Cliff Jennings said:
Speaking of David Meashey’s hilarious “dwarf signal,” David, here’s a site having a nice printable Gimli figure for a good price:
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-iron-hill-dwarf-collectable-presupported-146282
or a commercially made one maybe
Nice! Great detail and posable. That particular one from ToyBiz seems too big (9" from what I can tell) but there might be smaller ones.
Thanks again for the folks that joined last night. It was nice to put faces to names I’ve known a long time. As I said I the meeting take everything Devin aid about me with a grain of salt.
Oh and there’s always an open invitation to come visit in person if you’re ever in W. Washington. I hope to have the layout at least semi operational by the end of this summer, with a goal of having all the track laid by spring of 2022.
“The recording failed for some reason. It looked like it was recording but there was nothing saved when the meeting ended.”
Bob;
Don’t feel too bad. I remember a popular bumper sticker from the 1970s or 1980s (pre personal computer times) that read: "To err is human. To really screw things up requires a computer!"
Regards, David Meashey
Thanks for putting this together Bob.
It was nice to put a face with a name/personality, but certainly could have been better organized.
I’ve had the “Can” vingette set-up on the dining room table for 2 weeks waiting to show it off, but we never got to me. (I had even brought in extra lighting to make it show up better.) I also had the new automated track cleaner ready to demonstrate, and had spent over an hour that day getting the garden ready to show. Maybe next time. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)
BTW, some of you guys is gettin’ old.
Todd Brody said:
Thanks for putting this together Bob.
BTW, some of you guys is gettin’ old.
And the REST are getting younger? (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)(Hehe…YOU know who YOU are!!! (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif))
Sorry you didn’t get to show your stuff. Perhaps you missed the topic Cliff started where folks were intended to sign up: https://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/31309/virtual-drag-amp-brag-signup
Bruce Chandler said:
Todd Brody said:
Thanks for putting this together Bob.
BTW, some of you guys is gettin’ old.
And the REST are getting younger? (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)(Hehe…YOU know who YOU are!!! (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif))
I think I was the only one without 25% min grey hair… 
Note, that I didn’t say zero grey hair, or balding.
Hey Cliff;
I took a good look at the 3D printed dwarf figure in your link. He is actually Dain the dwarf king from the Iron Hills (& Thorin Oakenshield’s cousin). He comes into the story in the third Hobbit movie, just before The Battle of Five Armies. He is one tough dwarf, but seems to be a bit too heavily armored and armed for railroad signal work. I’m just afraid that he could get POed at some train crew and whack a boxcar in half with his axe! Still appreciate the information.
Best, David Meashey
P.S. One of the problems regarding figures for Middle Earth is their relative scale. The figures released during the Lord of the Rings movies were just about right for 1:22.5 and 1:24 model trains. The figures released during the Hobbit movies were quite a bit larger. In the photo below, the dwarf, Dwalin (from the Hobbit), towers over the chief Nazgul, Angmar (from the Lord of the Rings). Granted, Angmar is crouching, but even if he were straightened up, Dwalin would be taller. Dwalin is tall for a dwarf, but he is not THAT tall!
Jim Rowson said:
Sorry you didn’t get to show your stuff. Perhaps you missed the topic Cliff started where folks were intended to sign up: https://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/31309/virtual-drag-amp-brag-signup
No, I signed up that I would be there somewhere along the line, probably at the first mention of the Zoom. I would think that infers that I would have shown the entry.
I never saw the mentioned thread, and it would seem to me that such a thread would have come from Bob who was moderating the call.
Anyway, someone certainly could have asked if anyone else had an entry to display.
Seems most of the talk centered on 3D printing, which is not in the Spirit of Mik.
Todd Brody said:
Thanks for putting this together Bob.
It was nice to put a face with a name/personality, but certainly could have been better organized.
I’ve had the “Can” vingette set-up on the dining room table for 2 weeks waiting to show it off, but we never got to me. (I had even brought in extra lighting to make it show up better.) I also had the new automated track cleaner ready to demonstrate, and had spent over an hour that day getting the garden ready to show. Maybe next time. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)
BTW, some of you guys is gettin’ old.
Todd,
After seeing your post, I’m really sorry about the miscommunication.
In the meeting, I was vaguely wondering why didn’t Todd sign up? Why didn’t he want to brag on his amazing can scene? I assumed you just didn’t want to. And as the signup list switched over to us non-MIK sharers (you guys had the priority), I guess I was too enthralled with my stuff to ask if there were any other MIK’s who still wanted a go.
It was good to finally see and hear what you looked like though, and I’m looking forward to any future presentations you’d care to share.
Cliff
YES, 3D printing was discussed, but there was a great number of topics which were chatted about. It was not only a wonderful opportunity to meet old and new friends, it was sprinkled with informality, humour, and information, along with a good view of the Mik contest results.
All in all it was a great opportunity that was well worth taking part in. Anyone who didn’t take part, missed a great evening.
It seems that there is enough interest, so another “Party” WILL be held in the near future. Be sure to plan on taking part. You will be most welcome. Ideas for topics for conversation, are most welcome, and seeing your face, connected to YOUR name, will be appreciated by your friends here on LSC…NO CHARGE…no subscription is needed…just your name, and a face to go with it…your voice will be welcome also. Something like the good old “ALCOVE” of the past. !!!
Fred Mills
Lets make a point of putting Tod on the agenda for the next “PARTY”…sorry we missed you, Tod…
Fred Mills
Craig Townsend said:
Bruce Chandler said:
Todd Brody said:
Thanks for putting this together Bob.
BTW, some of you guys is gettin’ old.
And the REST are getting younger? (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-foot-in-mouth.gif)(Hehe…YOU know who YOU are!!! (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif))
I think I was the only one without 25% min grey hair…
Note, that I didn’t say zero grey hair, or balding.
I don’t have that much grey on the top of my head. The beard is another story
All in all I’d give the first Virtual D&B a “went pretty well”. A couple of observations on the format, taking into account private messages from a few people.
- In future “people are presenting something” meetings, I will give the presenter the floor, mute everybody else until they are done, then open the floor for questions and comments. Unlike when we’re meeting in a conference room for the D&B, only one person at a time can speak, so things tended to get a bit out of hand. Also remember to mute yourself if you’re having a conversation with someone outside of Zoom. We can hear you!
- 3 hours is longer than we need. After the 2 hour mark, people dropped out fairly quickly.
- The presenting order got out of hand despite signups. I have a couple of suggestions. I would suggest that at the start of the meeting, we go around and people that want to present say so at that time. If you come in late, use the “Raise your hand” feature to get noticed and someone can add you to the list. Someone else should be keeping track of the list as well, so we dont miss anybody.
Reiterating, I think it went ok for a first one. We can do better the next time.
Group
Thank you for allowing me to join D&B even though I did not participate as a presenter. As is usually the case I learned things from those who did present and I agree with Bob’s comments.
Mike
Thanks Bob, those tweaks sound great.
I agree with all your suggestions Bob. I like the idea of heavy moderation during the presentation portion. If my experience with Marilyn’s classroom Zoom is accurate, I think Bob can hand off the moderation task to someone else freeing him up from needing to be the moderator for every meeting. We can run free-for-all mode at the opening and at the end. Just don’t everyone talk at once!
I joined from a tablet that only shows 4 participants per screen unless you go to the Auto mode which jumps to whomever is speaking. In that mode, when others have open mics, any background noise like a phone ringing or a computer beeping switches the view away from the presenter to the source of that noise. It was kind of annoying at times. Having the moderator mute all but the presenter would fix that.
Had there been an opportunity I was prepared to do a walk-around tour of my indoor. Once things started to slow down where I thought it would be appropriate to jump in, participants were dropping out quickly, so I didn’t speak up. Next time I’ll put myself on the list (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
We discussed frequency of doing this toward the end of the meeting. I’m game for once a month, perhaps on a regular day, like a specific Saturday each month. If folks think that’s too frequent, it can be bi-monthly or quarterly - but having a regular day of the month might make it easier for more folks to schedule and participate. Bi-Monthly would work well with something like the 2nd Saturday of Even Numbered Months.
Yes, a few folks needed to be muted. I noticed that right away as someone that zooms everyday it was a bit annoying.
I dropped out a bit early because the conversation seemed to be drifting away from things that I was interested in.
What I really liked was when the folks shared screens with photos. Next time I wanted to show off something it would work so much better to have a slide show developed. Trying to share physical models without a document camera type setup really doesn’t work.
Overall, I’d give it a score of 9/10 for the first time.
I would just like to say it was nice to have a zoom meeting for once that wasn’t full of black screens and no participation…
I enjoyed the drag and brag. It was fun to see you guys, the projects and hear the jokes. I agree with Bob’s suggestions to make it better for the next time.
It was tough to hold my laptop and walk around the big factory because I couldn’t see what you guys were seeing but I think you got the idea. The next day my wife got her dining room table back. LOL
I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s RR’s on zoom this coming Summer. The new factory will be working by then.
If you guys want to see my RR today I have a bunch of videos on Youtube under the name Capecodtraintodd.
Here is the video.
The Mik 2021 factory will be going in at the site that appears on the 7:50 mark and seen again at the 8:26 mark on the left.