You know a smart guy would just walk away from the keyboard now....but as all of us know, I am not very smart.
Food for thought......
Why is there no National organization for Car/Automotive modelers? There was the Model Car Club of America (MCCA) in the 1980s (I was a member), Automotive Modelers Society (AMS) in the late 1980s and the 1990s (I was a National Eboard member of them). Both of these are long gone. I wonder why.........(I actually know but will keep that to myself). Interesting that IPMS has outlasted both of them.
Another odd thought.....we have had IPMS USA members writing for Scale Auto Enthusiast (now called Scale Auto). We have had car modelers who win at our IPMS nationals also winning at places like GSL, and various NNL events. We have had nationally known car modelers become IPMS USA judges.
Personal history...in the early 1990s, a couple of friends and I put on a local model show. I had a guy come up and want a category for his 57 chevys. I told him that if he would 1) judge an automotive category and 2) sponser the category-- I would be happy to. He said "HECK NO! I'm not going to pay for trophys. I don't want to get involved with that, I came here to have fun...not to work" In my years, I found this the norm, not the exception.
Also at more that one local car modeling show I volunteered to judge, or used to anyway. At more that one (actually many) I had fellow judges say (paraphrasing here) I know this guy, he does good work. He put $100 of aftermarket on it and look at that shine. I then pointed out that the car did not have all 4 wheels touching the ground and there was glue globs on the distributer and around the windshield as well as ejector pin marks everywhere. Undaunted they awarded the guy an award.
So....how do we bridge this gap? I am a car guy and tried to---I am not sure it can be.