IPMS Quad Cities Modelers, Davenport IA, 28 March 2004
Quad Cites is one of my favorite shows of the year, primarily because they use the AMPS style of judging where a model is not pitted against others, but against a set of standards. It makes for a lot of awards and a lot of happy modelers. Though this is a rather time consuming method of judging for the organizers, it is, in my opinion, the best way to do things and why IPMS/USA forbids this type of judging for Regionals is beyond me.
Starting with the preliminaries, Quad Cities has a web site and the entry form was available there for those who want to fill those out ahead of time. It also listed categories and there were excellent directions on how to get to the show site. The club also sends out flyers to previous attendees. Downside of the flyer is that not all the special categories were listed. Entry fee was a dollar a model, a most reasonable amount.
The venue is a hotel and it is there that the contest was held last year as well. It was easy to find, had plenty of room for vendors and the models, and was pretty well lit. Registration was a snap as we already had our entry forms filled out. The form is a two part affair and no personal information goes with the model, which I feel is mandatory for contests. Since models are judged on their own merit, tables were set out in a generic fashion with one for armor, one for cars, one for aircraft, and so on.
With a large room full of vendors and, well, large modelers, the atmosphere quickly became warm and humid (not helped by the raining conditions outside). It took quite some time to cool the room back down by opening a few doors as the hotel was not willing to turn on the air conditioning system.
Speaking of vendors, there were lots of them and a large number of bargains could be found. There were also some chairs available for entrants to rest their feet. Restaurants were aplenty and close by.
One high point of all contests for me is the raffle and there was a good one. Tickets were 6 for $5 and the raffles were held frequently throughout the day. It is a free-for-all grabfest with the winner choosing from what is out there. Though the table was restocked for each raffle, it would have been a bit more fair to tie in each winning ticket with a specific item as all the 'good stuff' was quickly snatched up. One entrant told me that he overheard the person picking the tickets commenting that one ticket number was 'too close' to another and that second ticket was discarded. Organizers should properly coach the ticket pullers to allow every entry regardless of 'how close' it is to a previous item.
Judging did not get underway until around 11-12, which was quite odd as the AMPS style judging allows a model to be judged as soon as it is put on the table. As a result, the judges were a bit rushed and a computer failure meant that award announcements were not until quite late in the day. Fortunately, they announced results in blocks or it would have been interminably long. As you know, I travel several hundred miles to most shows so am eager to be on the road home as soon as possible. Because of that, I'm always pleased to have the judging go quickly and the awards announced as soon as possible after that. I'm not a fan of long, drawn out awards ceremonies.
Overall, an excellent show with only a few minor problems, but nothing major. They brought in around 250 - 300 entries which is quite good for an invitational. Quad Cities is vying for a Regional next year and I do hope that they succeed as they are a hard working group and deserving of success.