TRANSATLANTIC CARS CONTEST
First Edition, October 2019 - Martie 2020

GENERAL PROPOSITIONS

Main Objective: The first edition of the Contest is for the modeler that desires an “immaculate model” or a “saloon quality model”. The main evaluation criteria are related to the exterior looks of your model.

Contest Period: October 1st, 2019 – February 29th, 2020

Participation: Any modeler from wherever he might be can participate to this contest. There is no participation fee and no other obligation than to observe the contest rules.

Contest methodology: This is an online contest, based on the models’ pictures. Please read the contest rules:
https://bld-thega.com/files/public/Contest_Rules.pdf?40130911

ACCEPTED MODELS

Only plastic injected or resin cast models are accepted, with a minimum of 50 parts;
In this edition, only 1/24th and 1/25th scales are accepted;
PE additions are accepted, but no extra points will be allotted for them;
Scratch-building is allowed, but only in accordance with the other contest rules;
Kit-bashing is allowed, but only if the number of parts remains over 50 and the other contest rules are observed;
The final evaluation will be made by a jury of three “jurors” named by the Contest Secretary. The evaluation will be on the basis of a lot of six pictures, sent by contestant in accordance with the Contest Rules.


PRIZES:

The General Score Table and the prizes will be announced in March 2020, thru our Media Partners. The premiere will be organized by MFF Association and hosted by The Community Hub @ Hobby Center in Bucharest. The premiere will hold an open model expo as well to which the Contestants and non-Contestants are invited to exhibit.
The prizes won by non-Romanian residents will be sent by mail by Sponsor.

Sponsor: BlackLight Design (www.bld-thega.com)

Co-organizer: Modelism Fara Frontiere Association (MFF)
(https://www.facebook.com/asociatie.modelistica/)

Contest Secretaries: Gabriel Szeitz (English) & Virgil Giltery (Romanian) ([email protected])

SOCIAL MEDIA PARTNERS:
Transatlantic Cars FaceBook Page, https://www.facebook.com/transatlanticars/
The Hobby Shop Community Hub https://www.facebook.com/groups/HobbyShopCommunityHUB/
AutoModeler (a Kitmaker Network subsidiary), https://automodeler.kitmaker.net/

Please make sure you have read and understood the rules before applying for contest!

Best of Luck!

This looks like it will be very interesting to follow, a multi-national contest! Most competitions I see are filled with models built basically by neighbours and club members.

Excellent initiative Gabriel, and a great platform to show off and promote your new business venture.

My focus from October 1 will be my '36 Ford for the Blue Oval Group Build and that has 145 parts, so I'm going to join in!

Cheers, D

Hi, D.!
I'm genuinely glad you like the idea and humbled to have you as one of the contenders.
Yes, our contest was to start as a close group contest as well, but eventually we decided to open wide the gates - how many we'll enroll, we'll see. So far it seems it pays off, since we have pre-confirmed participation from Romania, Canada, US, Australia and Caribbean! Pretty neat, huh?
On planning the event I actually took your advice and I have lengthen it, and the thematics will be somewhat parallel with AutoModeler Group builds, just to give my old friends less pressure.
Other than that, I wish you best of luck in the contest and I'll be very happy to send the Trophy in Australia!

Gabriel

Hi Gabriel,
To be clear, any kit we offer up to the Automodeler campaign we can also enter into this competition?
And does it need to be a show car i.e. weathering not allowed?

cheers
Michael

Hi Michael.

On the rule sheet, Part B Item 7 states that no weathering is accepted apart from Panel line wash to accentuate dashboard and engine detail.

The time frame of the competition has actually been altered to fall in line with our Blue Oval Group Build so we are all encouraged to enter. It will be great to see what entries are put forward from across the globe.

Cheers, D

Hi, Michael!

Yes, the same build can participate in multiple events, we don't want to interfere negatively with any of the supporting media partners.

Damian made a good briefing of lit.B alin.7 from Regulament. While we cannon stop you from making a weathered model, you must know that a poor finish will trigger some 15 penalty points which will alter considerably your chances.

Please be welcome to participate - we'll be happy to have you onboard!

Thank you Damian for answering in such a correct and swift manner Michael's question.

Gabriel

Gabriel,
As we have discussed, this is an interesting concept. One that I'm sure that you will be getting plenty of entries from all over the modeling world.

I will be periodically checking your facebook page to see how the contest is progressing.

Joel

Thanks, Joel!
To be honest, I don't know what to expect yet but I hope so! Naturally, you are more than welcome to engage by any means with the contest.
Gabriel

Tip of the day

Please see the following examples of entry validation picture and enrollment message:





Thank you!
Gabriel

Gabriel,
Those examples aren't there, just two minus signs.

Joel

The images are showing up fine for me, might be an issue at your end Joel.

Cheers, D

Must have been at my end, as now the images are coming through just fine.

Joel

Gabriel, how is the response to the contest so far? How many have entered? I don't see any comments other than mine on the FB page.

Are we encouraged to post progress images and reports on the FB page as well?

Cheers, D

Hi, D!

There is some interest in Romanian and Canadian circles so far. I guess the reason why your comment stands alone is because it was posted under "Community" tab, and too few users are accessing all the tabs.

However, a more detailed statistic will be available after firs week of actual enlistment period.

I feel we don't have enough media "reach" so far, but I was "graciously" turned down by few potential media partners so far
I think is the time for a shout-out on my YT channel.

Gabriel

Hi, guys!

... and almost synchronously with the Blue Oval GB, the Transatlantic Car Contest has officially started.

The entries are not restricted to being specifically for the contest, and so it is a no-brainer to finish your GB and win the prizes and trophies on the table!



Good Luck!

Well, the things started revving up here.
Very interesting entries so far:

Entry 19-6 from Romania


Entry 19-5 from Romania


Entry 19-4 from Romania


Entry 19-3 from Canada


Entry 19-2 from Australia


And now the picture of the day:
Contestant Andrei-Cătălin Rotaru at his first airbrushing experience:

Gabriel,
Great to see the action is starting with respect to the entries.

Joel

Thanks, Joel! Yes, the things start to pick up some speed.

UPDATE
A few new entries:

Entry 19-7 from Romania:


Entry 19-8 from Italy


Entry 19-9 from Romania


A few modification were required to the FB Group page as well, and we introduced the Off Contest topic, to accommodate parallel builds and topics, not directly related to the contest, but with some related content.
on this, Theo Lazar from Canada displayed a well finished Hudson Hornet


... and an impressive display base / vignette


The Picture of the Day
Alexandra Pasca displaying the progress on her third auto model. No harm was done during the modeling sessions


Gabriel

Gabriel,
That's some really outstanding work. And even one build from a female modeler. Now that's impressive.

Joel

Thanks, Joel!
The female modeler is quite gifted - as the Flower Power Beetle has it shown. And put your belt on this: another female modeler has announced her intention to join the contest - reportedly she's waiting for the kit to arrive.

Gabriel

Gabriel,
Two Female modelers. Now that's super impressive. How about talking them into joining our auto site? Looking forward to seeing her work as well.

Joel

I would encourage you all to go to the Facebook page for this group and have a look at the work that is going on, some really nice builds as well as quite a few "off-contest" posts.

Last night, 0000HRS CET, the First edition of the Contest officially closed. It was a crazy last week, with no less than 8 (eight) builds finished in the very last few days.

Short statistics of participating models:

Marian Rusu (ITA/ROM) - BMW M3 E30, Fujimi Models - Finished
Damian Rigby (AUS) - 1936 Ford 5 Window Coupe, AMT / ERTL - Finished
Luci Borcan (ROM) - Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, Revell - Finished
Alexandra Pasca (ROM) - Ford Model A Roadster, AMT - Finished
Theo Lazar (CAN/ROM) - GMC Pick-up, Revell - Finished
Andrei Sirli (ROM) - Subaru Sambar, Aoshima - Finished
Gabriel Szeitz (SXM/ROM) - 1966 Ford Flareside Pick-up - Moebius Models - Finished
Catalin Draghie (ROM) - Hummer H1 - Meng - Finished
Radu Radescu (ITA/ROM) - Kenworth W-900 - Revell - Finished
Theo Lazar (CAN/ROM) - Peterbilt 352 Peacemaker + 53' Fruehauf dry trailer - AMT+AMT - finished

Andrei Catalin Rotaru (ROM) - Mazda RX-7 R1 - Tamiya - DNF
Daniel Marian Motoc (ITA/ROM) - Peterbilt 378 - Italeri - DNF
Ana Radoi (ROM) - Opel Admiral Cabriolet - ICM - DNF
Luci Borcan (ROM) - US Wrecker Truck - Italeri - DNF

The pictures with the completed models were forwarded to the jurors and the final clasament it is expected in a week time.

The material prizes were made public on the Contest's FB page, medals were ordered and diplomas printed.


My conclusions to the first edition

From the good beginning our intention was to bridge the insulate modelling communities from all around the net. Romania (and all Eastern European countries) have also huge diasporas (for instance, Hungary has 8 mln. in the country and 4 mln. outside the country) and it is very difficult to bring all these people together. The chosen platform it was FB because it is easy to use and offers instant translation platform. However, the main language of the page remained all along (bad) English It was a long-ish process but now the group has some 165 members of which 65 are directly interested and approximately 40 members very active. Slowly but surely, it grows. We have considered the progress so ar quite a success. If at the beginning we were just a handful of Romanians spread thin on both sides of the Atlantic and an Australian, now we have Russians, Coreans, Moldavians, Americans, Greeks and a bunch of Canadians in the mix, which will might participate to the next editions.

The contest itself was more of a pretext to promote the auto modelism which in some area are still "frown over" and dismissed as not being "serious". My pledge to my AutoModeler fellows it was to help us infuse some quality to the TCC group and from all only Damian answered. He was immediately endeared by the TCC group and I haven't spoke yet with any other member without his name to be mentioned - he's became some sort of mascot among us. Truth be said, Joel also helped with technical advice. I still didn't gave up hope that more help and more participation it is to come. We actually made the Contest's schedule based on AutoModeller GB schedule just not to put any extra pressure on your schedules. I would say that here it was only a partial success, and it is mostly my fault for not posting more often and more consistent to this thread - but you all know I was "disconnected" for true a few months from almost all social media.

What is next?
Well, a prize is a prize after all, and it helped with the completion ratio. From 14 participating models, 10 have finished, which make a procentual completion rate of 71.42% - one of the best I've seen yet in any GB. A few months aback we were almost ready to admit failure, but last month development convinced us it wort it and everybody's talking now about the second edition. And it will come. Details to be announced soon, but the subject you know it already - Sports and race cars. The date you also know it

P.S. Momentarily the FB group privacy is set to closed, because a vote for the most popular models it's going to be held. That was a surprize prize from Modelism Fara Frontiere and any participating model can win it! based on popular vote.


For the next two weeks stay tuned - I will announce the winners as soon as I get the referees data sheets.

Gabriel

Gabriel,

Congratulations to you and your dedicated group of Romanian modelers for a successful 1st online Auto Model Contest.

I, by birthright on my Mother's side as I told you, came from Romania, and I believe that there are still a few Klein decendants living there. So, it's just another bond between us that has helped to grow our friendship.

It was my pleasure to help with any of the technical issues that I could, although I'm certain that you would have reached the same conclusions on your own.

I by passed the contest for a few reasons.1st is that my contest days are long over. 2nd I just felt that by entering, and if by some slim chance winning an award of any kind, that it could cause concern among the other entrants, so I just didn't enter. But for the next contest I can assure you that I'll have an entry for the judges consideration.

I do have a Seldom used Facebook account, that I should and will use to join your Romanian Modeler's Group.

Joel

It is mainly Romanian but expands. It started with a Romanian core + one Aussie, because they were there to help



Klein is a very popular name in N-W Romania, where my father originates from, and more often than not, Klein families have also mixed Hungarian or German blood - as in my case I know, Balkans are more complicated than Middle East! LOL!



Thank you very much indeed! Yous qualified advice weighted much in may decisions and your main point of criticism was adopted for the next edition. We're gonna open 1/12th and 1/20th scales (and maybe more), as they are specific scales for speed machines.



I understood and respected your reasons. I have participated as well pro honore - I don't qualify for any prize, since I am part of the staff, but my model will have a place in the point table, just to set an example. And that's what Damian did. He finished early and set a high standard - that was of much importance in contest's economy

As for having you as judge, nothing can bring us bigger honor! Thank you!




Yes, I know. I prefer myself much serious platforms as this one or other "solid" forums, but in the time economy, FB it's so much more convenient.

Gabriel