Nick Filippone

Jim is correct. As I have said many times discussing this topic, GSB or open judging is indeed not a contest. It is a demonstration of competencies. It is not a competition. While it removes the stress of competition for those who cannot manage it, it likewise removes the suspense and excitement for everyone! Further, it demands a uniformity in the application of our judging principles and standards by the entire judging cadre, and which would have to be utilized in evaluating many different genres of modeling. This would take years to achieve, if ever. Nick Filippone, Senior National Judge

I am vaccinated and I will wear a mask at all times. My current anxiety is that, with Nevada on the rise and my state ( New York) fairly low now, our Governor will impose quarantine on anyone returning to NYS from Nevada. I could not expect my partner to work alone another 10 days after being alone while I am in Las Vegas. We will have to wait and see. Nick

Winners at model contests see paper certificates as cheap and low budget. They have traditionally been utilized for fourth place, also-ran, “feel good,” honourable mention awards. If you are going to give only chintzy paper certificates to all the winners, you better not charge much for contest registration. Otherwise, people are going to wonder what they are getting for their money. Since the largest budget item in most shows is the awards, you will save a lot of money- and likely have to endure a lot of grumbling! Good luck. Nick

Hi, Jim. Looking forward to seeing you either in the Rio or at the local soup kitchen. ( I hear their Tomato Bisque is excellent!) Nick

I cannot speak with any knowledge about Las Vegas but from what I have seen on the news and what I have experienced in my home town, the restaurant industry in many cities is struggling to find workers, especially wait staff. Could this be part of the problem in Las Vegas? Nick

So herein is one of the logistical challenges of the Gold, Silver, Bronze or “open” system for recognizing achievement in a modeling competition. There is no way to know how many of each award will be needed! This is because there is no way to know how good (or bad) the entries are going to be in a category on any given day at any given contest. Since it is possible that every entry reaches a gold level of excellence, you will be handing out a lot of gold medals. Or, conversely, every entry will be so poor that you won’t be giving any level of award. Of course, the usual situation is an unpredictable mix of great, good, so-so and poor models. (All this assumes that you will be judging every entry against a theoretical standard which will be scrupulously, even ruthlessly applied to each entry, even if everyone ends up with a gold or everyone ends up with nothing.) Without getting into the myriad other implications of this situation, this is why many open judging contest organizers use the same undated awards without any location specific details year in and year out. Large quantities can be kept on hand and easily reordered when needed, without any waste. Nick Filippone, Senior National Judge

The judges who do not get “caught up” in judging dioramas are likely judges - such as myself - who, not being diorama builders, do not feel competent to fairly evaluate them. After all, it is the Nationals and the entrants deserve to have their entries scrutinized by people who have some passing familiarity with the genre. A quick scan of any contest room will reveal that only a small percentage of the entries are dioramas because so few modelers build dioramas. Hence the pool of qualified diorama judges is always small and many of them are likely to be disqualified from judging based on the fact that they are entered in those categories. Having judged at the Nationals for many years, I can assure you that the head Class Judges and all the line judges are scrupulous in giving every entry the appropriate amount of time and attention. No entry is treated as an afterthought! Nick Filippone, Senior National Judge

I built many of these Airfix armor kits when I was in High School. I used to solve the problem of closing the loop of the treads by sewing the ends together with needle and thread. It worked very well. Nick

While, of late, this Forum has been, usually, responsible and mature in it’s discussions, there was a time, not so long ago, when the posts were puerile, vituperative and argumentative when they were not downright insulting, particularly when referring to the NCC and the E-Board. (We have all been guilty of this at one time or another, myself included.) The conversations I have had with some former and current members of IPMS leadership when discussing the value of the Forum as a communication tool, therefore, revealed their, perhaps, understandable disdain for it. Additionally, it has always represented the ideas and opinions of such an insignificant number of members that the leadership could be excused for not regularly utilizing it to take the pulse of the organization. Now, the Journal, on the other hand, reaches every member. The Chief Judge made his position clear in the issue before last: be prepared to wear a mask while judging. So, if one plans to judge, bring a mask. If there is a last minute change to the contrary, leave it in your suitcase in your hotel room. And why not wait until the last minute to make a final decision? Mark could say you do not need a mask today, and four weeks from now, a surge might require him to change it again. Based on his latest directive, we are now prepared for any contingency. Nick

Oh, yes. I will admit that I did not and, judging it, probably would not have picked up the fact that the end vertical stabilizers and rudders are up side down. But, as Dak said, “ if someone caught the problem” might be the difference in placing or not. It might serve as a tie breaker, depending on the competition. Modelers and judges are only human…..aren’t they? Nick

I concede that I looked at the vertical stabilizers but could not tell, not being a more head on view, if they were not angled enough to be correct. Thanks. Nick

Gil, Ok! You got me. I have stared at the photo of the E-2 and I will be darned if I can see the error. It does appear you did a beautiful job on the model. I have looked at multiple photos of the real aircraft and I still can’t find your mistake. If you were intentionally trying to make your point about experienced judges perhaps not seeing an error, you have at least made me look silly 😜. Can you please tell me what the problem is so I can sleep tonight? Lol🤔 Thanks. Nick

This is a question that has always bothered me. When is an accuracy mistake so egregious that it becomes a craftsmanship error? Or worse, some errors could be one or the other, depending on who is evaluating it. If the builder who installed the exhausts up side down because he honestly thought it was the right way, it’s an accuracy mistake. But if he had the instructions in front of him, and did it wrong anyway, it is a craftsmanship error. How is the judge to know? Some mistakes, even honest ones, are too obvious and to outrageous for a judge to allow- like a model photo posted on this Forum a few years ago, during this very discussion, of a P-40 with the wheels inside of the main landing gear struts instead of outside. That is just too hard a “mistake “ to make and reflects work too carelessly done on a very well known and easily referenced aircraft- even if he or she did not have the instructions in front of him or her, which is not likely. In the end, on Judgement er, judging day, the builder is throwing him or herself on the mercy of that judging team. This is such a grey area with no clear policy or answer-how could there be? I guess the builder better hope those judges are in a forgiving mood. At the very least, depending on the seriousness of the error, if spotted, it is likely to be “points off.” Nick Filippone, Senior National Judge

It wasn’t I who asked “ why do we feel the need to compete in the first place?” So that is where the thread went off topic. But so what! This discussion takes place annually. For me, participation is merely a rhetorical exercise and an opportunity to brush up on one’s grammar and spelling skills- usually ( but not always) with tongue firmly implanted in cheek. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with either judging system, other than the fact that both are implemented by flawed human beings. This thread has been dissecting a distinction without a difference. Nick

I assumed someone would point out, correctly, that Van Gogh cut off his ear over a failed romance. But this only emphasizes again how competition and winning and losing is innate in the human condition- in this case, Van Gogh played the game of love and lost. But then, as the poet said, ‘it is better to have entered the model contest and lost, than never to have entered at all’ - Not!!! Nick