Last year we published the results on December 9th, this year we are doing so on January 6th. Not everything can be a tradition after three years, but it seems that slow judging is definitely one of them.

So, I’d say it’s nothing more than fair to cut the chase and just announce the winners of OcTRAINber 2019: The Technic Challenge!

Grand Prize Winner

The entry that got the most votes from all four judges on all three categories aggregated is none other than the Canadian Pacific 414501 250 ton Industrial Brownhoist Wrecker Crane by The Brick Files!

Our Guest Judge Mahjqa had the following to say about this build:

“TheBrickFiles; Wonderful looks and great functionality; this is pretty much everything I’d wish for in a model.”

Grand Prize Runner Up

The entry that got the second most votes from all four judges on all three categories aggregated (by a very close margin!) is Casey Jr. from the Dumbo movie by Narmot (Chris Stone)!

Our Guest Judge Mahjqa had the following to say about this entry:

“Narmot: Impressed by all the functionality, the writeup about animation principles really sold it for me. “

Winner of Movement-Factor category

The entry that got the most votes from all four judges on the main category, the Movement Factor, is the Railway Moving Box by FlipUS (Phil B)!

Our Guest Judge Mahjqa of course also had to say something about this design:

“FlipUS: great concept, fun to see everything in motion.”

Winner of the Credibility category

The entry that got the most votes from all four judges on the Credibility of the build, is the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge by Robwd12 (Robert D.)!

As per tradition, our Guest Judge Mahjqa had the following to say:

“Robwd12: Solid model, very interesting function. Most novel movement function this year. “

Winner of the WIP-story category

Last but not least, the builder that kept us in the best way up-to-date about their build, but also tried to explain some of his building behind the scenes, is the Railway Test Bench with SNCF 140 C 314 Ajecta by denis.h.garnier (Denis Garnier)!

And, ofcourse, our Guest Judge Mahjqa also had something to tell about this design:

“Denis H Garnier: Very unique concept, good looking model. “

Prizes

Yes, prizes, the most important part of any contest! This year we have been able, thanks to our sponsors FX Bricks, BrickTracks and TLC, to arrange five Prize Packs. Since we know that every builder might have some different ideas how to use any of these items, we are giving the first winner the first chance to pick one of these five Prize Packs, the second winner the second chance, etc. etc. all until the Winner of the WIP-story category, who will receive the final Prize Pack. One of us here at BMR will reach out to you on short notice (we promise, it won’t be as long as you have been waiting for the results) to arrange things with all five of you!

PFx Brick XL Package	PFx Brick M Package	Bricktracks Parts Pack 1	Bricktracks Parts Pack 2	TLC
PFx Brick 16 MB (new injection molded case!)	PFx Brick 16 MB (new injection molded case!)	1 full circle (4x boxes) of BrickTracks R120 Curved Track	2x boxes of BrickTracks Short Straight Track	LEGO 71044 Disney Train and Station
XL Speaker	M Speaker	2x boxes of BrickTracks Short Straight Track
pinLABsolo Light Accessory Board	pinLABsolo Light Accessory Board
4x Bright White Fx LEDs	4x Bright White Fx LEDs

Words from the Guest Judge

In fact, Mahjqa reviewed all posted models, so we thought it would be good to post these as well, just so you guys know what to do to score even better next year!

“ColletArrow: Solid model, lots of functionality in a small package. 

Brett Wiebold: Gorgeous model, doesn’t skimp on functions. 

The Chestertonian: Very entertaining concept, works like a charm.

Sparks Again: Great concept; wish the function was more functional instead of just decorative.

William.Cooper: Love that you managed to fit a very functional mechanism in such a tiny model.

Beck: A very solid effort overall. 

JMChisel: Very out-of-the-box, it’s obvious a lot of effort went into this.

Brickmodder: Hilarious function, very appealing.”

Final Words

First of all, you guys might remember we had a Direct Drive and Indirect Drive category where entries could be submitted. In the end we decided to combine both categories, because it turned out our differentiating between both categories was very unclear, even for us…

We were again stunned by the high quality of the entries and the amazing functionality that you managed to cram into your designs. Even though some of you weren’t able to finish in time, and some even weren’t able to do so after the extension, we have seen some great stuff from all of you. Even after three years of OcTRAINber, the creativity still amazes us. Congrats to the winners, but definitely also kudos to all other builders that participated!!

It has been a lot of fun for us here at BMR to organize this event for the third year in a row now. Yes, some things could have gone smoother, and we apologize for this. Running BMR, writing articles and also keeping a contest afloat takes a lot of time, definitely because it’s just as much a hobby for me as it is for any of you.

Oh, and yes, we still very much would like to receive some feedback on this years OcTRAINber, and the two previous editions, so that we can come back with an even better OcTRAINber 2020. Feel free to drop your feedback in the comments!