I’ve been doing a little bit of research on the IPMS website concerning joining, but I am having a bit of trouble getting through the propoganda, hopefully some of you can help me. First of all, if I join, is it required to go to the Chapter meetings??? My local chapter meets on a Fri, and that happens to be one of my school nights (I work full time during the day, and go to school full time at night, as well as model full time somewhere in between). If I’m not required to go to the meetings, is it worth the membership?? What have been your experiences with this group?? Any info would be a great help…thanks in advance!!
Not too sure about the IPMS in the states, but the few branches I have been to varied a lot in requirements and general tone of the whole affair.
I think it really depends on the branch head and the senior members in there.
One branch I belonged too told you what models to build and your build was examined for the smallets flaws and other things that a few people thought should/shouldn’t be done on a model.
Also you have to ask yourself what do you want to get from becoming an IPMS member and consider alternatives too.
Either way I would suggest to atttend 2 or 3 meetings and than make up your mind, like I said it will vary from branch to branch.
memberhip can be a good thing, you get to meet modelers face to face and examine their techniques first hand. but each person is diferent and you may met some folks that are not too…for want of a better term…nice. i was at one meeting and took in my first attempt with an airbrush, one guy asked me if i had painted it with a trowel!!!, constructive critisising yep, insulting critisising, no thanks. i aint a member any more but your local branch will probably be loads better. mine only had about 6 to 8 members and it seemed to me if you wern’t in the medal winning class they wern’t interested. i would say give it a go and see what they are like. you havn’t got anything to lose and you have loads to gain. don’t let my experience put you off tho because if i do move to a different area i will look for the local branch and probably re-join.
Greg
As a networking opportunity to communicate with other modelers its pretty handy. You’ll no doubt run into people of like mind and find new sources of info and techniques.
I sent them a check for membership almost a year ago and it was never cashed or deposited. Since then I go to the 2 meetings a month and particpate and help out where and when I can. So far, the only thing I think I’m missing is the newsletter and their journal and I get more off of FSM forums and magazines than I’ve picked up form the meetings or the info presented in their journal. I’ve gone to shows they’ve sponsered and any administrative info you can gleen off their website.
Are you missing a secret decoder ring or handshake? No. One of the LHS’s here doesn’t care for the IPMS club so they get nothing in the way of incentives to buy there. But conversely, there are members that are “kitchen table dealers” that are seriously undercutting his prices, so no love lost I suppose.
You can enter and medal in IPMS shows, I have and I know of several other non members that have done so.
One of the advantages is that the local IPMS no doubt hosts a show or contest. You’ll have an “inside edge” on what those judges will look for, and you may learn something about judging in general that will help you in out of area shows.
As for the nitpicking…that goes with the territory any time you show your stuff to anyone. Get used to it. Or don’t show. Nitpicking is a learned behavior. They learned it from somewhere and are just passing along the fun.
Go to a few meetings and see if you like them and what they’re doing. Talk to the guys after the meeting and do some handshaking and face time. Ask questions about techniques, see what activities they organize and participate in. Then lay down your money if you are so inclined. This way if you don’t like what you see, that money could be better spent on a kit or on a subscription to another magazine.
Mike
I have 2 chapters in my area but, have never gone to a meeting. I was at one of their sponsored events in November and got to meet (ot at least see) members and their works.
Now, to me, first impressions stick. I tried to talk to several of them (IPMS Members) and got a really cold shoulder, because I wasn’t a member. I then talked to a few people who had models entered in the open category (no club affiliation) and they were down to Earth modelers.
I still may try a meeting to see what all the fuss is about.
By the way, the meetings here are the 1st Sunday’s of the month.
Well what you do is just that, what you do.
For me Ive met some of the IPMS members here even been to a few show’s no thanks you can keep them. Sure some of them are good guys but thats the minority here locally. Ive found I get along with independant builders than our local stuck up rivet counting know it all IPMS crowd. I have better things to waste I mean spend my money on…but thats just me. Check out your local group, if you like it and feel its for you then sign the check…if not well there’s money for that new kit or part of it lol.
If you aren’t going to go to the meetings because of studies, why join IPMS?
And don’t join it before you can get to a meeting
i was in the IPMS here in the Uk and i was the only Armour Modeller there, the people were ok there even when some referred to my armour as Targets,
So I started making Anti aircraft Armour there were a couple of members that wouldn’t talk to me because I did armour
I still chat to some of the members of the local club, and they keep asking if im going to go back
LOL, well I think all Armor modelers kick…well armor!!! Seriously guys thank you very much for your input…I was getting the same stuck-up feeling just by reading the web-site pages. I was thinking of joining for their magazine…I like to see different perspectives in the modeling community. However, I live in San Diego…a very large city when you think about it…and yet on these forums I notice no one else from here. Why is that I wonder??? Since my schedule does not permit me to go to their meetings, I will take your suggestions, and wait till it’s convenient…However, I may still wreck their party in Phoenix AZ, since I’m so close!!! LOL Thanks a lot, and Happy Modeling!!!
I’ll be joining so I can compete in the Nats in Phoenix this August. Otherwise, I am not a member. Nothing against the IPMS–I think they’ve done a lot to promote the hobby–I just don’t see a great deal of benefit to being a member. My local club is IPMS sponsored, and they are VERY active in promoting the hobby, supporting LHS’s, and sponsoring shows, including 2 National events (1996, 2001). What’s cool is that I can be a member of the club without being a national member, and can compete in IPMS-sponsored shows, both local and regional, without being a member.
Yes, there are buttheads in IPMS–as well as every other place you look. They’re not unique. But it also helps if you go in without a chip on your own shoulder (I’m not suggesting there is any, but sometimes we–me included–can get very protective and a little too proud of our efforts), and accept the criticism for what it is. Witty and humorous responses can also defuse some bad situations, and actually begin some interesting relationships. “Painted with a trowel, you say? I’ll have you know I used a putty knife!!”
And then there are the rivet counters. See buttheads above. You can glean what you need from them and move on; however, paying close attention has the potential to increase modeling skills if you let it…It’s all about attitude.
IPMS is not a bad organization to belong to. Do you need it? Only you can answer that.
Good luck in your decision process.
Gip Winecoff
I was IPMS (Belgium) member for over 10 years and the only reason I did was the local club’s librarian and that we felt important to have the IPMS Belgium quarterly mag. The only real big kick I ever got from IPMS was when I started up a national reference service based on the various IPMS mags from all over the globe. Being interested in esoteric stuff, I found in those publications a lot of great stuff.
I was obviously able to compete at the then IPMS-members-only national championship and also enjoyed that for a short while, until I realised that quality was not always what judges were looking for. In Belgium, being member of a club or another, one one side of the language border or the other also made a big impression… But that may not be the case everywhere…
Personaly, the IPMS Belgium mag was not interesting, since I was not interested in Belgian stuff. But I know it’s well thought of in other countries. So, the mag was and would still remain the main advantadge of joining in. You appear to model aircraft and that’s good since 90% of all IPMS stuff is aircraft related. However, before joining IPMS USA, you may want to consider other IPMS around the world, whose publications might be better suited to your tastes. The IPMS USA ‘journal’ was always a bit bland to me too… So, if you model Israeli stuff, for instance, join up the IPMS Israel instead. You’re more likely to get real interesting stuff there! IPMS SIGs (Special Interests Groups) are another way of joining up the IPMS. Several cater for civilian aircraft for instance and have more often that not newsletters and/or mags of their own. Really worth considering! Being member of IPMS Whatever will also entitle you to enter IPMS US comps.
I was in IPMS for 10 yrs with a GREAT club in Great Falls Montana. Then I moved and got out of modeling. Now that I’m back in it, I would like to compete in regional contests and someday NATS. What I hear from here is that you don’t have to be a member of IPMS to compete?
The nearest chapter is over 2 hrs away either in Wichita or Kansas City. Do you have to belong to a club to belong to IPMS? I asked this on their website and still waiting for a reply. I guess I can start a chapter in my house if I can count my dog[:D]
Scott
scottrc,
As I understand it, there is no requirement to belong to the IPMS in order to enter local and regional events, unless the local club comes up with their own rule structure. However, for national events, membership in IPMS is required. I’ll be signing my son and myself up hopefully this month, so we can compete in Phoenix in August.
Gip Winecoff
Scott, I see you too are from Kansas.
I’m in Salina. Where are you?
Rich
I go up to Coffeyville a lot, as that’s where my girlfriend’s family is from, how far is Salina from there? I don’t know Kansas geo that well. I’m pretty close in Tulsa, do you guys ever get down this way?
Please don’t be offended by this Gip, but if you’re going to Nationals and have a “rivet counters are buttheads” attitude, get ready for a gluteal think tank.
At the nationals, the competition is stiff and it’s rivet counters or better to open. (Unless you’re doing OOB) In all cases though, the better the builds, the closer the scrutiny and when it comes down to it, the guy that’s going to win is the guy that added one more rivet than you.
I know you guys have heard me lament this before, but rivet counters aren’t the demons some of you guys make them out to be. The result is more detailed kits, a sizeable cottage industry of add on aftermarket and a great deal of spinoff products. So they’re not all buttheads. Really.
As for competitions…that has its own volumes of threads and posts. IPMS or not, the end result is that if you go to them looking for problems you’ll find them. The fact that you enter competition IMO removes your right to complain. You’re throwing yourselves to the wolves knowingly. You are voluntarily presenting your stuff to the very rivet counters and clubs you are not happy with. And as adults you are firmly aware of the narcissism, politics, objectivities, biases, likes and dislikes that go along with human nature, home field politics and a “creative” community. In short, don’t be upset when the buttheads don’t give you what you want or what you feel you deserve. You walked onto their turf.
I really hope you guys do well when you go. For me, conventions and regional competitons are a great meeting place and a means to see some very imaginative and technical pieces. The advantage over a brief mag spread or even a how-to book is that you can talk to the guy that did it. If and when I can enter a piece I put it in more to hear commentary (good or bad) and criticism (good or bad). I’ve had guys come up and tell me better or different ways to do something. Or had them ask me how I did something. For Gip’s son, if he see that aspect of it, what better way to firmly entrench his participation in a really cool hobby. Thats the important part, not the trophies or disgruntled feelings that ultimately alot of people get at venues like that. Maybe its because I’m in the art field professionaly and see alot of rejection and criticism, constructive, needless and harsh, that I’m used to it and see the other aspects of competitions like that. Not just the trophy hunt.
As for the cold shoulder from the IPMS guys… start our own club. I go to the IPMS meetings and I go to a LHS builders association. (We’re not a club, but a group of builders that get together to discuss projects, look at new stuff, compare techniques and just shoot the breeze 1 day a month at one of the LHS.) Much like the Salon de Refuse in the later part of the 19th and earlier 20th c. for artists that were not allowed into or did not get along with Art Critics and more affluent Salons d’arte of the time. They went off and started their own club. Rules are simple, bring a model your working on or that you’ve built and put it up for discussion, review, or just display. Met alot of really nice guys and some very talented modelers that were disillusioned with the IPMS. IPMS isn’t the only game in town and if all else fails…start your own game.
Mike
I meet a lot of folks at model shows in the UK and and the majority of those folks are really nice people-however, when I hear certain “model masters” give negative-only comments to others, diliberately discourge them from displaying models and generally insult them, I wonder where these idiots come from and time after time they’ll be the guys who represent the IMPS.
This got to be be so fustrating for some of us that we formed our own club. We meet in a lovely pub once a month, bring our latest work, sit down, chat,drink and exchange ideas. Above all else, we have a good time and that is what modelling should be about.
I’m sorry but the small number of rude people I’ve met from IMPS have put me off joining, there’s always at least one-I realize that. But I certainly don’t have to put up with it and I won’t.
OK-I’ve done my monthly rant. I’m off for a cup of tea.
Tango…I agree…there’s a difference between being constructive with criticism, and just being an [censored]. They’ll always be there, but I don’t have to put up with them. I personally enjoy criticism when it is put constructively and not harshly.
Renarts…I agree with you also…if you walk into the lion’s den, you expect to be eaten. I have never been to a show, and though I’m going to Tamiya Con in April, The nationals in Phoenix are so close to me, it would be ridiculous of me not to go. Most shows seem to be concetrated in the midwest and east. Realize that I have only been modeling for about 8 months, so I expect criticism, not trophys. But I do want to get out there and see other people’s work, and at least chat with other people in person about the modeling we do. I unfortunately (outside of this forum) do not have anyone to physically meet up with to compare, encourage, suggest, etc. So, I thought that by joining IPMS, I would get a chance to do that. Unfortunately, the chapter in my area meets on nights when I am at school (work full time, school full time at night). So I will go to a few meetings when I get a chance. I try to keep an open mind whenever I do anything new. I appreciate yours and everyone elses comments!!! I’m glad you had a different point of view, because I was beginning to worry that no one liked them, and the whole idea of this thread, was to get some objective views from both sides of the issue, and I appreciate that!!
Gip…I’m definately going to show up at Phoenix, and I hope to see you and your son there!!! It would be wonderful to meet with someone from the forums and chat!!! We’ll talk more, as it approaches.
THANK YOU EVERYONE!!! Your comments are appreciated!!! Happy Modeling!!
“I am reluctant to join any organization who would have me as a member.”
W.C. Fields
Mike,
Maybe I mis-stated myself. I’ve been to 3 Nationals and numerous regional events and have had a blast every time I’ve gone, and for all the reasons you mentioned in your post. You are also right concerning the level of competition; it’s fierce, and building skills are becoming more and more refined. I sometimes feel as if I’m somehow being passed by. Competition affords me a building goal that I probably otherwise wouldn’t use.
Scrutiny is indeed high–as well as it should be for this level of competition. And if one is not ready for it, it can be a hard pill to swallow. Fortunately, I have some good modeling buds, and we take great pains to prepare each other for such events. My first Nats was an eye opener, but a little experience has gone a long way towards “learning the ropes.”
Not all rivet counters are buttheads. Many of the accuracy buffs I’ve encountered have been more than helpful in offering suggestions on improving and accurizing my kits, as well as being a fount of knowledge for a particular type or group of vehicles. For that I’m grateful, and I hope my 10-year old son gleans some of the benefits attendance at a National event affords to him.
I think what gripes me are those who hold their “superior wisdom” above the heads of those less knowledgeable, and aren’t afraid to let everyone know it. These are the folks I try to avoid, but I think that if a person’s attitude is good going in, and knows what to expect, that even these types have information that can be gleaned and used successfully in future builds, if you can efficiently wade through all their superfluous garbage. Like I said before, attitude is everything…
Mike, does that make a little more sense?
kik36,
Look forward to seeing you there. E-mail me beforehand, so we can plan on meeting. It’ll be a hoot to meet some forum members in Phoenix!
Gip Winecoff
I got you Gip, thanks. And I agree with you 100%. (Sometimes the computer screen doesn’t convey enough of the peripheral information that helps us communicate better) I hope you instill that in your son and help him through the eventual encounters with those buttheads. If he can look to you and your attitude for guidance, he’ll do great. In this hobby and in his other endeavors.
Buttheads are buttheads. Ususally their pontificating ends up sounding appropriately like a whoopie cushion. Gleen what you can from them and let the rest be background noise. Use them as an example for your son as to not what to be and he’ll do great.
I wish you both the best and good luck in Phoenix. Keep us posted. I wish I could go.
Mike