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Displaying information on a base?


SeaDog101

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When displaying extra information, pictures, etc. on a base next to your model, How much is too much? Or when is enough not enough?

For example, I took my Habakkuk carrier to a contest yesterday.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/icy...10/DSC03591.jpg

I have the main Habakkuk model on the base, a Essex carrier and German uboat for scale reference, a cutaway section showing the interior of the Habakkuk hull, the name plaque, and two small notes describing the cutaway section, and also the other models for scale reference. I suppose that seems like enough, even though I wished I could have somehow added the Habakkuk's specifications in there somewhere. But I just left a small booklet instead on the table in front of the base explaining the history, specifications, etc.

 

There are modelers who like to "pull out all the stops" so to speak and make their bases very informative and eye appealing such as the following pic I took at a contest last year:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/icy...el/DSC01732.jpg

While that is nice, I tend to feel that I would be heavily distracted by looking at all the "added extras" and not focusing my eyes on the main model instead.

 

How do Judges and other modelers feel about "added extras" on the base near the models at contests? Although my Habakkuk model/base looks decent and is not crowded, I feel like there's something missing almost. Anybody got any suggestions?

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I like your multi-kit display better than the Kriegsmarine-mania: Yours makes a point about the size of the Hab. His is well made, but should probably be presented as separate displays. As the Brits would say, "Sometimes less is more."

 

This guy at KC-CON set up an informative storyboard for his Yamato (more pix at modelwarships.com ). I suspect the storyboard is removable, for a display case option. That could work either way here:

 

P1130179.jpg

 

 

Just my 2 cents.

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I see this topic as having several aspects. One is the modeler conveying what work has been done. That can be in written form, although paging through a thick tome of text the judges may miss something or not read it at all, (Yeah, it happens.). Photos are good as they visually point out work that is harder to miss. However, they take more space and can get cumbersome. You must balance getting your info across against being rude in taking up excessive space just to tout your model at the expense of others. You need to point out what you have done, however going to great lengths to show that you did what is "normal practice", like stretched sprue antennae, etc, is overkill.

 

The example of the Yamato is a good one. The modeler gets his info across, but takes up no extra square inches of contest table space to do so. However, in this display, he also "masks" one side of his model from judges' inspection and that can work against you. And, while it makes for a nice presentation, technically the judges are not suppose to judge that, so it could be seen as an attempt to influence judging. (Let's not get into that. We know it happens, at least at the local/regional level.) I've seen not very good models with very impressive volumes of photos/text explaining what was done and heard judges influenced more by the amount of work rather than by its quality.

 

Bottom line, get your info across, but don't take up more than your fair share of space.

 

 

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Having judge in a lot of contest (mainly our local contest and others in the area), I've seen quite a few models with info booklets. If during the judging one of the kits that has a booklet makes the finale cut, we usually look at what he's done. Most of the time though we never have the time to look thru it, there are just to many kits to look at in the time we have. As someone who wonders the hall before or after judging I do like to glance thru the info booklets, as long as they are reasonable in length (I remember one book that the guy took a photo every step of the build).

Just my two cents,

Eric

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