Last week I’ve took part in XXIII Subcarpathian Contest of Paper and Plastic Scale Models (XXIII Podkarpacki Konkurs Kartonowych i Plastikowych Modeli Redukcyjnych) and I want to share my remarks about this one with you. OK… I want to throw away my frustration concerning people’s approach to this hobby… and the show itself.
First of all it was third time I’ve been there. Show is quite old, it’s taking place every year since 1986, so it should have some prestige and traditions… Well, it has not… Somehow every time I go there something that suppose to be good occasion for sharing experience, learning new stuff and meeting new and old friends ends up with few guys from different “model making organizations” arguing about what should be done and how… it leads to nowhere because these “organizations” (relic from communism times) are fighting only for influences on donations market. I’m a free lance so this is subjective, but outside point of view. Nevertheless this is my feeling when I stand there and listen to these guys…
Another thing – due to the fact that the show is dominated by these let say organizations, most of models are paper. Plastics are quite less popular (once again we’re going back to the donations and kit prices). This year it was a disaster… some planes, few tracked, few wheeled, only three or five dioramas… no one to learn from, no one to exchange some experience…
And for the last but not least… There is a condition in the contest rules that says you can bring only 3 models in every category (tracked/figures/dioramas/wheeled etc…) – all of them are judged and one with higher rating goes to the final competition. Rule is plain and simple, and well, acceptable. What I don’t understand is why some people come with their kids and friends who never smelled the glue just to put more models into a competition? They want to get more diplomas on the wall or something? Sometimes it is easy to tell if two models/dioramas were made by the same person or not…
I will not write a word about one guy of the jury having his own models in competition because anything I would write about it would be censored anyway… . In one word: unethical…
Will I go next year? Probably yes… Why? There is no other contest within few hours of driving from where I live and I cannot afford time and money it takes to travel that far.
It seems that in my current situation this network is best I can get and all I need in the same time . People, models, hints… even contests… what more can modeler need?
Some pictures to make you forget my grumbling.:



Andrzej

Sorry to hear about the show, Andrzej. I do agree with the above quote, though. Here you have friends, can get advice, have models to view, win prizes, get published, etc. all from the comfort of your home.

Sounds like the only way to get the show back on track is to get involved personally, with a few like-minded individuals.

James - the problem is that if I could find few like-minded individuals around I wouldn't spend so much time in here .

Andrzej

Well, then, forget that idea Andrzej!

Some of those look pretty good.

Did you Enter the Contest Andrzej?

No pearls of wisdom about the show, but enjoyed the photos, thanks for posting them.

That's right - some of them were good indeed - I loved the gliders: almost all of them were made by one man and they were carved in wood. Beautifull job.

And yes, I've entered competition and got first price in plastic tracked vehicles category with my 1/16 T34-76 .