The inaugural Finish It Group Build (FIGB) rules

[Wardukw]

Yup I'm in 
Got the WW2 but not as you know it diorama build to finish..and and or the big arsed helicopter carrier thingy ...I'll check on the but the dios first post..September 28th 2021 


*Update..like less than a minute later..the carrier would to..Dec 22 2021 ..but that 95% done..just a ton of detail painting to be done.

[Weaver]

A few months back when we were discussion the Group Build rules were got mired in the question of what constitutes a part started build and the consensus reached was that we should finish this as a separate subject and look at the idea of a dedicated Group Build.

I said I'd come back with some draft rules for discussion so here they are.

Nice one Chris - very much along the lines of what I was thinking when we discussed it before. I've got a whole bunch of potential entries for this one.

Some suggestions (my additions in red):

2.    FIGB 2024 is only open to unfinished items that have been posted on the forum prior to 31 December 2022 with pictures (they don't necessarily have to have been in a previous GB) but which for some reason haven't been worked on seriously since then and are gathering dust on the 'pending' shelf.  You may enter as many previously stalled entries as you like at any time during the FIGB, however links to the original build thread and an 'as stalled' picture must be posted in your initial entry post.  The stalled model must also have been substantially started, that is to say, at least three parts glued together, painted, cut or modified in some way. Please PM the Moderators if you're in any doubt as to what is eligible for inclusion in the FIGB. 

(The point of this is to exclude "I opened the box and looked at it but didn't do anything to it" entries. For example, I've got a project where literally the only things I did to it, before life intervened and put it on hold, are two saw cuts. I wouldn't call that part-started, since it's within a hair's breath of UNstarted, and I'd never enter it in the FIGB.)

3.    The posting of in-progress pictures is of course welcome (indeed encouraged), but when posting your finished entries in the Finished Entries thread can you please restrict yourselves to a maximum of three images plus the original "as-stalled" picture.  Further images of the finished item(s) can be viewed in the 'in progress' thread by means of a link to that thread.  Back stories - however long or short - supporting physical models and profiles are also welcome and can accompany what is posted in the Finished Entries thread. 

(This is to make it easier for voters to judge how much work has been done on an entry within the scope of the FIGB.)

[Old Wombat]

 

[Pellson]

3.    The posting of in-progress pictures is of course welcome (indeed encouraged), but when posting your finished entries in the Finished Entries thread can you please restrict yourselves to a maximum of three images plus the original "as-stalled" picture.  Further images of the finished item(s) can be viewed in the 'in progress' thread by means of a link to that thread.  Back stories - however long or short - supporting physical models and profiles are also welcome and can accompany what is posted in the Finished Entries thread. 

(This is to make it easier for voters to judge how much work has been done on an entry within the scope of the FIGB.)

White your other charges are really good, i think requiring a "before"-pic in the finished thread is unnecessary. First because I seriously believe that it's the result you should have comments on, and second because it's just more pictures to upload when the problem usually is too many rather than too few pictures.

That said, I think this turned out really good. I'll follow the gentleman's example and start uploading "threads" on my old shelf huggers in anticipation of coming years.

[NARSES2]

I'm not ignoring your comments gents, we'll get back to you when everyone's had a chance to digest things. 

[kitbasher]

A link to the original build thread should be a sufficient intro to the resumed work.

As for progress pics - only of the resumed work.

Not convinced by the suggested 'substantially complete' caveat, the degree of completion should (if necessary) be subject to discussion with the Mods.  Tbh a stalled build is stalled regardless of the extent of stalled build.

[Pellson]

A link to the original build thread should be a sufficient intro to the resumed work.

As for progress pics - only of the resumed work.

Not convinced by the suggested 'substantially complete' caveat, the degree of completion should (if necessary) be subject to discussion with the Mods.  Tbh a stalled build is stalled regardless of the extent of stalled build.

I second this wholeheartedly

[Weaver]

A link to the original build thread should be a sufficient intro to the resumed work.

As for progress pics - only of the resumed work.

Not convinced by the suggested 'substantially complete' caveat, the degree of completion should (if necessary) be subject to discussion with the Mods.  Tbh a stalled build is stalled regardless of the extent of stalled build.

Well sure, but then the mods themselves need guidance and a standard to work to. just as the normal GB rules say "prep, but no glue or paint".

I've got "stalled builds" where I bought a few extras, opened the box, twisted a few bits off the sprues, did a bit of research, and then got distracted by something else and never got back to it. I've also got stalled builds that are physically complete and halfway through painting. I'm not convinced that the latter is the same as the former.

[NARSES2]

I've got "stalled builds" where I bought a few extras, opened the box, twisted a few bits off the sprues, did a bit of research, and then got distracted by something else and never got back to it. I've also got stalled builds that are physically complete and halfway through painting. I'm not convinced that the latter is the same as the former.

Those with long memories of the original discussion will remember that I struggled with the concept of this GB from the beginning and I honestly thought once I'd accepted the basic principle of the GB that, that would be it ? However when is life ever that simple ? 

My take on this ? A stalled build is one where you've started to assemble the kit, glue has been used, but you haven't yet started on any major painting. So perhaps interior paintwork is ok, cockpits, wheel bays etc, but any exterior painting rules the kit out.

I'll now stand back.

[kitbasher]

Thanks Chris, helpful.  Might it be simpler to consider a stalled build as simply one in which assembly (including preparatory painting) has begun but is incomplete?

That I think would answer Weaver's point whilst including builds that are substantially complete and may be primed, but still require some assembly and 'proper' exterior painting.  I'm sure many of us have part builds in or around that stage of completion that the proposed GB would provide the necessary impetus to finish the blighters.

[Weaver]

My take on this ? A stalled build is one where you've started to assemble the kit, glue has been used, but you haven't yet started on any major painting. So perhaps interior paintwork is ok, cockpits, wheel bays etc, but any exterior painting rules the kit out.

I think you need a "minimum amount of work done" standard to differentiate a stalled build from an unstarted build.

I don't think you need a "maximum amount of work done" standard to differentiate a stalled build from a "nearly finished" build. A build can get stalled at any point for a whole bunch of reasons. All you need to do is make it clear HOW close to finished it was when it was stalled, in order for other people to judge how much effort you've put into "un-stalling" it. By way of example, I have a 3/4 painted model that I made for a GB which I dropped and damaged six hours before the GB deadline. It's ONLY stalled because it couldn't make the deadline: it's totally finishable, but there was never an incentive to do so when the next GB was about to start and claim my limited available time.

But that's just my take. Pellson's take, as I understand it, is that the finished FIGB entry should be judged purely on the merit of the final product, not on how much effort went into un-stalling it. I disagree, but it's not something I feel very strongly about and if the membership would rather do it that way, then it wouldn't diminish my enthusiasm for the FIGB idea.

[Pellson]

...Pellson's take, as I understand it, is that the finished FIGB entry should be judged purely on the merit of the final product, not on how much effort went into un-stalling it. I disagree, but it's not something I feel very strongly about and if the membership would rather do it that way, then it wouldn't diminish my enthusiasm for the FIGB idea.

Quite as I meant, and indeed very well clarified.

[PR19_Kit]

Surely 'unstalling' a project quite often only needs the WILL to 'unstall' it.

Sometimes projects just go off the boil and you think 'I'll get back on that another day. Meanwhile I'll......'

[kitbasher]

Apologies.  I used the term 'stalled', I meant 'unfinished'.  In my head they're not quite the same but I won't bore folk with lengthy philosophising about what I mean!

I agree with Weaver's point regarding the need to make it clear how close to finished a build was when work stopped.  The FIGB then becomes the vehicle for resuming work, regardless of how close to completion the build had got.

Equally I agree with Pellson to let the forum membership judge the merits of the final build.  For some that judgement may include an appreciation of the effort taken to reach completion, but that's an individual matter that doesn't require explanation/justification.

[Old Wombat]

In all cases, I can't see where a "This is my starting point" photo is not warranted.

However, I agree that a certain amount of actual, physical work needs to have taken place.

Otherwise it's merely an "unstarted" build & I have hundreds of those, which appear in the "Current & Finished Projects" boards as & when I get around to them; all with various amounts of A-M bits'n'bobs, decals, other kit bits, etc., in with them, & almost every one of them I've looked at, at some point, & thought "I really should start this" then put it away & started on something else.

Not stalled, just unstarted.

As to voting: I'll probably allocate 50% of my marks to the finished product & 50% to how much work was required to get there; combine them & see where the model sits on MY ranking chart & vote accordingly.