IPMS Modeling Skill Proficiency Classification Standards

General Discussion Scale Model Events
1

I am going to throw this one out on the table for discussion. Just as in Golf and Skeet (shotgun clay pigeon shooting) there is a handicap or classification system that allows for competitors to be pitted against other individuals with the same or similar skill levels. Now I am not one of those bleeding heart, red doper-diaper babies who thinks that the playing field should be leveled for all; but as a conscientious modeler I want to encourage new followers into the hobby and to keep them interested by challenging their creative and modeling skills while not discouraging or driving them away.

Just for the sake of this discussion, let’s just say that IPMS adopts a classification system that is set up with the following levels of competencies; Neophyte, Novice, Apprentice, Intermediate, Journeyman, Master, High Master, Grand Master and Imperial Grand Puba. Oh, wait strike grand puba and let’s just call it quits at Grand Master.

Now with each level or degree you fall into, your models will be only judged against others of the same classification. As you grow and develop more advanced and sophisticated modeling skills, you will be promoted say basec upon the complexity, quality and number of placements or wins at local, regional and national competitions. Each time you complete a prescribed discipline say basic modeling skills, airbrushing, weathering, decaling, super detailing, kit bashing, and scratch building you could be promoted to the next level or grade. Another system could be you are awarded points at each event for composition; i.e. accuracy, construction, refinement, painting, theme, and quality. Once you achieve a prescribed number of points you are promoted or advanced to the next level or grade. You could even break this down into subcategories like out of the box, kit bashing, freelance and scratch building.

I know from my own personal experience with golf that the handicap system has allowed me to compete at my own skill level and maintain a healthy interest in the game even though I know that I would have a snowballs chance in hell of ever making it on the professional tour.

I would like to encourage a health dialog amongst other modelers, pro and con, about this subject and hopefully someone with some connections say with IPMS to maybe recommend the possible implementation of a classification system in the future.

Thanks for listening and happy modeling everyone!

Radarider

2

Interesting idea it has merits but for simplicity sake the categories should be simpler:

Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Master and Professional.

To work each modeller would need to answer questions regarding his experience, time allocated to the hobby (per week?) and his quiver of tools used to accomplish his work. Then his best work evaluated to determine his level of proficiency and category classification. A online registry could then be established that records points earned per IPMS events entered and eventually ‘bump’ the modeller up to the next level.

I do not see the use of ‘handicaps’ to compete against builds in a different classification, just competition against modellers of a similar skill set.

A friend involved with IPMS did mention a similar classification system but it did not include Beginner or Professional categories.

Of course some will bend to rules to bring home more prizes, a closer examination of entries at the door with the knowledge of the persons previous results would help add honesty to those that are less than.

3

Our local IPMS chapter has four categories: Junior, for modelers under 18 years of age; Novice- for new members; Advanced- for when you have moved up and on; Master- for the top level. Obviously “Juniors” are only in that category until adulthood. The adult categories require five first place wins in the local contest level to move up to the next higher category. It is not easy once you get to the advanced level in our chapter. There are many great modelers who are members.

4

I like your concept SuppressionFire. KISS (Keep it simple stupid). Thanks for the input. Maybe you could bend the ear of your IPMS friend to push for this.

Radarider

5

A tip of the fedora to your chapter stikpusher. Maybe some of your leadership could encourage folks at IPMS to implement a similar system on the national level.

Radarider

6

Sounds ok but I’d keep the number of categories to a minimum. I like the Junior, Novice, Advanced and Master categories.

If you have too many categories then what might happen is that you’ll end up with a bunch of people in 1 or 2 categories and several people in others. And you’ll have to buy all the awards (trophies, ribbons, plaques, etc…) for all the categories which could be a budget breaker for some IPMS chapters.

7

Interesting topic.

The discussion seems, however, to always come down to; "… hopefully someone with some connections say with IPMS to maybe recommend the possible implementation of a classification system in the future…" and “…Maybe some of your leadership could encourage folks at IPMS to implement a similar system on the national level…”

While my opinion of a classification system, may coincide with yours, why do you wish to have IPMS members champion your cause ? Would it not be more effective for you, to join IPMS and then as a member you could raise the issue with the officers (of both your chapter and the national office as well as fellow members and perhaps be the catalyst of a new resurgence of modeling in the U.S.?

Or have I misunderstood the premise?

8

Some of our officers in our chapter are also officers at the national level. Although I do not know what the national level categories are, I suspect that they are similar. I would have to take a look at the IPMS USA website to see for sure. I have only been to one nationals event as a visitor, although I have also entered a build for nationals last year as part of a group entry.

If anybody here ever visits the Los Angeles area or lives here, I invite you to come visit our chapter. We meet the third Friday evening of every month in LaPalma CA. It is a great bunch of guys and a fun club! I am so glad that Duke Maddog here invited me to visit 7 years ago.

9

Our small club is always striving to improve our now annual event. We look at the IPMS system of judging as the benchmark of excellence.

Due to time constraints and rounding up ‘volunteers’ to judge the day of our contest we use a Olympic style format to award gold, silver and bronze in each category. Its defiantly faster than scoring each model on its own merits but eventually we would like to have the ability, personnel and time to implement a IPMS system of judging.

Back to the original topic of a system of ranking modellers by skill set and talent:

Any system that levels the playing field, encourages and helps improvement while keeping contests and events enjoyable to all is the best way to go.

Many enter a contest only to be overwhelmed by the competition and quite a few never return. The feeling of building a model they are proud of only to realize it does not belong in a contest can even turn people away from the hobby or attending events.

Like I mentioned above more scrutiny and help selecting the correct category and skill level at the door would make contests more enjoyable especially for modellers new to competitions.

10

My first IPMS club in Washington DC held a monthly contest. After you placed first in some number of contests you were designated a master modeler in that category. You then competed in the master’s category. You got a beautiful certificate, run off on a dot-matrix printer, suitable for framing and display on your “Me” wall.

When I moved to upstate New York and went to my first IPMS meeting there I told them I was a master in ships and 1:144 aircraft. They looked at me strangely – never heard of the designation. Its a IPMS-DC thing.

Similarly IPMS-North Central Texas does nothing along the lines of the masters category. Its a local issue.

Not too long ago there was a “premier category” in the IPMS Nationals. IIRC, this was to encourage new participants and was an award for their first entries, even if they didn’t place 1-2-3. It is no longer in place.

Lets talk about cost & logistics. IIRC without going to the official category list, there are about 250 categories, including Youth and Junior categories. Lets assume that there are 200 regular categories. Now assume that that the IPMS were to add awards for Basic, Intermediate, and Master in each of the 200-ish categories. You have now tripled the cost of awards for the convention organizing committee. That is a cost borne by the local group, not the National organization. A trophy pack for one category costs in the order of a hundred bucks – triple that. The cost of the venue is pretty much covered by the charges to the vendors. The cost of the convention will be passed to the participants. Would you pay triple to attend? Walk in fees also triple - cutting down on that income because fewer people would want to front that money just to do the walk through.

Judging - Now you need to come up with more judges. As it is there are really not enough judges in the aircraft & armor categories to do them efficiently. In ships I had about 6 teams of three to cover about 20 categories. It took is about 4-5 hours to do – the aircraft & armor categories took about another hour to complete. Head judging actions and paperwork took another couple of hours. You need to triple your judging staff or triple the time it takes to complete the task.

What it seems to me is that you want to see the Gold/Silver/Bronze award system used across the pond and in some other modeling organizations. There can be any number of gold awards given in a category, depending that the modeler has met or exceeded the gold criteria in a category. Same for silver and bronze. GSB vs 123 has been debated among the IPMS completion committee and the decision has settled on 123.

Some thoughts to ponder

Ed Grune

IPMS National Competition Committee - Head Ship Judge

11

Yes agreed 1-2-3 as in gold, silver bronze is the most cost effective award system and the easiest & quickest to judge.

I entered a contest where gold, silver bronze were awarded for reaching a points system. I must say accepting a award with a dozen others took away the achievement of the award, especially when all entrants reached a gold standard in a category!

12

I think IPMS should adopt the AMPS system of beginner, intermediate, advanced and I think Master, where each model is judged separately, away from other entries, just based on it’s own merits. I entered an AMPS competition a couple of years back and was impressed at how thorough and FAIR the judges were. I also like how they noted on the entry form what they liked or disliked to help you improve your builds. Unfortunately, I have entered dozens of IPMS contests and no one takes the time to mention the good or bad about the build.

13

When the UK founded the IPMS , you had to submit 3 models to be judged before allowing membership . It turned into an elitist club , we soon got rid of that thankfully . I say on the day all entrant are winners as that is their best model up to date . First past the post for me every time .

14

This is the exact reason that I no longer take my models to shows or contests. Far to many variables. A few years back, I attended a show/contest and was not sure how to categorize my model. So I asked some judges for their opinion as to where I should put it. This nearly started a fistfight between two of them trying to decide how to classify my work. Personally I could care less how my work is judged, I just wanted to share it. I didn’t go to collect medals or ribbons or whatever. I just enjoy speaking with fellow plastic addicts and browsing the vendors tables. More of a social gathering for me now I guess.

On another note, the Grand Poobah classification should be kept. Might put some smiles on some faces.

15

Caveman,

Agreed people get to uptight regarding the enjoyment of a competition.

A quote I wish I heard in my teens and followed:

‘Leave the party while you are still having fun’

I don’t get a lot of ‘bench time’ in due to busy life yet I do what I can to promote and help our club put on a competition and expo each fall. Its a way of introducing others to the hobby that’s gave me enjoyment for many years.

Our Jr. category is not well attended yet the ‘make & take’ table is! This year we will promote the ‘make & take’ more as many apprentice modellers had a great day building.

16

I’m glad I build for fun without the ‘workplace regulations’ that are not fun and never will be! That’s perhaps why I’ve never in 40 years been in a club, where the rules start and the fun stops.

17

There is plenty of fun to be had in modeling clubs… rules and all… in the few years that I have been actively participating, I have yet to come home after a meeting and curse the rules.

18

That’s the problem w/ the I.P.M.S. Rules and contest ways.You are at the mercy of the local Judging and the very strict rules that rivals a pre-flight check list .You then have modelers work so hard for a one time event a year to produce a perfect model that just don’t exist.Also you will have situations like ww2 aircraft which has the same overall -even weathering which is done by pre shading.Also the perfect construction which is viewed by flashlights.True;I go w/basic rules but not a jungle of rules or check list which will make a model look like a comic book presentation.Sponsorship is the way of the future.You don’t have to be a millionaire to hold one.A model contest and exhibition can be an enjoyable one to be at .All skill levels get some kind of awards or medals.

19

I think some people are getting bogged down in the fine points and missing the broad picture.

IPMS doesn’t want us all to become “elite modeling snobs”, they just want us to build better models.

While we all should be building for our own pleasure (duhh), the contest rules, whether at the NATS or a local club meeting are only there to provide some guidance as to what a “good model” is.

I can put a model together in 2 days,and it will look just exactly as if I did it in two days. But, if I address the issues spelled out in IPMS judging guidelines, I might not build a NATS first place model, but, I will have a chance at a local first place. This is NOT because I am super-competitive, it is only because I have a guide to go by that shows me what “good construction” consists of.

Those exact same rules apply, even if you don’t have them written down, for all of our “shelf sitters.” We still try to glue it together well, fill seams, not get fingerprints on it, use just the right amount of putty, trim parts without making them worse, glue things on straight, get a nice paint finish, apply decals without silvering them, get a good top clear coat without bubbles, orange peel or frosting.

So, those rules already apply in our heads, but, then if you go and compete, you see them spelled out, not as “rules to follow or you vill be shot”, but, they HAVE to be written out so that each competitor knows what he is going to be judged by. Just imagine the yelling if the rules were all made up on the spot, lol.

The skill classifications are to sort out the better builders, and to give us something to strive for, if we so choose.

You don’t have to build to IPMS standards if you choose not to,but, if you even say you build the best you can and try to learn more as you go,then you really are already trying to follow those same build rules.

Me?,simple,after years of not competing, and then years of spectating,I am going to dive in and find out how my building stacks up against my peers,just to find out.

win, lose or draw,I will still win, because I will learn something,or teach someone something, at those shows

Rex

(to all the “just have fun” people,I am sorry, but, building that way is NOT fun for me,I enjoy the search for details, shapes, dimensions, and paint schemes and markings that goes with each of my builds, simple builds are what I did 40 years ago, and they bore me)

20

It becomes an obsession, doesn’t it Rex? The thrill of the hunt, model building style… Lol!

And to all of those timid about competing, at many contests, some categories have far few entries than others. If you enter a large rotary wing aircraft in 1/72, there may only be enough competition in that category for a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd by default. You will win place or show just by virtue of having shown up and entered. Conversely if you build the latest must have Tamigawa uber kit that everybody else did, you will be competing in a far more difficult category due to the number of entries. In either case, build what you like, how you like, but be prepared accordingly.