Garden Railway Forum

The 16mm Assoc MOTY has turned into a joke. The inconsistent judging of the Masters class from last year to this has been unforgivable. Last year winner was quite a nice model of Graf Schwerin-Löwitz. But...........the valve gear in many peoples opinion was rather "heavy" it still won the competition in spite of this.

This year a wood fired Double Fairlie, probably the best model of a Fairlie that I and many others have ever seen only managed "Highly Commended" How can this be??



Here is a quote from the organiser...The decision of the judges is final and they have the option not to award a trophy. Fair enough but, let's have some consistency eh???????

Considering the amount of times this has been brought up either by you or another of your identities - can I ask are you a disgruntled friend or a poor loser?

in my opinion i prefer the first one anyway-its only a competition after all

It is ONLY a completion.

Why are people getting their knickers in a twist over it?

What ever happened to a 'little bit of fun'

Both models are way, way more detailed than I or most other modellers could ever even aspire to.

I must own up to only visiting this forum every 3 or 4 months and so hopefully, as the builder of the Double Fairlie shown in the original posting, you will all cut me some slack in being so late in adding my two penceworth.

Was the MOTY Allcomers judging inconsistent? Putting completely to one side any references to the red loco in the first post, my opinion is that yes, it was inconsistent. In 2013 I was awarded the Allcomers for my Heilmann steam electric and in 2015 a Highly Commended for the Fairlie. Based on a little engineering knowledge and the fact that the two locos are sitting in front of me to make a comparison, I can say that the Fairlie is a much better piece of work. It should certainly be expected to be rated in front of the Heilmann if they were being judged together and to consistent standards.

Does any of this matter? I must admit to some irritation at the time but we should all perhaps remember that the MOTY is a low-key competition and that none of the entrants are ever likely to be threatening the standards of James Stanley Beeson or Cherry Hill. Further, I do also subscribe to the late, great Colin Binnie’s view that he didn’t really care about other’s views of his 16mm models since that were built for his own personal interests and satisfaction. I did also notice what might be viewed by some as inconsistencies in some of the judging in other MOTY classes but, since I had no personal involvement, will not comment further.

What I won’t be doing in future is entering any MOTY competitions and so I needn’t worry any more about this kind of minor controversy. I will also not be having any small feelings of guilt about the loco articles that I am finishing for Tag’s magazine (rather than the 16mm Assoc mag).

Cheers, Mike Dockery (not a big fan of pseudoplumes or nom-de-nyms).
[/b]

As with all competitions you enter for two reasons.... firstly for fun, but secondly to compare your work with others in the hope it is recognised as being better. BUT..... in such cases of mixed types, who is qualified to judge?
As a MOTY winner myself I think it would be almost impossible for judges from within the hobby not to have some personal preference as to what they like, as opposed to what is a better model.
My entries (2) in the Gordon Diplock Trophy section were given First and Highly Commended awards based simply on the paint finish (so the judge told me!). This seemed to completely disregard the amount of work and skill put into the second, which was a much more difficult item to make and was of the same subject as one entered in the past by Colin Binnie which won its class!
I am of the opinion that it cannot be impartial for an individual to judge such a mixed class, perhaps an audience vote would be appropriate in some cases?

MikeDoc:112256 wrote:
Cheers, Mike Dockery (not a big fan of pseudoplumes or nom-de-nyms).

If that's a barb at me, then take note of the fact that this name is consistent across at least 300 railway related fora and discussion groups.

>> Cheers, Mike Dockery (not a big fan of pseudoplumes or nom-de-nyms).

> If that's a barb at me, then take note of the fact that this name is consistent across at least 300 railway related fora and discussion groups.

A simple statement of personal opinion and not intended as a barb at anyone (there is not usually any doubt of intent on the relatively rare occasions that I do make barbed comments). I had always assumed that you were using your real name.
Cheers, Mike Dockery.

Ah... My real name has no vowels.

I always understood the competition as a low key bit of fun and the winning entry would be based on finish quality and whether the subject was interesting, the Fairlie wins hands down in my opinion
but I'm no lover of German engines so I'm biased!
I think if more people entered that would improve matters so lets look at this more positively and carpet bomb them next year with lots of models! I'm entering next year, I hope I don't get disqualified for using CNC!?

John

You certainly won't! A winning entry in a previous competition was all designed and laser-cut by the entrant................