Banana pudding? That’s a Chinese buffet thing. Was the BBQ Mesquite?
Hell no! Thats a dessert bomb!
Anything SF related interests me. Easily one of the more impressive builds. Found these after initially thinking they were lost:
5 Likes
Really appreciate you posting these. I could never have judged these. They are all so good. When you have 100 builds at 100% there is no “winner”. Over the years the number of exceptional builds have increased dramatically. The quality and creativity of these builds are exceptional. Each year the expectations of what is to come increase and the builds continue to rise to meet the expectations. Is this the golden era, or is there more to come?
3 Likes
You could, it’s like a uniform inspection and attention to detail. You can also find something if you look carefully enough. Some categories are harder than others with quality builds but 1st round of dismissing builds is very “bloody” with a bunch of kits thrown out quickly.
1 Like
Yes, you could.
You would be very good at it too with a little experience and training with other qualified judges.
In the past, out of say 38 model AFV’s in a category, on the first pass ~32 would get instantly eliminated based on simple cut and dry criteria like:
-
Should & do all the road wheels touch ground? Nothing looks more ridiculous than a 56 ton tank perched up on three out of 30 wheels touching at an IPMS contest.
-
Seams showing in gun barrel, including inside muzzle brake?
-
Punch marks exposed to view? Punch marks on tracks wiped out ~32 out of ~38 in one category I helped judge at the IPMS Nationals back in 1996.
-
Visible unpainted plastic?
-
Shiney super glue spots?
Round two would focus on a deeper dive with the 4 to 8 models remaining in contention.
Usually something trivial like a bit of missed mold seam on tow cables, tow cable pinnacles or minor parts alignment, visible clean up (flat spot sanded into gun barrel) would yeild the winners and top 3 etc.
Given kits have improved I’m sure IPMS judging is harder now than when I was active in competition and judging.
My opinion…
If the judges follow the written criteria usually (~4 out 5 times) the same five or six models will end up in contention regardless of who’s judging at an IPMS Nationals. Some of the judges at one point had played around and tested this to see if they were consistent.
My experience
With that said, as a judge trainee in 1996, I was that bastard that questioned all of the exposed punch marks our lead category judge a big name (who won’t be mentioned) missed. He’d over looked the punch marks since 3/4 of the models and nearly all of the nicely painted ones had punch marks on tracks. I pushed the punch mark issue and wouldn’t back down because it was written in the criteria.
He correctly asked the head armor judge what to do as he wasn’t sure.
Head armor judge said he hated it but based on the written criteria the models with exposed punch marks should be eliminated from consideration. The head armor judge strongly encouraged us to be at that table after awards to answer any questions about judging as it was likely some models wouldn’t understand without explanation. That ended up being the category I stood by naturally after awards.
Not sharing this to make IPMS look bad, sharing it to show the system works very well and has integrity. I was an absolute nobody that raised a valid question and it was treated with due diligence.
A+++ for IPMS Nationals
4 Likes
That definitely looked like a great event.
1 Like
Wow, just now looking at this, and I have to say, a super fun event, met quite a few people from another forum and overall had a great time. I was seriously impressed by the ease of check-in and the overall quality of the event. The only thing I was surprised by: two of my “theoreticals” were re-classed and moved by IPMS. I was going to show them to friends and had to look for them, eventually finding them about four tables away from where they were originally. No biggie as IPMS typically doesn’t know what to do with my “what-ifs”.
I suppose it helped that I had a ~50 minute drive to the place so I was able to attend after work, but I think I saw everything. And thanks Robert for posting pics! You even got three of my models in there, thank you!
1 Like
Which one was it? It must’ve been pretty good because I don’t try to photograph everything at these shows, just things that interest me.
1 Like
Well thanks! In one shot you got my Magach 3 with my Cr2 in the background (that one got 2nd in class) and in another shot was my “what-if” K9 turret on a Merkava 3 hull. I had the turret laying around from the KRAB project and I always pick up Academy and Tamiya Merkavas at shows, kind of like keeping butter and eggs in the frig…
2 Likes
Going thru these pics again I had to laugh at this one;
@18bravo Just don’t do this to your poor wife. I could have taken dozens of these.
If you ever take a trip to Leavenworth, WA around Christmas time, it’s a Bavarian town all didded up, but there’s a chair in every shop for the husbands to do exactly what you see above, HA! Funny how that works, she’s a keeper for sure.
4 Likes