Yes he did, way back when.
I’m back! We lost power and cell phone service due to the blizzard from Monday morning at 6:30 and it didn’t come back until 10 last night.
The Whimsy was wild this year and as always with the Mik the imagination and modelling skills to make the creations come together were clever and inspiring.
Thanks to Dave for keeping the Mik going and Great job to all that rose to the challenge.
As usual it is tough to pick the winners but here goes.
#1 Chris Walas and his Jabberwock creation. I knew this was going to be a winner as soon as I saw the Captains Cockpit coming together.
#2 Todd Brody and his Dog Park. Every time I see it I hear the Dog Park tune play from the Progressive ad in my head and it gives me a chuckle.
#3 Cliff Jennings and his chicken “nugget” car. What a wild concept where you can kiss the beak for good luck.
Honorable Mention is Vic Smith and his nicely designed and built streamliner.
1 Team Mueller Great job on the cat car, I love that it’s a family thing.
2 Todd Brody Love the animation.
3 Vic Smith Looks great never knew something like it existed.
Great builds very hard to decide
#1 Chris, the Jabberwok,
#2 Todd Haskins for his Boot.
#3 Eric Mueller’s Cat Bus
Team Mueller had the difficult but fun job of reviewing and voting upon all the great builds this year! Thanks to @Dave_Taylor for hosting, thanks to all for watching and encouraging, and thanks to all for participating! Our votes follow, listed in order 1, 2, 3 after each family member:
- CINCHOUSE: Chris Walas’ Jabberwock, Rooster’s Limpid, and Cliff Jenning’s Very Large Nugget Transport Car
- Yours Truly: Chris Walas’ Jabberwock, Jim Cunningham’s Leviathan, and Todd Haskins’ self-propelled boot
- Oldest Daughter (O.D.): Chris Walas’ Jabberwock, Rooster’s Limpid, and Jim Cunningham’s Leviathan
- Youngest Daughter (Y.D.): Chris Walas’ Jabberwock, Mark Lockburner’s armored cow catcher, and Cliff Jenning’s Very Large Nugget Transport Car
- Oldest Son (O.S.): Chris Walas’ Jabberwock, Jim Cunningham’s Leviathan, and Mark Lockburner’s armored cow catcher
- Kid-zilla: Cliff Jenning’s Very Large Nugget Transport Car, Todd Brody’s Embark Dog Park, and Rooster’s Limpid
Tough voting as always.
Only 10 months left to collect our stuff from MIK 2027!
On Behalf of Team Mueller,
Eric
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Its pretty clear this is a race for second place 
I suppose so Vic,
Ok… 
steps onto the soapbox.
As totally freaking cool as Jabberwock is it’s manily a highly detailed 3D printed model. Which to me does not fit into the (original) MiK theme/criteria. That along with oh my look at all these detail parts that were in my Junk Box I PAID a premium for years ago but they were in my junk box so they are free.
I have said for years that the CAD drawn PC based building along with adding pre-made detail parts should not be allowed in Mik. Could I do the same…sure… but that would take the fun out of it and besides it takes away from folks like the Mueller clan.
Like Rick Marty said awhile back his CAD stuff is Cardboard Assisted Design. You draw it up on cardboard and cut it out yourself then you have your mock up and can model from that. Cardboard is readily available to anyone unlike PC model making and detail parts.
However these are only my thoughts and I could care less. Because if I really cared I would vote for myself!
Perhaps Mik should stay Mik and maybe do another challenge for all the rest if that makes sense? I think most of the Mik entrants these days don’t even know how Mik was but I know you do. Just my thought’s and “my opinion” was said but it is only my opinion.
Back in 2018 I voted the way Mik would have 
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I know where you are coming from. My feelings are that like it or not printing is here to stay. Its now as much as part of model railroading as an x-acto knife. Personally as long as it brings in new modelers, or long timers like Chris, back into the hobby, I will be perfectly fine with it. Anything that grows the hobby is a good thing. It may very well be the innovators printing creating either scale models or flights of fancy that save the hobby. 
Let’s be perfectly honest, Bachmann isn’t going to help us with new narrow gauge, or even parts like motor blocks for what they have already issued. LGB and USA parts are scarce, HLW and Aristo parts are now dragons teeth scarce. The only hope will be the printers creating and printing parts for these models. My hope is that these printers will be able to soon provide alternative motor blocks or block parts for many models lacking today.
Also I’m leaning on them eventually producing full kits for large scale. We are in an absolute desert on pluto compared to every other scale when it comes to avaliable product line. Even 0n30 and HOn30 have far more available for conversions or bashing.
So it’s good if we get guys like Chris active again and posting again 
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#1 Chris Walas the Jabberwok
#2 Eric Mueller’s Cat Bus
#3 Todd Haskins for his Boot
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I feel your diminishment of my efforts would benefit from a response. I think the Jabberwock was created well within the boundaries of the Challenge. If you had a beef with Cad or 3d printing, maybe that was an issue you might have raised at the start. I’m not an intuitive Cad designer. It’s quite non-intuitive for me. So that was a real challenge. And if you somehow think designing in 3D is somehow easier than traditional methods, please give it a try. As far as your statement about pre-existing parts, I would be amazed if any of the participants (including yourself) didn’t use pre-existing parts. I’m sorry you don’t think my efforts matter, because I’ll tell you the truth; I worked my ass off on the Jabberwock and was truly challenged in the effort. I faced a new set of issues I had not encountered in all my years of model building. I could have built the Jabberwock out of cardboard if I so chose. But that would not have been a challenge, and correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s what it’s all about , isn’t it? Anyway, the Jabberwock was not an easy project. It was a most excellent challenge and I thank everyone here for that. Sorry if I offended you with my heartfelt efforts.
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OK Guys… Let’s take the open discussions to a thread of their own…
This one is for voting…
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sorry, Dave, but it took me so long, to write this, that i have to post it.
the point is, that both Chriswalas and Rooster are right with their point of view - in a way.
the origin of this “challenge” was about 15 years ago.
in the times, when the forums were full of “cheque-book modellers” (as i called them), guys, who bragged about having five or more copies of the exact same loco under the xmas tree - in the same year.
on the other hand there were guys like MIK and i, being laughed at as “twigs, sticks and tin-can modelers” (in the other forum). with two or three heavily bashed locos and maybe a handfull of cars. plus some home-made deco from thrash.
MIK, who built on top of a washingmashine, because in his trailer home was no other room, was a “stand-up guy” so he challenged the members in various forums to build something from nothing.
in this forum the idea came alive.
if i remember right, in the first year (2010) the money to be spent, had to be under $10.-
our first builds were mainly from coffee stirrers, fireworks-sticks and similar thrash.
fast forward:
MIK died - the rest of us got older.
largescale brands folded, everything got more expensive
Dave took over, to be the soul of the MIK-challenge.
and the hobby, we and the forum evolved.
(i got enough money to replace my curtain-rail track with real track)
others bought table or band saws, lasers, even 3D printers
(still hurts to remember my sh!tty DaVinci printer/scanner, that did cost me over $700.- with transport and customs)
there were discussions, if these modern mashines would not violate the original MIK ideas.
but, who has a hammer uses nails.
modern mashines and printer resin, if bought beforehand were accepted for the use in the challenges.
the original idea, to build something from nothing was - step by step - replaced by bigger, better, perfect.
so, depending from the point of view, Chris is right or Rooster is right.
and each of us must decide, if building, or voting, or not.
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Yes Korm, if it brings new or returning modelers into the fold, it’s a good thing. 
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Chris,
You did not offend me in any way and I apologize if you took my comments the wrong way but I was not singling you out directly.
I think Korm kinda summed up my thoughts concerning the Mik Challenge. I commend you for your excellent work and the model is as I said “Freaking Amazing”.
Yes, you are correct about it being a challenge but like Korm stated I do not think many even knew what Mik was about (tin can modeler?). Were Mik and I buddies…hell no… I personally didn’t care for the guy myself for many reasons but his challenge was valid at the time and that was my point. You are not the first to enter PC based work and will not be the last.
Either way I am glad you are back involved with this great hobby of playing with trains and I look forward to future posts from you. As for me using any pre existing parts or detail parts well you can look at my builds posted here and you tell me.
Again, I apologize if I offended you but apparently that seems to be my job around here anymore.
It’s all good.
I know how long it takes just to print stuff and the design can even be longer.
Then we get into the “re-prints” because this, that, or the other just didn’t go as planned. The rear piece of the Dog Park took almost 5 hours to print and I went though 5 or 6 iterations to get everything to line up just so to make the tail work properly. I can’t tell you how many different “pulleys” I went though to get everything to line up at the proper tension. The biggest benefit of 3D printing was that once designed, these changes only took a short time on the computer on my part and the cost of filament is very minimal.
I imagine that your printer(s) must have been running night and day to meet the timeline, let alone the add-ons and my hat is off to you!
Have you thought about marketing the files?
The printing on the fly was a big part of this experience for me. I started with one Bambu X1-C. And then traded for another one a week into the challenge. I was literally at my computer designing pieces and sending them to the printers to my left and taking the finished prints to my modeling table, just to my right. Quite the experience! And, yes, MANY test prints to get everything to fit.
AS far as marketing the files… the design is not a single cohesive design. It’s so many pieces and they aren’t really designed to work together all that much, so it was really a cobbled up mess, to be honest. I would really have to go back and rework almost all the files to make it work.
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How about just the reciprocating cylinder assemblies or a version thereof? I don’t recall ANY electric steam engines operating in this manner, though some live steamers do. Seems like you could corner the market and even a small market adds up world-wide.
BTW, I also have an X1-C. Did you know that they have been discontinued?
I’ll have a look at the cylinder files. I think they are a bit of a fantasy design and specific to the Lionel motor block, but maybe I can rework them? We’ll see.
Yes, I know the X1-C has been discontinued, so I’ve stocked up on spare nozzles, etc. As it was Bambu’s flagship printer and there’s SO many of them out there, I suspect they will support it for a good while in the future (I hope). The question is, is Bambu going to do an upgrade like they did with the P1 series or not?