IPMS EH Miller, Evansville, IN, 3 April 2004
Evansville is a show that I never miss and is also an event that I love to hate. Contradictory? Perhaps, but let me explain. I never miss the show because it is the closest one to where I live (since the 60 member St. Louis club is too lazy to do an annual invitational), and the folks at EH Miller are just plain nice people. I hate it because it has the worst excuse for contest judging that I've ever experienced.
First off, the club has no web site. They do send out a flyer, but somehow I missed getting one. On the flyer are directions to the Community Center where they hold the event as well as the entry fee ($7 for three models and a buck a model for every one after that). No contest categories are given which can be a bit of a drawback.
On arrival, the entrant is handed a large sheet and as many small slips as he/she has entries. On the large sheet one puts down the subject and category as well as his name. The small slips are for what the subject is and an entrant number. No entrant info accompanies the model and one doesn't have to do a lot of additional writing. This is probably the best way to do entries.
The venue is a community center in downtown Evansville. There is lots of parking and a number of restaurants just a few miles away. Lots of places to sit down as the club usually gets a number of tables and folding chairs. The center is well equipped with soda machines. The room is the basketball court and so there is lots of room and good lighting. Should things get warm, it is a simple matter to open some doors to let in a breeze.
For whatever reason, the number of vendors and entries was down considerably from years past. There were many empty vendors tables and those vendors who were there, most had prices that did not encourage one to freely open their wallets. I brought back nearly all the $$ I had planned on spending.
The raffle there is always excellent and, for the most part, it was this year as well. Tickets were a buck apiece and the tickets were put on the awards so no mad rush for the tables. Were I to have a concern it would be that the prizes for the initial raffles were quite lame, consisting of items that are normally left over, like small 1/144 jet kits, old letter, insignia, stencil decal sheets and small books. No decent awards were given until half way through the raffling process. This does not encourage one to buy tickets early. The raffle is probably the biggest money maker a club has and making it fair and balanced should be the goal of every club. Unhappy people don't usually return the next year.
As the number of vendors was down, so were the number of entries. I doubt if there were over 100 as there were many categories with 1,2 or no entries. 1/48 prop had 5, 1/48 jet had 3. There were a ton of cars, most brought in by just a few people. Up side is that if you chose wisely, you'll bring home an award as I did in 1/32 and smaller cars; downside is that it is a hollow victory.
Judging at this event is lame to the max. Other than juniors or ties, the judging is done by the adult entrants. First off, most of us are not good judges of subjects which we have little knowledge. I know zilch about cars so will go for the pretty one. Same with armor and so on. Secondly, there is nothing to stop an entrant from voting for a friend's model over one that is obviously better built. I've seen some really poor models win 1st place over the years. The club allows sweeps so one entrant could easily have his friends help him get all the awards in a category. Finally, there is no way to really know why one entry didn't do well as there are no judges one can ask 'why didn't I do better'. I think this last one is the crux of why the club doesn't judge.
OK, so the event is now over. Did I have a good time. For the most part, yes and I guess that is what is important. However, the contest is not my #1 reason for going as it is to many. For me it is the vendors and in that regard it was a real disappointment. I know that several backed out at the last minute for various reasons and the club has no control over that. Because it is close I'll be attending next year as well, but the club really needs to do some re-thinking about the judging and I do hope that there are more entries and vendors or this event may well be off everyone's itinerary.