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How big is too big?


ModelMage

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I know IPMS rules state that a dio can't be more than 3'x3' without permission from the contest but whats average? I've never been to a contest before so I'm not knowledgeable. listening to a podcast the other night and the host seemed to feel that dio modelers go through a phase of wanting to make things big and it seemed like it was frowned upon. I fit into this category so help! lol

Rich

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From a judge's viewpoint, many are mistaken in thinking bigger equals better, but from a judging standpoint, a bigger diorama simply means more opportunities to goof something up. They also forget that the story is equal to construction per the rules. 

From a show staff point of view, there is only so much table room to share, as most tables are only 30" wide, 3' already puts it over the edge and risks being bumped or damaged by spectators - or "cheats" the guy on the other side of a two-table spread out of 6" of display space.

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About 1-foot square is pretty common; any smaller than that gets hard to include enough to "tell a story" and is more likely to become a vignette (or whatever we're calling small dioramas these days).

 

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On 10/19/2021 at 11:06 PM, jcorley said:

From a judge's viewpoint, many are mistaken in thinking bigger equals better,

How true! I have seen very few big dioramas that are truly good. Way to many think building big is the way to impress, but rarely come up to snuff.

Dak

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            I went to the 2019 Nats in Chattanooga. Took my Trumpeter 1/32nd scale SU-27. The base that it sit on measures 24x25. When I got to the table, a judge said that the base was to big. He asked me if I had seen the memo stating this. I said no. He asked me if I could remove the plane from the base, and store the base under the table. I told him that the plane was glued to the base with superglue.

             To an extent, I can understand that big bases do take up display space, but when a modeler builds a base, like mine, a simple taxiway, removing the base takes away from the overall build. To make matters worse, after judging was complete, I noticed my base was turned 90 degrees from the way I originally had put it on the table. Before I even moved it, I noticed the the front landing gear was crooked. Someone had completely broken the strut out of the gear well.

              No note was left to explain what it happened. I guess I needed to put a “Model glued to base” sign. It was odd that I had told the judge in the aircraft section that the model was glued to the base, yet someone still tried to take it off anyways.

Chris

               

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Edited by Bradley25mm
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This is one of the problems we must face. There are a lot of BIG airplane models out there and bases have become more and more popular as a way to both display and protect the model.

Dak

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             I’m in agreement with you David. One of the reasons I put mine on a base is better protect it. I generally build them slightly larger the the footprint of the model. 
 

Chris

 

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Model railroaders have standard sized modules which can be connected to form a layout.  Maybe a standard oversize base which could accommodate a large aircraft or more than one smaller model and also fit predictably on the tables would work.  A very large ship might take a base two  modules long, that would fit too.

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Model railroaders have standard sized modules which can be connected to form a layout.  Maybe a standard oversize base which could accommodate a large aircraft or more than one smaller model and also fit predictably on the tables would work.  A very large ship might take a base two  modules long, that would fit too
 

I don’t think you grasp the complexity of such an idea when dealing with our models.

Dak

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Just IMHO but 2'x2' doesn't seem too much to me. It's literally a ceiling tile or 1/4th of an 8 foot table. Guess the answer is to read carefully and maybe email the organizers early to find out special rules for the event.

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  • 3 months later...

I never judged dioramas. But looking at a lot over the years, I've seen some that are BIG; with 7 or 8  models, 6 buildings and 50+ figures. My thought is "It's impressive, but yet a mess." Yeah it might be the D-day landing,  but there's so much going on, there's no real focal point. There's something going on here, and there's a little something else there, and a third thing off to the side - too distracting. . 

My dios are just big enuff to tell one story, with one focal point of a vehicle or two with a few figures and some scenery.  And by scenery, I mean the facade of a house, a tree or two and some weeds, not an entire neighborhood. The best thing is that while it should tell a story, it doesn't have to be a good story... 😉 hehe  Just my 2 cents - what do I know. 🙂

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