Michigan LEGO® Users Group

Located at the Rock Financial Center in Novi, Michigan

The city portion of the MichLTC GTE display.

Attendees:		Layout:
James Garrett Steve Grant Lauren K. Ken K. Skyler K. Trevor K. Chris Leach Larry Pieniazek Josette Pieniazek Spencer Rezkalla Steve Ringe Steve Weiser

Overall Picture Galleries:
Jim Garrett	Larry Pieniazek

Show Report:

by James Garrett

Setup

MichLTC participated in the annual Great Train Expo appearance at the Rock Financial Center in Novi, Michigan. Setup was from 12 noon to 6 pm Friday and 7 am to 10 am on Saturday. With no NMRA for MichLTC this year, the GTE train layout is probably our largest display for this year. Steve Ringe designed the layout which included four train loops and some of the highlights from last year’s NMRA display.

New MOCs

Among the new or updated creations making their debut at this show were:

1. Steve Grant’s new race course scene which was based on several Lego sets from the 1980s
2. Steve Ringe’s new tan and black victorian mansion on a 64×64 sized property.
3. Ken’s improved tree house – now a three story affair.
4. Larry’s new underconstruction high-rise building with custom construction crane.
5. Larry and Josettes’s new buildings for their city blocks.
6. My updated Penobscot Building – now with 6 more stories and more accurate proportions.

Other Highlights

Previously seen creations also enhanced the display:

1. Steve Ringe’s impressive SS Vally Camp, ore dock, and Tawas Point Lighthouse module AND his “magic” car module.
2. Larry and Josette’s detailed city blocks.
3. Spencer’s American International Buiding and Maersk HQ Building.
4. Trevor’s farm scene and his cargo transfer building.
5. My Detroit buildings (Public Library, David Stott, etc.)

Larry and Josette’s city blocks with Larry’s new building under construction.

Steve Ringe’s new victorian mansion with Trevor’s farm house and cargo transfer building in the background.

The Show

The two day show went quite well; the crowds were in abundance. The MichLTC train layout was perhaps the most popular layout of the four at the show. Steve Grant’s rock concert and race car scenes added some pizazz to our typical staid town display. Train operation was relatively smooth. There were a few minor derailments and Spencer’s long TTX freight cars did manage to wipe out some scenery. Steve R’s Big Boy managed to avoid Larry’s house of ill-repute with about 3mm to spare. A young Lego fan brought his own locomotive to run on our layout. As it was only slightly longer than a standard train motor, it bounced around the layout with alarming speed. More importantly, it made him happy.

Teardown

Teardown began at 4 pm on Sunday. Due to the good participation from MichLTC members, we had everything taken down and stowed away in about 2 hours.