After some face-to-face discussions with Amateur Fettler last night, a fair bit of my homebrew beer (he can still see, honest!), and some A4 paper shuffling, it has been demonstrated that the whole A3-A4 sheet thing won't work quite as I had anticipated, since they don't come out in nice multiples. Bugger.
Never fear, the new alcohol fueled plan is to have the base size out to nice sane measurements ie the A4 210mm by 297mm (how did I ever think this was going to work?)becomes 200mm by 300mm with the corresponding loss of 2370 square mm of modeling space. The A3 at 420mm by 297mm becomes 400mm by 300mm.
Just another one of those 'it's so sodding obvious' moment's of clarity brought to you by beer ('it's not just for breakfast any more')
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11 comments:
He is too modest by half....the homebrew aint half bad! I've never seen the chrome work on the car looking so shiny....
Sorry, I'm supposed to what? Drink it?? ARE YOU MAD???
IMHO - flag the A4 away as a lost cause and just go with the modded A4.
The beauty of having an A4 sized board was the familiarity....every bored person in a meeting could turn their meeting agenda sideways and start planning their next module, which is something that cant be done with a "modded" A4...
Duh ! Sorry, I meant the modded (updated,revised,rehashed, tricked up) A3.
I'm still quietly pushing for a common endplate and electrics, and a *recommended* size (or sizes), but with the sizes not being binding so you can do whatever you want in width or length.
Thus you can have something that is a part of your home layout and can be bought to an exhibition.
With an A4-type standard I would have a module that sits under the bed or it would be a real compromise in a home layout...
Something about 1.5 x 3 feet 'feels' right to me in terms of useability for a scene, but everyone has different sized rooms (he said having just relocated to a smaller one).
Does this mean we need to print out our agendas on A3 paper now?
Probably not a silly idea....I'm sitting in enough boring meetings at the moment for a "larger" agenda to plan on would really make a difference...
The standard will have a common endplate and electrics, never fear. I think the push on "module length" is more important if oval layouts are to be considered. If it is built in the "rambling" Freemo style, then it doesnt become an issue. I think width can be fluid as well, as long as there is one of the standard endplates in there "somewhere"; whether at the front, middle or back of an end...if you know what I mean.
Time to get out the three year old daughter with her crayons to illustrate....
And lets face it, the roundy roundy, kings-in-the-castle style of Otaki to Cass is probably the way I'd want to do an exhibition again, perhaps with the addition of a couple of fiddle yard tracks out of sight in the middle easily accessible for train shuffling.
Speaking of Freemo style (although isn't that efectively a roundy-round with the kings outside the castle?), that fiddle yard to fiddle yard layout with a long run in between that we did at the Stadium worked well (remember the wooden 'turntable' sector plate made from the thinned side of a peach crate that was long enough to spin 2 locos around for the run around!). With dedicated shufflers at each end, there was always something to run and amuse people in the middle, although the fiddling would be a pain in NZ120 with the couplers and so on.
Sooooo anyway... if the length was to be "a multiple of the length of an A3 module" then this wouldn't be such an issue.
Then you end up with 400, or 800 or 1200 or 1600mm options before you start to run out of room on the backseat. Probably enough variety to accommodate most home use?
p.s. i do like these new words over the last few days that you have to enter to make comments. much better than the old random ones. Or maybe I've just struck it lucky with easily pronouncable (sp?) ones. I'm so easily amused...
Todays is "Vinsonal"....best definition wins a plan of your choice from the ONTRACK archives...
Vinsonal (n) seasonal wine
Mine is Emimpic, a famous white rap photographer.
Vinsonal.
Vin - derived from the Latin word for wine.
Sonal - a sound connective word.
Vinsonal is often used to describe the barking sound emanating from someone who has over indulged in bad homemade wine.
Closely related to the word Swillsonal which is often used in the same sentence as bad home brew beer.
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