Question For an IPMS Judge.....Diorama's

Does it portray a "scene", and suggest a "story"?

If so, then it *is* a diorama. Think of it as a "still life" subject, but it is no less a diorama, than something with a tank, airplane, or car on it. Admittedly, there are more than a few individuals within any IPMS group, that would have the "bejeezus" confused out of them, by something that attempts to be "artistic" in such a manner...but remember: model building is "art", just as much as it is "engineering".

The only potential snafu: The wooden components. Does IPMS still have the anachronisitc rule regarding wood?

Nope...got rid of the "75% Plastic Rule" 15 or so years ago.

Nat

There will also be no figures in the diorama....would this change things ?

Craig

Maybe one way to encourage participation is for the contest organizers to allow the contestant to place a guestbook beside the exhibit. Viewers can then write in their comments and sign it. It won't count towards the prize placing but the guestbook will be a much valued memento.

Several years back I saw a diorama in which the only 'figure' was that of a small cat. The rest was the interior of a home or custom detailing garage for autos, which was very neat and organized for the most part, but which had been disrupted to a certain extent by spilled paint and many many paint paw prints. That was the story element to what otherwise would have been simply a miscellaneous entry.

Mark Schynert

Of course. The original "intent" of the old "majority plastic" rule was understood (to separate static/scale models, from largely wooden flying/RC models); but their wording left much to be desired, grammatically, logically, scientifically, etc....lol.

Thats a new one on me - I have always understood 'plastic' as meaning approximatly the same as 'pliable'. My dictionary gives the following definitions: -

plastic // n. & adj. n.

1 any of a number of synthetic polymeric substances that can be given any required shape. 2 (attrib.) a made of plastic (plastic bag). b artificial, insincere. 3 colloq. = plastic money. adj. 1 capable of being moulded; pliant; supple. 2 moulding or giving form to clay, wax, etc. 3 Biol. exhibiting an adaptability to environmental changes. 4 (esp. in philosophy) formative, creative.

The definition you gave corresponds to what I think of as 'pseudo', 'ersatz' or 'phony'. The closest I can come is from when 'plastic' meant 'artificial' or 'substitute' : - as opposed to wood, which was real :-)

Having been on the Phoenix committee, I can tell you that while it is a good idea, there simply is not enough room. And there is the other problem that people writing in a book block others from viewing and it runs the risk of the model or diorama being hit by the person writing.

Hi Allan, You need to go back to an early 1900's dictionary to find a base meaning, i.e. before all the polymer type stuff became available, Just after WW2 most plates and bits and pieces that were referred to as plastic were made of bakerlight. ( used for insulation in electronics also.) Some time later the polymer products came into use. Plastic can also refer to people. ( persons you may consider phoney.). don't know of it's origins though. I often wondered how the 75% rule was enforced. Do you disassemble the model and weight this against that or perhaps measure the volumes of this and that. However this is all in the past but still interesting from an historical point of view. My point was to illustrate that any model is an imitation of the real thing so in context of the model itself it has to be plastic regardless of products, 1 to 1 scale could be an exception ? at a recent show we had a 1/6th Tiger Tank on display and someone seems to always want to go one better.

Happy Modell> > Hi Greg,

Jimbo D asked:

It isn't any more, is it?

Rick

I was wondering the same thing.

"Sorry sir, your model is only 74% plastic - there's the door." ;-)

WmB

To reply, get the HECK out of there snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net

The 75% plastic rule hasn't been used by IPMS for years.

The reason that it was put into place in the first place is interesting.

The very first IPMS national convention took place in a hotel coffee shop. George Lee won best in show for a 1/72 scale Curtiss hydroplane that was so detailed that you could remove the spark plugs from the engine with tweezers.

He turned down the award because the model contained no plastic. It was always more of a tradition than a hard and fast rule.

Tom