The 1/87 Vehicle Club is sponsoring and promoting a competition for the Best Use of 1/87 Vehicles on an HO Layout at the 2010 Amherst Railroad Society Show. We invite all HO scale railroad clubs/layouts attending the show to register and participate.
We'll be awarding over $1,500 $3,000 worth of prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places consisting of 1/87 vehicles from
Athearn,
Classic Metal Works, Norscot,
River Point Station,
Don Mills Models, Sheepscot Models, Zycon Models,
JCTrucking, Model Railroad News, Muggie Models,
Truck Stop Models and
Burbank House of Hobbies.
RULES:
#1 The layout needs to be HO Scale
#2 Your club must register to participate
Some helpful guidelines for your club that will be used as judging criteria:
1. Accuracy of vehicles - Are they close to 1/87 scale (1/85 - 1/90 scale is generally considered acceptable) throughout the layout? Use of inaccurate (see 2nd part of #2 below) die cast toys, etc. will most likely result in the judges moving on to the next layout.
- How do you know if your vehicles are 1/87?
- First, know that most mainline companies that produce 1/87 models will offer product that fit within the acceptable scale range.
- If you have a vehicle you are unsure of then you will need to find the measurements of the real life thing. Length, width and wheelbase (the distance from the center of the front axle to the rear axle) are the best ones to get. Take that number and divide it by 87. That result should then be the measurement of the respective part on your model.
- Example: The 2007 Ford Expedition XL is 220.5“ long. River Point Station’s 1/87 model of that Expedition XL measures 2.54” bumper to bumper. Dividing the prototype’s length by the model’s length and the scale calculates out at 1/87.
2. Use of custom built models (kitbash or scratch built) - Their detail, accuracy and use will be assessed with the following guidelines:
- The best use of 1/87 vehicles does not necessarily mean the most money spent on the most up to date, out of the box vehicles. Vehicles built from kits, custom made pieces and kitbashes carry equal or greater weight to quality out of the box vehicles.
- While most Hot Wheels and Matchbox, etc vehicles are not 1/87, those that are can count towards the custom category. Obviously the more these toys are detailed to make them look like models, the more weight they will carry with the judges. Examples of this would be accurate 1/87 wheels replacing toy wheels, correct mirrors being added, etc.
- “Imagineering” is definitely appropriate. Models do not have to be 100% prototypical. Perhaps you have a truck line named after a club member rather than a real company. Your people carrier at the amusement park may not be prototypical, nor your hotrods at a diner for example. Obviously they still need to be scale appropriate.
3. Appropriateness of vehicles on the layout - Vehicles will be judged to see whether or not they are out of place, how they will not be considered a good integration, using the following guidelines:
- The vehicles relation to each other. An example of this would be having a fine looking European only cab-over truck running on a highway scene of a layout with American trains, roads and cities. This would not be a good thing!
- Vehicles vs the topography of the layout. An example would be how the vehicle's weathering compares with the topography of the layout.
4. Vehicle era vs layout era - A steam-era layout that has a 2010 sports car on display would be an example of an era mismatch.
5. Spectrum of vehicles - A layout that only has US on-highway trucks featured will not carry as much weight as one with cars, construction equipment, buses, etc.
6. Integration of vehicles into the layout - Are they put there as an afterthought or gratuitously or have they been included in the overall design?
Be sure and register your club's layout to be eligible for the awards! Good luck! We look forward to seeing you there! |
