New Z Central Station Contest

Awesome this coincides with my new layout. This will get me off my butt and get me started on some buildings for my new 10ft by 18" board.

Zac

Question John,
You did not mention if there was to be a prize or prizes.....me?.......I don't care a bit whether we have prizes or not......I'm just itching to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time, but now Karin tells me there is talk about prizes.

What if we donate a prize and I also have entered something? Can I enter just for the fun of it and disqualify myself if I am a prize contributor?

Itching to build, but not able to find the time?

Loren

For the future I'd like to see a smaller layout design competition. There is a dearth of smaller layout designs for Z scale, and the modeller with a smaller space is or should be one of the big selling points of Z. Lots of people, especially outside North America, don't have basements or attics or half double garages, or even whole spare rooms that they can devote to a layout.

Another consideration is that we need to convince the railway modelling world that Z is for more than just briefcase layouts, or pizzas or similar gimmicks - that it can be a "serious" modelling scale.

May be just my twisted sence about what is right and or wrong.

I can see no reason why Loren and other manufacturers can't compete for the prizes as long as they are not competeing in a class where their prize donation is one of the prizes.

For some strange reason competing in a contest where your not eligable for any prizes just doesn't seem right or fair.

soccrdad30 wrote:

Gary, you brought up a valid point, and an excellent idea. How about we work through this contest. Then after, we can focus on your suggestion and the avenues how we can approach it (for spring?). Since there are Layouts, Modules, Z-Bend Track, and Dioramas, this could teach everyone more about the different types of track layouts.
John

Thanks John, your spring would be in March/April? That'd give me time to crystallise some ideas running around inside my head.

In the meantime another thought: will we be asking our friends at ZTrack and ZTrains magazines to publish the results?

An addendum to that last thought: could we perhaps ask our German members to publish the results on German-language websites such as ZFE? I'm not sure if there are any German equivalents to ZTrack and ZTrains, but Kelley would know.

Hello Gary,

I think it would be no problem to post the results in the ZFE board. The German equivalent to ZTrack is Trainini , and the last two issues can be downloaded here . There is also an index available for download. Older issues can be downloaded at the ZFE Trainini Archiv .

GreetingZ

Uwe

Hello Uwe

Thanks for the response, and the links. My German is extremely limited, but I should be able to get something out of it. Sorry for not mentioning you in my last post - I could picture your face, but being old and decrepit couldn't remember your name

Now that I’ve actually entered this contest, and since no one else has spoken out, I will. It seems to me that a few people are either confused about what a category is, or they have not read the original categories list. Or there is confusion because the original list and the list on the contest entry post are different. I’m sure the listing of Kit Bash and Kitbash was a slight mistake. The original list also mentioned Laser kit, which is missing from the contest entry post. (hmm, since we have members that have lasers, is that the design of a laser kit or the putting together of one? I would assume the latter.) Here is the original list for those that missed it.

1. Scratch Build
2. Laser Kit
3. Kitbash
4. Layout
5. Module
6. Diorama
7. Weathering

Since I have done and am familiar with all of these, let me explain.

1. Scratch Build = Exactly what it says. Built from scratch. Not starting with a kit, or changing what once was. But starting with nothing, and when one is done, there is something where there once was nothing. There is a degree of disagreement in the scratch building community as to what percentage of a scratch built item must actually be scratch built. In my humble opinion, additions, such as plant material, windows, doors, a fire hydrant, etc, can be third party. It’s similar to a woman’s dress going down the runway. The dress is original, however the belt, shoes, earrings, etc., can be off the shelf.

2. Laser Kit = Very easy to explain. One starts with a kit and builds it per the instructions (or per the original photo in the absence of instructions).

3. Kitbash = A bit of a cross between Scratch built and Laser Kit (or brass kit, or plastic kit, etc.) One starts with a kit and changes it (“bashes”) it into what they what to get out of the kit. One can also start with, more or less nothing (as in scratch built), and use parts from a number of kits to built something, but this is still considered being kit bashed, unless the parts from the kit have been substantially altered as to change their original function or purpose (i.e. Taking a wall from a building and making a ships deck from it, or taking a flagpole and making a cannon from it, etc.).

4. Layout = A layout one has build for the sake of operating a train, or cars, etc. on. Here we’ll stick with trains, but I suppose it one flew miniature helicopters and hung artificial clouds and birds and hot air balloons from the ceiling, that too could be considered a layout. (Note: There is a difference major difference between “some” layouts and dioramas. See Diorama below.)

5. Module = A module is a layout that can be connected to another layout, sometimes forming a much larger layout. Size and shape is not important here. Only that it is capable of joining with another and the train will be operational from one module to the next. There have been modules standards which have been developed which make integrating each module with the next uniform so that any module is capable of connecting with any other module of the same scale and gauge.

6. Diorama = By strict definition, a diorama is a three-dimensional model of “anything” built to be viewed from all four sides (and sometimes encased by glass/plastic). Although it can actually be ANY size, as long as it is completed so it may be viewed normally on all four sides it is considered a diorama. Much to the chagrin of diorama purists, this four-sided viewing is not always followed. In my humble opinion, if it is not properly viewable on all four sides, it is simply a piece of a layout and not a diorama. Further, one cannot take a layout and claim that one portion of that layout is a diorama, unless that portion of the layout can be removed from the body of the layout and used as a separate diorama (completed on all fours sides). This is not to say that the whole layout could not be considered a diorama, if it is completed on all four sides. Anything with a backdrop, by definition, cannot be considered a diorama, unless that backdrop was finished on both sides.

7. Weathering = There’s not much to explain here so I’ll mention a few things about what weathering is, and what it is not. The art of weathering is not simply splashing some thinned out India ink onto something you want to look “used” (as you may have seen one well known Top-rated seller on eBay do with his friends custom made box cars). Weathering is something one does with forethought and is deliberate in their actions. Weathering is not done to simply make something look dirty (although one could dirty up a new construction vehicle on its first days on the job, as to make it dirty and not yet aged). No, weathering is done to make something look as though it has been either used (or well used), or has simply been out in the elements for any period of time (from months to many years). A person wishing to weather something studies the things around him and tries to emulate the look and feel of this real life weathering to the item in question. Weathering is best done in layers of appropriate colors, be it dry brush or wash. Dry brush chemicals and chalks, etc. have the most realistic appearance, although when done properly, washes can also be an excellent medium to work with. I believe a better name for weathering would have been aging, which would have included something being dirty or rusty, to rotting away out in a field.

If you entered the contest, you might want to go back and check to see what category you entered into. If you possibly entered into the wrong category, simply make sure you are logged in and then edit your post to reflect what category the item should be entered into.

Zcratchman_Joe

Hi Joe, for those of us with inquiring minds... are these the rules and definitions set forth by the originator of this contest who is also the administrator of this site? Its not that they are bad definitions but I do question a couple of your statements (particularly the diorama category). Sorry but not trying to be a nit picker, just want to know if the admin says this is what the rules are then that is what they are. But if you are rewriting them without consent of the admin I believe that you could be confusing those who are entering and those who already have. Might check with the boss, several of us who provide prizes may not want confusion created this far into the contest. And then are these rules you set forth going to be the same for the next contest and the next? I'd like to know from the powers that be if these are official definitions/rules for all contests now and in the future.

What I wrote are By No Means the "official" rules, and I, by no means meant to apply that intention. I simply wrote the definitions of what the meaning of what these category words mean. It seems some people may have been confused. I do not mean to be outspoken here, but I do like to say what is on my mind. No a**kissing, and no minced words.

I also see that the categories at the beginning have also now either been changed, or I misread it in the first place. It now reads 2. Kit Build and 3. Kitbash and not as I complained it reading as 2. Kit Bash and 3. Kitbash. If I made an error I apologize. But this still does not change the definition of each of these.

Now as far as dioramas go… I did say this was the strict definition and not what a lot of people are calling dioramas these days. I don’t know if this seemly unauthorized (according to definition) change over the years came about through ignorance of the actual definition, or out of laziness to not complete all sides of a diorama. Or simply out of the want to display something a person made without thinking of what it actually is, and it ended up being called it a “diorama” because it looked similar to an actual diorama. This does not change the intended definition.

I wrote what I did because no one took responsibility for explaining what defines each category and people were obviously entering items in wrong categories, again, according to definition. The official rules maker of the contest can, of course, explain the categories anyway they so choose, but to date, no one has done so. But in the mean time, I thought an explanation of definitions might be in order so people have a better chance of winning the category there item should actually be in. Even though a weathered item may be spectacular, it should not be judged in, say, the layout category. It “should” surely lose in That Category because it is, after all, not a layout. One would think it would do a better job of gaining votes if it was entered under the weathering category.

But there’s the rub, isn’t it? Members are voting on the items which is a bad idea in the first place as the membership is not impartial. One would think a judge, or panel of judges from a local hobby shop, etc., might have been a better choice.

In my opinion, that is.

Sorry Joe but by your definition of what a diorama is would exclude every diorama shown in the headers belonging to Jurg Ruedi's created by John Cubbin who garners more for his "dioramas" than anyone else I know in Z Scale. His has no back and the ends drop off. Yet they are the most detailed and astounding dioramas to date. In my opinion of course.

They are absolutely terrific. They are not, however, by strict definition, dioramas. Because a number of people call something by a name, does not make it so. Times and names however, do change. Just as if a great number of people started calling the moon pink… so much so that everyone started calling the moon pink. And so the moon would then be considered pink, it did not however change colors.

Dioramas have been around for many, many years, perhaps the definition has changed. In fact if one Googles the term diorama definition one will find 236,000 results. Enough to explain whatever one wishes. I do, however remember when I visited the Museum of Natural History (all the time) when I was much younger, even there, the displays one was not able to walk around (against a wall) were called simply that, a display. The ones in which someone could walk all around and see from every angle were called dioramas.

But enough about it. Explain it away all you wish. Call it what you will. I was simply giving the actual definition. Was I supposed to misinform people because others call something by another name? I do not think that would be a wise choice. And I DID explain that others DO call displays which are not four-sided dioramas, albeit wrong. The choice to call something what they wish, is theirs. Since there were no instructions as to what, is considered what, in these categories, I simply took it upon myself to make suggestions, by “definition”. Please don’t shoot the messenger.

The next contest is cut and dried as far as instructions go, so there's no problem there. However, might I suggest if a contest like the present one (or any portion thereof) happens again, perhaps a stricter set of instructions be adhered to in order to make the contest more fair, although not more “friendly”.