Generic Contest Discussion

[Jim]

I was indeed thinking about closing early January. I can't arrange prizes this year anymore anyway, so that would allow me to think about prizes.

[howitzer]

Just now, Jundis said:

I think the higher the difference between the two vehicles and the more complex the mechanism, the higher will be the reward in form of votes. Restrictions should be fine. PF and PU are allowed, third party motors and battery boxes (buwizz etc.) are also allowed?

On a side note: This is in my opinion a way harder challenge than before, maybe give a little more time? Like till the end of the year as many of us mostly have more free time during christmas...?

I agree, the contest requires complex and nonstandard mechanisms, so more longer time for building would be very much appreciated.

Personally I'm not sure if I'm participating though, I have absolutely no idea what to build...

[Jim]

16 minutes ago, howitzer said:

Personally I'm not sure if I'm participating though, I have absolutely no idea what to build...

A motorized 8852 

I will probably go with two optional extra motors (driving, steering, etc).

[suffocation]

I wouldn't go below three motors overall - it's the sweet spot for a highly complex but efficient and reliable RC gearbox that can handle plenty of functions, including drive & steering.

Edited October 24, 2021 by suffocation

[Jim]

2 minutes ago, suffocation said:

I wouldn't go below three motors overall - it's the sweet spot for a highly complex but efficient and reliable RC gearbox that can handle plenty of functions, including drive & steering.

I was talking about two optional extra motors, besides the mandatory one. Makes three.

[GerritvdG]

Cool, sounds like a challenging contest, no idea what to build, but inspiration will hopefully come along the way..

[2GodBDGlory]

I'm excited!

[Seasider]

@Jim so a transformers / transforming competition … as some have mentioned you’ll need to make sure the rules make it clear that you’re not after a M.A.S.K. transformation but something else instead. So I guess cars into planes like “AirCar” or as you say a vehicle into a robot.

I’d love to take part in this but think my gears knowledge will let me down, along with my small collection one PF motors … although I do have an Sbrick. Also another limitation is we’re picking up a puppy next weekend, so my spare time will be disappearing !

But it still sounds like a cool competition and I’d love to see the results.

[Jundis]

I know there is a contest starting soon, but here is another idea: "Polybag-Contest"

- Build 3 micro-sets, fit for Polybags
- each set max. 75 pieces, should fit into a zip-bag (about 15 x 15 cm)
- the 3 sets have to have a matching theme, e.g. racecars, a construction team, robots, fire patrol team....

This could be more of a pure-fun-contest. Just an idea :-) 

[Hrafn]

Is it correct that all of the contests so far have focused on vehicles? I would love to see one on a topic other than vehicles - manufacturing equipment maybe?

[Jim]

2 minutes ago, Hrafn said:

Is it correct that all of the contests so far have focused on vehicles? I would love to see one on a topic other than vehicles - manufacturing equipment maybe?

A non-vehicle contest is something I have been thinking about since TC2 

And I still think we will do that one day.

[howitzer]

I think the main point of having a GBC contest would be the non-vehicle theme. Hopefully that one gets realized some day.

[Hrafn]

3 hours ago, howitzer said:

I think the main point of having a GBC contest would be the non-vehicle theme. Hopefully that one gets realized some day.

GBC is great but there are so many other wonderful non-vehicle creations people have made that I think there is room for a GBC contest and a non-GBC, non-vehicle contest.

I am thinking about things like these

Nico71's braiding machine

 

Or this fractal drawing device

 

Edited October 26, 2021 by Hrafn

[Maaboo the Witch]

Generator contest! I propose a generator contest! 

[howitzer]

4 hours ago, Hrafn said:

GBC is great but there are so many other wonderful non-vehicle creations people have made that I think there is room for a GBC contest and a non-GBC, non-vehicle contest.

I am thinking about things like these

<snip>

Yes, there are all kinds of contraptions, but vast majority of the stuff posted in this forum are vehicles, and most of the rest is GBC-related. Kinetic sculptures are another thing made possible by Technic but you don't see those too often either, though they could make for a good contest theme.

[doug72]

On 10/26/2021 at 9:24 PM, howitzer said:

Yes, there are all kinds of contraptions, but vast majority of the stuff posted in this forum are vehicles, and most of the rest is GBC-related. Kinetic sculptures are another thing made possible by Technic but you don't see those too often either, though they could make for a good contest theme.

Agree with your observations, GBC tends to get swamped out very quickly by the predominance of Cars & vehicles.

It would be better if a grouping all GBC topics could be created for a New Forum called:-

GBC General, GBC Train, Kinetic sculptures, and Automata, which all use Technic parts.

Edited October 30, 2021 by Doug72

[Seasider]

Jim hasn’t discounted a GBC competition, he’s just said that him and Milan aren’t the right people to host the competition as they don’t have the knowledge. He’s repeatedly said if people want a GBC competition then someone from the GBC community should run it. If I was part of that community (but I’m not) I’d start a thread to gather interested names and see if anyone was willing to run a competition.

[doug72]

30 minutes ago, Seasider said:

Jim hasn’t discounted a GBC competition, he’s just said that him and Milan aren’t the right people to host the competition as they don’t have the knowledge. He’s repeatedly said if people want a GBC competition then someone from the GBC community should run it. If I was part of that community (but I’m not) I’d start a thread to gather interested names and see if anyone was willing to run a competition.

My post was not about a competition, more an idea to get more interest in GBC & easier to find GBC new posts.

[Maaboo the Witch]

7 minutes ago, Doug72 said:

My post was not about a competition, more an idea to get more interest in GBC & easier to find GBC new posts.

I think GBC should be a separate topic as well. It's distinct enough.

[CrazyKreations]

5 hours ago, Maaboo35 said:

I think GBC should be a separate topic as well. It's distinct enough.

I’m sure for GBC to be a topic it should be clear that their are a majority of GBC builders out there, not just because it is a “distinct” topic of building.

[Maaboo the Witch]

9 hours ago, CrazyKreations said:

I’m sure for GBC to be a topic it should be clear that their are a majority of GBC builders out there, not just because it is a “distinct” topic of building.

Whatever. I'm not into GBC at all so I can't offer a more authoritative comment.

[Erik Leppen]

22 hours ago, Maaboo35 said:

I think GBC should be a separate topic as well. It's distinct enough.

Sorry for the offtopic, but is GBC more of a thing than scale modeling? If not, then I don't foresee any success in having a separate category for it.

I'm into neither, but as an outside viewer my guess is that there are more scale models than GBC-related topics. Splitting off GBC would simply mean that GBC related topics won't get any traffic, similar to how splitting off scale modeling didn't work out in the end.

[howitzer]

5 minutes ago, Erik Leppen said:

Sorry for the offtopic, but is GBC more of a thing than scale modeling? If not, then I don't foresee any success in having a separate category for it.

I'm into neither, but as an outside viewer my guess is that there are more scale models than GBC-related topics. Splitting off GBC would simply mean that GBC related topics won't get any traffic, similar to how splitting off scale modeling didn't work out in the end.

I'm thinking it as a subset of Technic, so a subforum could perhaps be useful but a whole separate section not. But I don't think it's a huge problem as it is.

[Jim]

12 minutes ago, howitzer said:

I'm thinking it as a subset of Technic, so a subforum could perhaps be useful but a whole separate section not. But I don't think it's a huge problem as it is.

The thing about subforums or separate forums is that nobody hardly ever visits those. So, GBC will be visited by ten or twenty people. If the GBC'ers like that, I'm fine with a subforum, but don't expect a lot of activity from "the outside".

[howitzer]

34 minutes ago, Jim said:

The thing about subforums or separate forums is that nobody hardly ever visits those. So, GBC will be visited by ten or twenty people. If the GBC'ers like that, I'm fine with a subforum, but don't expect a lot of activity from "the outside".

Yes, that's probably true. It would be mostly useful for the GBC people to find quickly the stuff of their specific interest, but not useful for showing stuff to wider audience.