PlaymoFriends
General => Community Events => Topic started by: playmofirth on October 22, 2010, 22:32:53
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Plans are beginning for an exhibition of Playmobil at the Scout Hut of 1st Knaresborough Scouts, Wetherby Road, Knaresborough in February 2011.
I should perhaps explain that I am the Chairman of the Committee of the local scouts group (including Cubs and Beavers). We have a reasonably large scout hut. We are constantly looking for fundraising opportunities and I was inspired by Skypurr’s exhibition in SW Scotland (see “Kirkbean Playmobil Exhibition” thread). I have suggested that the Scouts, Cubs and Beavers put on a similar exhibition. We have space in the hall and car parking outside. We also have plenty of tables for displaying sets on.
My family has a substantial collection of Playmobil, though it is modest by the standards of many who appear in this forum. This would form the basis of the exhibition. We are asking parents of other Beavers, Cubs and Scouts if their children have Playmobil items that we could include. It might also be an opportunity to sell sets their children have outgrown.
I am looking at including the following themes:
Knights; Pirates; City Life (incorporating Rescue and Police); Construction; Airport, plus some Racing Cars; Underwater Exploration; Space; Vikings.
I plan to use some sessions with Cubs and Scouts to build base boards and dioramas. Most of the displays will be fine with painted flat boards. I would like something more dramatic for the Vikings (seascape), alien planet for Space. The Underwater display should involve suspending the models over a sandy base.
This would be promoted in the local area. I attach a draft poster. Please note the date and entry price have not been finalised yet.
I am looking for a couple of things from Playmofriend members if they are able:
• Would you like to be part of the exhibition?
o Perhaps you have a set that would enhance a theme.
o Perhaps you have a separate theme you could bring.
o Perhaps you have a train that would help animate a scene.
• Do you have any material that could be used to entertain children? I am particularly thinking of outline pictures of Playmobil Klickies that can be coloured in. We have plenty of crayons and coloured pencils.
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This is a great idea, to involve the whole Scout group, I was involved with Scouting for many years (an Akela for nearly 15 years!) and I know my cubs would have loved something like this.
As regards colouring pages, the ones we used were Macgayvers:
http://www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=4094.0
I asked Michael and he was very happy for me to print them out and use them, and children loved them.
Have you asked anyone from Playmobil for help? They sent me posters, catalogues and cds. I will pm you the contact I used for this.
I'm not sure if I would be available to take part but will give it some consideration when you have a final date.
If you need help with anything else just pm me and I will do what I can.
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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As Elaine says, that's a great idea and if the date's right, I'll gladly come. It's maybe a shame that from being about 14 miles from Knaresborough I now live about 60 miles away, but that's life! :lol:
I can bring a train and also fire and rescue stuff and general stuff. Maybe if I experiment between now and then with a rail layout including city life/country life items in a wide meaning of the words.
I will second Elaine's suggestions of contacting UK Playmobil. They provided me with stuff in the past for displays.
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I think this is a wonderful idea. :D Could you use some extra klicky children? I have a few that I can donate.
Joe
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Thanks for the responses. I'll reply to each of you by PM.
I am happy to hear from any other collectors in the North Yorkshire area (or wider) who might be interested in getting involved. I have a fairly comprehensive list of my present collection I can send out (1.5MB).
Playmofirth
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An update.
Playmofire, Flatcat and Walts-trains have all expressed an interest in getting involved. Basilsdad has taken an interest and donated some klicky children.
At present I am talking to Damo about a Western Themed display. This is a stand alone element - a display on its own.
Gordon has suggested some elements he can provide to a City Life theme, while Walter has a pretty substantial train system he can provide. I am particularly interested in Walter's layouts as he is geared to letting children see and use them and can be flexible on size. I need to weigh up the best way to merge these elements. Please post any photos, or links to photos, of items that might be included here.
I can tell you that the hall is 41ft by 27ft. I'll look at providing a scale drawing here soon along with some photos. I am already excited at the prospect. I think I'll have to start work on the Pirate display soon.
Mark
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Have you decided a definite date yet? If you could let me know when you have I can work out whether I'll be able to make it too.
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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Have you decided a definite date yet? If you could let me know when you have I can work out whether I'll be able to make it too.
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
Yes, I also need to know this to be sure I can attend.
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Have you decided a definite date yet? If you could let me know when you have I can work out whether I'll be able to make it too.
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
I am still looking at the last weekend of February - Saturday 26 Feb and Sunday 27 Feb. This is the end of the half term holiday and allows for setting up time on the Friday, and other preparation before.
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Here is my scale drawing of our hall with a possible layout of displays. Its is a pdf. When printed off it should be 1cm = 2ft.
Playmofirth
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I was looking through the 2010 Playmobil Exhibition thread (www.playmofriends.com/forum/index.php?topic=4247.15) when I found this photo. I think it shows the sort of thing we are looking for, except with the emphasis on a frontier town rather than the "Indian" camp shown here.
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I'm not to far away from you and at the moment have nothing planned in February and would be interested in attending.
I have a few sets that I could display in the themes Knights, Pirates, Western, Native American, Romans and Vikings.
Just looked at your poster are those dates confirmed?
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Think I should be able to make it :crossed:
I could add to existing themes or I could bring a circus display. I also have Victorians but that would be harder to transport/set up etc.
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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Thanks to Gary and Elaine
I appreciate your recent interest. I am now looking at whether the hall is big enough! 8}
I am going to have to rethink the layout in the hall and the best use the space available. With offers in so far I am getting to the limit of what we can manage. I have some ideas, including bringing the airport and construction into the City Life display. This would result in:
16ft x 4ft Pirate display
16ft x 4ft Knights/Castle display
16ft x 4ft Walters Trains (Winter layout?)
12ft x 8ft Western display (sorry Damo I am going to ask you to lose 2ft of width)
16ft x 8ft City Life (Elaine - I'll send you the list of my collection)
What I would like to ask you both to do if possible is take a photo or photos of what you would layout on an 8ft by 4ft flat base board - Garry with Romans or Vikings and Elaine with Circus. Is this okay?
Mark
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12ft x 8ft Western display (sorry Damo I am going to ask you to lose 2ft of width)
:o :o :o WHAT!!!!!! :lol:
Ok, definately no room for forts ;)
I shall just work with the train, a town, Indian camp, ranch, and Goldmine.
We shall see about the mountain/tunnel when I do my next mock-up with a plain oval
Damo :)
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Currently, city life is 20ft by 8ft. What is happening to the other 4ft by 8ft?
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Gordon
Bear with me until I have rerun the layout of displays. Its all in the pot for now. I appreciate that your interest is probably in the City Life and this remains very much the centre piece. The extra 8 x 4 is probably still in.
Walter is keen to put up his winter/Christmas layout. I await his photos of his new displays to see what is on offer. The larger train layout may be in danger of "over powering" the playmobil city life. I may go with high street based approach. I may still be able to include your train.
Mark
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OK, Mark, look forward to the revised layout plan. I can do train and/or emergency service set up.
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I have reworked the layout of displays to incorporate all those interested in being involved. See the PDF attachment. Comments welcome
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I have reworked the layout of displays to incorporate all those interested in being involved. See the PDF attachment. Comments welcome
Looks great 8-)
Is racing really going to be outside? :hmm:
One thing my parents thought of was how am I going to get to the back of my display table to set things up ??? 8 ft is a long way to reach :lol:
Damo :)
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One thing my parents thought of was how am I going to get to the back of my display table to set things up 8 ft is a long way to reach
Damo - You have wise and thoughtful parents able to ask awkward questions! I had given this some consideration and I was thinking of suspending you from the ceiling in a harness - like Tom Cruise in "Mission Impossible". :lol: Seriously though, there are a couple of options. One is that we set the display up by around 18 inches out from the wall. The other is to accept that the middle of the back (around 4ft x4ft) will not be the main area of focus and will have fewer klickies back there. I think it might be possible to do a mix whereby we set up all the "robust" items - train track, buildings etc with the set brought out. We then push it back against the wall and populate it with klickies. I would like it back against the wall as I wanted "backcloths" for displays. This is a grand way of describing lengths of lining paper painted in sky blue or whatever is appropriate.
I plan to have all of the bases laid out (painted and "dressed") ready for everyone's arrival.
You mentioned racing. Racing (I have 5 F1 style cars, a service van, a 4x4 pickup and trailer), Underwater (three submarines), Space and Garry's possible Romans are all struggling for space. I had to move them from plans for now. I have considered some shelves for simple display or using a separate smaller room. Garry and I talked about a smaller table for a modest Romans display. This is still possible. I am reluctant to leave things out.
Playmofirth
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I provided a plan of the hall with the proposed layout of the displays in my posted of 18 November. People have asked me to confirm the date of the event.
I can now confirm that it will be on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th February. I have amended the poster to show this and I have listed the display themes that people have put forward.
I would have attached the poster here but try as I might I cannot get it under 200kb.
I will look to actively promote the event after Christmas and New Year. I have several channels of promotion I will be pursuing.
Mark
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We are now counting down to the Playmobil Exhibition in Knaresborough on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 February. Only six weeks to go. 8}
We have a 41ft by 27ft hall which will be well filled with displays. While we are not looking to break any records we are looking a good broad-based exhibition showing the scope of Playmobil.
The displays are set to include - Pirates; Medieval Knights; Vikings (Sir Gareth); Wild West (Flatcat), Christmas Train scene (Walts Trains); Circus (Skypurr); City Life with Rescue, Airport, Construction, trains and shops (Playmofire and myself). There are to be some additional cross theme contributions too. Thanks for Basilsdad for his donation.
I look forward to meeting anyone who can attend.
Playmofirth
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Only 6 weeks to go :o
I should have my display finished by then. ;D
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If you want a preview of my Christmas layout go to:
www.walts-playmobil-collection.me.uk
and go to the Christmas layout page.
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A quick update:
- I have started distributing posters around Knaresborough.
- Local primary schools have been contacted about putting up posters and putting articles in newsletters.
- Articles have been sent to district scouts in West Yorkshire and Harrogate District
- A press release has been prepared for local newpapers and radio
- Catalogues and CD ROMs have been received from Playmobil.
- Knowledge Magnet Toyshop in Ripon has been contacted.
- More posters will appear.
- Exhibition info on the history of Playmobil is being prepared.
- Acknowledgements will be given to all contributors to the event.
Any attendees welcome.
Mark
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Thanks for the update, Mark, and for all the hard work you're putting in. :wave:
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Ditto!
Mark, so you have an updated list of any other items you want me to bring down?
I'll pm you re anything new I've bought recently that might be useful.
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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Dear all
My 8ft x 4ft boards arrived on Saturday. They are 12mm thick so they are quite rigid. I plan to paint them overthe next couple weeks.
Circus and knights baseboards will be painted green (Dulux "Putting Green" - see below)
I'll do a tropical blue green for the pirates. I am looking to add some raised land at one end to set an artillery piece on. The Naval stockade and Garry's lighthouse can sit on this shore.
Vikings will be a steely grey/blue sea. Garry can place his shore on this.
The Western setting will be on sandy yellow painted boards. I might add some fine sand and grass flock. Damo - I'll PM you about some more info.
The more complicated bit is the city life. I'll put together an airport on one board. Grey runway and other tarmac with grass margins for the runway. I need to think about road and rail layout for the other sections. I might just paint it all grey to begin with and might add some green patches late on. Gordon - any thoughts or suggestions.
Mark
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On the large train layout that Glazz had on display in Seattle most of the city sections are grey. The exception is an area with houses and the garden center that is green. You might paint it grey, then have some green construction paper or cloth sections that can be laid down in places.
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I think grey is a good starting point for City Life, Mark, and as you say green can be added afterwards, maybe even as late as Friday using emulsion or acrylics.
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On the large train layout that Glazz had on display in Seattle most of the city sections are grey. The exception is an area with houses and the garden center that is green. You might paint it grey, then have some green construction paper or cloth sections that can be laid down in places.
The green construction paper or cloth is a good idea, Tim.
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I think grey is a good starting point for City Life, Mark, and as you say green can be added afterwards, maybe even as late as Friday using emulsion or acrylics.
Hi guys
Good suggestions. I am thinking of treating the baseboards as a backround to the sets on display, rather that major works in their own right. I don't think I have the time do much more. On this basis a grey base and then some late additions of green would fit the bill. I like Tiermann's suggestion of paper or cloth. A couple of yards of green baize material might be good if can get some. (I know a couple of shops to try.)
Mark
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I had a thought today and acted upon it. The Scout Hut has a TV and dvd player. I have seen Playmobil commercials on the TV so I dropped an e-mail to Jamie at Playmobil asking if he had any TV ads on dvd. He is sending a disc in the post.
Mark
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Oh, that's a great idea! That's going to be such a nice touch!
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Good thinking, Mark. :wave:
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I had a thought today and acted upon it. The Scout Hut has a TV and dvd player. I have seen Playmobil commercials on the TV so I dropped an e-mail to Jamie at Playmobil asking if he had any TV ads on dvd. He is sending a disc in the post.
Mark
That is a good idea, I'm looking forward to seeing whats on it myself.
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I agree, it is a good idea.
Sounds like everything is going to plan with the boards, I think you're right about them just being a 'background' everyone will have eyes only for the Playmobil, not what it's stood on.
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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My press release on the Knaresborough Playmoil Exhibition has appeared in the Knaresborough post - my local weekly newspaper - today.
I have had to reduce the quality to get a version that can be up loaded here. I hope you can make it out. I will attach the photo separately when I figure out how to reduce it to under 100kb.
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Nice article Mark. :)
The Vikings are ready and will see you there.
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WOW this is soo exciting! :D
What a great article! :yup:
Oh my, what a lot of promises the Wild West display has to live up to! :uhoh: :lol:
Don't worry - everythings under control! (and I'm bringing a spare train just incase! :P)
Can't wait to see you all there!
Damo :)
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Excellent piece of writing, Mark. :wave:
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That's a great article Mark - you were lucky, our local BBC radio broadcast an interview, but the local newspapers failed to put anything at all in both.
Things are being brought out of storage here, and I've sorted out my accomodation so will be all ready to travel down on Friday morning. I should now be able to be there Saturday and Sunday too.
Looking forward to meeting everyone there.
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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I am soooo excited...and I won't even be there :-(
I can just ask you guys one thing: :picsplz:
a grouppic like the Greeks did would also be AWESOME!
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I am soooo excited...and I won't even be there :-(
I can just ask you guys one thing: :picsplz:
a grouppic like the Greeks did would also be AWESOME!
Only if I can stand at the back ;D
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Be assured that the photos will happen - of the group and the displays. And no standing at the back!
Mark
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Today I started assembling the Western display as a mock up. Finding a whole 12x8ft wasn't easy but I managed it :o
So far it has taken 3 hours, and in that time I have only managed to assemble the oval of track, build the sheriffs office, and build the train station (anyone who has one will know it's a pain to assemble!)
Gee I hope we are leave early on Friday morning :lol:
And no standing at the back!
In that case, I'll stand behind Elaine! :P
Damo :)
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I'll stand behind the camera. :)
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Damo - I know what you mean. As a father who has spent a couple of hours at a time putting together castles, pirate ships and buildings on Christmas mornings I do not underestimate the time it takes to put the sets together. I'll be using Thursday to put some stuff together, even though I cannot set up the displays until Friday - we have a dance group in the hall on Thursday night.
If it helps we have all the time we need on Friday. I hope we'll have some spare hands to help. I can offer everyone fish & chips on Friday teatime - we have a brilliant chippy that make huge battered fish.
Mark
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Elaine , Damo and Gordon
People on the forum want to see you - let me remind you that you are held in high regard by your peers.
Mark :D
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the exhibition is this weekend????? :yippee: :yippee:
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The exhibition is most definitely this weekend. Sorting and packing is reaching fever pitch in several households as people prepare their sets for bringing. I have moved one car load of boxes so far (mostly from under my son's bed). I must have at least two more car loads to do.
We have cleaners in the Scout Hut today.
I will be trying to make a small mountain, to give Damo's western train a tunnel, and some raised land for artillery on the pirate display. I still have some more painting of baseboards to do - probably Wednesday evening. On Thursday I start assembling buildings and joining baseboards. Friday is the big set up with Damo, Elaine and Gordon arriving. Garry and Walter arrive on Saturday morning. Then we open at 11am.
8}
Mark
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Sorting and packing is reaching fever pitch in several households as people prepare their sets for bringing.
It's reached the trauma stage in our household 8} 8} 8}
I'm so excited! It should be a great weekend :)
Damo :)
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The exhibition is most definitely this weekend. Sorting and packing is reaching fever pitch in several households as people prepare their sets for bringing. I have moved one car load of boxes so far (mostly from under my son's bed). I must have at least two more car loads to do.
We have cleaners in the Scout Hut today.
I will be trying to make a small mountain, to give Damo's western train a tunnel, and some raised land for artillery on the pirate display. I still have some more painting of baseboards to do - probably Wednesday evening. On Thursday I start assembling buildings and joining baseboards. Friday is the big set up with Damo, Elaine and Gordon arriving. Garry and Walter arrive on Saturday morning. Then we open at 11am.
8}
Mark
Oh great! I cant wait!!
btw Garry and Walter are also Playmofriends?
Good luck guys! I would help if I were nearer :)
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btw Garry and Walter are also Playmofriends?
Otherwise known as Sir Gareth and Walts-trains. :wave:
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Otherwise known as Sir Gareth and Walts-trains. :wave:
oh great! thanx! :wave:
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I sent the press release for the event to our two local radio stations. I have just had a call from BBC Radio York who are going to come over on Sunday morning at around 10am to look around and interview one or two people at 10.30am.
Apparently the Sunday morning programme has a good number of listeners and should attract more visitors.
The event has featured in the "what's on" announcements on the station.
Mark
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wow great news!! this is getting bigger and bigger! ;D
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Our house looks like a bomb site! :lol:
I don't think there is a room in our house that hasn't got a box of Playmobil in it. I'm giving a talk on paper quilling and cardmaking tonight so I've had to leave everything to make cards and work samples :hissyfit:
However later tonight, tomorrow and Thursday I'll be back to making sure that I have everything to bring - Sandy did suggest I would be better hiring a van and just taking everything ;D ;D
My big problem is having to make sure that I've left enough food for the family for the time I'm away as we only have the one car that I'm taking and the nearest shop is 6 miles away!
So, it's fever pitch here too :)
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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Everything is cool and calm here. 8-)
I won't start to panic until Friday night :o
Everyone can stand behind Dawn during the photos she doesn't mind being in the front.
Not that she will hide you much. ;D
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Just spent the morning painting some more baseboards. Nearly all done. I have two City Life boards to paint. One it the airport - I'll do that this afternoon. The other one is to be delivered tomorrow so that'll need painting as soon as it arrives.
I did the pirate islands this morning. We had a donation of a pirate ship - a 3286. Its not complete but is mostly there. Its available after the event to someone who can use it. It'll need a good clean as I suspect it has been sunk in pond somewhere in the past.
Lots of buildings to put together this afternoon, plus a mountain to build for Damo's train tunnel - should be fun.
Mark
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Like you, I'm putting buildings together this pm to bring along in case you need them (they're Steck houses). I'm also going to have an idea things will fit in the car!
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I put out the painted base boards for the Pirates this afternoon. They look really good, especially with islands set out on them. I had to put them away as the hall has a regular hirer in tonight. We'll be ready to press on in the morning. I can get pirates and knights out, the western boards up ready for Damo. (The mountain didn't really come together and I don't know I'll have time to get on with it.)
I will finish painting the base boards for the City Life (I need some more grey paint) in the morning - waiting for that last board to be delivered). I want to get this done so Gordon can press on. I have two painted boards so we can get the railway laid out.
I'll be there from 9am or 9.30am on Friday. I look forward to seeing you all soon.
Mark
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Things sound to be coming together nicely, Mark, despite the problem of the mountain. What method are you using? Large sheets of crumpled strong brown paper brushed over with glue gives a fairly stiff form to paint on, horizontal surfaces green, others grey or brown. I remember using Gloy years ago on admittedly smaller OO scenery.
I will be over as soon as possible tomorrow. I had hoped to have everything packed up and maybe even in the car, but not so I'm afraid. Would you be able to bring a soldering iron and some solder tomorrow, Mark, please? There is a battery connection on a piece which needs soldering and my soldering iron is still packed somewhere.
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Oh no, my mountain! :o :lol:
No worries if you can't get it done. Either we can sit there friday night working at it, or just fill the space with more Playmobil ;)
BTW, If not, I can bring my soldering iron, if there are any problems - just let me know :)
All the Playmo (including your parts, Gordon) are packed up into boxes, but whether they go in the car or not, we shall soon find out! :uhoh:
Damo :)
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Damo - Please bring your soldering iron for Gordon as I don't have one.
I can work on the mountain again tomorrow. I have a cardboard structure. It is quite large. (This is not OO!) I have a reasonable amount of brown paper (from Playmobil appropriately enough), but I think I am out of PVA glue. I can get some more early tomorrow. I have brown and green paint.
Mark
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Car is all packed up, along with my soldering iron with solder for Gordon :)
We aim to leave as early as we can tommorow morning (or as early as I can get up! :P) and our estimated journey time is 4 hours.
Damo :)
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All the Playmo (including your parts, Gordon) are packed up into boxes, but whether they go in the car or not, we shall soon find out! :uhoh:
Damo :)
You're ahead of me here, Damo, as here everything isn't yet packed in boxes and I'm still wrestling with a System-X problem with the fire station. 8}
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Car is all packed up, along with my soldering iron with solder for Gordon :)
Damo :)
Thanks, Damo. :wave:
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Damo - Please bring your soldering iron for Gordon as I don't have one.
I can work on the mountain again tomorrow. I have a cardboard structure. It is quite large. (This is not OO!) I have a reasonable amount of brown paper (from Playmobil appropriately enough), but I think I am out of PVA glue. I can get some more early tomorrow. I have brown and green paint.
Mark
Sounds as if you're well on the way there, Mark.
I remember I went for brown and green on my OO gauge setup, a nice reddish brown. I suppose I had unwittingly chosen as sandstone colour.
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Just to give a lift to today, two railway signals I ordered yesterday arrived today - new and cheaper than on eBay!
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I hope the exhibition is a huge success after all the planning and hard work that has gone into it. I wish we could be there but it's a long haul (about nine hours including stops) and unfortunately it's the wrong end of our half term.
Looking forward to seeing the photos, so don't forget to take some ;)
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I wish you a beautifull playmo weekend and an exhibition full of success.Show to the people there the wonderful world of playmobil.Please post photo as soon as you can.
Sorry Gordon it seems that i have not read this post very carefully!!
GOOD LUCK TO ALL! :wave:
I'm very jealous that i can not be there,I hope to make it someday!
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Have a great weekend all!
I hope you'll all have a blast!
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We had a frantic day yesterday. I was in the the hall from 9am to just after midnight.
Damo and his family arrived before lunch just a little ahead of Gordon. Elaine arrive mid-afternoon. All their cars were full of boxes.
The tables and base boards were all set out - 4ft by 16ft for Pirates and for Knights. 12 ft by 8ft for the Western, 8 by 4 for Circus and 20ft by 8 ft for City Life. The boards all looked huge at first but once the Playmobil started to pile up I thought we were going to need a bigger hall.
It was a long day for everyone and we still have a lot of work to do this morning. (Its 7.25am now.)
Mark
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It sounds like so much fun!!! (http://www.mazeguy.net/happy/jump.gif)
i wish we could do that here! Can't wait to see the pics! :picsplz:
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Phew! What a day. I was there at 8am after around 5 hours sleep. There seemed to be still so much to do. I had my daughter to help. (I remembered to take my camera today but did not have time to take any photos until nearly lunchtime.) We set Gary's baseboard up ready for his display. Just as well as he managed to get here for 8.30am. Gary's Viking display had had a lot of preparation - he had prepared a section of shore for a corner of the sea-coloured base. It looked great.
Walter and his wife Marion arrived at around 8.45am and were well drilled at setting up their Christmas train scene.
Meanwhile I had a pirate ship to rig and any number of other jobs to do. There was a lot of clearing of boxes before we got to 11am and opening time. We had a family arrive at 10.55 but we were still getting ready. (It is amazing how many little jobs there are involved in getting everything ready.)
And we were off. We had a steady influx of visitors throughout the day. I don't know how many yet as we forgot to set up a tally and I haven't added up the takings. (Watch this space.) We'll keep count tomorrow.
The response was great. I think we surprised people with the scale of what we achieved. The pictures (to follow shortly) will show what we did.
Another day of the exhibition tomorrow, beginning with the local BBC Radio arriving at 10am.
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Thanks you so much for the updates Mark!
I cant believe you found time to make them but they are very much appreciated. Have another great day good luck with the BBC and I am eagerly looking forward to the next update!
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5 hours of sleep? I am surprised you could sleep at all. This is too exciting! ;D
Joe
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5 hours of sleep? I am surprised you could sleep at all. This is too exciting! ;D
Joe
I agree! Congratulations and a job well done to all of you. This has been so exciting reading about the planning and the last minute preparation. Elaine, I loved your comment about "making sure there was enough food in the house for the family while you were gone, since you were taking the only car and the store is 6 miles away" !!
Events like this make me, someone from the pre-computer/internet era, stop and just sit back and enjoy the friendship benefits of the internet.
Looking forward to seeing the photos.
kaeth
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Sounds like a most exciting event !!! Cannot wait to see the pics!!!
Congrats to all of you who contributed to this event!!!
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WOW! what a weekend, and most definately the best weekend I have ever had (by far!) :yup:
I am safely home and unloaded now, but I know others have a much longer journey home - especially Mark! :P
I really must congratulate Mark for all his incredible hard work he put into making the event the huge sucess that it was. Everything from painting boards, to handing out flyers and posters, Mark, along with his family and friends, did a tremendous job, and hopefully raised lots of money for the Knaresborough scout hut :)
And I must say what a pleasure it was to meet fellow Playmofriends :) :) :)
My Western display went very well, with only a couple of mishaps with the train regarding 'hands on children', and one gold panner who found his way over to the pirates/knights table! :lol:
I've just got to unpack and sort out my Playmobil now, from where we just swept it into boxes and sealey bags! ::) :lol:
Damo :)
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How come you were home at 13:10 and the show finished at 16:00?
Flatcat is right - a greatly enjoyable weekend, great to meet up with fellow Playmofriends, and Mark did an outstanding job for which, Mark, many, many thanks.
I'll leave it to Mark to announce how successful the show was.
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Dear friends – both those I met this weekend and those who have followed developments from the sidelines
We had a great weekend and an excellent exhibition. I must thank those exhibitors/contributors who put in so much time and effort to make it the success it was. My own efforts were driven largely by the desire to make things work well for those who helped us. From the comments from Damo (Flatcat) and Gordon (Playmofire) it seems to have worked. (They must have both logged on straight after getting home.) Oh and to see the look on the faces of the children!
Here is a photo of the “Playmogang” - Gordon (Playmofire), Damo (Flatcat), Elaine (Skypurr), myself (Playmofirth) (with eyes close – it must be the lack of sleep catching up with me), Dawn & Garry (Sir Gareth), Marion and Walter (Walts-trains).
We will be posting photos of the displays soon – watch this space.
As I mentioned we featured on BBC Radio York this morning - check the listen again function within a week of today (Sunday 27 Feb) – http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00f07ts/Jonathan_Cowap_27_02_2011 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00f07ts/Jonathan_Cowap_27_02_2011). Look 30 minutes in. The reporter was very impressed as you can tell. After my bit, Walter got to say a bit and then Hazel from Knowledge Magnet Toy shop, who had a stall at our exhibition and did good business – far better than she expected.
By the way we took £480. Which means we had nearly 500 people attend. After taking off the costs of the event we will have made around £350.
Getting out of the hall was a lot quicker than getting in and setting up – but none of my stuff is in the right boxes so I’ll be spending some time going through it all. That and catching my breath.
If anyone can stand the idea, we have raised the prospect of doing something similar next year (only even better).
Regards Mark
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Here are a few photos -
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Here are some more photos from the exhibition -
Mark
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More photos
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Love the pictures and what a handsome group of Playmofriends! :love:
Joe
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Glad to see Playmofriends UK!!!!
Thank for all the great pics!!! I love the lighthouse and schooner diorama!!! The knights line up is great!!!
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Thank you so much for the pictures :-)
The groupshot is great, and the diorama's look amazing!
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It's great to see everyone's faces!!!
Im glad the exhibition went so wellafter so much work guys!.... 500 people is a lot!!
COngratz!!
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Excellent Job! My congratulations for this beautiful exhibition!!! I would like to be with all my playmos there to support you!!! May be sometime i would be able to do this!!
Marvellous JOB!!!!
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Thanks for the pics! So nice to see all of you, and the dioramas look fantastic! I REALLY wish we could do something like this here in the US, but we are all so spread out it would be very difficult. :( Still, I wonder....
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Hi all,
Dawn and I had a great weekend not only did the event go well our stay in knaresborough was pleasant as well.
Mark had done a great job on advertising the event as soon as we left our B&B we noticed an exhibition poster in the building next to us and once in the town centre spotted several more. Even when we went for dinner on Saturday we noticed a newspaper in the cafe open on the page with the picture of the scouts and Marks article on the event.
I was amazed at the amount of people that turned up on both days, as soon as the doors where opened at 11.00am people started to come in.
It was nice to meet the people behind the avatars and usernames and get to know them all.
Mark and his team did a great job on the hall you could tell that a lot of time had been spent planning the event and all that hard work seems to have paid off in raising all that money for the Scouts. :clap:
Garry
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Great to hear it was so successful. The photos are great, and what an attractive group of Playmofriends.
It's wonderful to get together as a group and do events. I hope you all are able to do it again next year.
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The photos were fun to look at, and it is so exciting to hear about the great response you had, from the community. It was fun also to see the faces behind the avatars. Funny, all of you look perfectly normal, it is not obvious that you spend buckets of money collecting small plastic figures and every single accessory for them that you can find!
kaeth
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I've just arrived home - as I stayed on in England for a couple of days visiting friends and relatives. Most of my Playmobil is still in the car as Sandy had to rush off for an appointment so I still have the delight of sorting it all out and putting it away!
Like all the rest of the gang who were there, I'd also like to thank Mark for all the organisation and effort he put into making the exhibition a success, everything seemed to go smoothly and was great fun. :thanks:
It was also lovely to meet friends that although we had only 'spoken' through the forum, felt like friends I known for ever. :)
I'll sort out my photos, but not tonight as I feel like putting my feet up after a hectic few days.
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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Congratulations ! This all sounds very nice. Thanks for the pics :wave:
Elaine: your little package arrived - thank you so much !!!! :thanks:
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I was wondering if anyone would be interested in a summary of what went into organising the event and some of the lessons learnt along the way. Would this be useful?
Once "the dust settles" I would be happy to put together a page or two on a word document explaining what I did and how it came together. The other exhibitors might wish to add a few paragraphs on how they put together and transported their displays. I would probably start a new thread to deal with this.
The theme could cover exhibitions with multiple displays or putting on a single display at an event such as a local fete/festival.
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I would love to hear it! I'm interested in knowing what all goes on behind the scenes, because I love to be at the center of organizing things like this. i really wish there were enough playmofriends in my area to make it worthwhile to organize an exhibition here. But everyone is so far away. :(
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Bonnie, there may be many people more local to you who haven't discovered Playmofriends. I've been building up my collection for over two years and didn't know you were all here until I got my Playmobil Collector book for Christmas where there's a full page ad.
I don't know how you'd go about finding them - offer to do an interview about Playmobil collecting on your local radio, perhaps. Then they may be swamped with calls :)
I'd have loved to have at least visited Knaresborough at the weekend, but realistically it's 9 hours away by car from here (including stops) which puts most of the UK collectors on this board a fair old trek from me from what I can deduce.
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That would be a very useful document to have Mark. Some things will be different in other countries but some aspects will always be the same.
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Sounds like a good idea to me Mark,
I was going to post images of how I made the viking display in customizing, but I will now wait for your proposed thread.
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Bonnie, there may be many people more local to you who haven't discovered Playmofriends. I've been building up my collection for over two years and didn't know you were all here until I got my Playmobil Collector book for Christmas where there's a full page ad.
This is true, and I know there are a few not too far away. There are two playmofriends in New orleans, one in South Texas, and at least one in Mississippi. But to do a really good exhibition, you need quite a few collectors who have a sizable collection of one theme, so that they could make a really decent sized diorama, and who have the time to devote to it. I could definitely make a decent zoo diorama, and in time, Chris may have enough police for a rather small diorama. But there would need to be much more variety to make it something worth seeing. I'd be interested to know who is out there who could make it to Louisiana for something like this. Maybe I should start a topic....
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Mark many thanks for the invite.
I have put photos of my layout at Knaresborough on my web site.
It is on the Christmas Layout page.
www.walts-playmobil-collection.me.uk
Walter
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Thanks for the pictures Walter, it looked really nice. Making the merry go round actually go around is a great idea.
Did you have any trouble with radio channel interference for the trains? Glazz isn't able to use radio control at the train shows he goes to because there is too much interference from the more powerful systems in use by the other layouts.
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Just to let you know that I have put all my pictures from the exhibition on flickr.com.
See
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62821079@N00/sets/72157626183605642/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/62821079@N00/sets/72157626183605642/)
Mark
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:wave: great pictures, Mark! Love the train! :love:
Joe
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Did you spot two of your klicky ladies Joe? - in the blue circus ring in front of the clown with the hammer ;D
Elaine (http://www.anchoredbygrace.com/smileys/mgqueen.gif)
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I was fortunate to get help directly from Jamie Dickinson at Playmobil - thanks to Elaine for the contact. After the exhibition I sent Jamie an email with the article promoting the event, the poster and some photos. Here is his response.
Hi Mark,
Thank you for sending all this information over, it looks like an amazing event! I spoke to Walter Turner earlier in the week and he told me how great the event was, and the fantastic effort made by yourself to publicise and run the event - it really is a great achievement.
I would like to congratulate you once again and if you decide to something like this in the future, please let me know if I can be of any help.
Kind regards
Jamie.
Jamie Dickinson
Trade Marketing and Display Manager
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Great photos Mark, lots of impressive displays.
I've added you as a Flickr contact - I'm timspfd there.
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An excellent set of photos, Mark, and I'm sure your detailed info on what was involved in setting up the exhibition would be very useful and greatly appreciated.
I've been away for a few days, but I'll get my photos up onto photobucket and then post a link. I will also do a report for Laughing Giraffe.
Thanks for the photos on your site, Walter. The info there on how you made the layout and how items are attached to it is very interesting and useful.
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Tiermann, we had no problem with interference as Gordon and I were on different frequencies. (Except for when Gordon tested his new loco for a few minutes and we realised what we had done). Do not forget there are twelve frequencies available in the 27 MHz range that you can use. See my web site for details. I normally run up to six trains on my main layout.
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Great pictures, Mark, thanks for the link! Everyone's layouts were really awesome!