Day three of the Convention (8 August) got going early. I hosted a breakfast meeting of the IPMS/USA Regional Coordinators (RCs) at First Watch approximately 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from the Hampton Roads Convention Center. Five of the RCs present in Hampton attended the meeting. We had a great discussion of various regional matters, including communications between chapters, RCs, and myself. All six of us had a productive time with this meeting.
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After the breakfast, I returned to the Convention Center and the Convention. I admired models in the contest room and shopped among the vendors. Late that afternoon, I took in a seminar by Dana Bell on US Air Force colors and markings from 1947 to 1959. As usual with Bell, it was most interesting.
Early that night, I joined about 200 others in the Judges' Meeting. The head judge, Phil Perry, went over the procedures for judging the contest. He also honored judges for their milestones (3,10, 20, and 30-year judges).
After that, I stayed with the other aircraft judges to learn the judging team assignments and the first categories we would judge. I heard my name called as leader of a team and learned the names of my two teammates. We also received our category assignment. Before leading the auditorium for the contest room, Julie--who had just gotten back in Hampton after visiting relatives in Maryland--said hello. She asked me to check with the hotel as she wasn't listed as a guest. I said I would do so as soon as I could.
My team and the other teams arrived in the contest room just after 6 p.m. where we checked in with the contest clerks and then headed to the category. Ours was an Out of the Box (OOB) category of single engine prop driven small aircraft. There were 28 entries, and our team first checked which entries were multiple entries from entrants. (IPMS/USA has a "no sweeps" contest rule, in which one can only win one prize in a category no matter how many entries that person had in that category.) After separating the multiple entries, we examined them to determine the best of that person's entries. Following this, we could look at the individual entries. The three of us looked over each model to make sure basic construction was performed before doing into the model's finish.
About 8 p.m., the judges took a break for snacks. They had meat, cheese, and crackers, fruit, cookies, water, and soft drinks in a side room for us. After enjoying these refreshments, my team got back to the category to narrow down the field. It was tough as these remaining contenders were all very well done. Finally, around 9:30, we were able to agree on the top three for category awards.
We signed the contest sheet, and I turned it in to the clerk, who gave us one for another category. This one--large scale prop vintage kits--was much easier, as there were only four entries in the category. It took us about 20 minutes at most to judge this category.
After turning in the sheet, I hung around for a while in case any judging teams needed me to finish other categories. However, I was not needed, and I was released from further judging. I returned to my hotel room at the Embassy Suites around 10:30 p.m., where Julie was waiting, and went to bed.
More on the Convention in the next post. Later.
Websites of Entities Mentioned in this Post:
IPMS/USA: IPMS/USA | IPMS/USA Home Page
First Watch: First Watch | Breakfast, Brunch and Lunch Near You
Hampton Roads Convention Center: Home - Hampton Roads Convention Center : Hampton Roads Convention Center
Embassy Suites: Embassy Suites by Hilton - Spacious Two-Room Suite Hotels
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