07-13-2011, 08:09 PM
Just to throw another "monkey wrench" into the works, Benny at the MRH forums has suggested that with enough money anyone can buy the technology to do virtually everything needed to scratch build anything to any standard. In effect you "scratch build" by using computers to design and manufacture all of the parts perfectly and put the "kit" together.
For me the entire MMR program is irrelevant. I want to build better models, but I'm not interested in filling out a form in 8-10 copies or whatever is required to tell a dozen judges what I did. In Southern Ca. the judging is pretty bad anyway. The basic problem in my opinion is that the MMR program should be entirely divorced from having anything to do with any contest. A contest by nature requires a first place, second place, third place, etc. The achievement program is supposed to measure achievement, not grade on a curve. The standards for achievement should eliminate as much as possible subjective factors and just measure the objective. Judging a paint job is of necessity somewhat subjective, but should not be too difficult to judge color is wrong, runs in paint, bare spots, rough spots, blurred lines, etc. When judging a locomotive or rolling stock for instance, everything should be as much like a pilot's pre-flight check list as possible. If the details are there and correct for the model based on a prototype, the modeler should get full credit for those details without having some judge who models steam and has no use for diesel giving a 50 to a well detailed diesel just because he doesn't consider any diesel engine to be worth wasting his time to judge!
At Anaheim at the NMRA convention in 2008 there were a bunch of very well done models, but none received enough points to earn a certificate. I'm not sure, but I think many of them had the bodies cut apart and all doors replaced with Canon parts, and were fully detailed with everything that would be visible on the prototype. Paint was flawless. None were good enough to receive a certificate? The other thing that I noticed at Anaheim was that there were more models on display in the Western Prototype Modelers room than in the contest room. I suspect that the achievement program is as irrelevant for the prototype modelers as it is for me.
I'm not going to knock any MMR or anyone who wishes to attain MMR. It just doesn't fit into my life or modeling goals.
For me the entire MMR program is irrelevant. I want to build better models, but I'm not interested in filling out a form in 8-10 copies or whatever is required to tell a dozen judges what I did. In Southern Ca. the judging is pretty bad anyway. The basic problem in my opinion is that the MMR program should be entirely divorced from having anything to do with any contest. A contest by nature requires a first place, second place, third place, etc. The achievement program is supposed to measure achievement, not grade on a curve. The standards for achievement should eliminate as much as possible subjective factors and just measure the objective. Judging a paint job is of necessity somewhat subjective, but should not be too difficult to judge color is wrong, runs in paint, bare spots, rough spots, blurred lines, etc. When judging a locomotive or rolling stock for instance, everything should be as much like a pilot's pre-flight check list as possible. If the details are there and correct for the model based on a prototype, the modeler should get full credit for those details without having some judge who models steam and has no use for diesel giving a 50 to a well detailed diesel just because he doesn't consider any diesel engine to be worth wasting his time to judge!
At Anaheim at the NMRA convention in 2008 there were a bunch of very well done models, but none received enough points to earn a certificate. I'm not sure, but I think many of them had the bodies cut apart and all doors replaced with Canon parts, and were fully detailed with everything that would be visible on the prototype. Paint was flawless. None were good enough to receive a certificate? The other thing that I noticed at Anaheim was that there were more models on display in the Western Prototype Modelers room than in the contest room. I suspect that the achievement program is as irrelevant for the prototype modelers as it is for me.
I'm not going to knock any MMR or anyone who wishes to attain MMR. It just doesn't fit into my life or modeling goals.
To me this somehow doesn't seem right. Was he working towards the MMR title when he did all the work? No? Then why should you hand him the title? Who does that benefit - him, or the NMRA? If the program is there to help you acheive, then how did it help him if he wasn't building all those models with the program in mind?