Show Report:
IPMS/New Jersey’s MosquitoCon 2005
The latest iteration of MosquitoCon was held on 9 April, 2005. Five members of our local IPMS chapter (IPMS/Lackawanna Valley Scale Modelers) made the trip to the newly-expanded Police Athletic League building in Wayne NJ, the same venue for as long as I’ve been attending. There is a large parking lot in front and a smaller one in the rear of the building but both were near capacity when we arrived. This year featured separate vendor and contest rooms, an added ‘plus’ for all as the previous arrangement was a bit cramped – I’d seen worse but it was still cramped. The extra room allowed better viewing of the vendor’s wares and kept you from invading other’s “personal space” for the most part. The contest room was a large gymnasium with plenty of elbow room and was well lit – the lighting also rendered the models very nicely. There’s something to be said for viewing models under the correct lighting. The display tables were covered with white, paper tablecloths and categories were divided by streamer crepe strips. Everything was easy on the eyes and well-organized – category ‘tents’ made it easy to find your model’s placement and there was plenty of room for the models on the tables and between the tables for the judges and contest patrons.
The vendor’s had some very good prices – judging from the booty my fellow Chapter members obtained within the first half-hour. Indeed, there was much to be had. Armor seemed particularly plentiful though there was a lot to make just about anyone happy – resin, photoetch, lots of aircraft, ships and autos. I wasn’t in much of a spending mood as I’m trying to save for the upcoming IPMS/USA National Convention in July and I only obtained one kit. Yes, one kit - heresy to be sure… Rest assured, the other guys in the club more than made up for my shortfall. There were perhaps 15-20 vendors with 40-60 tables, stacked high with goodies…
Three of us decided to enter the competition and found the registration fast and easy – there were plenty of tables in place for this task. The registration forms were available on the njipms.org website and I took advantage of filling them out the night before – very easy. One thing I didn’t find beforehand was a price list for registration, walk-ins etc. That could be helpful in planning your cash outlay for the day. Anyway, walk-ins were $5 and I entered three models and paid $10; I don’t know if $10 was for unlimited entries or what the pricing structure was. I entered in 1/48th single-engine prop, (big mistake), 1/35th armor (another big mistake) and trucks (at least a chance to win). By “big mistake” I mean my modeling isn’t up to the level that I knew would be seen on the tables and I knew there was no way of placing but, there’s always a chance, I kept telling myself. Maybe all the other entrants will get stuck in traffic or get delayed in some way – hey, it could happen! And, compared to a $5 walk-in fee, $10 to actually participate is a good deal and you received a free raffle ticket with your registration.
The PAL has a cafeteria counter to get some usual modeling fare – sodas, coffee, hot dogs, pizza and the like and it was manned the whole day long. The raffle table was well-stocked and the ticket numbers were being called at regular intervals over the PA system. Now, I’m not a big raffle guy so I didn’t participate, save for the single ticket I got with my registration. The raffle tickets were $1 each or six for $5, IIRC. The biggest raffle prize was a Fisher Models resin 1/32nd F9 Panther jet – a big prize to be sure. Next to the raffle tables was a TV with ‘Band of Brothers’ being shown. My thoughts on this are torn – I think it’s a wonderful production and own a copy of it myself but I don’t attend a model contest to watch a movie. I decided to not let my kids see it when it was televised due to its language and violent content (they were under 11 years-old at the time) so it was with some concern I saw kids (maybe 10 to 12 years-old) huddled around the TV, watching. I know this is a judgment call but content is something that should be considered by the organizers because the ones likely watching TV at a model contest will be kids. I’m sure this can apply to just about any contest organizer in the country, not just this one show.
On the subject of kids, the other thing that kept them busy was a make-and-take program which started around the same time as judging. The seats were full and from what I saw, busy hands were occupied with 1/72nd aircraft kits, all under the watchful and helpful eyes of NJIPMS personnel. Another nice touch that could pay big dividends down the road when these kids grow into real competitors.
One other item that caught my eye and ear was that reps from FinescaleModeler magazine were on site to cover the contest. On our ride home, some discussion was made on this and what effect it had on things. One member (who didn’t compete) posed a hypothetical: “FSM wants to photograph my model but my model doesn’t even place? How can this be?” I feel the judging was fair and even but having FSM there can offer some second-guessing by entrants who may feel the two can be connected or are sore for not winning an award. It didn’t really affect our judging except for the times one of the judges on our team was pulled away to have his models photographed. Personally, I think it’s a good sign for the club when it can attract this attention and a good reflection on the models on the tables. And, if you were wondering; no, they didn’t want to photograph my models… Tsk, tsk, tsk… ;-)
I had the privilege of helping judge the armor categories and made some new acquaintances by doing so, bolstering my desire to meet others in the hobby. Free pizza and soda was provided for the judges – a very nice thing to do. We also received MosquitoCon dogtags for our efforts. I’ve looked at judging - for some time now – as perhaps the best of all modeling tools. To ogle and sigh over other’s attempts and accomplishments is nice but to look at them objectively gives one a great insight into their own attempts when back at the hobby desk. Throw in free food and I’m there! There were some really nice pieces on the tables. My own Sherman was in category 12, AFV, Tracked 1/35 & Larger & Wheeled, Pre 1945, by far the most-entered armor category. So, after excusing myself while the others in the team started judging category 12 at around 12:30PM, I checked the other models, poked around the vendor room and just took it all in. One item that should be addressed (as mentioned in Scott’s IPMS/Roscoe Turner review) was that the model registration forms need to conceal the identity of the modeler far better than they were at this show. On the bottom of the model entry sheet, the registrars cut the modeler’s data on a dotted line. Another dotted line, further up the page, was to be folded under, hiding the entrant’s name. In most cases, the names were plainly visible and many were not even folded under. If anyone were to complain about ‘home cooking’ or playing favorites, this is a tangible point that can be brought up. It would be best to minimize this exposure. That said, I again feel the judging was fairly done.
We wrapped-up our judging by around 2:30PM and the awards segment started by 3:30PM. One announcement over the PA system, just before the awards started, was that over 300 models were entered.
All told, it was another successful day at MosquitoCon. Did we win? No awards for any of us but we put new faces with names we’ve recognized in print and in Cyberspace, got some new modeling tips to take home and had time-well-spent with fellow modelers. Yeah, we won.