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Tonight I was foolish and volunteered to help judge. I ended up on a judging team judging the small scale (i.e. 1:700 to 1:1200) destroyers, destroyer escorts and other small surface ships (like small frieghters/liberty ships etc.). There were 17 ships in the class and it took the three of us something over 2 hours to pare them down to top 3 and decide among them for placing. I learned a great deal about what they look for as far as defects/issues and what sort of things in the way of complexity and details make the judges give more weight to one model vs. another. It was a great learning experience and I don't regret doing it. Because of the Nationals no-sweeps rules, the first step was identifying all the models entered by the same builder. We had 5 'sets' of entries (all pairs but one trio) so the first step was looking at all of those and picking the best 1 to represent that builder. That still left 11 models, and really only about 2 of them were reasonably easily eliminated. The overall quality on these tiny little ships was incredible. It was also fairly interesting to see how they selected best of class (i.e. Best Ship). The entire group of ship judges (21'ish people) walked along the tables and stopped at each category where one of the judges would say which entry was 1st place, and then discuss it briefly to the group, and then say whether he thought that entry was a candidate for best ship overall. After all the categories were complete they took nominations from all the judges for best ship based on that quick walk with presentations, and 4 entries got nominations. After the nominees were chosen, there was a break where everyone walked around and inspected the 4 nominated entrees, and then a simple hand vote was called for each entry. If there was not a majority winner, then the top two were voted on again to determine which entry got the Best Ship award. Later on after I left, my understanding is that everyone except the head judges gets shooed out of the room, and the head judges all get together and choose Judges Best of Show. I have no clue if they limit the entries to the 'best of' winners or not, but I might ask them that tomorrow. Tomorrow they also have a judges table to be manned from 9-12 where entrants can take their models for a critique, which might be interesting and could absolutely be a great learning tool for the modelers based on the type of things we were using to eliminate models from contention. One of the biggest killers of entries in the category I judged was photo-etch railing. It's apparently really hard to get it perfect where it's vertical and not have any kinks, bends, etc., and that was one of the easiest ways to eliminate a model. If it had faults in the railing, the rest of the ship had to be really superb to not be eliminated by just that. Of course some of that is the overall quality was so high, so the railing was one of the bigger visual faults that was found.
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Aug 4, 2018 07:25
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Arquinsiel posted:Even then that might not help. My grandparents used to be utterly incapable of not going into presses to root out my warhams for younger cousins to smash into pieces. It was only when I started demanding they pay for replacements and my parents said "actually yeah, they're REALLY expensive" that they stopped. This was exactly what I was imagining happening. After one gets broken they all get put away, so two requires involvement from an adult.
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Aug 4, 2018 14:07
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Symetrique posted:Do me a favor and stop by the Eduard booth and demand that they reissue the 1/48 SPAD XIII Early. Demand delivered. They did not seem impressed.
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Aug 4, 2018 20:05
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Haha thanks. Although they'll probably just rerelease another Albatros kit to spite me.
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Aug 4, 2018 21:39
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I got second place in my small town's model show! I was one of five entrants All of whom were pretty darn good. The guy who won had done a 1/35 King tiger, then made it into a cutaway. Another person had scratchbuilt a flower class corvette. Good show, met a few nerds
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Aug 4, 2018 22:45
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Nebakenezzer posted:I got second place in my small town's model show! Congratulations! I am reasonably certain I get something to take home from this giant show, but there are only 5 sailing entries which is kind of a bummer, was hoping for a lot more. Actual winners aren't announced until the presentation after the banquet so I've got like 4 hours to kill now before it starts. I took almost 1900 pictures with only a few models getting multiple pics, and I didn't photograph nearly everything and did a bunch in groups too. If the Nationals ever land in a town near any of you model nerds, you really need to go.
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Aug 4, 2018 22:51
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I (still) wish someone came out with a model of the car from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
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Aug 5, 2018 01:02
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The Locator posted:One of the biggest killers of entries in the category I judged was photo-etch railing. It's apparently really hard to get it perfect where it's vertical and not have any kinks, bends, etc., and that was one of the easiest ways to eliminate a model. If it had faults in the railing, the rest of the ship had to be really superb to not be eliminated by just that. Of course some of that is the overall quality was so high, so the railing was one of the bigger visual faults that was found.
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Aug 5, 2018 04:02
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Cartoon posted:I'm imagining a very bewildered looking nerd who spent ages with historical photos micro damaging the railings only to be told he's a poo poo builder. If they document the damage and include the photos then it can be a plus instead of a minus.
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Aug 5, 2018 05:14
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Note from the 2018 IPMS National Convention. If I heard the numbers right, there were 2367 entries consisting of over 3400 individual models, not including the display only things like that 700 model collection. My ship took 1st place in the "Ships - Sailing" category (5 entries). My ship was one of the two finalists in the judges voting for Best Ship, and there were over 100 entries in the ship class, which made me pretty drat happy even if I didn't take home that award (it was awarded to the correct ship, which I'll post tomorrow, an amazing full scratch built minesweeper). I'll start working on getting some example photos tomorrow, too tired tonight. If you guys have a preference for what sort of photos you would like to see (i.e. type of models, planes, ships, cars, dioramas, armor, etc.) I'll prioritize getting some good examples of those. Since I was doing speed photography, I may need to do post-processing to anything before I post it so it may be time consuming. I was basically making sure I got a focused shot of each model, and just had the camera set to auto for shutter/exposure, figuring that I can fix the exposure and framing in post processing if I need to. The Locator fucked around with this message at 07:39 on Aug 5, 2018 |
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Aug 5, 2018 07:36
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Blue Footed Booby posted:I don't understand why parents let kids break their older siblings' poo poo. Like, kids are gonna be kids, but surely they wouldn't have let her tear up your homework or smash your computer. It's not just kids. I had a roommate that was really into Warhammer and wanted me to get involved so we could play together. I had a number of Lizardmen that I had on display over my VCR. He decided he needed that VCR one day and just swiped left on the Lizardmen. So I got back off the kick. I'm on the RC tanks now, to which I've made it known to visitors they are not to touch any of them because each is worth more to me than their lives
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Aug 5, 2018 13:12
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Couple of the "Best Of" winners. Aircraft and Ship. Aircraft was based on a kit, but massively modified and scratch built interior and other parts. Ship was 100% scratch built with no aftermarket parts according to the paperwork. Neither of these won best of show. Click thumbnails to enlarge of course. Aircraft:     Ship:          If nobody wants all this stuff in the thread let me know, and I'll wait until I have a decent sized album put together somewhere and post a link. No idea how long that will be though, it's easier to mess with one or two subjects and make sure all those photo's are decent and resized than to go through 1800+ to publish an album. 
The Locator fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Aug 5, 2018 |
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Aug 5, 2018 21:04
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Good lord. Is that a fishing boat converted to a minesweeper?
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Aug 5, 2018 21:32
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SocketWrench posted:It's not just kids. Years ago, back when I was still working as a bouncer, I came home at about 5 am after a particularly bloody night at work to find one of my then roommate's drunk female friends at my work table, merrily painting half finished figures I had left out. She'd been at it quite a while apparently, long enough to let some of the brushes she had used crust up with paint. I was not very happy.
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Aug 6, 2018 02:06
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Well the brushes were hosed, but did she do a good job of painting the minis?
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Aug 6, 2018 02:18
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Arquinsiel posted:Well the brushes were hosed, but did she do a good job of painting the minis? No. I had to strip the models down to bare plastic and metal and start over.
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Aug 6, 2018 02:33
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That's pretty unforgivable alright.
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Aug 6, 2018 03:29
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Speaking of Figures, have the Best Of Class - Figures. The Outlaw Josey Wales. 
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Aug 6, 2018 03:46
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The Locator posted:If nobody wants all this stuff in the thread let me know, and I'll wait until I have a decent sized album put together somewhere and post a link. No idea how long that will be though, it's easier to mess with one or two subjects and make sure all those photo's are decent and resized than to go through 1800+ to publish an album.  Also, congrats on your win!
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Aug 6, 2018 04:03
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Arquinsiel posted:That's pretty unforgivable alright. Yeah. The old adage "the bigger the blob, the better the job" might hold true for welding, but less so for 54mm Napoleonics. I mean, unless you're going super realistic and are modelling horse turds for your artillery diorama. Symetrique posted:
And this, always this. My return to wooden ship building is due mainly to following The Locator's work logs here so I'm happy to see him being recognized for his skill.
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Aug 6, 2018 04:15
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Next best ofs... Best Auto:    And Best Space / Sci-Fi:      
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Aug 6, 2018 06:37
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The one everyone has been waiting for! Best Military Vehicle and.. Judges Choice - Best in Show:             Guy who built this took 1st place in something stupid like 10 categories. Edit: Also, thanks Symetrique & Fearless
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Aug 6, 2018 06:49
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tbh I don't think it's ethical to develop shrinking technology, then capture a real vehicle and crew and pass them off as a scale model
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Aug 6, 2018 12:40
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That Lysander is fantastic.
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Aug 7, 2018 00:21
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The final show numbers: Contest Entrants: 424. Models grand total: 3,523. Models in competition: 2,723. -Display 800. -Jr 70. -Aircraft 670. -Military Vehicles 501. -Ship 143. -Dio 169. -Misc 508. -Auto 257. -Space Sci-fi 168. -Figures 237.
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Aug 7, 2018 18:56
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Took me a moment to realize that was Diorama and not the band.
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Aug 8, 2018 04:57
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The Locator posted:Note from the 2018 IPMS National Convention. If I heard the numbers right, there were 2367 entries consisting of over 3400 individual models, not including the display only things like that 700 model collection. Goongrats!! and thanks for all the pics.
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Aug 9, 2018 02:34
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I finished Rye Field Model's new Panther G kit. This kit has a full interior and a ton of different options for the Panther G series but with some curious omissions like no side skirts or track change cable. I'd say 99% of the time the fit is Tamiya-like which is insane for such a complicated kit. The other 1% was a horror show where the "keys" to keep parts aligned allowed way too much play making eyeballing the alignment necessary. The worst example of this was one of the drive sprockets: the teeth on each half wound up severely offset which, of course, I didn't realize until it came time to fit the tracks  Luckily I was able to fix it.The molding is really good with no flash anywhere and sharp details. The workable tracks and copper tow cables are both excellent and comparable to the better aftermarket brands. Pics:          
Frenz fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Aug 9, 2018 |
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Aug 9, 2018 02:54
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Looks great! I've seen this issue with other manufacturers: 99% amazing fit and the one part that ruins the whole experience.
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Aug 9, 2018 05:34
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Is there a Goon-approved varnish brand for airbrushing? According to Youtube, Vallejo is best for airbrushing but they've been wrong before. They seem more expensive than the ones you find in craft stores. Also I'm not a very good modeler so I don't need the best stuff I think (I'm very happy to use Klir for sealing decals for instance). And is there a "rule" for the type of varnish? Do people usually use matt or satin models?
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Aug 9, 2018 10:24
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Vallejo Matte Varnish is brilliant.
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Aug 9, 2018 11:28
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ijyt posted:Vallejo Matte Varnish is brilliant. Nice pun! Do you need to thin it with something? The Vallejo Airbrush Thinner, or maybe just distilled water?
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Aug 9, 2018 12:26
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I’ve always shot it straight, no diluting at about 30psi. The mecha varnish is also great (because its the same thing). Just fyi I’m talking about the dropper bottle varnishes, not the big one, haven’t used that one.
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Aug 9, 2018 13:56
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The Locator posted:One of the biggest killers of entries in the category I judged was photo-etch railing. It's apparently really hard to get it perfect where it's vertical and not have any kinks, bends, etc., and that was one of the easiest ways to eliminate a model. If it had faults in the railing, the rest of the ship had to be really superb to not be eliminated by just that. Of course some of that is the overall quality was so high, so the railing was one of the bigger visual faults that was found. Photo etch railing is the worst. Touch it the wrong way and you'll have bends in it you will never get rid of again. I've been exceptionally lucky so far with the railing on the Scharnhorst. This luck will probably not last until the end of the build. Scharnhorst issue 56  We close up the last gaps in the planking on the bottom of the hull and install about two dozen tiny tiny airducts on the deck structures. And I do mean TINY. Had to be careful not to sneeze  This marks the 40 % completion point, so here's a full view of where we're at right now. 
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Aug 9, 2018 15:48
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Greyhawk posted:Photo etch railing is the worst. Touch it the wrong way and you'll have bends in it you will never get rid of again. I've been exceptionally lucky so far with the railing on the Scharnhorst. This luck will probably not last until the end of the build. Scharnhorst is coming along nicely. I am quite sure I would have smashed many of those tiny PE parts by now if I were the one doing it! Speaking of tiny parts, here is the ship that took 1st place in the category I helped judge. The category is "Destroyers, Escorts, Corvettes, and other Small Ships - 1/700 or smaller"       It won by simply being the cleanest build with the least number of flaws found under careful examination. Everything about it was just sharp as hell, no paint errors, no visible glue spots anywhere or visible seams. The PE was all perfect, no railing out of place or bent, no ladders tweaked, and the masts and rigging all perfectly aligned (moveable parts like crane booms are not counted for alignment).
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Aug 9, 2018 17:14
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Hopefully this is the best thread for this post but if anyone has a better suggestion please let me know  Found this diecast (?) train in my grandparents garage in England and I am wondering if it's unique at all/worth money beyond 20p at a garage sale. 
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Aug 9, 2018 18:01
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Wow. That's a lot more tiny.
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Aug 9, 2018 18:02
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tangy yet delightful posted:Hopefully this is the best thread for this post but if anyone has a better suggestion please let me know That is a lighter.
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Aug 9, 2018 18:06
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In England? Strange. That's a Japanese D51, the same engine I built that huge brass model off. The D51 was Japans most prevalent steam engine for cargo trains for almost 4 decades. If you say "steam engine" to a Japanese, this is the one he's thinking of. That same lighter is currently on Etsy for 70 Euro right now.
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Aug 9, 2018 18:07
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Ah yeah that's super cool thanks for the info!
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Aug 9, 2018 18:35
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