Harry P.

Geez, Bill... don't you read the magazine???!!! :lol:

Yeah, not cheap by any means. You have to "pick your spots" and use them where they'll have the most effect. In other places where a "fake" bolt head would do, you can make them from hex shaped styrene rod.

If you're disillusioned by the state of affairs at other contests, but you still have the "contest bug," then starting up your own contest sounds like a good way to go. Get the word out, tell your friends, tell your friends to tell their friends, maybe get a hobby shop to sponsor or host the event... and institute your judging system. Who knows, you might just create the next great contest! Good luck!

I love you too, man...

That looks fantastic in every single detail! Really cool!!! Do you use the same weathering techniques that Cranky does?

http://www.scalehardware.com/

Today, actually. And no, I'm not on the list. Gotta keep a low profile, you know...

Ken... possibly a dumb question here, but I mean it seriously: If the situation is as bad as you describe (and I have no reason to doubt you)... why in the world do you bother with it? Why enter contests at all if you feel, going in, that the system is rigged, dishonest or unfair? Seems to me like you could save yourself a whole lot of hand-wringing if you just forget the contest scene and build for your own enjoyment, not for the judgement of others.

Final vote: 36 REAL, 15 MODEL. The "REALS" win! It's real, taken at the Gilmore Car Museum in Kalamazoo, MI. Next ROM coming MONDAY!

Good luck with that, stumpy!

Got a rough night planned???

Here's a little somethin' that'll make you feel a lot better about 50: I'll be 53 tomorrow!!! Helloooooo, AARP!

Jairus is just cranky 'cuz he's 50...

I'm not saying the contest is a bad idea... just pointing out the inherent problems with a "photo only" format. I hope they have a huge turnout! $500 is a nice prize!

What I'm saying is very simple: In a model contest where the judging is done via photos and not by looking at the actual model, the entrant will be judged in two ways: by the quality of the model, and the quality (or lack thereof) of the photos. That's the stumbling block... the models are not only being judged on their own merits, but by the quality of the photos (by necessity) and whatever detail the photos may or may not provide due to bad lighting, poor focus, bad angles, etc. So it's not just your modeling skills that are being judged, but also your photography skills as they relate to your being able to show your model in the best possible light. I understand that it's not a photography contest, but when a photo is all the judge has to go by, the relative quality of that photo compared to others entrants' photos will play a big part in the judging. There's no way for the judge to get around that. The only way a "photos only" contest could avoid the problem of differing photo quality playing a part in the judging would be if all the photos were taken by the same person with the same camera and under the same exact conditions. You can't assume that all the entrants will have equal abilities as photographers... that's just not possible. Of course, minor differences in photo quality probably won't make a difference, but there is a very real possibility that an otherwise excellent model could be "outperformed" by an inferior model due to differing photo quality. It's inevitable that some entrants are going to think that maybe they didn't win, not because their model wasn't good enough, but maybe because their photos weren't as good as the other guy's. Think of it this way: suppose you were judging a model contest in person... some of the models were on tables in a well-lit room where you could get up close and give the model a real good going over... but some other models were in a dimly lit room and you could only judge them from a distance of ten feet. Are all the models being judged under the same conditions? No. Same problem with judging models based on photos taken by different people with different levels of photographic skill.

Yeah, that's all fine and good in theory. But all I'm saying is that in a contest where judging is done solely based on photos of the models and not the models themselves, the quality of the photos will inevitably play a part in the judging. There's no way around it... the photos are all the judges have! They don't have the real model to look at. And if an entrant's photos are dark, or out of focus, or in any other way sub-par, or are taken from bad angles, or don't show the model's best features, etc., the model can't possibly be judged fairly. By definition the judging will be "biased,"... not intentionally, but due to the simple fact that the quality of the photos submitted is going to vary from "pro" to "######," and the quality of the photos is not in direct correlation to the quality of the models. Being a good model builder and a good photographer are two separate things, not necessarily related to each other. Many builders, especially those who submit material to magazines, have obviously mastered photography, but I'm sure there are plenty of good modelers out there who might want to enter this contest and don't know the first thing about photography. And why should they? It's a whole different hobby. To assume that good modelers are also necessarily good photographers is pretty questionable. And that's where the "can of worms" comes in.

Have you seen some of the photos posted here???

https://disastersafe.redcross.org/default.aspx

I think that turned out really well. Good move changing the front bumper. I love the colors, the mesh doors, the roof rack... everything!

Of course, the unavoidable "fly in the ointment" of a photo-only contest is the quality (or lack thereof) of the submitted photos. Builder "A" might have built a killer model that deserves to win, but he's a lousy photographer... the winning quality of his entry would be hard (or impossible) to see... so Builder "B", who's model isn't quite up to Builder "A's" work, but whose photos are much better, wins the contest. Could happen. There's no way to "level the playing field" as far as the quality of the photos submitted.

I like it! Love the colors you used, it all works great together. I agree about losing the front bumper. Nerf bars would work better... or nothing at all. And I agree with adding headlights (maybe you were planning to anyway). But all in all, very cool!

Looks like the admin over there "think's" that there should be an apostrophe after every word that "end's" in s... "seem's" kind of strange, they must have attended some English "classe's" that I missed!

Hmmm..... so yer two-timin' us, eh?

So that's your secret hideout...

Pretty cool! Tell me about your sources for stuff like the phones, the toilets, the vending machines, etc. There are so many cool scale items there... where did you get them all from?