I have seen no feedback so far in the forum about the results of the MRR “Build a Scene” Contest. So far we have seen the 3rd place winner in the November issue, and the 2nd place winner in the December issue. I am curious as to what people are thinking about the entires so far. (In the interest of full disclosure, as they say, I did submit a contest entry of my own. It apparently wound up in the “round file cabinet”.)
I must say that when I saw the third-place winner I was somewhat under-impressed. The craftmanship was there. But the overall scene was IMHO, pretty plebian. A couple of tunnel portals, a bridge, and a road with some people on it. I really didn’t see anything special there. Nor did it appear that there were any unusual construction techniques involved in building the scene that would give it particular merit. It’s a nice scene, well executed, but is it really a contest winner?
With the second-place winner however I am most favorably impressed. The subject is visually impressive. The covered bridge is an unusual structure for a railroad scene. The season (late winter) is one that most model railroaders don’t represent. And there are some innovative scenery techniques involved, with the matted grass and melting snow. This one I can buy into.
I was looking at the second-place New England covered bridge scene just last night. I thought it looked great. The photography was excellent, and the photo-essay on the construction phase was well done and very informative. The descriptions of his modelling techniques for less common scenes, like the photo backdrop and the tall, dead springtime grass, is far more interesting than yet another article on how to apply a piece of self-sticking road to make a grade crossing. He did a lot of painstaking research to get this scene right, and I’m glad it’s been published to let more of the world see his work.
I don’t even remember the 3rd place entry, so I guess that didn’t impress me much.
To be quite honest, I see nothing particularly outstanding about either the 2nd or 3rd place winner. At least 50% of the entries I’ve seen in the diorama contests of my regional section of the NMRA out distance these two examples. I would note also that the author who took 2nd place didn’t even build his own structure models for the diorama but had them done by someone else. Just what’s being judged as so great as to make it a winner…the grass and snow?
Just guessing here, but it’s possible the third place could have been picked just because it’s something more MRR’ers could relate to being able to do. As for myself, when I see the killer/huge/exceptionally detailed layouts that at times have appeared in MR, they’re good for general inspiration, but no way that I figure mine will look that good. Or maybe the editors didn’t get that many entries, and the third place scene they showed was indeed the best (after the first and second places) of the ones entered. And as for a scene requiring some exceptional technique, sometimes it’s the scenes which may not involve great technical skill (as much as just being aware of the elements that will catch the viewer’s attention) which look more like ‘real life’.
I didn’t think the 2nd place or 3rd place winners were that impressive either. Sure the scenes were well done but they didn’t have that little extra detail that shouts out at you.
I was happy to see that people feel good enough about their efforts that they bothered to submit them in the first place. If many of you feel the first two selections were neutral to negative in terms of their impact on you, perhaps what was submitted that didn’t get selected was much worse…and yet their builders still sent them in for assessment. I haven’t dared to do that yet, but I hope to have both the product and the gumption to do so at some point in the future. But, until I place my own product up there for a comparison, I will be happy to see that others are willing to toe the line.
Did anyone happen to see what all was required to even submit a photo!!! I was thinking about doing a small diorama as that was all I could do at the time, but sheesh…And you might as well sign over your first born too. My hats off to whom ever was even able to actually get accepted…
I guess I’m in the minority, but I liked both of them. The second place winner created a wonderful New England scene using techniques I’ve never heard of before. Looking forward to seeing what the first place entry will look like.
In the sage words of “Dirty” Harry Calahan - " A good man always knows his limitations" Those being the words of personal inspiration for me to follow, I respectfully defer to those whose modeling talents are superior to mine.
Or the silent majority perhaps? I liked both too but think that 2nd place was the better by a good amount. Each was better suited to publication than my own entry, which documentation I put together in a hurry. I guess it pays to thoroughly document your own best scenes as you create them and save the package for future submissions. It’s too late to recreate missing construction photos after the fact.
I look forward to seeing the first place winner and congratulate everyone who was brave enough to submit something. I also wonder how many entries MR received in total.
