Mess-O-Schmitt Complete!

[Deleted]

Man, I WAS gonna get back to building, but after seeing the Mess-o-schmitt, I may just have to forget it. That is one of the most awesome builds I've ever seen. Bravo!

[Wardster]

hizootdklown said:

Turns out a judge approached me stortly after it ended & mentioned he like our builds. Turns out that class was just too tough to tame, a real cluster fok if you understand & you do...!

Contests are hard things to judge. I've only done it once, back when I lived in CA and was a member of the "Planes of Fame" scale modeling club. One guy's tank impressed the heck out of all three judges, but got bumped out of the running for a flaw that just about made all of us sick: he went to the trouble of opening up some periscopes on top of the turret, but put nothing under them ... so you could see all the way to the table surface. Broke our hearts and sickened our stomachs to have to knock that one out of the running; but the club's rules (well advertised on the web in advance; and closely following standard IPMS guidelines) didn't allow us to overlook things like that. I saw the guy when the show was over. I didn't have the heart to tell him why he didn't even get a third place ... and I regret not doing just that. (And one of the judges later became a TamiyaCon Master Modeler; won the trip to Japan and everything. And that model was his favorite on that table ... but we still had rules to follow!)

Meanwhile, I've seen the total opposite, too: I was a contestant at one fairly big local (again, in CA) show that totally forgot to judge the sci-fi class. Gave out all of the awards at the end, and everything. Not a peep about the sci-fi class. Most of the guys that were there were heavily slanted towards military hardware, so the audience didn't notice it, either. I questioned it at the end. They initially told me that the class WAS judged, and -- basically, but politely -- hinted that I shouldn't be a sore loser about losing. I politely asked for a list of the winner's names, since they said they'd gladly give that sort of info out, earlier in the show. They didn't have one for that class. In a state of mild shock, they realized I was right: they forgot to judge the entire class! (Mind you, at least one model that was there was by a guy that worked as a professional modeler for movies, and it just flat rocked! Fully scratchbuilt; lit; the whole nine yards.) By the time they noticed their mistake, at least a third of the models were off the tables: because people were all taking their stuff and going home. They judged what was left on the tables -- too quickly, of course -- and though I won one of their awards, it didn't feel right. I'd have much rather lost to the better models that were no longer there; such as that pro's model (that later won a big Mad Model Party award; and that's a contest that mostly bigshots / pros won at) than to have an award that I knew was based on bad judging.

I guess what I'm saying is this: contests aren't perfect. Don't put too much faith in any one contest's results. Try again elsewhere. I've seen models rise or fall a notch or two, almost at random, just by being at some other show. Take the aggregate of what happens at three or five contests, rather than just at one show. (And shows that work on the "open" principle are ones I like, too: where they don't pick a 1st, 2nd, 3rd; but judge each model on its own, and award a merit / bronze / silver / gold to the best models.)

Personally, while I won my share of awards when I was doing the contest thing -- including an IPMS regional -- I began to value feedback from my peers more than trophies. The trophies just gather dust, in the end. But the memories of the Ooh's and Aaah's of folks whose work I also admired, have stuck with me.

[scurvy]

Yeah - HiZoot and I weren't bitching about the lack of awards - we both went home with trophies in other classes, even - but since everybody was so supportive and so sure how well this thing would do at the contest, I did feel that I should let them know the results.

I have suffered through the selfsame judging woes, and HiZoot has judged this very contest in previous years. I hate to see one glaring error drop the score of an otherwise stellar build to that of a mediocre effort. I can't tell you how many well-weathered WWII aircraft have had their scores killed because they weathered the entire plane, but left the propeller(s) glossy, unchipped and pristine - OR - beautifully dirty tanks with no dirt or wear evident INSIDE the tracks.

Anyway, both of us got great personal response from the other modelers, and were able to share a couple of builds that pushed their imaginations a little, instead of replicating particular 1:1 subjects (not that there's anything WRONG with that).

[colbart/colin]

I remember a few years ago, I went to an IPMS UK show with the model club I attended. The quality of models was mindblowing.

What dissapointed me was the small amount of auto models, a few rally cars, some Jeeps that cannot be classed . One corvette, froma well known custom car builder (used to write the Model Page in Street Machine UK) but I stayed until the end to see the results.

What put me off attending another show, was Best of Show taken from all catagories, it went to a scratch built large scale steam traction engine. Made in plastic (majority or plastic). really impressive, supplied photos to show it was scratch built. The rows that followed....and the tables cleared away so quickly. People couldn't understand why their model hadn't won. They didn't stay to listen to the judges, who explained that they were trying to encourage different model builders/engineers to use plastic. Get away from just aircraft/armour.

On a brighter note one of my models attended a small model display as part of an airshow/car show, it was a Pink Panther, Doyusha repop. Not a show quality build by any means...The amount of interest from all ages, was good as the club membership was boosted by younger members.

So it can go both ways. There will always be different characters from the Rivet counters to hobby builders.

[hizootdklown]

Dave please check your PM's here..!

You know, in a way I'm glad they stayed equal except you deserve & should get a photo op. I see them as different but both equal..! Sounds like these AZ guys have no intention of leaving anytime soon so vintage or modern drag class could be sh!tzcity for awhile..!

Please check your PM, you have mail, I need the address of the Rat Plastic Thrash..!

Thanks & great to see you guys again,

Hizoot ;D

[davemarek]

Me too...Address

[hizootdklown]

Dave Marek,

Please check your PM's & you'll see the address. Really glad to see you're interested in this. We had a blast last year & hope you repeat as well. You can just show up to drink & draw if that is what you're comfortable with but we thought you did a fine job last year..!

Hizoot ;D

[barten]

Scurve. . . like everyone else. . . jaw dropping perfect! Great job!

GB
barten

[Wardster]

colbart said:

... I went to an IPMS UK show with the model club I attended. The quality of models was mindblowing. What dissapointed me was the small amount of auto models...

I had a theory about the annual TamiyaCon show, that worked into that, a bit. They gave out four Master Modeler awards per year, if I recall correctly -- with those awards being the One Brass Ring That Matters to some folks -- plus nice little green marble (very sharp tips!) pyramids for the winners in various classes.

Keep in mind that I'm talking about vehicular models here; as that's what Tamiya mostly makes. (Not many figure kits from them; and I doubt any of those have won their top awards?)

Aircraft models are the single biggest demographic in the hobby; with armor models following behind ... not too far, but behind. After that it's all "also ran" categories, demographically. Sci-fi was basically totally ignored, because Tamiya didn't really make any sci-fi kits (unless you count time travel dioramas that included some of their dinosaur kits?), and a basic requirement of having a model in competition is that Tamiya had to be the manufacturer. (They do ask for kit numbers on all entries during registration.)

Cars are semi-popular among a niche crowd of Tamiya modelers. So are ships. But neither niche was big enough, apparently, to justify giving a Master Modeler award to a car, two years in a row. Or a ship. So it seemed to me like they'd find one good car one year; and one good ship the next; and repeat the cycle. If that's true -- and I'm saying it's just my theory / opinion! -- then it made no sense to enter a car in a given year (if you were mostly just shooting for the Master Modeler award; they had plenty of other cool awards, as I mentioned) and a car had won last year.

You could pretty much count on the other three Master Modeler awards going to one really great aircraft; one really great armor kit; and maybe the third being whatever high-dollar, state-of-the-art aircraft or armor kit they had just released. (And if that was the case -- that they just released a mega-bucks kit -- then every Tom, Dick and Harry would think it upped their odds, to build that one. It would ... except that they're be MANY of those kits! I felt it made more sense to build up an older kit -- one that was no longer a "hot" kit in terms of marketing heat, or public "gotta have-ness" in either the super-best, most clean way you've ever seen that kit; or in a way that no one else really did, for contests: perhaps an Australian version of a plane that you'd normally expect to see only in the RAF; but all properly researched, etc.)

But my main point was the car/ship thing: either demographic is apparently only big enough for one big winner every other year. So that gives a car builder two years to build a really killer model!

All of which is moot for me, since I'm on a "cartoon kit" kick of late; and Tamiya's not exactly known for making such kits?!

[scurvy]

You're right about Tamiyacon, but wrong about one thing. Worldwide, car models make up over 70% of all plastic model sales. The difference is that a much higher percentage of military modelers build to compete. There are literally hundreds of thousands of model car builders worldwide, but most build one or two models a year, and many may not even use paint. Most buy them as they find them at department, drug or general stores around the world as they happen to stumble across them.
Many build a few models and never build another, but these casual builders buy far more car kits than anything else, which is why we rarely see showrods and more esoteric subjects released anymore - they just don't have as much appeal to Joe Sixpack or Gunther Schnitzelhuffer.

[stevehammann]

Simply jaw dropping Scurvster! That baby is THEE T!TS.

[RatRod]

Anyone that missed this one......Well, it's one of the coolest bashed drag things in the world!!!!

[scurvy]

Thanks! This baby has made the rounds now - it'll be off to a private collection very soon. Maybe I'll take it out for another round of photos before it leaves.

[RodBurNeR]

i saw pictures of this someplace? i think this is just awesome! very creative and well done!

[lorenzovargas1978]

First time I seen this and I must say it is sweet!

[snakeplissken81]

That is a freakin' cool build. Top shelf all the way.

[kettlekettle]

Thats is seriously kool. Very nice work

[sakke]

I really love this freaky rail!! Awesome work!!!

[Mysterion]

It doesn't get any better than this! That is the coolest Old Time drag car I've ever seen.

[roadagent]

what can i said WOW!

[4speed]

wow!! for sure!!!....everybody else has said it!!! super Cool build!!!

[dapurrr]

I really like this a lot very cool nice paint work as well

MY BLOG theundergroundvault.blogspot.com/

[oldcarrestorer72]

I LIKES-I LIKES!!!

[Tim Nolan]

You know it's a kick-*ss build when a 4 yr. old thread gets resurrected!!!!!