Almost since the beginning of time itself, I was on site with the judges
taking photos for the Dispatch, and occasionally 3/16's, S Scale
Modeler, Model Railroader, and the S Gaugian of the contest models.
Last year, as Ed has mentioned was a more than dismal year. If the
gentlemen with the bridges had passed on entering, there wouldn't have
been any entry's.
Getting judged sometimes has been a problem, because generally they come
without specific knowledge of S in general. When presented with a
modified AF log loader or a scratchbilt engine they discover the wide
variety of our world. Much of what is happening are the really great
kits and RTR models that don't need all that much to make them great
examples of what was difficult to build 20 years ago--so people don't
enter them.
We had the same problem locally, so this is not scale or regionally
specific. More than once I suggested that our local contests do what
the Jersey Guys did, by providing some prizes for the best models.
After all it's common to give out some door prizes, just allocate them
to those who go the extra mile to build a contest model--after all we
don't need a prize to eat a $30 chicken dinner--anybody can do that! At
that New Brunswick convention, my first one BTWl, I entered three
items. I ended up with three winners and received two gifts. I
received five years of the S Gaugian, which to me was a wonderful and
useful reward. Somehow I never received my third prize (for a 12-1
Pullman), but hope springs eternal!
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
On 5/30/12 7:04 AM, Don Thompson wrote:
When we did the NASG National Convention in '88 (I know, we are due
again...), we borrowed an idea from a previous convention and gave a
discount for bringing a model to the convention. I do not have the
numbers at hand, but if I remember correctly we had over a hundred
models show up.
Don
On May 30, 2012, at 7:06 AM, Bill Lane wro
While this is not going to get anything changed here because of my
one email, I have been nudging the PRR T&HS to possibly completely
eliminate the award giving contest aspect of the model room in favor
of an RPM environment of “bring and show what ya got – done or not”.
. At the PRR Convention 2 weeks ago there were more display models
than entered in the contest which is popular vote anyway. It seems
like there will be some big changes for next year reducing what could
have been 30+ awards down to 2 – best in show and a special
“Modeler’s Spirit” award named after a deceased member.
