Contest Room

[KKarns]

Hey Guys,  Is there any chance of providing an area for display for someone not wanting to enter a contest category?  If space is very limited then that of course would answer that question! Thanks.

[Mike Engler]

Ken- I'm sure the answer is yes because they have had "display only" in all of the previous ones I have been to, and I've only missed one in seven years or so (counting CSS's). They are apparently meeting today, so we should hear soon.

[halrey]

Hey Guys,  Is there any chance of providing an area for display for someone not wanting to enter a contest category?  If space is very limited then that of course would answer that question! Thanks.

Yes Ken, we will make some space available for non-contest displays, I am not sure at this point how much extra room we have, but I am sure we can accommodate a fair number of displays.


Good timing, we have a meeting tomorrow and we can address it then, thanks for asking the question.


Hal

[KKarns]

Hal,

Thanks for the reply and appreciate you checking into it.  Looking forward to a great show and appreciate the work you folks do...

Ken

[BandOGuy]

Boycott!
Picket!
Discrimination at it's worst has reared its ugly head at Expo.
N scalers get 36"x 36" as do O scalers?
Unfair.
Predjudiced.
Biased from the git go.

[bparrish]

Perhaps I should not weigh in as I have no chance of being a participant.........

First....... the size description should be simple enough........ yard by yard....... foot by foot... what ever.........   but nothing can hang over the edge.

But to a more significant issue (to me) is who is (or are) to be the judge?

Popular vote is volatile and highly capricious.  (Big word for this forum) .

I watched a good paint job on a stock Japanese brass loco beat a great scratch built model at a recent competition. 

Popular voters have no idea what they are looking at and are easily swayed by "flash and dash".

More recently a well painted and somewhat well detailed G scale locomotive of current production from China beat in a popular contest, a scratch built locomotive that scored over 115 points in a parallel judged competition.

A group of competent judges may be selected in advance with the approval of the organizing body of the event is probably best for this sort of thing.

Just my thoughts.

see ya
Bob

[Janbouli]

Boycott!
Picket!
Discrimination at it's worst has reared its ugly head at Expo.
N scalers get 36"x 36" as do O scalers?
Unfair.
Predjudiced.
Biased from the git go.

What's unfair about this, the N-scale diorama can use what it is best in more and vaster scenery in equal space where as the O -scale can use it's advantage in detailing.

What would be unfair is if the space allowed would be scale.  There is not any chance at all for an N-scale diorama if it would have to limit to 9x9 in this case competing with an O scale diorama that is 36 x 36 and could be detailed right up to nails sticking out of planks and things like that.

I presume you have not done any detailing in N-scale , try it , you'll find it to be a lot more difficult then in O-scale if you want to achieve the same detail. Luckily for N-scalers it's not all about detail . It's about trains and structures being dwarfed by scenery , endless trains going through scenery.


This is a photo of a part of Michael Rose's N-scale Georgetown and Allen Mountain, I encourage everyone to take a look at his thread on nScale.net,
http://www.nscale.net/forums/showthread.php?25595-Georgetown-amp-Allen-Mountain-Railroad

I must admit his layout space is a dream for almost any Model Railroader , not just an N-scale MR.

[ollevon]

All

OK It is Official

Big Diorama Size will be
 
36"x 36" 

We are calling it Yard by Yard

So this means NO Side can be Larger than 36"

Any  questions??

It's a little late to start thinking about changing things  I think most of us are well into our dioramas., but you bring up a good point. Maybe the next Expo they can limit size according to scale.
   Sam

[Janbouli]

All

OK It is Official

Big Diorama Size will be
 
36"x 36" 

We are calling it Yard by Yard

So this means NO Side can be Larger than 36"

Any  questions??

It's a little late to start thinking about changing things  I think most of us are well into our dioramas., but you bring up a good point. Maybe the next Expo they can limit size according to scale.
   Sam

No , that's exactly what they shouldn't do.

[ollevon]

All

OK It is Official

Big Diorama Size will be
 
36"x 36" 

We are calling it Yard by Yard

So this means NO Side can be Larger than 36"

Any  questions??

It's a little late to start thinking about changing things  I think most of us are well into our dioramas., but you bring up a good point. Maybe the next Expo they can limit size according to scale.
   Sam

No , that's exactly what they shouldn't do.

OK,  it was only a thought.   What do you think,   they should do?
  Sam

[NEMMRRC]

Howdy,


I've had the luxury of attending many of these shows. The contest room is always a big surprise. You never know what someone will bring. Some years there are no large dioramas. Some years there are no passenger cars. Some years there are so many large dioramas the contest room gets too crowded. One thing is certain, you want to give modelers as much leeway as possible for them to bring their best models. There is a "wow factor" that the crowd wants/expects or else the crowd will stay home.


The show organizers have to make a decision, stick to it and roll with the punches.


You'd need to ask the contest chairperson directly why there was a choice to put size restrictions.


Personally I don't vote at these things so I don't care if it is popular vote or judged. I do know that some of the plastic model contests I have attended they CLOSE the contest room for hours so the judges can judge. Well I'm sorry but I paid good money to travel to to Nowhere, PA* to see some great modeling. I don't want to be shut out so the judges can argue if a wagon-side triple chute flat crane trolley had 15 rivets per door or 17 rivets per door. Who cares!?


Again, you've got to wow the crowd otherwise they will stay home.


But hey, I'm just an opinionated model railroader so take what I say with a grain of salt.


Jaime


* 

[Chet]

Sure hope there will be pictures posted on this.

[NEMMRRC]

Sure hope there will be pictures posted on this.

'Cause we love pictures.


Jaime

[gnatshop]

I'm just thankful to the EXPO organizers for having the b%**# to make the hard decisions!! 

I definitely wouldn't want to have to make this decision!
For everyone else - just buck up, live with it, and have a great time enjoying the EXPO!!