Club Nights: How do yours work?

[Nick]

I've been going to my club for a couple of years now and it's got very stale. Even the old hands are commenting on this and they've seemed fairly content so far. One member has taken it on himself to liven things up a bit on the grounds that we should talk about models. Bit odd given that we are a model making club, you might think.... 

Our format has been that we drift in for 7pm, gossip for half an hour while people turn up, put models out to be judged for the competition of the month, do the voting and give out the award. Sometimes one of us will talk for a bit on a model or topic they've been working on. Then it's the tedious admin stuff and that invariably descends into chaos as people quickly get bored and start talking amongst themselves, even while the Chair is telling us about upcoming events.
Then it's off to the pub at 9pm where we all gossip a lot more. 

By rights we should have talked about Telford planning last night but nothing was said. We suffer from a lack of an agenda and an overabundance of barrack room lawyers who will quickly question even a hint of change from the norm.

I'm sure we put off two potential joinees last month when the idea of an impromptu group-build was dragged down by a debate and a vote on whether to consider changing the regular competition format, and if the change should be done then or after the AGM in March 

So how do your Model Club meetings go? Do you have a format? How do you maintain interest?

[PR19_Kit]

My 'local' club, the Cardiff Plastic Aeroplane Club, meet monthly in each others houses on a rota system in theory. You may think Cardiff is a bit of way from me, but it's only about 45 miles down the M48 and M4, and they needed a 'token Englishman' anyway. We also have a 'Token Scot', a 'Token Frenchman' and a 'Token Italian' as well. There's even a few Welshmen.........

We too start off around 7 pm but we don't hold competitions, but we usually bring our latest builds, both completed and in progress, plus any new kits we may have bought recently. As there's only a dozen of us soaking wet, and only about 60% show up each meeting, there aren't too many models to show really. As with you Nick, we chat about models and full size aircraft toll around 9 when the host, or the host's wife, makes coffee, tea etc and we pause to consume that, and then revert to more chat.

We do a few shows in the area during the year so we do some planning for them of course, but very little 'business' takes place as we don't have a committee at all, just one poor soul who acts as secretary. We find the lack of any officialdom works much better with such a small group.

[kerick]

My 'local' club, the Cardiff Plastic Aeroplane Club, meet monthly in each others houses on a rota system in theory. You may think Cardiff is a bit of way from me, but it's only about 45 miles down the M48 and M4, and they needed a 'token Englishman' anyway. We also have a 'Token Scot', a 'Token Frenchman' and a 'Token Italian' as well. There's even a few Welshmen.........

We too start off around 7 pm but we don't hold competitions, but we usually bring our latest builds, both completed and in progress, plus any new kits we may have bought recently. As there's only a dozen of us soaking wet, and only about 60% show up each meeting, there aren't too many models to show really. As with you Nick, we chat about models and full size aircraft toll around 9 when the host, or the host's wife, makes coffee, tea etc and we pause to consume that, and then revert to more chat.


We do a few shows in the area during the year so we do some planning for them of course, but very little 'business' takes place as we don't have a committee at all, just one poor soul who acts as secretary. We find the lack of any officialdom works much better with such a small group.

While I haven't been to club meeting I a long time the club I was going to ran much like this. Very little official procedure and mostly model display and discussion. Worked pretty well.

[jcf]

IPMS-Seattle meet the 2nd Saturday of each month from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM,
the first hour is socializing looking at what models etc. folk have brought to sell,
looking through the usual "Free Magazines" stacks (modelling, aviation etc.).
People also take this time to set out the models they've brought for show n' tell.
The meeting proper starts at 11. Any new, or returned members, and visitors
are asked to stand up and introduce themselves and their interests at which point
they are welcomed to the club. Current or pending club business is next along
with info about upcoming shows from other area clubs/groups and other events
that might be of interest to the membership. After that the bulk of the time is taken
up by the show n' tell wherein folks go up to the tables, we often have three to four
six foot long tables full of models and wips, and talk about what they brought. Most
folks make it quick, although there are a few long-winded individuals who have to
regale you with every step in the build process (this to a room full of modelers who
already know the process) and every mistake they made and exactly how they fixed it.
Definitely a "watching the paint dry" experience.
Sometimes the show n' tell goes right up to when we need to vacate the space,
other times we wrap 15 to 20 minutes early. Afterwards a variable sized group,
usually a 12 to 15, sometimes more, go to the foodcourt at a local shopping mall
and continue the bull session.

Official club membership is around 120, meeting numbers vary from 50 to 60 at most
meetings, go up closer to 80 in the autumn/winter/early spring months and push 100
at the Dec. pre-Xmas food orgy meeting. We have members from around the world,
many in the area because of Boeing, the enlarging aerospace industry in the area,
and, of course, Microsoft and Amazon. We have some Japanese members with very
limited English who receive nothing but encouragement as they struggle to describe
their builds. The group is refreshingly short on JMN types, indeed the technically best,
most accuracy focused, modellers in the group go out of their way to encourage modellers
of all skill levels and will offer tips and helpful suggestions when requested. 


Many of the people active in the club are also active in the smaller, informal area group,
Northwest Scale Modelers, which meets the first Thursday of every month in the Boeing
Red Barn, the original Boeing "factory" at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, the
museum has extended hours and free admission on that day. The meeting is from 7:00
to 9:00 PM and follows roughly the same format as the IPMS meeting.
I rarely drive down to Seatte for NWSM meetings because traffic from Everett south
to Seattle is brutal in the afternoon to early evening, central Puget Sound traffic is
horrendous.

[zenrat]

The Australian Model Car Club meets third Monday of the month in Ashburton library at 20:00.
We have a monthly theme.  Members bring a model which fits that theme, or something completely different if they so wish.
After gossip, exchanges of insults and model related news we have show and tell during which more insults will be exchanged, members will get sidetracked into other subjects and John & I will get told off for talking in class.

[AS.12]

IPMS-Seattle meet the 2nd Saturday of each month from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

That's a brilliant time for a [any] club meeting.  I detest evening meetings, I'm tired and grubby from work and have had to shove dinner down my gullet in haste, and so often doze-off in the quieter moments...

Saturday or Sunday morning sound much more civilised, at least for most people who aren't working then.

[The Big Gimper]

I was briefly a member of the local IPMS chapter but I quickly discovered/uncovered the rivet counter mentality.

RW builds were the only acceptable result.

WHIFFING = SON OF SATAN!

Did not return or renew my membership.

[PR19_Kit]

Hehehehe, indeed so. They used to think I was deranged at CPAC for many years, but since the PR19 achieved its notoriety they've started to change their minds. 

[Thorvic]

Hehehehe, indeed so. They used to think I was deranged at CPAC for many years, but since the PR19 achieved its notoriety they've started to change their minds. 

Nah they now know and accept your deranged instead of wondering if your were 

[Thorvic]

As to the question about the club meets, I stopped attending my local club some years ago when I lost the car, but they pretty much do as most except the best model was decided by the previous months winner and chosen on merit as people were conscious of favoritism towards mates or subject matter. Seemed to work as only one would have to study each build and decide which they liked the most.

As to SMW, again no info posted up on the Show layout so clubs will still have to await on that being published and getting their paperwork which can be inconvenient if this falls after the last club meet  .

[NARSES2]

The Australian Model Car Club meets third Monday of the month in Ashburton library at 20:00.

Just down the road from where I went to school, long way for you to go ? 

Seriously though I just wish I had a local club to attend.  Not driving doesn't help I know, but London just doesn't seem to have many, unlike other parts of the country I go to regularly.

[zenrat]

The Australian Model Car Club meets third Monday of the month in Ashburton library at 20:00.

Just down the road from where I went to school, long way for you to go ?  ...

Heh heh.  Coincidentally (there is no coincidence - Robert Anton Wilson) when we lived in Addiscombe I could see Ashburton Library from my front door.  It was just across the park.
Melbourne's Ashburton is a 45 minute drive from the dank Northern slopes of Mount Martha but as I take my septuagenarian mate Terry it goes in a flash.

[NARSES2]

Heh heh.  Coincidentally (there is no coincidence - Robert Anton Wilson) when we lived in Addiscombe I could see Ashburton Library from my front door.  It was just across the park.

Where about's in Addiscombe ? I lived in Teevan Rd in the mid 70's (long before you were born, I know  ) which was by the telephone exchange/P.O.

They've just re-opened the library by the way as a "community hub".

[zenrat]

Between about 1996 and 2003 we lived at No.1 Longhurst Road.  On the corner with Spring Lane.
A few minutes walk from Woodside tramlink stop.
You were on the other side of the park.

[Weaver]

I've been going to my club for a couple of years now and it's got very stale. Even the old hands are commenting on this and they've seemed fairly content so far. One member has taken it on himself to liven things up a bit on the grounds that we should talk about models. Bit odd given that we are a model making club, you might think.... 

Our format has been that we drift in for 7pm, gossip for half an hour while people turn up, put models out to be judged for the competition of the month, do the voting and give out the award. Sometimes one of us will talk for a bit on a model or topic they've been working on. Then it's the tedious admin stuff and that invariably descends into chaos as people quickly get bored and start talking amongst themselves, even while the Chair is telling us about upcoming events.
Then it's off to the pub at 9pm where we all gossip a lot more. 

By rights we should have talked about Telford planning last night but nothing was said. We suffer from a lack of an agenda and an overabundance of barrack room lawyers who will quickly question even a hint of change from the norm.

I'm sure we put off two potential joinees last month when the idea of an impromptu group-build was dragged down by a debate and a vote on whether to consider changing the regular competition format, and if the change should be done then or after the AGM in March 

So how do your Model Club meetings go? Do you have a format? How do you maintain interest?

I'm not a member of a local club, but as a teenager, I used to get taken to IPMS Sale once a month by my schoolfriend and his dad. The 'tedious admin stuff' and endless procedural arguments put me off joining IPMS until last year, some 30-odd years later. I still have occasional nightmares where I'm in a room full of people who won't stop talking about the Plain Base Rule....