# Beauty Contest of the month



## Rocket Man (Mar 4, 2014)

Why is the project of the month always a beauty contest? I bet if you build something that does not even run, if it is beautiful it will win.

Real life is not like that. I have seen a lot of projects that I though were amazing that do not shin like a mirror.

It seems to me the project that wins is the one where the builder spends more TIME making is SHINE than actually building it.

It reminds me of the Model Airplane Flying club contest. Flyers compete in flying skills and get point for how well they fly. Several years ago they changed the rules now 10% of each flyers points is HOW BEAUTFUL THEIR AIRPLANE IS. A large percentage of the flyers quit competing, rules are not fair because airplane beauty has nothing to do with flying skills.

What about racing, if a driver is FIRST to cross the finish line who care how ugly his car is. I bet if NASCAR changed the rules so part of a drivers point is based on how beautiful his car is, that would make people very MAD.


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## Jasonb (Mar 4, 2014)

It also used to be based on the whole thread about building the project, now it seems just to be whatever someone posts a picture of that way a beginner could get POTM as it was not just based on looks.

If you read the sticky it should be based on the whole project not just a picture of a completed engine as the requirement is to post a link to your build thread

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/f32/new-project-month-terms-10360/

Maybe its time we got back to that.

J

PS we have had non runners as winners, not even metal!!


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## gbritnell (Mar 4, 2014)

Hi Rocket Man,
I don't think that you and I have been looking at the same POM's. The current one is both beautiful and runs great. On top of that 2 were built. When I read your post I went back through the previous POM's and found that they were all operating engines and looked good at the same time. 
gbritnell


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## stevehuckss396 (Mar 4, 2014)

Hello RocketMan!

I have won POM a few times and when I did, I was asked to choose the winner for the following month. When I did, I based my decision on how it looked, How well it worked, and the biggest factor was how the build log progressed. By that I mean, did the person post pix of the finished project, pixs of finished parts, ect. My final decision was the project that showed pictures of the parts being made and the machining steps involved. The one with the most potential to learn from. In the end it really didn't matter what the finished work looked like. it was more about what could be taken away from the building of it.


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## Rocket Man (Mar 5, 2014)

stevehuckss396 said:


> Hello RocketMan!
> 
> I have won POM a few times and when I did, I was asked to choose the winner for the following month. When I did, I based my decision on how it looked, How well it worked, and the biggest factor was how the build log progressed. By that I mean, did the person post pix of the finished project, pixs of finished parts, ect. My final decision was the project that showed pictures of the parts being made and the machining steps involved. The one with the most potential to learn from. In the end it really didn't matter what the finished work looked like. it was more about what could be taken away from the building of it.


 
 I wonder how many people start a project with the idea they will need a lot of photos to win this contest.  Is the builders motivation to win the contest or does he enjoy building?


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## Jasonb (Mar 5, 2014)

Rocket Man take a look at a selection of the threads that do fully describe some of the POM winners there is a mass of info there for people to learn how things are done. 

I enjoy the building and helping others to to do the same. I don't think many here who do a full writeup of their project set out to be considered for POM let alown aim to be awarded it.

I've also had to vote for a winner and like steve went for the one that best covered the build and the builder that spent teh time sharing his methods of construction.

J

PS George, you obviously missed the tin plate V8


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## stevehuckss396 (Mar 5, 2014)

Rocket Man said:


> I wonder how many people start a project with the idea they will need a lot of photos to win this contest.  Is the builders motivation to win the contest or does he enjoy building?





I don't know what motivates others but when I did my "Small V8" thread i simply wanted to show all the steps involved in building a V8 engine. The hope was that people see that not any one piece is so hard to make that they couldn't do it. In that thread many questions were asked and I did my best to answer. I presented my build, questions were asked and answered, and hopefully people learned from it. That's why it's called a forum.

BTW, I enjoy building, first runs, and showing at the NAMES and Zanesville. I like to think I go out of my way to help anybody who want's to build a model. I like it when I help someone who struggles a little with a build and gets one running. Makes me happy. That's what's in it for me.


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## idahoan (Mar 5, 2014)

It's not a contest;I would be honored to have my engine show up there. 

I also believe that the EOM should be based on a build thread and not an engine that someone just happens to post a picture of, and say gee look at what I just built!

Dave


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## Wizard69 (Mar 5, 2014)

idahoan said:


> It's not a contest;I would be honored to have my engine show up there.
> 
> I also believe that the EOM should be based on a build thread and not an engine that someone just happens to post a picture of, and say gee look at what I just built!
> 
> Dave




I'd like to second this.    As someone who came here to learn about model engineering, craftsmanship and engines a little bit of information goes a long ways.  I don't believe every EOM needs to be a massive highly detailed thread.   Let's face it people have different communications skills but something like the EOM needs more than a "see what I made".  


Sent from my iPad using Model Engines


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