Who decides Who is a "Master Modeler"?

There are few places where master applies with any validity.

In general modeling, it can be applied to a class at a contest reserved for previous first place winners, especially from the sponsoring club's shows. This has become increasingly rare as it is hard to administer.

In the world of AMPS, Masters is a category for particularly advanced builders who have consistently won gold in the Advanced category. In some figure shows, it is the class for professionals and those who consistently win golds in the open classes.

In the figure world, certain events, such as World Expo will bestow the title on painters/sculptors who have shown exceptional skills in the field of figure painting and sculpting.

Anything else is just and as meaningless as "museum quality" and "professionally built."

Not pertaining to modelling contests but in a more general sense,I would think that one's peers would recognize ones abilities as above and beyond,even if he has never entered or won a contest.for example off the the top of my head,on this site I feel I can call Doog,Manstein,and Espins master modelers,and this is not knowing whether or not they won any contests,but by just observing the quality of their work.Not to slight anyone else because there are probably a dozen more here that I can't call to mind,but I'm sure that the community ie our forum would feel the same way,you just recognize masterful work when you see it.If you enter a contest and win a medal that's just the topping but not absolutley necessary to recognize a "master".

Hummm....Master Modeler.....Is that like when you look at ebay and see a model that is pro built.

Aside from the competitions where you are formally recognized as a master, I don't think it is black and white but grey. It is how you are recognized by your peers. If your peers are this forum and they call you master, then so be it.

I don't know if you want to start a ranking tree. The problem is someone has to be the root and may not take it well!!

In general, the regulars on this site who post builds and give help and advice are all damm good modelers.

Rounds Complete!!

The amount of hardware you have in your trophy case, IMO, is not a foolproof indicator of how accomplished a modeler is...in fact, some of the best modelers I have ever known were very averse to competing, especially as they matured into the hobby...if they went to a show, most would put their work on the "display only" table...

Now there are a few venues that can add a lot of cred to your name, such as Euromilitaire, IPMS Nats, etc...and there are a few associations that do indeed bestow certain titles on individuals, the classic example being Shep Paine, who is considered a "Grand" Master...

Who decides?  I do.  I make all the master modeler appointments.

While I thank Anthony for the endorsement, in my carefully considered opinion, it's ALL  subjective--and all rather bullcookies to be honest. One guy's "Master Modeler" is another guy's "over-finisher" orthe guy who can't build an OOB as well as a $300 PE magnet festooned with AM stuff out the kazoo. Some guys are great builders; some great finishers. Some are rarely both. It's all subjective. Always.

If there's an IPMS actual criterion for it, it's STILL subjective, IMO, and in my experience! 

i'll decide....actually i kinda consider myself the master of the indie link tracks.also a styrene bonding master.and some days my wife even lets me be my own master.have interpretation will travel.

If I recall correctly, there was a very specific set of criteria that had to be fulfilled in order to get IPMS Master Modeller status.  I have just spent half an hour looking on the net for those criteria and came up empty handed.

From what I recall, you had to have succeeded in gaining gold in the Masters catagory at the Nationals and had to be nominated or appointed..... or something.

I know I saw it somewheres before....  or maybe I'm making the whole thing up.  Too many paint fumes a health cerebelum do not make.

I will continue to look, if for nothign but to prove my (relative) sanity.

wbill76 wrote:

One factor that I haven't seen anyone mention yet is related to being published. That may trend more toward being a "professional" vs. a "master"...but most who have the "master" title or association have also been published and recognized either in established magazines/books or even authored them themselves. Just a thought to ponder...personally I don't go much for titles like that, but it's human nature to want to classify and create hierarchies so I suppose it has its uses.

Hmmmmm...being published...I'm not sure I totally agree that being published makes you a Master Modeler...As I said in another thread, I have several "modeling technique" books that I have bought over the years (many published by Kalmbach) that feature works from folks who really were not impressive at all---and I really mean "not impressive"...I was almost embarassed at looking at their work and really wondering how they even GOT published ! 

I know a lot of modelers who don't seek publication who are extremely talented...

On the other hand, I do concede that if you are talented (a master, if you will), the chances of you getting published are of course going to be greater than that of an average modeler; however, being published, IMO, is as much a matter of willingness to be published as it is talent... 

Thehannaman2 wrote:

If I recall correctly, there was a very specific set of criteria that had to be fulfilled in order to get IPMS Master Modeller status.  I have just spent half an hour looking on the net for those criteria and came up empty handed.

That proposal went over like a in church. People almost universally rejected the idea of IPMS "telling them" how to build models.

ajlafleche wrote:

Thehannaman2 wrote: If I recall correctly, there was a very specific set of criteria that had to be fulfilled in order to get IPMS Master Modeller status.  I have just spent half an hour looking on the net for those criteria and came up empty handed. That proposal went over like a in church. People almost universally rejected the idea of IPMS "telling them" how to build models.

Perhaps that is why I came up empty   

Do you know about when this was under "discussion" in IPMS/USA?

I was curious, since FSM is hangin' the "Master" tag on folks in every issue it seems...  What made me notice was the recent article of Doog's where he was reffered to as "Master Modeler Karl Logan" in the Hetzer build.  Make no mistake, I'm not saying that Doog doesn't deserve the accolades he gets, in fact, it's quite the opposite... (I know it's been said many times, but Doog, you ARE among some of the best modelers I've seen in my 40 years of doin' this stuff...)

Regarding being published as criteria, I wondered about that, since there was one modeler who was a regular contributor to Scale Modeler and Military Modeler magazines back the 80's/90's, a guy named Duane J. Phister who primarily built dioramas.  His builds, towards the end, were featured in about every issue of those mags, always for sale (said so in the articles), and he even had his cartoons published in the mag (Modeltoons)... But, I never really saw anything that jumped out at me as being "superior" about his work, although it was always good, really good stuff, with many diverse subjects... I recall one of builds was a scratchbuilt diorama of "IPMS Night" where he used the 1/24 scale figures from Tamiya's Pit Crew and various smaller-scale figures, planes, tanks, ships, etc and scratch-built tables and chairs to "model a group of modelers modeling models of models"... It was one of the most original ideas I ever saw, lol... His work was always immediately recognizable as well, I never had to check the name of the author on the articles when they ran, you could tell it was Phister's work right away (Usually by the ever-present tarps, which appeared in almost EVERY build)...

At any rate, this is turning out to be an informative little topic, if I do say so m'self...  Although I don't compete, I have judged in the past and it's always amazing to see the work that folks put glue to... 

It's forums like this one as well, with people like y'all that are willing to share your work, give tips and tricks, and instill confidence in other modelers who may have given up in the days before the internet allowed them to easily see other's work and to actually ASK the guy "How'd you DO that?"... To me, y'all are "Master Modelers"...  I myself will never get to the level of Hizzoner, St. Shepard of Monogram (Cue angelic fanfare music), or the vast majority of y'all,  but I'm gonna die tryin'...

That makes sense.  I always wondered what the "Premier" award was.  They have it listed in the Journal, but they don't show pictures of the winning model like they do for 1st, 2nd, 3rd.

So I guess we're right back where we started.  There really is no defined criteria or voting body that can bestow an official title of "Master Modeler."

Here all this time I thought it might have been from the IPMS. I know the NMRA (National Model Railroad Assoc.) has an Achievement Program to where when he or she has obtained at least seven of the eleven Achievement Certificates provided that he or she has earned at least one Achievement Certificate in each of the four areas of the Regulations will qualify as a Master Model Railroader.

On another post earlier about the "Pro Built" models on ebay - I have seen a lot that makes my builds just shine. But then I have seen some that deserve that title. 

It would appear we have reached the rectum principal.

"Everybody has one and they are all different"

Rounds Complete!!

Mansteins revenge wrote:

wbill76 wrote: One factor that I haven't seen anyone mention yet is related to being published. That may trend more toward being a "professional" vs. a "master"...but most who have the "master" title or association have also been published and recognized either in established magazines/books or even authored them themselves. Just a thought to ponder...personally I don't go much for titles like that, but it's human nature to want to classify and create hierarchies so I suppose it has its uses. Hmmmmm...being published...I'm not sure I totally agree that being published makes you a Master Modeler...As I said in another thread, I have several "modeling technique" books that I have bought over the years (many published by Kalmbach) that feature works from folks who really were not impressive at all---and I really mean "not impressive"...I was almost embarassed at looking at their work and really wondering how they even GOT published !  I know a lot of modelers who don't seek publication who are extremely talented... On the other hand, I do concede that if you are talented (a master, if you will), the chances of you getting published are of course going to be greater than that of an average modeler; however, being published, IMO, is as much a matter of willingness to be published as it is talent...

I don't think it's the "only" criteria but possibly "a" criteria...consider who we normally think of when we use the term "master"...we think of the likes of Shep Paine, Verlinden, Mig Jimenez, etc...and all of them have been published or publish themselves (depending on how you look at it). They are the "rock stars" of the model world in that regard...but that may be true of an age now gone with the advent of the Internet and no longer necessarily a valid criteria.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...so too is the title of "master" IMHO.

wbill76 wrote:

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...so too is the title of "master" IMHO.

Exactly. We all see and perceive things differently. From my own perspective, I consider many members here "Master". I also think that being recognized by your peers (in this case forum) is the ultimate honor. Just my

tigerman wrote:

wbill76 wrote: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...so too is the title of "master" IMHO. Exactly. We all see and perceive things differently. From my own perspective, I consider many members here "Master". I also think that being recognized by your peers (in this case forum) is the ultimate honor. Just my

Ditto

disastermaster wrote:

tigerman wrote:  wbill76 wrote: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...so too is the title of "master" IMHO. Exactly. We all see and perceive things differently. From my own perspective, I consider many members here "Master". I also think that being recognized by your peers (in this case forum) is the ultimate honor. Just my Ditto

to the

Rounds Complete!!

Hans von Hammer wrote:

I was curious, since FSM is hangin' the "Master" tag on folks in every issue it seems...  What made me notice was the recent article of Doog's where he was reffered to as "Master Modeler Karl Logan" in the Hetzer build.

.....

Well, I have to say; when I saw that honorific title bestowed upon me, I puffed up a little, as that was the first time I was ever so honored by that appelation. I was kinda like "Witchypoo" in the old "Looney Tunes" Halloween cartoons where Bugs Bunny calls her "Mother"--and she's walking through the house and then just stops and says "Mother!?..EEE-HEEE-HEE-HEEEE!!!!while clicking her heels. I guess you could say it was a real hoot!

I took it as a compliment from the Editors on my various published builds. A generous honor, and one for which I was/am thankful, to be sure. But do I actually consider myself a "Master Modeler"?

NO! Because I know what I still can't do, and what I wish I could do! I know my limitations--even though it seems that I'm testing those boundaries with every other build lately. There are still things that I can't yet achieve, and techniques that elude me....

My "heroes" are many in the modeling world--and they do sincerely include many of the amazing modelers here--and that's no "fluff"; I sincerely mean that!

the doog wrote:

NO! Because I know what I still can't do, and what I wish I could do! I know my limitations--even though it seems that I'm testing those boundaries with every other build lately. There are still things that I can't yet achieve, and techniques that elude me....

Oh c'mon now....  Van Gogh was a master, yet he could not do a velvet Elvis to save his life!

  Does that make me a Picasso?