Nick Filippone

Thank you, Eric. I will see what I can do about getting our club logo posted. Nick

I guess I am behind the curve, but how do you find our Gallery? Nick Filippone

Wayne is, indeed, the Dean and Emeritus Chief Judge of the IPMS Judging Corps. I still recall and employ many of his aphorisms for judging the way I recall and employ those of my surgical professors. My favorites are: "A hole is to look in" and " The modeler finished before he was done!" Nick Filippone

Thank you all for these suggestions. They will be helpful to me. I too was under the general impression that you should not apply lacquer over enamel. But I have been thinking- I have been using Testors clear and flat coats, which are lacquer based, over Testors Model Master enamel! So how am I getting away with this? Nick

I know this has been discussed before, but I have forgotten the concensus opinion. Can each of these be applied over the other with impunity or no? Thanks. Nick Filippone

I could not agree more with Mr. Borgarelli! This puerile advertising insults us. Many modelers are serious historians and craftsmen. To assume we appreciate such trashy and suggestive images and need them to decide whether we will make a purchase demeans us. But more importantly, it demeans and degrades and objectifies women at the very time women are dealing with injustice in our Courts and sexual abuse in the workplace. These images and the misogenistic mentality that promotes them are the very reasons why so often woman are treated as mere sex objects and not as fellow and equal human beings. Many of us have wives and sisters and daughters and granddaughters and I would be willing to bet that none of us would appreciate seeing the girls and women in our lives viewed the way Eduard asks us to view this woman! For heaven's sake- it is the 21st. century and Eduard hasn't moved past the mind set of a 16 th century Ottoman voluptuary. Let Eduard apologize for this ad and pull it. Then I will consider purchasing masks from them again. Nick Filippone

While all the above points are good ones, ultimately, I must agree with Ralph! Earning an award at our National Convention is a significant achievement and the Banquet where these awards are announced should be attended with dignity and respect. It is also the only time all year a large contingent of the membership gathers together. For these reasons, some degree of formality in dress is appropriate. I also, however, concede that notions of formality and dignity and respect in this country are becoming extinct as society descends into sartorial slovenliness! Nick Filippone

When Tim first reported his difficulties with making a reservation, it fleetingly crossed my mind that the block was already full. But I dismissed that notion as being ridiculous. Could so many members have been so quick to make their reservations? Are the blocks too small? Anyway, my thanks to Bob for starting this thread and informing me I could make my reservation sooner than the 20th. It looks like I did not act a moment too soon! If nothing else, this episode points out there is a large and faithful subculture of IPMS USA that religiously makes the annual pilgrimage to the National. Next year in Jerusalem er, that is, Omaha. Shalom! Nick

At the risk of sounding repetitive, the first thing I would do is re-call the Embassy on Monday. You will probably get a different staff member. At least you can probably talk to the " 1st string " Manager or someone in the Sales Department, which is usually closed on the weekend. We always seem to encounter these issues and they are almost always related to poor communication within the hotel staff. Good luck!

I made my reservation for all four nights at Embassy at the group rate yesterday. Did you try to make a reservation today? My experience is that it is always best to make reservations on a week day during normal business hours -9 to 5. Otherwise, you frequently get the second string and they do not know what they are doing.

This looks like an E.E. Cummings poem! Nick Filippone

Gil, Just an excellent summary of the role of weathering in modeling and modeling competition. To emphasize your points, having judged at the National level for over twenty years, and having had the privilege of working with many outstanding judges from across the entire spectrum of attitudes toward weathering, I have never heard anyone say: ' Yes, this model represents superior work, but it isn't weathered, so it does not deserve to win.' Nick Filippone

But, bear in mind that the male master MUST be smaller than the final part. This discrepancy will vary with the thickness of the clear sheet plastic you are using, but the final product is always larger than the male mold. Now, if the part tapers from bottom edge to top, then sometimes, all you need do is sand a little from the bottom. However, for example, if the width of the part is constant, then it will always be too wide, no matter how much you lower it from the bottom. If you can use the unusable kit part to creat a male mold by pouring something in it that will harden but still allow you to remove the kit part, that would be ideal. Otherwise, I would be inclined to carve and sand a new, slightly smaller male mold from styrene ( or bass or balsa wood, thoroughly sealed) and vacuuform over it. Nick Filippone

Did you use the kit decals and, if so, how did they behave? Thanks. Nick Filippone

The category is there, if and when members choose to make use of it. It is very democratic. I do not believe it is appropriate to scold the Society for not doing more of what one lone person personally thinks is somehow important! Nick Filippone

Anyone who has ever been involved in running a contest is familiar with the "requirement" to leave models on the table until the awards are presented. Getting everyone to agree and cooperate is, of course, problematic! Nick Filippone

I think there is much to what Kevin says. As a judge, I sometimes find it hard to decide what is effective weathering and what is a mess disguising a poor finish. I think a neat paint job with skilled application of decals and, perhaps, some restrained weathering is much harder than slopping greys and blacks and browns all over the piece. Just sayiin'. Nick Filippone, Senior National Judge

This is the correct decision. The return was too little for the outlay of so much money. Those who ran the program deserve every credit for the goodwill it created but we must be fiscally responsible when deciding how best to spend the member's treasury. Yes, that is a trick question but an old one. The Confederates should have remembered that it is bad luck to change the name of a ship. Periodically, the Cassandras on this forum try to depress us with the impending demise of the hobby. Based simply on the number of new kits released monthly, the hobby is thriving. There has been modeling of miniatures since at least the Egyptians. It's in our DNA. It will always be part of the human experience. Our concern and goal must be the long term viability of IPMS. Nick Filippone

If you add something that is not in the box as supplied by the kit manufacturer, except as explicitly allowed by the rules, it is no longer OOB. The builder will have embellished the kit in a way not allowed by the rule. Why not more identical ships boats if the kit did not supply enough? How about more anchors, more but identical guns? Why is it so difficult to understand a lucid statement of a category description? It is always the same thing when we discuss Contest Rules and Category descriptions. It is apparently not possible for some people to distinguish the difference in their own minds between ' I don't like' and ' I don't understand, so it must be a stupid rule.' One of the most importantly qualities in any judge of anything is a willingness and ability to say: "NO, " even if there is backlash. Judging is not a popularity contest. A judge must know the rules, and be prepared to evenhandedly apply and enforce them, whether the entrant likes it or not. Nick Filippone, Senior National Judge.

Sorry. My goof. I forgot there is no individual registration for the Contest. While display space may increase the overall costs to the hosts, these, of course, should be born by all Convention registrants. I must be getting senile! Nick Filippone

It is only fair that people who display should pay something to defray any additional costs to the host, if they are incurred. If the venue charges for the tables and set up and take down, these costs must be met. If additional space for the tables is charged to the host, then these costs also must be covered.Nick Filippone

I like "Legacy." It's classy! Nick Filippone

I am not sure if I am understanding your dilemma correctly, but if you are trying to debond Testors (or Tamiya Extra Thin), to seperate the parts, hit it with the Tamiya Extra Thin . It is so potent a plastic solvent, it will re-dissolve the weld. But be careful. This process can be messy and you will have to clean up the surfaces which were formally mated when the glue dries! Nick Filippone

Mike, I did not suggest that we don't improve the National. I believe I supported the idea of display tables. My enthusiasm for the contest should not be construed as unwillingness to improve the show and attract more registrants by offering display only space. There is no gainsaying that the contest is consistently a success and I believe de- emphasizing it for any reason defies logic. I might add that both the Model T and the Jenny were outstanding products, reliable and of much higher quality than most of mass produced junk of today. Further, only the most skilled craftsmen can produce and have produced outstanding models from a block of wood! In fact, one of the original reasons for the founding of IPMS was to give credibility to plastic modelers who, at the time, were regarding as unskilled, mere assemblers when compared to those working in balsa and basswood. Finally, since when is the EE Lighting ugly? Nick Filippone

P. S. When I compete at the National Contest or any other level, I do want to prove I am better than everyone else. I will likely never achieve it, but therein lies the challenge and the satisfaction of competition- the trying to be better. As Yogi Berra said: ' Somebody's gotta win and somebody's gotta lose. Just try to do better and don't worry about it.' Why would any honest person be ashamed to say they try to win when they compete? Trying to win by competing in a sportsmanlike way is manly and character-building. After trying one's best, winning or losing with dignity and humility is one of the most gentlemanly things a person can do! The vast majority of the IPMS members I compete against are just such ladies and gentlemen. Those who do not want to compete should not. But many, in fact, most of the National Registrants do want to compete. (Sorry, but 60 to 40 is a substantive plurality.) The National Contest is a great success in it's current format. It ain't broke. It don't need to be fixed. Fix, rather, the display table issue- but not at the expense of the Contest. Nick Filippone