OcTRAINber 2020 – Dioramas, dioramas everywhere!

Due to COVID-19 a lot is different this year. However, we didn’t want the community to miss this years OcTRAINber due to that. So, we decided that for the fourth year in a row, OcTRAINber will go on!

This years theme will be “Dioramas, Dioramas Everywhere”. Like the previous installments of OcTRAINber, the idea of this building challenge is to actually challenge builders. To get us out of our comfort zones. We Trainheads build a lot of trains, but we tend to put less emphasis on the stuff that goes next to a train, the stuff that really makes or breaks a picture. And, we must admit, most of us at BMR do exactly the same. In fact, almost all of my pictures are just trains with a white background… So, we decided that building train themed dioramas should be the ideal theme for this years OcTRAINber.

After last years OcTRAINber (The Technic Challenge) we did a little evaluation to find out what things we could improve upon. Two really stood out: The re-introduction of a Digital Builds category, and an extended timeframe to plan and build. And since you, the community, make OcTRAINber, we decided to go with both.

So yes, that means OcTRAINber officially starts today!

The idea is simple, from today onwards you as a community have one month of pre-building in which you can already do your planning, post your WIP stories or just start hyping yourself up. Everything is allowed to do already as if it would be last years OcTRAINber, with one small difference: The Entries page will only go live on October 1st.

Rules

Just so you have some guidelines on what to build, we have made a set of rules that should be enough to get you building. The first two rules are a bit different from previous years, where we had some really though rules about what qualified as an Entry. This gives builders more flexibility, hopefully you will also be able to apply this!

  • We will keep the idea of what a “diorama” is on purpose as vague as possible. Just go all-out with your creativity.
  • Every diorama must have some form of track, and some form of a train. It’s an Bulding Challenge hosted by Brick Model Railroader after all. Just go all-out with your creativity here as well.
  • Entries must be original models. No stealing. This also means no MODs (thus also no sets), only MOCs.
  • Third party parts are allowed, clone bricks aren’t. We know this can be a thin line, just walk it wisely.
  • We are making no rules for the scale you choose to model in. We are welcoming models of 6, 7, and 8 studs, and anything in between or beyond! However, we appreciate detail and accuracy. Reasonably sized models are usually better for that, but we don’t knock anything or anyone with serious skill.
  • NEW BUILDS ONLY. We are willing to accept anything unpublished or anything that was not published before August 1st 2020 as new. We want to inspire and promote a challenging build, entering an old model doesn’t quite work in that regard.
  • Entries MUST be made on our Flickr group in the appropriate thread. This is the ONLY place we will be looking for entries, nowhere else. Sending photos to us on social media or showing us in person do not count as entries! These threads will open on October 1st.
  • We will be accepting entries from Midnight on October 1st to Midnight on November 1st (meaning October 31st, at 23:59 PDT). There is possibility of a grace period to ensure those that need that one final Bricklink order have a fair chance.
    NOTE: If this is the case, please let us know at least one week (ie. 7 days) before October 31st, so that everybody has a fair chance to use this extension.

Categories

This year there will be three categories you can enter in, depending on the size of your diorama: Small, Large and Huge.

Depending on the number of Entries we will decided wheter we will do three seperate categories for digital builds, or just one (in the first two years of OcTRAINber there were significanty less Digital Builds compared to Real Life Builds).

Entries

Keep in mind that OcTRAINber is a ‘quality over quantity’-building event. This means that we rather encourage you to build one amazing build than several sub-par ones. That’s why, just like last year, we will restrict the number of entries to only one per person.

Just like last year, we want to encourage you to show off your WIPs this year as well, to make OcTRAINber really a month that is all about trains within the Lego community. Therefore, extra credit will be given to the best WIP stories and/or pictures during the event.

However, other than last years, the WIPs can be posted from September 1st onwards, so that we in fact have an extended WIP pictures period of two months.

Points

Points will be awarded in three categories: Credibility, WIP Story and Diorama Factor

First of all, credibility of the prototype. This means we will be looking at how much the build represents the real life prototype. Both the diorama itself, but definatly also the train that is on it. If you are sending in a fantasy model, we will look at how credible the build is; would it fit in, does the backstory make sense?

Second of all, the WIP story. This refers to both showing off your building process, but also to how and why you decided to model a certain prototype. The better the story and the more updates you give and the more elaborate your building story is, the better.

Third and last, the Diorama Factor. This is all about how you build your diorama. is it extra funky, does it have strange connections, is everything build on it’s side, is everything off grid… The more creative, the better, but as always with OcTRAINber, it’s about quality first, and quantity second.

Prizes & Winners

We haven’t finalized on prizes yet, but since this is a building challenge, we will for sure have some, just like in previous years.

We will pick the winners after we have announced the official close of the competition and have stopped accepting new entries, which will be some time after November 1. Once the judges (who, just like last year, will be announced in an upcoming article) have come to a sound conclusion regarding the winners, we will post one final article announcing them, and then we will be in contact with those winners regarding their prizes.

Final Words

So, that’s it for now. OcTRAINber has officially started, even though it’s just September. Now the only thing you have to do is start building, and show those diorama’s everywhere! Happy OcTRAINber!

https://i0.wp.com/i.imgflip.com/4hsbrg.jpg?w=474&ssl=1

2 thoughts on “OcTRAINber 2020 – Dioramas, dioramas everywhere!”

  1. Hi,

    it’s a nice theme this year, but I’m unsure of what is considered a “diorama”. I found the following definition:

    (Model) “built in depth with plastic objects in front of a painted or photographed background.”

    I have some questions about this:
    Is it necessary to have a painted or built background?
    Is it possible to build an urban or industrial diorama – or are nature and landscapes necessary for a diorama?
    Could I incorporate movable or motorized elements – or is a diorama always a still life?

    A little more explanation of what counts as a diorama would help me.

    Thanks.

    MTM / Michael

    1. Hi Micheal,

      Thanks for the questions. Just to clarify things a bit: For the last three years OcTRAINber has been a building challenge that both challenges and brings out the creativity. For this reason we on purpose stay vague on the rules, because we like to see exactly that creativity.

      For your first question: We on purpose called it ‘diorama’ and not ‘layout’. It’s always a bit shady difference between the two, but with layout it at least implies that some form of operations is possible, whereas a diorama can be totally static. However, as is the case with most layouts; if you just take a part of it, it becomes a diorama quite fast 😉 Your own models are a pretty good example of that, because they are in fact pretty good diorama’s!

      Google has the following definition: “a model representing a scene with three-dimensional figures, either in miniature or as a large-scale museum exhibit.” The scene part in this one is the most imporant, I’d say. So in that sense, yes, movement is allowed.

      Now, to the questions:
      Is it necessary to have a painted or built background?
      –> this is nowhere specified (and is definatly part of the whole creativity thing), so knock yourself out!
      Is it possible to build an urban or industrial diorama – or are nature and landscapes necessary for a diorama?
      –> this is nowhere specified (and will not be), so do as you like!
      Could I incorporate movable or motorized elements – or is a diorama always a still life?
      –> interesting question. Seeing the whole “scene” thing that a diorama tends to have, I’d say some form of movement is for sure allowed. Just don’t make it a continious layout and you should be fine 😉

      Happy building!

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