Is It Cheating?

Now you did it. I am craving homemade spaghetti now. "hey honey can we have your famous spaghetti tonight."

TB,

The "phantom spaghetti hand" is a thing in Japan.  Most restaurants with a display wndow do it, perhaps for dramatic reasons.  

And yes, I DID order the "Spaghetti Napolitan"!

Well!

    I have seen that kit assembled. Yours looks way more Realistic. Now where is the person holding the fork? Wouldn't it be neat if they gave you part of a Ghostly Clear hand holding that fork?

Use whatever material gets the job done in the best way you can do.  The only caveat is when a contest has rules that prohibit it.  If it is not destined for competiton, the sky is the limit, no shame or stigma.

I bought a bowl and chrome plated plastic fork for my spaghetti kit, and do not feel I cheated at all!  

Tanker-Builder

Hi! Ed:

         I was wondering, Just because it's been a long time since I entered a contest. I do just like "Display Only" Because that seems to get more ooohs and aaahs than the regular tables where folks are afraid to get to close!

 

it depends. Some contests do, most dont

Hi Greg:

       Thanks for putting my head back where it Belongs!

Hi! Ed:

         I was wondering, Just because it's been a long time since I entered a contest. I do just like "Display Only" Because that seems to get more ooohs and aaahs than the regular tables where folks are afraid to get to close!

Since the early 2000s the International Plastic Modelers Society have added paper to the list of materials which may be used.   With the evolution of model manufacturers model kits containing mixed media (resin, turned metal, photoetch) they WERE allowed in Out of the Box categories.   Ships did have a single media OOB category.   

For the 2022 contest the contest committee changed the rules contest wide, doing away with the old OOB and implementing Single Media Only/Basic Kit Build.  Entries containing only the predominant material may be entered, plastic, resin, metal, or paper.  Otherwise they go to the standard categories.   

Local contests are free to change to National standards.   Many won't because it has always been done some other way  Few local clubs even followed ship's Single Media vs High Tech rules   
 

Your entry could not have been placed in either the old OOB category or the new BKB categories   Either, once you add something not included in the kit it disqualified from those categories.   They would have been moved to a standard category before judging

It is worth remembering that there are vast numbers of life-long modelers -- no idea of the percentage, but I'm guessing it well tops 50% -- who have never been (and never will be) within 100 yards of a model contest. Hence 'judging criteria' may be of some academic interest...but hardly the live-or-die benchmark for their modeling work.

I solidly agree with PFJN2, that it's all about the replica thing. I enjoy building paper models for the challenge, and the occasional change-up of methods and skills...but have no qualms whatsoever about using PE railings and ladders, or styrene rod or tube stock for masts, gun barrels, etc. The 'purists' view it as some kind of heresy...and they're welcome to their opinions. It doesn't trouble me a jot.

I am my own judge for my models...hence the bar -- and the stress level -- is set comfortably low. 

Cheating only if you deceive the judges in a competition,otherwise makes no difference how someone builds.

Hi,

For me, building a model means making a scale replica.  And if that means using all sorts of different materials together, I don't see that as being a problem.  Alot of times I use bass wood or balsa wood in plastics models (I find coating the wood in sanding sealer, modeling putty, and or a diluted mix of the two helps "seal" the surface).  And I know alot of people use Photo Etch on plastic kits.  So to me as long as some material seems to "meet your needs" I don't see any issue with using it.