When people take their what if or non-what if models to contests, do you ever find it difficult to decide what category your model subject best fits in?
I constantly have this problem when filling out the registration paperwork. 
Most of the time, my what if models have to go into the "Miscellaneous" category because they don't fit anywhere else.
I hate the word Miscellaneous as it makes me think that models in this category aren't good enough to be shown or looked at. Like "What the bleep is that?".
Take for example my recently completed USS Iowa 16" gun turret memorial.
I had to enter it in a recent contest in the Miscellaneous category because it did not belong in any of the other Ship categories listed on the registration paperwork.
I'm also thinking what if it could fit in the Diorama category? After all, it is telling a story of sorts. There are a few figures on the deck paying their respects.

Contests in the UK aren't like the ones in the US. At the 'Nationals' (or SMW as they like to call it) There is only one class for WhatIfs, and if you put them in the other classes they're either excluded or ignored.

Quote from: PR19_Kit on March 12, 2023, 02:20:24 PMContests in the UK aren't like the ones in the US. At the 'Nationals' (or SMW as they like to call it) There is only one class for WhatIfs, and if you put them in the other classes they're either excluded or ignored.

Here in the U.S., there is no class/category for What If models. Most contests I go to, all I see on the paperwork is a "Miscellaneous" category. The word Miscellaneous to me almost seems derogatory or discriminatory.   
It's like people look at the model and go "What the hell is that?", "We don't want it in our category. Put it in Miscellaneous."
It's almost like what if type models aren't good enough to compete against the "regular" stuff like Bismarck ships, P-38 Lightning, Sherman tanks, etc., etc.

I think your Iowa turret build should definitely have been in the diorama catagory.
Depending on what I have built some of my what ifs end up in sci fi or fantasy. I will consider dioramas for some of my projects. It might make things easier.

Quote from: kerick on March 12, 2023, 09:16:18 PMI think your Iowa turret build should definitely have been in the diorama catagory.

Totally agree 

either diorama or ship, that would have been a discussion between yourself and the organisers,
my slightly cheeky and less than serious answer would be.  Do the have a category for Awesome !

I put my whiffs in with the RW stuff they most closely resemble.
I'm not there to win prizes but to mess with peoples heads.
If they complain, so much the better.

I've only displayed mine at the last RAF Hendon Museum model show before it got a makeover which had the general public scratching their heads and a few ex-pilots claiming that they had flown my whiffs!

Quote from: McColm on March 13, 2023, 04:06:48 AMI've only displayed mine at the last RAF Hendon Museum model show before it got a makeover which had the general public scratching their heads and a few ex-pilots claiming that they had flown my whiffs!

That makes me wonder if they were really pilots or BS'ers.

It's been too long since I went to one of the few contests we have over here, so I can't remember. And the one and only time I've partaken in such a contest, I did so with an RW build of a RSwAF Reggiane Re 2000. As that did win me a flying experience in a SAAB 105, or Sk60 for you air force buffs, I've never entered another model into a contest as most prices seem somewhat dull in comparison. 

Quote from: Pellson on March 13, 2023, 06:23:25 PMIt's been too long since I went to one of the few contests we have over here, so I can't remember. And the one and only time I've partaken in such a contest, I did so with an RW build of a RSwAF Reggiane Re 2000. As that did win me a flying experience in a SAAB 105, or Sk60 for you air force buffs, I've never entered another model into a contest as most prices seem somewhat dull in comparison. 

I'll have to pass the idea of a flight for a grand prize for our club contest in October.

Quote from: kerick on March 13, 2023, 06:10:57 PM

Quote from: McColm on March 13, 2023, 04:06:48 AMI've only displayed mine at the last RAF Hendon Museum model show before it got a makeover which had the general public scratching their heads and a few ex-pilots claiming that they had flown my whiffs!

That makes me wonder if they were really pilots or BS'ers.

No, they might have flown in a Lockheed Neptune but they certainly didn't fly in that one unless they were on a Japanese exchange tour during the Vietnam War!
Whilst I know for sure that none of my other whiffs on the day of the show had been built in the Real World at that time.

Over the wasted yrs of building the standard of the shelf range of models that pretty much every other model builder builds I came to the realization that they are amazingly boring.
When I started to build wiffs and with the site I used to be a member off you soon get used to one word..alienated
It's like if you build wiffs your now not good enough to be with the other off the shelf builders which I call sheep..they always go with the flock and won't for the life of them leave that flock and it's the same feeling I have at model shows.
I've never entered a model at a show and never will..funnily the only model prize I've ever won was the Wiffy I won a couple of days back..which is awesome by the way and the reason I'm loving this is quite simple..it was awarded by fellow what if model builders 
Awarded by ppl who understand what we build and why and I freaking love that.
If those other builders who are either not smart enough or talented enough to understand what we build ..well that's their problem guys...not ours.
Seadude mate your turret is wonderful and in fact it should fit into both categories..diorama and ship..as it's both 

The more I read here the more I realise how relatively open minded we are in the UK. Sure we still get some odd looks from people who think we are a not relevant, but more and more people stop by to simply appreciate the modelling and a fair few move away muttering "I wonder" to themselves 

Quote from: NARSES2 on March 14, 2023, 02:01:23 AMThe more I read here the more I realise how relatively open minded we are in the UK. Sure we still get some odd looks from people who think we are a not relevant, but more and more people stop by to simply appreciate the modelling and a fair few move away muttering "I wonder" to themselves 

Many years ago I took my original PR19 and the Hawker-Convair Osprey (an FAA updated and enlarged XFY-1 Pogo) to the US to an IPMS North Carolina show, and you'd have thought I was preaching the return of British rule, the overthrow of all gun laws, and the banning of Coca-Cola from the response the two models got! 

It took hours of talking, to those who were interested enough to listen, to explain my thought processes  and even then the fact that I'd whiffed an AMERICAN aircraft was tantamount to heresy. 

Thank goodness wiser souls exist over there these days.