BayCon 2002 Review - Steve and the Imps!

I recently attended the IPMS BayCon show in Attleboro, MA, run by IPMS Bay Colony Historical Modelers. This contest is an IPMS event which, for us car modeler types, means that there are classes for figures, aircraft, armor, SCI-FI, ships, and a few others.

Like any show there were great parts and then the not so great parts. One of the biggest not-so-great parts was that their show date clashed with LIARS in New York (where most of MassCar was) and the show in Montreal (where most of Classic Plastic was). This is really too bad, and my suggestion for next year is that the three shows work together to get dates that will not conflict. The LIARS really have a tough time because they have to find a location so close to New York City, and everything is soooo expensive. BayCon, LIARS, and Globe25 have had their show on the same weekend for a zillion years, and I certainly understand the value of tradition. These days shrinking interest in anything not on a computer causes ALL contests entry numbers to go down, and we may all want to think about learning to be a bit flexible and devising ways to generate new interest in the hobby. Just my 2 cents, and I’m saying this because it would be nice to be able to attend all 3 shows instead of having to pick one. This now allows me to segue into the next topic:

One of the great things (though some may not see it that way) was that the car entries comprised close to ½ of the total entries at the BayCon show. There were about 70 entries in the 5 auto classes with another 5-10 scattered in Juniors, Collections, and other classes. I am guessing that they probably got about 200 or so total entries. The funny thing was that the many of the rest of their classes only had 3-6 entries in them. You stood a chance of gaining an award just due to the low entry numbers. Don’t go taking this to mean that you would score an EASY first as the few models that were in these classes were all quite good! Here is Ray Laskorski's (Vics dad) Wiggins Cessna T50 that won first in its class as well as Best Civilian Aircraft. Ray also placed in numerous categories with other aircraft; 4^th for a Fairchild, Beechcraft, and a Fokker F10 and 2^nd for a NA 047. One of the things I really like about IPMS shows is the diversity of entries, and BayCon is certainly no exception to that rule, but I think that many IPMS shows (including BayCon) should look at their entry numbers and adjust their categories a little bit better. Most IPMS show have 1/3 to ½ of their entries in the automotive classes, yet they account for only 1/6 (at best) of the total classes.

MassCar was created and has been successful partly because the IPMS has long neglected the automotive contingent. I think that there has been some recent recognition of this on the National IPMS level, but it has yet to trickle down to many of the local contests. BayCon still has "Civilian Vehicles" for their Automotive classes. Many automotive modelers find this term insulting, and I think that the National IPMS rules have changed this; time for BayCon to catch up perhaps?

Some IPMS shows have a tendency to look at cars and only see the pretty paint jobs. Years ago one of the shows I went to had rules that said that no model would be picked up. This was not because they were afraid of damaging models, but because there was never a reason to see the underside of a tank or ship, and they just applied the same thinking to cars. This may be true under most circumstances, but what about the guy in a foxhole about to be squished by a tank or a U-boat about to be rammed by a destroyer? I guess that those individuals never had much to say after seeing the underside armor or naval vessels, but I don’t know of many mechanics that don’t live through their first muffler replacement. Many IPMS shows have these kinds of attitudes in mind when the automotive classes are judged. BayCon actually did a great job of judging not only the planes, armor, and figures, but the cars as well! They had some very good models in all of the classes and they did an outstanding job with some very tough classes.

The Best in Show and People's Choice award went to a destroyed Panzer IV shown here    (I used to build tanks when I was a kid and still can tell the difference between a Panzer III and IV!) that was an incredible piece of work. I would love to see something like this go up against a MassCar Best in Show car. Tough thing to judge, I think.

MassCar had a few members at BayCon, although we had about 25 people or so at LIARS, the handful at BayCon did well in the trophy department.

Phil LaBounty   was by far the winningest MassCar member; he nabbed 3 firsts, 2 seconds and an Honorable Mention for Best Female figure.

Vic was in contention for Most Humourous with the Communist Party, but got beat by this Talibarrel  

Steve D got a 1^st in Showroom Stock for a ’57 Corvette, while Dave S. pulled a 3^rd in the same category for his ’71 Duster . Dave also was one of the most prolific in the class with these entries also:  

Rocky O had his classy Mercedes from the "Put up or Shut Up" challenge entered in the class as well.

Overall, it was a good show that could have a much better turnout if there was some scheduling co-ordination between clubs. If that scheduling co-ordination does happen then BayCon should seriously think of expanding their car classes (their auto entry levels already warrants it), ‘cause they may get inundated. Many MassCar members may remember an incident a few years ago at BayCon that really soured many members on the whole IPMS thing. I think it is safe to say that something similar to what happened before will not be repeated any time soon. This show, while small, is classy, well judged, and efficiently run. Overall, I would have to recommend this show as nice afternoon to spend with some modelers and their models. Us car guys may not always see headlight to gunbarrel with military modelers, but we do all use the same glue and paint.

*For those of you wondering, my spellchecker always suggests imps whenever IPMS is used in a document.

See ya!

Stevo