Michigan LEGO® Users Group

Attendees:

Layout:

• Chris Leach
• Sandy Leach
• Larry Pieniazek
• Josette Pieniazek

Overall Picture Galleries:

Show Report:

Set up was from 8 to 10 AM on the day of the show.

The space in the Farm Pavilion is divided into various areas. There is a large flat enclosed area that can be used for many things, and it was divided into two parts. In one part some sort of horse show was going on (including having temporary stalls set up), and the other part was a conventional dealer area. ALthough it was billed as having layouts there weren't many in evidence. There is another area arranged as an auditorium with tiered seats in back. In the front is a flat area where livestock can be led in and shown off. It also is used for auctions. It's floored with concrete. This is where most of the layouts, including ours, were located.

The building is clearly set up primarily for animals, and there were, ahem, signs that animals had been there on the floor in various, ahem, spots. Not a lot, mind you but you wouldn't want to sit directly on the floor. Fortunately there were chairs to be had and Lar and Jo brought more. We unloaded at a garage door at one end of the auditorium, which was already kind of blocked by the G scalers but not badly enough to be an issue.

Our layout was a small one, perhaps the smallest we've ever set up, at 5 x 10 (or 4 large tables). Chris designed a layout that used one 2x3 block (populated by Lar and Jo's buildings) in the center, and 2 2x2 blocks, one per end. This allowed the 2x2 blocks to have roadways all around them, but the 2x3 block abutted the tracks directly on one end. This is not at all unprototypical, the real world is irregular. The track plan itself was a very simple doubletrack oval, with no switches, crossovers, sidings or other things to break the flow and cause derailments.

Chris and Sandy arrived promptly at 8 and began setting up, when Lar and Jo arrived a bit later, the tables were almost all put together already. The layout suffered a bit from how uneven the floor was, even adding a lot of extra legs still left some wavy spots and dips, etc. The buildings/track/roads went up quickly and everything was ready to go well before 10.

The play area was off to one side and we used some of the old yellow table cloths we have had kicking around for some time to fancy up the table the show organizers gave us. The area was populated with the FLL brick and some odds and ends.

By 10 everything was running. The rolling stock provided by Lar, although Chris had some with him just in case. A last minute change out put the Skyline into a previously empty parking lot in one of Chris's blocks.

Around mid-morning, Chris decided that putting the people mover up would be nifty. After a quick modification of some sections (two sections were shortened from 5 and 6 track lengths to 4 track lengths to make the loop work) that was put in operation. It was powered off the helicopter transformer, and wiring to the connectors ran up one of the supports. This led to the only significant accident of the day when the bullet train got its nose caught in a loop of the wire and derailed nicely. Nothing went down to the floor, fortunately as we were running without sneeze guards.

It was tough to get away for breaks with only 4 adults and Ethan to run things but we managed. Fortunately the play table seemed to be pretty well self-managed. A few periodic reminders that parents needed to stay and watch their kids did the trick and there were no incidents. The play table worked out well really.

The show had good (but not spectacular) traffic all day. A few prospects expressed interest in learning more about the club. The organizers of a show in Troy took contact info and may get back to us.

We started tearing down promptly at 4 PM and we had everything wrapped up and both vehicles loaded by 4:36 (not 4:35 - have to be honest here) which might be a new record for us!

All in all not a bad show. It was also not a money-maker, however; we got our 75 USD but my calculations showed that if Chris and I had each just given the club 50 USD, we would have come out ahead. I know I spent over 60 between gas, breakfast and lunch. Still, it was a nice layout, we've not done a show in Lansing in a while, and they will want us back next year.