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[Marks Model Bits]

i say let the "pot hunters" get on with it. when i go to classic car shows you will always get one or two people who will throw their rattle out of the pram if they don't win a trophy, i have been a judge at a few car shows and i don't like doing it now, i was at one show (not naming which one), i spent most of saturday and all day sunday walking around examining the cars, and after much deliberation i made my choices, i then took the results back to the organisers, the guy looked at my choice for best at show and told me that that one couldn't win as a certain person in a purple dayvan wasn't on the list, so he changed it.

now i must admit i did win a couple of trophies for my mustang and the one that means the most to me is the "people's choice" award chosen by a random member of the public.

so getting to the point (thank god i hear you cry ) let the judges do their thing and run the sweet old lady choosing her favourite model along side of the proper judging, how's that for sitting on the fence!!!
i know which award i would prefer to go home with.

 mark.

[Colin Bishop]

Some good points there Bunkerbarge. There are indeed some people who buy a hull and fittings but build the superstructure themselves and then refer to the boat as scratchbuilt. Years ago you only had two choices, you either built it all yourself or you bought a full kit. Now of course, you can buy just about all the components separately on a mix and match basis to your heart's content and the distinction has become very blurred indeed.

The ME Exhibition judging rules for the scratchbuilt classes state that entrants must declare all commercial components and fittings that have gone into the model. They are also encouraged to provide full documentation of the build including photos. Therefore, if someone has purchased the hull they will get less marks than somebody else who has constructed theirs. Similarly, brownie points will be given to somebody who has made his own studded anchor chain or cast or made his own propellor.

Yes, you can get pre cut stripwood for planking decks but this would generally be classed as a raw material - the skill comes in actually laying and "caulking" the deck. We wouldn't go so far as to insist that the entrant had cut down the tree, seasoned the timber and built his own sawmill! Nor can you really take into account the equipment used to construct the model, some people have fully equipped workshops while others have to rely on the kitchen table.

If you have enough information on the build then it isn't too difficult to award points for "quantity of work/complexity" in a fair way. Other categories include: Realism/Effect i.e. does the model look too toy like for example; detail and workmanship; standard of finish and standard of documentation. The points attributed to these headings can vary between classes. For example, in a kit you would emphasise standard of finish over complexity as most of the design work has been done by the kit manufacturer.

So, if you build a semi kit and enter it in a scratchbuilt class you will tend to lose points but if you enter it in a kit or modified kit class you could gain them if your model is good enough. In the ME we can reclassify models if the consensus of the judges is that the boat should be in a different class - usually this will work to the advantage of the entrant.

Of course there will always be a degree of subjectivity which works both ways. Where a judge has a specialist interest he may pick up on details that other judges could overlook. For example, if I see a traditional liner model then I will usually know something about the original and will have a better idea if it is right than somebody who specialises in warships. At the ME the Judges normally consult each other on these things and as they jointly have quite a bit of expertise between them they usually get it more or less right within the terms of the competition rules. They can also be relied upon to detect the little porkies told by some entrants!

You can't please everyone all of the time, and no judging system can be perfect but I do think that, unless it is a fun exercise like the Mayhem gathering, you either do the job properly or not at all.

[Bartapuss]

I agree Colin, models must be put into categories IE. kit, scratchbuilt, so on and so on, but it seems a bit pedantic only to award a 1st and 3rd but not a 2nd prize to any of the models entered. How many modellers are put off entering their work by this sort of "atom splitting" by the judges.

As I said earlier the steam section had models entered and none of them got anything, now I'm no expert but but they looked very good to me, it was expressed by others that the decision made was unfair, had the goal post been moved too far and the standard set impossibly high???.

If modellers make the effort to enter their work into a competition surely the should at least be 1st 2nd 3rd and a couple of highly commendeds handed out.

[Martin (Admin)]

At the Mayhem Weekend, to avoid any problems.... Hanna chose our "favourite" boat of the weekend.
Who going to argue with a wonderful 11 year-old girl.... whose dad looks like a night club bouncer!   
( Hi Mark!  )

Martin.

[malcolmfrary]

If you have classes of entry such as kit, semi kit, scratch, and also divided by boat/ship type, then you do need a judge/judges who can tell the diference between one and the other, also they should know enough about the subject to reach a technically correct answer.  When you get to he point where several models appear to be equal, you have to start looking at small defects - nit-picking because it is necessary to put them in order, and docking points is the only way then.
However, a "Best in Show", if is decided by a random guest, will let the rest of us know what the public, or that member of the public likes about ship/boat models.  Sometimes it is the biggest and shiniest, sometimes it will reflect superb craftsmanship, but it will always have eye-appeal.  Sometimes it will really be the best in the building - sometimes they will pick the best decorative lamp-holder.
No names, but a fellow member of my club once bought a model that had gained a third in exact scale.  My lady wife commented that "Its a hideous looking thing".  The only answer is that the original that it was modelled off was also a hideous lookin craft, so an exct scale model would follow suit.  In another (smaller) show it may well have been the best built, most exact model with the best construction craftsman hip imaginable, but the prizes would invariably go to anything else with eye-appeal, such as a semi-scale semi kit lifeboat.

[HS93 (RIP)]

Cast your mind back to last year ,I think the comments where the same


.Peter

http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=354.0

[Marks Model Bits]

cheers martin , i have been called alot of things but never a night club bouncer ???  not sure whether to take it as a compliment or not as most bouncers i have met seem to be living proof of the missing link!!!  

mark.

[Shipmate60]

If the cap fits mark  :)
In my wayward youth I used to be a nightclub bouncer, just glad I dont look like one  :)  :)  :)

Bob