ScotNick]

While I do like the idea of this contest the rules make it really hard for me as a European to participate. I know engines in the US are just huuuge, but in Europe articulated steam engines or engines that are that long just weren't common. So I have 4 options left - I could either build an American engine (I do think there were some articulated steam engines in Africa and Australia as well), build a fantasy engine or scale up my engines to make them longer, or build something *just* train related. While I really looked forward to this contest (when was the last time we had a train contest?) I sadly have to admit that I'll pass on this one, as all those options seem rather (or not buildable in such a *short* time) to me. I hope there are others who have more time and good imagination and wish everyone participating good luck!

Edited September 30, 2017 by ScotNick

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Are allowed also BBB wheels ...or just Lego wheels?

[Stefaneris]

@raised I saw your answer above but I'd like to ask a second time since I'm not sure about modding a existing MOC:

About the rules: do I need to build something new or is it allowed if I never posted it on Eurobricks before? The train I think about was on two exhibitions, but never run and could still be considered a WIP about the swoosh.

Edited October 1, 2017 by Stefaneris
Added first sentence

[Dutchiedoughnut]

11 hours ago, ScotNick said:

While I do like the idea of this contest the rules make it really hard for me as a European to participate. I know engines in the US are just huuuge, but in Europe articulated steam engines or engines that are that long just weren't common. So I have 4 options left - I could either build an American engine (I do think there were some articulated steam engines in Africa and Australia as well), build a fantasy engine or scale up my engines to make them longer, or build something *just* train related. While I really looked forward to this contest (when was the last time we had a train contest?) I sadly have to admit that I'll pass on this one, as all those options seem rather (or not buildable in such a *short* time) to me. I hope there are others who have more time and good imagination and wish everyone participating good luck!

Well... I think the UK in particular has quite a few models to work with. A to-scale Flying Scotsman with double tenders (semi-permanently coupled) comed to mind. I can name more examples, but I would be giving my own ideas away. Russia also has very large articulated locomotives.

[raised]

1 hour ago, Dutchiedoughnut said:

Well... I think the UK in particular has quite a few models to work with. A to-scale Flying Scotsman with double tenders (semi-permanently coupled) comed to mind. I can name more examples, but I would be giving my own ideas away. Russia also has very large articulated locomotives.

Keep in mind that all types are allowed, meaning you can also just build a waggon of some sorts. My goal for example is to finally build an ICR wagon of the Dutch railways, which will go about 72 studs. Also, you can think about trams, rescue trains (think SBB in the alpes), MOW equipment (Network Rail?), Truck-Train combos like Hupac, etc etc. 

2 hours ago, Stefaneris said:

@raised I saw your answer above but I'd like to ask a second time since I'm not sure about modding a existing MOC:

About the rules: do I need to build something new or is it allowed if I never posted it on Eurobricks before? The train I think about was on two exhibitions, but never run and could still be considered a WIP about the swoosh.

If it wasn't put online before, we would be willing to consider it. In the end, the pre-announcement did state that we encourage finally finishing those previously half-failed ideas for something long. 

Again, as said before; it's a building contest, so please no old models that have been posted already.

5 hours ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Are allowed also BBB wheels ...or just Lego wheels?

Hehe did you follow the content on BMR lately? There is some professional butchering and third party use going on over there, some posts are really close to heresy ;)

All joking aside; if the rules don't state otherwise, its allowed. Rule of thumb here would be the following: 

Lego: yes, third party: yes, clones: no.

[ColletArrow]

Just now, raised said:

MOW equipment (Network Rail?)

A Network Rail two-car Windhoff MPV (google images search) is quite long when built roughly to scale, I had a go at one digitally once. Their breakdown/recovery cranes are pretty big too, but the best has to be the ballast cleaner; that is a pretty long monster, especially if you include the self-discharging wagons. 

The UK doesn't have much in the way of everyday use large/long rolling stock as our loading gauge is quite restrictive.

[BrickMusher]

Very nice contest indeed, I allready started and hopefully will made it just before October ends.

I have two questions, mostly related to "The Swoosh" and about posting (sorry if my questions are kinda silly, but I am not very experienced in www-use).

About "the Swoosh", has it to be done by the builder itself, or is it also ok/allowed if the train/waggon/what ever runs by own Power/ by an engine through the curve?

 

Second: For posting pictures on your Flickr-account, do I need an own Flickr-account also?

 

Thx for answer, looking forward for many amazing MOC´s

 

Good mush... uhm building ;-)

 

BrickMusher

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

1 hour ago, raised said:

All joking aside; if the rules don't state otherwise, its allowed. Rule of thumb here would be the following: 

Lego: yes, third party: yes, clones: no.

Ok ...I'm ready to go!

[raised]

1 hour ago, BrickMusher said:

Very nice contest indeed, I allready started and hopefully will made it just before October ends.

I have two questions, mostly related to "The Swoosh" and about posting (sorry if my questions are kinda silly, but I am not very experienced in www-use).

About "the Swoosh", has it to be done by the builder itself, or is it also ok/allowed if the train/waggon/what ever runs by own Power/ by an engine through the curve?

 

Second: For posting pictures on your Flickr-account, do I need an own Flickr-account also?

 

Thx for answer, looking forward for many amazing MOC´s

 

Good mush... uhm building ;-)

 

BrickMusher

For the first question: we didn't state any rules for this so that's up to your own imagination!

For the second question: yes, for posting on flickr you will need an account. But trust me, it's a great platform to use :)

[Hod Carrier]

There's lots of potential UK prototypes you could use, some of which have already been mentioned. I could add to that list almost all multiple unit passenger trains and intermodal wagons that run in permanently coupled sets of three or more. If you prefer to take your inspiration from the era of steam, there are the LMS Beyer Garratt 2-6-0+0-6-2 locos plus any number of articulated passenger coach sets.

I was looking forward to a building contest but I fear this has come at the wrong time for me. Unlike others, I don't have a design already waiting to go and a month isn't long to try and get something designed and built. I might see if I can get something ready for the digital category, but that might be as far as I can get.

[ColletArrow]

I have a few more ideas, but I certainly won't be able to build anything physical, as I am away from my bricks.

@raised If we're building digitally, how are we supposed to demonstrate 'swoosh'? Render a picture of it on a curve?

Edited October 1, 2017 by ColletArrow

[dr_spock]

Where was this contest last year when I built the PRR Centipede engine and Queen Mary flat car?  Gonna have to come up with something new.  

[raised]

35 minutes ago, ColletArrow said:

I have a few more ideas, but I certainly won't be able to build anything physical, as I am away from my bricks.

@raised If we're building digitally, how are we supposed to demonstrate 'swoosh'? Render a picture of it on a curve?

Let the creativity do the thinking for you!  ;)

25 minutes ago, dr_spock said:

Where was this contest last year when I built the PRR Centipede engine and Queen Mary flat car?  Gonna have to come up with something new.  

Oh my oh my! You did indeed build that one a bit too early!!