What does "NNL" stand for?

[Tabbysdaddy]

Luckily for me, I'm always right.

[Danno]

Well, I know what I know!  

[sfhess]

Gosh, I hope the sun comes up tomorrow.

 

[peteski]

3 minutes ago, sfhess said:

Gosh, I hope the sun comes up tomorrow.

That is guaranteed, but the sky might be overcast.

[Russell C]

4 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

..... His link consisted of an "acronym' web site with a few other possible uses for the letters nnl. ....

For a short bit there, I thought I might have learned something about an uncommon abbreviation for "national." But in this Acronym Finder, that word is not among them. "Never Never Land" is, though. When it comes to the real abbreviations for "national," this page says Nat’l. Natl. Ntl. Nat. NTL

Meanwhile, I forget which airportit was where I had hours of layover time to kill, but I do remember how that was a good time for watching all of Doug Whyte's Model Car Muse video on the formation of the NNL, quite funny.

Edited January 25 by Russell C
typo

[NOBLNG]

11 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Sorry for resurrecting a 15 year old thread, but I had a very interesting discussion/argument with a guy on Facebook this afternoon about the origin of the NNL.

It wound up being quite humorous!

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

Well Thank You for digging it up Steve. I have heard of NNL many times on here but didn’t know exactly what it stood for or how it was started. It’s an interesting piece of history!😎

[StevenGuthmiller]

4 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

Well Thank You for digging it up Steve. I have heard of NNL many times on here but didn’t know exactly what it stood for or how it was started. It’s an interesting piece of history!😎

I didn't know until I started attending the show in Minneapolis about a decade ago, at which point I asked one of the show organizers.

 

I understand that "some" people might find my post "unnecessary", or whatever, but I thought it was amusing, and I was a little shocked that someone who claimed to be so worldly when it came to model car shows knew absolutely nothing about the NNL and it's beginnings or purpose.

One thing that I have found during my time on some of the Facebook groups is the abundance of incorrect, bad, or even in some cases, destructive information being offered.

I don't get into a lot of discussions on the Facebook groups, but I figure that if someone asks a question that I can offer a correct answer to, just as in any other situation, as in this forum or others, I'll chime in.

So when this guy gave an obviously wrong answer, I politely offered a correction.

 

I assumed that the person asking the question might actually like to know the right answer, so I gave it.

But, it was apparently too much for the gentleman to bear that he might possibly be wrong.

 

In any case, here's a link to the Youtube video that I suggested that he go watch, (which he obviously did not)

It's a long one, but it's really very interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Can-Con]

There's one member on here who likes to post all the latest info on new kits who is in the belief that NNLs are judged contests. Although they do hand out a few plaques or trophies for special categories they're always considered friendly get togethers by the ones putting them on, not "contests".  

I didn't bother correcting him when he started going on about how awful it is that contests are becoming more of just social gatherings and specifically mentioned NNLs. Not worth my time.

BTW, I have been to NNL East several times. and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was great meeting people who you usually only interact on a keyboard with in person. 

I'd go more often but it's not as easy for me after I bought the house and have to usually stay home on flood watch the weekend of the NNL but it's only a 14 hour drive so maybe I'll show up again someday.

Edited January 25 by Can-Con

[Danno]

Several . . . okay, many . . . years ago I built a phantom NASCAR racer. It was based on a _____(Your Name Here)______ Lumina. 

I painted it red, white, and blue. 

It's sponsor was the NNL Championship Series (fictional). 

I called it "The Nameless National Lumina."

 

I had a lot of fun with it, but I was surprised at how many modelers asked, "What's it mean?"   🙄

[StevenGuthmiller]

24 minutes ago, Danno said:

Several . . . okay, many . . . years ago I built a phantom NASCAR racer. It was based on a _____(Your Name Here)______ Lumina. 

I painted it red, white, and blue. 

It's sponsor was the NNL Championship Series (fictional). 

I called it "The Nameless National Lumina."

 

I had a lot of fun with it, but I was surprised at how many modelers asked, "What's it mean?"   🙄

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[StevenGuthmiller]

41 minutes ago, Can-Con said:

There's one member on here who likes to post all the latest info on new kits who is in the belief that NNLs are judged contests. Although they do hand out a few plaques or trophies for special categories they're always considered friendly get togethers by the ones putting them on, not "contests".  

I didn't bother correcting him when he started going on about how awful it is that contests are becoming more of just social gatherings and specifically mentioned NNLs. Not worth my time.

BTW, I have been to NNL East several times. and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was great meeting people who you usually only interact on a keyboard with in person. 

I'd go more often but it's not as easy for me after I bought the house and have to usually stay home on flood watch the weekend of the NNL but it's only a 14 hour drive so maybe I'll show up again someday.

They do discuss in this video the fact that they introduced "People's Choice" awards later on because they felt that it was important that there be some recognition for the modelers at least on some level, so the compromise was reached that they would remain an un-judged  show, but the participants of the show would get to choose which builds they liked the best, based on the individual's own criteria.

The NNL still remains a non competitive show, but "awards" situations do vary.

The NNL North show that I go to most every year allows for "Top Ten, People's Choice" awards, as well as allowing some outside entities, such as local model clubs, to offer their own "theme" awards.

That probably amounts to possibly 16 or 17 awards total, including the ten plaques for the people's choice.

 

I think it's a fabulous system.

It allows for limited recognition, without handing out a whole table full of medals for 50 different categories like most of the IPMS contests do.

 

I treasure my "special" club awards, and "top ten people's choice" plaques much more than I do any gold medals that I've received at a judged contest, just because it's recognition by my peers, and not a designated judge.

My peers opinions are much more important to me.  

 

 

 

Steve 

Edited January 25 by StevenGuthmiller

[Tom Geiger]

I just had to chime in...

John Slivoski was the president of the Tri-State Scale Model Car Club.  He would go to the NNL Nationals in Toledo with Rick Hanmore. He asked the founders for permission to use the concept on the East Coast and was granted permission as long as he held to the formula. 

Back in the day, there was a group of guys shooting the breeze at a Brooklyn, NY hobby shop.  A guy came in and joined into the conversation.  He told them he was good friends with the "owner" of NNL East and it was a very tough contest, but he won Best of Show, where he received a six foot tall trophy!  The guy had no idea that one of the guys he was jawing at was John Slivoski, who quietly listened.  They let him embarrass himself and after he left they all burst out laughing!   John loved to tell that story!~

One time during the old Saturday night AOL Model Car Chats  I got home late after NNL East.  I joined the conversation and a guy instantly asked me who won the contest?"  I replied that EVERYONE in attendance won, because it wasn't a contest!  He immediately challenged me that nobody would attend a show without trophies!   I instantly got so many IMs at once that my computer crashed!

And even today I get a bunch of phone calls right before NNL East.  One year I got a call from a lady asking if her daughter could enter the NNL East Model Show?  I replied, "Of course!" and let her know we had a junior category.  I asked what did her daughter like to build? She responded, "BUILD???"  I instantly realized she though this was a modeling event for female models!   We are on a few of that industry's mailing lists because we still get emails looking for models for photo shoots!

[StevenGuthmiller]

5 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

Back in the day, there was a group of guys shooting the breeze at a Brooklyn, NY hobby shop.  A guy came in and joined into the conversation.  He told them he was good friends with the "owner" of NNL East and it was a very tough contest, but he won Best of Show, where he received a six foot tall trophy!  The guy had no idea that one of the guys he was jawing at was John Slivoski, who quietly listened.  They let him embarrass himself and after he left they all burst out laughing!   John loved to tell that story!~

That was exactly the same kind of attitude that I was dealing with with this Facebook guy!

But, I had to try to remember that there was still someone in the background who was looking for the "right" answer, and not something that someone had made up in his head and trying to convey as truth.

Anyway, I did my best.

 

 

9 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

One year I got a call from a lady asking if her daughter could enter the NNL East Model Show?  I replied, "Of course!" and let her know we had a junior category.  I asked what did her daughter like to build? She responded, "BUILD???"  I instantly realized she though this was a modeling event for female models! 

That's fabulous!!!! 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Tom Geiger]

16 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

The NNL still remains a non competitive show, but "awards" situations do vary.

The NNL North show that I go to most every year allows for "Top Ten, People's Choice" awards, as well as allowing some outside entities, such as local model clubs, to offer their own "theme" awards.

That probably amounts to possibly 16 or 17 awards total, including the ten plaques for the people's choice.

And there's some controversy about that.  There have been shows across the country that have come and gone who used the name "NNL".  One was actually a judged contest, and when contacted were clueless as to what NNL actually meant.

Some groups have stretched the concept with that Top Ten or even an award for each category, but it's frowned upon by the founders and those of us who are still holding the torch.  It's supposed to be about the modelers and providing the best day of the year for the hobby!

At NNL East we minimalize the awards to honor the original intent.  We don't even have a Best in Show.  We have the "John Slivoski Award" for most popular model as voted by people's choice.  We have Best in the theme and sub-theme.  We have a web award that is only put on our website just before the show to train folks to go to the website for information!  We have a Junior award. All of thesse are people's choice balloting. We have the Joe Cavorley award for the model Joe would have appreciated most, chosen by his friends.

Our last award is the Long Distance Award, to recognize the person who has traveled the furthest to attend in the spirit of friendship and comradery.   Over the years we have had visitors from Europe. South America, South Africa and Australia.  Also- there has never been a "trophy".  We only give out simple plaques.

We do get regular inquiries asking to do their own special award, and we respectfully decline as we want to keep the awards to a minimum and preserve the spirit of the event.   

Edited January 25 by Tom Geiger

[StevenGuthmiller]

22 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

And there's some controversy about that.  There have been shows across the country that have come and gone who used the name "NNL".  One was actually a judged contest, and when contacted were clueless as to what NNL actually meant.

Some groups have stretched the concept with that Top Ten or even an award for each category, but it's frowned upon by the founders and those of us who are still holding the torch.  It's supposed to be about the modelers and providing the best day of the year for the hobby!

At NNL East we minimalize the awards to honor the original intent.  We don't even have a Best in Show.  We have the "John Slivoski Award" for most popular model as voted by people's choice.  We have Best in the theme and sub-theme.  We have a web award that is only put on our website just before the show to train folks to go to the website for information!  We have a Junior award. All of thesse are people's choice balloting. We have the Joe Cavorley award for the model Joe would have appreciated most, chosen by his friends.

Our last award is the Long Distance Award, to recognize the person who has traveled the furthest to attend in the spirit of friendship and comradery.   Over the years we have had visitors from Europe. South America, South Africa and Australia.  Also- there has never been a "trophy".  We only give out simple plaques.

We do get regular inquiries asking to do their own special award, and we respectfully decline as we want to keep the awards to a minimum and preserve the spirit of the event.   

I can understand all of that.

 

The NNL North show has the "top ten people's choice", but there is no designation as to first, second, third, etc.

There is also a Junior "best in show" award.

The remainder are individual awards offered by, and voted on by the members of several local clubs, groups or entities.

 

The RPM model club, The members of which I believe do the bulk of the organization of the show, offer a "Best Competition Vehicle" award.

The Winnipeg Model Car Club offers a "Best Road Car" award.

The Model Car Club of Minnesota offers a rotating "theme" award that changes every year.

There has also been a "Sizzlin' Sixties" award offered by one of the RPM club members, and organizer of the show, Bob Halliday for just the past few years.

If memory serves me, there have been "Best Rat Rod" awards given in the past as well, from where I don't recall.

 

But that's pretty much it.

No best in shows, etc.

 

In my opinion, it's a perfect balance, providing enough competition to keep things interesting without going overboard by having 2 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and 4 bronze medals for each of 40 different categories, as well as a dozen "special" awards and a "Best in Show"!

That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I'm sure that you've probably entered these kinds of shows before and have seen the stacks, upon stacks, upon stacks, of medals and trophies on the award table!

It's a bit much.

But I suppose when you have IPMS shows with such specialized categories as "Best Post War, Eastern Block, Artillery Piece", Ya gotta expect a boat load of medals! 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Bills72sj]

I like the sound of the NNL concept, though I have never had the privileged of attending one. I have been to a few local shows over the last couple of decades. I simply enjoy sharing my builds and seeing the amazing work others have done. If I win an award great, I have been pleasantly surprised in doing so about a dozen times now. I am never disappointed if I do not. I am happy to get to share some time with like minded enthusiasts.

[Keef]

I’ve never been to a model show, judged or otherwise. The laid back feel of a NNL event sounds great. No judgement or pressure, just hanging out, making friends, maybe gaining some knowledge, and seeing some awesome builds. Do I think my builds are good enough to win an award? Not even close, but to be able to just have them on display for everyone to see them would be kinda cool. I may have to make plans to attend some events in my area if there are any.

[Bill Eh?]

I don't know if Wayne, NJ would constitute in my area, after all I live in Toronto, ON. I have been fortunate enough to travel with great friends to the NNL East. For me this started back when the event was in its final years in Parsippany, NJ. Hotel accommodations have been booked for this year and I am really looking forward to it. Long live my favourite NNL !

[Keef]

I just looked up the NNL East event for this year and I’ll have to plan on next year. It’s a 13 hour drive for me and I need time to plan and save (cause I know I’ll come home with more 😈) and need to schedule vacation time for the trip.

[Bill Eh?]

4 hours ago, Keef said:

I just looked up the NNL East event for this year and I’ll have to plan on next year. It’s a 13 hour drive for me and I need time to plan and save (cause I know I’ll come home with more 😈) and need to schedule vacation time for the trip.

Trust me Keith, if you get the opportunity, it is well worth it. The participants, the number of models on the tables, the vendors, the professionalism of the Tri-State Club members who are behind the event. I believe the Diversified Scalerz are also heavily involved as well. You will come away with plans in your head for another future attendance.