Entered my first contest today, the IPMS meet at Ajax, Ontario, where I’m pleased to say my seven entries to the intermedie level contests (3 air, 3 armor, 1 ship) garnered an honourable mention (air), a silver (armor) and…a gold (ships). People often wonder and fume about how to win contests, even occassionally to the point of throwing fits if they loose. Allow me to share what I’ve learned about contests, and that gold award in particular.
clears throat
The secret to guaranteeing a gold medal award for your model…
looks around to make sure it’s just you and me here
[whispers]: Is making sure you’re the only one who enters your category.
Hope that’s been enlightening.
Anyway, here’s some pictures from the event, and my totally inconsequential but nonetheless victorious models:
Btw, allthough it was my first ever show, it seemed like an excellent show and carries a great reputation with my fellow local modellers. Recomended if you’re in the Toronto area.
Receiving an award for a catagory that only has one entry isn’t a win at all. It’s a medal by default and proves nothing.
I’ve been to a few contests now and I’ve even won my share of the spoils. It’s taught me what I suspected, that if I want to continue to enjoy modeling then I should stay away from contests.
As far as secrets to winning the gold? Nail the basics and apply a clean paint job.
I believe he knows that… He was being somewhat facetious. But you’re right, it seems detail (as far as accuracy goes) is very low on priority list. You can spend 20 hours on a kit, straight OOB, and make cleanliness your goal, you’ll get a gold. Spend 100 hours, add tons of detail, but slightly off paint job or a seam? Bronze. Construction basics seems to be most important.
I would love to see some more pics of that sub!!! And one secret to winning gold is to NOT use those aluminum barrels with that pesky mold seem all the way down it…
What wha? Aluminum barrels DON’T have mold seams… they’re turned on a lathe.
But yeah, to win the contest, build for the contest. You have to use the “in vogue” techniques: preshading, washes, filters, etc. It really becomes more artistic impression as opposed to making it look 100% authentic.
Hehe, you and I know this but Manny must have come across one of the elusive second quality molded turned aluminum barrels. It was a flaw picked out by a judge at a show he competed in, he was livid needless to say…
I like to spend time scratch building details and replacing kit parts with metal. Thus I tend to fair better in contests that recognize the extra effort.
Contests that are peer judged seem to attract votes to the largest models in each category.
The best format for me is where each model is removed from the table and judged on its own merits for a score. Highest and lowest scores are removed and a Gold, Silver & Bronze are awarded, more if scores happen to add up exactly the same. Not a common occurrence due to the format.
Not a common format for contests and probably impossible for large ones. In my humble opinion it is the best way to judge all aspects of model building, painting, weathering & display in a fair unbiased format.
Actually this sounds very much like an AMPs event. The one that I regular in Atlanta is judged that way. Each model is taken to a back room and judged against itself usually by 4 judges. The lowest score is dropped and a medal is awarded based on points. I’ve been to both and both seem to work so I really have no preference.
hkshooter, jokes aside, winning by default is a big win. Think from this perspective: the primary driver for people to enter a contest should be to promote the hobby/category regardless of how popular it is, so hopefully next year will be more entrants are either inspired by the winning entry or thought ‘I can do better’ (both scenarios are great for the hobby!). It is not always about winning. It sure beats a ‘Due to lack of entries this year category x has no winner’ fizzle!
The experience of the judge is the main defining factor, and by extension the size of the show. If the show is mid-sized, without a good collection of judges that specialises in certain categories, then you get the typical ‘clean and mistake-free’ type golds.
Consider the following factors:
Judging extra effort requires experience from the judges to 1, detect the effort in the first place and 2, evaluate their effect on the overall model.
Judges cannot enter models into the categories they judge, so in small shows, you tend to get judges that are not TOO familiar with the subjects they are judging.
The scorecard is typically based on a point deduct system. This is partially the result of removing subjectiveness from judging so models are assessed on hard criterias. This tend to favor clean, crisp builds as everyone knows what a clean model looks like but how realistic or appropriately weathered is very subjective.
If you are looking for popularity, big dioramas are the go.
To test out my theory I once entered a ship model with made-up reference but dressed up in a neat little package. My ‘research’ was deemed excellent!
There’s one thing that kills all contests though. If yo spend 50x the amount of time on a model, it will be better than those that took 1/50th the time. (10x is not enough though…I know from experience :P)
Oh, and don’t try enter too many (IMO, more than 1) into one category. I believe in fair play and only enter what I deemed my ‘best effort’ regardless if judges disagree or not. To receive multiple medals in one category is just embrassing for one-self or others!
Here’s something I learned the hard way–make sure you fill out ALL the “Additional work and modifications” section of the entry form. I guess it actually DOES make a difference sometimes?
One year I just didn’t bother, figuring the judges never looked at that, and some of my best models got beat by plainly inferior examples. Either the judges were impressed by what the other guys wrote down, or…
Haven’t entered a contest yet, myself. Whenever I do, I’ll settle for “not getting laughed out of the place” and consider anything else to be an unexpected bonus.
The key to winning any award is to make sure you get the basics right. Time and again, when I’m judging, models miss out on getting closer attention because of errors in basic assembly, paint or decals. Seams show, decals are silvered, wheel/tracks aren’t aligned, one wheel doesn’t touch the ground/track, paint is poorly masked or applied, there are glue gobs or fingerprints in the paint. I judged at a contest a couple weeks ago. In at least two or the four classes of aircraft I helped on, there were basic flaws that should have eliminated every entry, yet we were tasked with giving out three awards per class. In one class, all 12 or so entries had errors that showed up before we even took a close look. We never needed to check on wing alignment, decals were broken, seams were not closed; there was a huge finger print on the nose embedded in the paint.
Very rarely does the extra effort someone put into a kit come into play, except in the builder’s own mind. Nor, by IPMS standards, does accurizing or getting the color absolutely spot on. Laying the paint down well is far more important that if the Corsair is painted in Navy blue or insignia blue.
Knowing the prototype can be a hindrance. The guy who spent 20 years as crew chief on a Phantom will know his subject intimately and either be more partial to Phantoms or be excessively critical of errors done by the kit maker. When I look at a car engine, I don’t need to know that every ignition wire goes from the correct spot on the distributor cap to the corresponding spark plug, what I need to see is a smooth, scale wire, not a kinked piece of bare copper or a piece of string with hairy little threads unraveling from it. I don’t need to know if the oil pan should be the same color as the tranny, but I need to see that the seam has been addressed and that the tranny connects to the driveshaft.
I agree, getting a first for being the only entrant is a pretty hollow victory. The awards that mean the most to me are those I took where either open (AMPS Style) judging was used or where there was stiff competition from guys whose work I respect.
The key to winning at a show/contest is to become good buddy-buddies with the judges. That, and just build the biggest model you can find. Size truly does matter as does nepotism. If you belong to a club, only enter the contests your club is sponsoring. I’ve discovered that build quality plays no part in if you win or not. Who you go dirnking with or which judge’s family you know goes a lot further in ensuring you bring home the gold.
Eric
PS. And yes, I know this from personal experience and observation as well as discussion with other modelers.
A good soldier never blames the equipment Manny! [;)] So it was a molded knock-off of a turned barrel? Weird!
I would expect “the basics” count for a great deal, but extra detailing, weathering, customizing etc should be the stuff that pushes a model into the upper class. I suppose it depends on the size of the contest, but wouldn’t the “clean + OOB” stuff be left in an intermediate class?
Although I have a tendency to believe that some judges show a degree of bias toward a particular style of model or finishing technique I don’t think your entire statement is true. I entered my first AMPS show in September and won gold, not being familiar with any of the judges prior to the contest. Clearly, nepotism and drinking buddies didn’t play a part here.I have also judged a show before who’s contestants I did not know.
Of course, I’ve always thought that AMPS shows had a better judging system which greatly eliminates the risk of favoritism considering models aren’t judged against each other but against themselves. Any number of them can win gold, as long as the basics have been nailed. Plus, AMPS provides its contestants with a list of criteria and what to expect from the judges as well as the modeler. You can almost build your model to win.
IPMS rule, IMO, leave the door open for favoritism or a model being judged per a judges preference, rather than over all quality. I entered an IPMS show with a piece I felt sure would come away with something only to get nothing.
All in all, its not that bothersome to lose, just try harder.
Unless this poster was involved in giving awards to his friends, I’m calling and on this.
Last time I judged, the team I was on a team that had an unaffiliated guy from northern Vermont, a guy from the host club in southern New Hampshire and myself from western Massachusetts. (And that’s pretty typical a mix of judges AMPS or IPMS style) I knew the guy from Vermont from on-line and other shows, though I hadn’t seen him in several years. If any one of us had a personal preference for a particular buildler, we’d have had to convince two other people why a lesser model deserved an award over a better one.
As to befriending us, it’s kind of hard to do since you have no idea who will be judging the class in which you’re entering. I have judged in every class of models over time. Many of the people I judge with have done the same.
The people who won did so because of one reason. They had the best (even if far from perfect) models in the class, a requirement when you advertise 1-2-3 style judging. Any contest that favors its members/friends/drinking buddies will very quickly shut down from lack of interest. It’s rare a sponsoring club hever has enough members available to judge all the classes and they rely on people from the attendees to fill out the judging teams.
For the record, I crunched the numbers at our show for a couple years after a disgruntled attendee made those same kinds of charges. Here’s what I found. If our club had about 25% of the entries on the table our members got about 25% of the awards. If club B had about 15% of the entries, their members took about 15% of the awards. If unaffilated entrants had about another 25% of the entries, and they took about 25% of the awards. If Club C had about 5% of the entries and took about 5% of the awards. And so it went.
If ya don’t like the idea that others may do better work than you, stay away from competition.
Being trained (at 49 yo !!) to judge at our last show .It was hammered (not literally) into me that ‘fit’ is first , then’ finish’, then an all out battle for the best in class. Most of the models in the category’s I judged eliminated themselves with fit issues or finish issues. Apparently my comment of " I could CSI who built this model by the fingerprints all over it" was a hit! My night before the show was spent carefully and diligently blowing off the models with a tiny brass tube attached to my air supply, examining the’ finish’ fully ,eliminating dust and fp’s.
My Bobber took a triumvirate of awards ,completely stunning me,but I did the work and spent the time to present my entries in the best condition I was capable of.My belief is that if you are running around with wet paint and setting glue the night before, you are not doing your best and are ‘chumping yourself’.It could also be argued there is a lack of respect for your peers ,if you enter models in this condition.I watched the judges in the mc category and was shooed away for getting too close ,they got me good when I was called over and asked what the tiny white dot on the kickstand was! I asked them “Is that a duck” pointing away from the model, they fell for it and I picked the dot off as quick as I could! I was of the opinion that I had lost it!
I did learn a lot watching and listening ,my main learning experience was that these are model contests ,not who knows most about the stugIV ,or the corsair , it is about model skill and presenting your entry in the best possible condition.
and 
on this.