Official Paper Model Judging Criteria

[Damraska]

I would like to offer some insight into the structure of IPMS USA and how IPMS contests work in the US. Hopefully this will help dispel some of the persistent misunderstandings I see in these forums. Please note that I do not speak for IPMS USA or my Local IPMS chapter. Any inaccuracies or faults in the information below are mine. If you see an error or omission, please let me know and I will make necessary edits.

IPMS USA governs all IPMS activity in the United States. It operates under a constitution that strictly defines the purpose and power of the organization. This constitution authorizes IPMS USA to charter local chapters and set policy for things like contests. A local chapter must operate within certain national rules or risk losing its charter, but those rules offer much flexibility.

IPMS USA holds a single contest each year, the IPMS Nationals. Regional and Local contests originate with Local chapters. Each Local chapter independently decides if and when it will hold a contest. The National organization provides insurance for these events, but Local membership must handle everything else. IPMS USA divides the USA and her territories into 9 regions, each with a dedicated representative. Each year, each representative picks one contest in his or her region to be a Regional. This confers additional status and sometimes yeilds support from nearby chapters. The National organization picks one chapter each year to host the IPMS Nationals. Local chapters vie for the privilege of hosting an IPMS Nationals much like cities vie for the honor of hosting an Olympic games. The Local chapter hosting the IPMS Nationals receives significant support from the National organization.

When a Local chapter hosts a contest, the membership decides how much to charge, how to handle vendors, what contest categories to include, what judging system to use, and so forth. Most contests use a 1-2-3 award system (commonly called IPMS style), a few use a gold-silver-bronze award system (commonly called AMPS style), and fewer still use other systems. IPMS USA only requires Local IPMS chapters to use a fair and objective judging system. (This was a fairly recent policy change.) The vast majority of clubs use contest rules set forth in the National Competition Handbook, the official contest rules for all IPMS Nationals. This rules set was honed over many years to mitigate judging bias and produce objective results.

According to the National Competition Handbook, a team of 3 or more judges, always an odd number, shall judge each contest category. This prevents one judge from dictating a winner and ensures a tie breaking vote in any disagreement. A single head judge oversees each contest and exercises final control over all judging decisions. All judges volunteer for the roll. At the Local and Regional levels a judge need not have experience, training, or even an IPMS membership. (Some clubs require judges to go through a training process or to maintain a current membership.) The head judge matches inexperienced judges with seasoned ones, a form of on-the-job training. IPMS contests sometimes have trouble attracting enough judges, necessitating smaller judging teams. Any IPMS USA member in good standing may judge at the IPMS Nationals after completing a certification process. At the IPMS Nationals, a special team vets all results to further mitigate judging bias.

The National Competition Handbook defines an objective procedure for judging models and figures. Judges first look for basic construction defects (seam lines, glue marks, misaligned parts, etc.), paint defects (spidering, streaks, runs, etc.), and finishing defects (decal silvering, tide lines, inconsistent sheen, etc.). After that cut the judges consider things like difficulty and execution. If all models have flaws, the least flawed models win. According to the National Competition Handbook, judges should not consider subjective qualities like "interest", or difficult to measure qualities like accuracy.

AMPS (Armor Modelers and Preservation Society) uses a gold-sliver-bronze system instead of a 1-2-3 system. Judges measure each model against a theoretical ideal model of the subject. The closer a model gets to the ideal, the higher the medal awarded. Models do not compete against one another. AMPS judges start with the same cut as IPMS judges--looking for basics--then proceed to evaluate execution, difficulty, and accuracy. The AMPS system requires judges with extensive and detailed knowledge of each subject. If you bring something outside the knowledge range of the judges and cannot prove accuracy, you will get dinged for it. Supporting documentation helps immensely at an AMPS contest. What constitutes a gold, silver, bronze, or honorable mention effort is largely subjective and up to the judge(s).

IPMS USA specifically authorizes the inclusion of card models in Local, Regional, and National contests. Current IPMS USA leadership encourages card modelers to join IPMS ranks. To my knowledge, AMPS has officially or semi-officially barred card models from AMPS contests.

Q&A

How can one guy win 15 awards?

In my experience, a typical IPMS contest includes 20 to 40 awards plus 5 to 10 special categories. That equates to 65 to 130 awards for the taking. A typical contest draws 40 to 80 contestants. That averages to about 1.5 awards per person. However, some modelers simply produce better work than others. A skilled, productive modeler can easily pull down 15 awards, especially if he or she competes in marginal categories. Also consider that awards often stack. You can theoretically win 1st 1/35 Closed Top AFV, Best Paint, Best Armor, Best Iraq War Subject, People’s Choice, and Best of Show with a single model. Finally, some clubs go overboard on categories. People who actually show up to compete at such shows can make a killing.

As an aside, the real measure of your modeling skill at a contest is not how many awards you take home, but how many models you best. I’d rather take 2nd in a field of 32 than 1st in a field of 3.

Why do plastic models always defeat card models at IPMS contests?

Only the judges really know why one model triumphed over another but I can offer theories.

1) Card modelers have been glacially slow to enter IPMS ranks and share their unique creations with the larger modeling community. As a direct result, most IPMS members have little or no exposure to card models.

2) IPMS USA currently lacks official rules for judging card models. As a direct result, IPMS contest judges MUST apply existing rules for plastic models to card models.
a) The National Competition Handbook requires model builders to close and hide seam lines. Card model builders typically attempt to achieve "tight" seams. This rule alone practically dooms card models competing against plastic models
b) The National Competition Handbook requires judges to evaluate paint on a model. Since most card models lack paint, judges tend to pick well painted plastic models as painting demonstrates additional skill mastery.
c) The National Competition Handbook requires judges to evaluate finishing techniques used on a model. Since most card models lack finishing techniques, judges tend to pick plastic models as finishing demonstrates additional skill mastery.
d) In the AMPS system, accuracy counts for a great deal. A plastic model with precisely scaled and delicately molded parts is almost always more accurate than a card model, even if the card model was much more difficult to build.
e) After market parts drastically improve projects, ratcheting up difficulty and execution.
f) All other things being equal, difficulty only matters if the judge recognizes the difficulty variance between two models. Documentation helps here.
g) Difficulty means nothing if the contestant fails at the basics. A poorly painted model that took 1000 hours to build can easily lose to a well executed project out of the box. You must master all skills, not just construction.


-Doug

[lancer525]

So in other words, built in bias...

Why am I not surprised.

[rickstef]

I wouldn't call it built in bias

I would say evolved bias

these rules have evolved over the years that IPMS has been in existence, so they have had multiple local, regional, national events to get the rules where they make the most sense for the subject matter.

[Damraska]

lancer525, as usual, your response is maddeningly unhelpful.

I am offering information about how the current system works and why I believe it fails in regards to card models. The IPMS USA National Competition Handbook rules were never designed to accommodate card models. With no other rules or resources available, judges must use what they have.

IPMS is an all volunteer organization. Volunteers write the rules. Volunteers judge. Volunteers run the contests. Volunteers compete. It takes volunteers to expand horizons and make improvements. It is often a thankless task, as your posts in this thread so clearly demonstrate. But people like me love the hobby and will win through anyway. You cannot demoralize or defeat us.

-Doug

[modelperry]

Damaskra is right. I don't see it as bias as much as uneducated judges. My plastic building buddies that I build with weekly know how much work a paper model takes and have a special appreciation for it. Others not exposed to it do not know how challenging they are.

Likewise, I hate painting, which is one of the reasons I switched to card modeling. I have a lot of respect for those that can get really nice finishes on their models.

In regards to my recent experience, I should not have mentioned the guy with a poo-load of trophies. He was a great modeler and did deserve his awards. I am not bitter about being skunked either (except maybe a little bit in the railroad category ). AND I was disappointed about being the only competitor in the paper plane category. I got an award for it but the win felt empty without a little competition.

My real reason for competing is to spread the word about card modeling and how good the results can be. As I build more complex projects, I hope to influence more to give it a try. That's the real prize in these contests for me.

Also, the guy that ultimately won best of show knew who I was and was very much interested in what I brought. He seemed genuinely impressed by my efforts.

Nuff said.

Greg