2021 South Carolina Scale Model Mega Show

[SdAufKla]

Hi ya gang,

I just wanted to let everyone know that the SC Scale Model Mega Show is back on for 2021! The show is jointly hosted by the AMPS Central SC and IPMS Mid-Carolina chapters of AMPS and IPMS, respectively.

The show dates are Friday/Saturday, 18/19 June, 2021. We'll be back in our regular venue, the SC National Guard Armory, 1225 Bluff Road, Columbia, SC 29201. Friday is for show and vendor set up and early registration and judging (local model clubs and pre-approved guests). Doors open at 9am on Saturday for registration and general admission. If you'd like to show up early on Friday to register and assist with judging, contact us using the email address on the show website:

https://scmegashow.com/

(Vendors who have reserved tables will be given Friday and Saturday setup instructions and times by the vendor coordinator at the time that their reservations are confirmed. We have consistently sold out our vendor tables for several years, and expect this year to be no different. In anticipation of this, we have bumped our vendor table count up to 70, 8' tables. Parties interested in vending should contact our vendor coordinator at the email listed on our website.)

For 2021 we'll be using the exhibition and contest format we had planned to introduce at our canceled 2020 event. Each entrant will be assigned an individual display space (~36" wide and 30" deep) in which he or she can display as many works as desired and can fit. One (and only one) of these may be designated for judging. The exhibitor must self-select his or her best work for judging. All judged entries will also be eligible for their respective best in class awards in addition to an individual award based on skill level and entry score. In addition to the display space, each exhibitor will be given a chair and space to sit behind his or her models to interact with other exhibitors or show patrons.

Potential entrants who have works they would like to exhibit but which are too large to fit in the regular-sized display space MUST contact us BEFORE the show dates to make arrangements for these large works (email or by phone). If the exhibitor wishes to join with his or her modeling club to display these large works, rather than displaying them at a designated large space, the club leadership must make whatever appropriate plans are necessary to fit all of their members' works into their assigned, collective display space (see below).

All display spaces, to include the very few over-sized individual display spaces, will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis at the time of registration. We do make or imply any guarantee that there will be exhibition space available to anyone or for any work.

Model clubs that would like to arrange to have all of their registered members assigned to display areas next to each other to create a "club display" are encouraged to do so. We will ask you to keep the individual models to be judged segregated from the rest of your works, but aside from that, you may organize your club's area as you wish, to include putting up club banners, recruiting and meeting info, etc. Please CONTACT US IN ADVANCE if your club wishes to do this. The total available club space will be based on the sum of the total of the display spaces your members registered for.

Entrants who are traveling with or intend to meet with friends and who might wish to have co-located display spaces should plan with each other to enter and register at the same time. Please don't arrive later in the day and ask during registration to be placed next to your friends who arrived earlier and who have already registered and been assigned their display areas.

All judging will be conducted using a written, 10 point system very similar to that currently used by AMPS. All judging will take place "on the table," so there will be no sequestered judging teams or a "judging room." Armor will be judged IAW AMPS rules. Cars, Ships, and Aircraft will be judged according to new scoring cards developed specifically for those genres. The same skill levels and award score breakdowns as used by AMPS will be applied to all entrants. Figures, Dioramas and Vignettes will be judged using the existing AMPS rules and scoring since those are not armor genre specific. The written scores and judges comments will be returned to each entrant in addition to any awards that may be earned.

We will be conducting judges' training sometime in the week or two before the show date (probably on a Saturday afternoon). Our intention is do in-person while simultaneously showing it on Zoom. For those of you who live out of the Metro Columbia, SC area, but who will be attending the show, this will hopefully afford you the opportunity to attend the judges' training and participate at the show.

We will be offering theme awards as well as best in class (genre) awards in addition to the individual bronze, silver and gold medals.

Complete rules and registration information will be posted on the show website in the coming days and weeks.

As with all of our shows, general admission is FREE and the public is welcome!

Hope to see you at the Big Show!

Happy modeling!

 

[moon puppy]

I'm looking forward to it Mike, I know the rest of us local guys are. I've said this in the past but I tell ya, I'm really tempted to rent a table just for us old guys to hang out at not selling anything. Base of operation if you will...

 

[errains]

I'm looking forward to it Mike, I know the rest of us local guys are. I've said this in the past but I tell ya, I'm really tempted to rent a table just for us old guys to hang out at not selling anything. Base of operation if you will...

 

[SdAufKla]

Well, we'd of course love to rent a vendor table to you guys. The Florida AMPS chapters have gotten together for the part 2-3 years and done just that. Since they actually rent one of the vendor tables, they're also allowed to sell stuff (several of their members usually being kits from their stashes to sell). They use their table as their show-HQ along with promoting their club and AMPS (banner, flyers, signage, etc.) while also doing some "light" vending.

However, this year, 2021, you'd have another option: If there are enough guys who are interested in coming to the show together, you could all arrive at the same time and register to put models on exhibit. If you all come together and register at the same time, you could all be put right next to each other and create your own "club display." Although we won't allow folks to sell stuff from their contest display spaces, you would be free to set up a banner or place table signage, flyers, or other promotional and recruiting materials. Those who wish to have models judged in the contest portion could also do that (as long as those models - max of one per entrant - were segregated and identified IAW the rules. Finally, your combined display space could be organized to exhibit the other models any way you'd like - club theme, timeline, etc. - and include any number of models you could fit into the total area.

If this is something you'd be interested in doing, if you get in touch with us by separate email through the contest website, we can formalize the arrangement and reserve a set number of co-located display spaces. We have a set of procedures to execute this with groups that we'll discuss with you (time window for registration, what happens if all the folks you say will come don't show up, etc.). So, there are two options, really, for this approach, an informal "occupy by main force" tactic or contacting us and making a formal group reservation. The first is clearly more ad hoc, but gives you a lot of flexibility with your numbers and timing. The second will come with some strings attached so that we can ensure that we don't set aside a bunch of display space that ultimately goes un-used, but it will guarantee that if you show up on time, you will have the co-located spaces.

Our main goal for the new show format is shift from a "contest centric" event to a more "social event." We've long admired and been somewhat jealous of how a lot of shows in the UK have been organized and operated, so we want to bring some of that to our own event.

We actually want to have groups of modelers who know each other sit and display together while providing all of the entrant-exhibitors with space to sit, hang out and interact and socialize with each other and the other show patrons and casual attendees. We want the show to be more about promoting the hobby and art by providing an opportunity for modelers to socialize with each other, discussing and sharing their work than about competition and winners (and losers).

We still want to give modelers a bit of the familiar competitive experience, but we want to shift the effect of that part of the show towards giving them feedback with the intention of helping them grow and develop their skills, craft and art. In order to do this, with the usual limited judging resources available, we're limiting each entrant to only one judged entry, but ALL judged entries, no matter the genre or subject, will receive their written scores and judges comments at the end of the show. We're also making the individual awards on a gold, silver, bronze basis using skill levels - junior, basic, intermediate and advanced. Those who are especially motivated by the competition aspect of the typical show-contest will still have the opportunity to win special best in class and theme awards.

Any hoo.... We always love to see you guys at our shows whether you're putting models on exhibit or just crusin' the vendors. Hope to see you in June!

 

[Iron Mike]

Marking it on the calendar, looking forward to less government intervention this year...

 

[moon puppy]

Our main goal for the new show format is shift from a "contest centric" event to a more "social event." We've long admired and been somewhat jealous of how a lot of shows in the UK have been organized and operated, so we want to bring some of that to our own event.

Yeah I've always enjoyed the photos from overseas showing the guys with the grills fired up having a cold frosty one.
So who do we have local who can do this? We can discuss if we want the formal "Club Display" or FBO.
@Tojo72 @Iron Mike @phantom II @errains @iambrb
@centaur567
@dollar19 Greg is up in Bristol TN, maybe he'd like to come down south for the day?
I'll try and tag some more folks here.

 

[Tojo72]

Wow,I really want to attend this,under normal conditions I'm definitely there,but with so much Covid uncertainty,I can't commit till I see how things are going,hopefully it will be much improved by then,I would love to go.

 

[moon puppy]

Of course Tony, if we have Covid21 running around we'll have to take that into account.
You would enjoy the trip. The site they have it at has the SC Military Museum right next door so there's live references of what OD is right there on the spot!

 

[SdAufKla]

Just a quick reminder that this show is FAST approaching!

We only have 5 (out of 70) vendor tables left, so if you want to vend, better contact our vendor coordinator ASAP. (Email contact info on our show website.)

We'll also be conducting in-person and simulcast Zoom judges training on Saturday afternoon, 2-5 pm, 22 May. Folks in the region are welcome to join us in person at The Flight Deck Restaurant, Lexington, SC or participate on Zoom. Complete details, to include the Zoom link, are also on our show website. (If you want to join us in person, many of us will be at The Flight Deck around noon to eat lunch before the training presentation!)

Hope to see some of you there!

Happy modeling!

 

[Iron Mike]

I'm still planning to be there for the show, be there or be square.

 

[moon puppy]

I'm still interested in a table Mike, although I don't think we'd be exhibiting anything and I don't have any banners. I know Eric wants to enter a couple of subjects. I might but it sure won't be new things.
Whadda think guys, or maybe we just hang out like the rest of the folks.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Wish it was a little closer. Just too far to drive in a day.

 

[errains]

I'm good with going in on a table as I might have a couple of kits to unload. Keep me posted MP on this. See you all in June.

 

[SdAufKla]

If there're just a couple of folks who want to display together, the simplest thing is to probably all show up and get in the registration line together. The first one should tell the registrar that there's a group registering together and how many. He or she can then put you all in a row together. Once you occupy your individual spaces, you can remove the tape dividing the spaces and organize your group space anyway you'd like.

The only thing we ask is that all of the models entered for judging be put together to make it easier on the judges to find them. Beyond that, there are no requirements for banners, signs, etc. A casual and informal group is just as welcome to display together as a more formal club.

Also, as a reminder, the exhibitors will not be allowed to sell or vend from their display spaces. Groups can sell promotional materials, like club shirts, but no sales of models, supplies, books, etc. in competition with the regular vendors. If there're any questions, our Vendor Coordinator will make the final call.

If there's anyone who wants to actually vend, you'll need to contact our Vendor Coordinator to reserve tables. I think as of right now, we're down to only 4 or 5 vendor tables left.

 

[moon puppy]

Eric and are thinking of selling some things, not like Horner coming in with 5 tables but some things I know I won't build, I need to lighten my load. We will be entering things just like regular entrants.

 

[SdAufKla]

I'm sorry to have to say it, but you guys will need to rent a regular vendor table for that.

On the other hand, you are welcome to bring the stuff and try to sell it directly to one of the regular vendors. (It's not unusual for some of the larger vendors to buy out the "closet cleaner" vendors as soon as they get set up.) Also, we wouldn't have any issues if you had "pre-sold" something to someone who was coming to the show to pay and take delivery.

We had a lot of circular discussions about allowing or not allowing the exhibitors to sell from their tables, but in the end, the show committee decided that we couldn't allow that beyond some club / group promotional items. Our regular vendors are the main revenue source to pay for the show. We really have to keep them happy, and if we allowed exhibitors to sell model stuff in direct competition with them, we'd have a lot of unhappy vendors who would not hesitate to let us (and every other potential vendor on this side of the Mississippi) know about it.

I know you guys might only have a few kits between you, but if you sold even one of those that was the same kit as one of the vendors had sitting on his table, we'd get an ear full about how he or she "lost" a sale to someone who had an unfair advantage by not having to pay for a vendor table.

This might be something that we revisit next year, but for this year the rules have already been written and published.

 

[moon puppy]

I'm sorry to have to say it, but you guys will need to rent a regular vendor table for that.

No need to apologize I fully expect to be treated like any other vendor we'll just not have much stock. Hopefully we'll sell out and just hang out after. I'll email them and make arrangements.

 

[moon puppy]

Email fired off.

 

[moon puppy]

Hey Mike, tell me about this?

“Racing Around the Clock–Best Endurance Racing Subject”

 

[SdAufKla]

Hey Mike, tell me about this?

“Racing Around the Clock–Best Endurance Racing Subject”

The "Special Awards" are all sponsored by folks outside the model clubs, and the particular sponsors will judge the models for their own awards.

ALL of the models on exhibit, though (not just the ones registered for the regular contest portion) are eligible to be judged for any of the special awards. Each sponsor has his or her own ideas about specific eligibility for his or her own special award. It's really our hands.

So... Having said all of that, I THINK this particular award is intended for subjects like 24-hour Le Mans, 24-hour Daytona, or 12-hour Sebring type races. I'm no expert on what constitutes an "endurance" race and what doesn't. I guess I'd refer you to:

Wiki:: Endurance Racing Motorsports

I imagine that other motorsports subjects besides racing cars would qualify, too.

Our intention in soliciting the "special award" sponsors was to offer some sort of possibility for all of the other models on exhibit to win something, hopefully to provide a bit more incentive for exhibitors to bring more than just the one model they want to enter for regular judging (which are also potentially eligible for the class "best of" awards, the two Theme Awards, and the Judges Best of Show award).