Nick Filippone
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Posts posted by Nick Filippone
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The vendors underwrite a significant amount of the costs of the Nationals. Anything that decreases their customer base is bad for their business. It also betrays a lack of gratitude for the support they have given us over the years. If we have to forfeit a few bucks because of a liberal walk-in policy, that would only be fair and smart given the mutually beneficial relationship IPMS USA has enjoyed with the vendors and manufacturers over the past almost 60 years. Nick
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I did a 7TP in 1/72 scale. I used Testor’s Model Master enamels. I used one of their tans for the tan - think their Radome Tan- and RAF Dark Earth and Dark Green. I think it looks convincing enough, especially after some weathering.
Nick
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It wouldn’t feel like a National if I wasn’t rushing to complete my entries. Even if I had finished things well in advance, I would then start and try to finish something else in a rush! You are not alone in this.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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!!!
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Oh, but you do see competition at the Louvre. The “winners” have their “entries” hanging on it's walls. The losers are waiting tables at some sidewalk bistro across the street. And if you think our judges or AMPs judges are capricious, inconsistent, arbitrary and inconsiderate, how much better are that vaunted body of good judgement - Art Critics? Good grief, some of the “winners” in the Louvre, Toulouse- Latrec ( spelling?) for example, didn’t pick up their “trophies” until they were almost dead or even later. At least our winners get their recognition before the show ends. And when was the last time an embittered modeler cut off part of his ear or worse?
No, there is no competition in art. But, if so, why isn’t my Senior Year final creation for my studio painting course right up there with Apres Midi sur le Grand Jatte instead of being jammed behind the book case in my den. Because some twisted minds decided that Manet was a better painter than I am- and they were and are right.
Some people are just better at some things than are others. That’s what makes a horse race- and a model competition.
Nick Filippone, Senior National Judge
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And glorifying hate and oppression with statues of the perpetrators of that hate and oppression really angers me!
There is another opinion for Dak’s survey. I hope it helps.
Nick-
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Dak, On the one hand, in this thread, you have been asking us to tell you what offend us as individuals. Then, when someone told you what they thought of the implications of your Trump sticker, they were “ projecting their own feelings onto “( you). Your use of this expression suggests that you were somewhat put out by what they had to say. So, do you really want to know what people think or not? When does simply voicing one’s opinion become “projecting their own feelings?” -especially when, as you say, “nothing is really right or wrong.” Maybe you are “thinking” about it all too much.
There is, however, one thing that is wrong: to suggest “nothing is either right or wrong.”
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Well said, Noel!
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As stated in the National Contest Rules, II., 14. bases are allowed in all categories but will not be judged except in vignettes and dioramas. So, yes, you may place an OOB entry on a base. Just be sure, by consulting II., 15., that you have not made the base so elaborate with so many figures and ground details, that it becomes a vignette or diorama and would be moved to one of those categories. Nick Filippone, Senior National Judge.
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It is worth remembering that while we, as craftsmen, historians and even artists may have a very high bar for what is “not acceptable,” our shows and displays are often viewed by the, as it were, uninitiated. This includes women and, especially, children. A beautifully, skillfully, even sensitively rendered depiction of a concentration camp or a firing squad or the Crucifixion, even when it meets the acceptability requirements of I. 5. A. and B., might still leave the average viewer with a most unfavourable impression of IPMS and modeling. Better to err on the side of discretion and the ordinary rules of good taste. Nick Filippone, Senior National Judge
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The colours are orange and black. The black is easy to touch up. Try mixing a few shades of orange and touch up ( as with the black) with a dry brush so the paint does’t run or pool. The orange on the decal is not uniform. Even if it is not a perfect match, it will still look better than it is now. Touching up messed up decals is also part of the learning process. Nick
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Yeah, but let the first one dry completely-as in overnight! Nick
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You’re welcome. It’s fun.
On the bottom line, I think the first group of letters is the name of the company and some kind of trademark. The long group of letters at the end of the first group is a little difficult because the letters are not all clear. But the first few letters spell something like “melted” and the last few spell something like “hand.”
In the second group of words on the bottom line, the first two words are “Moscow-based factory.” The rest of that group’s letters are too blurry for me to make out.The third group is a little easier. The first word is “Moscow” and I am guessing the rest is some kind of an address.
Thanks for the challenge. Russian doesn’t seem to so hard to learn at all!🙄
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Ok. Using a Cyrillic to Latin translation app I found with Google, the line at the top of the cover above the aircraft image reads: “ Scale Model Aircraft Yak 25.”
The print at the bottom is smaller, but I will keep working on it. Nick
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That backwards R on the box in front of the K, when converted from Cyrillic to Latin alphabet translates to Ya. So this kit is some Russian’s idea of a Yak 25. He was probably shot either for revealing state secrets or for being a lousy mold maker. Nick
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General Admission at Nationals
in About the IPMS/USA National Convention
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I thought the reason for doing the event was to have fun. When competently managed (and it almost always is), the Nationals have always made a healthy profit for the host chapter and the National Organization. I know this is America, but must we be so predictably mercenary all the time? Nick