Why Our Model Shows Have Competitions

In a recent episode of the Plastic Model Mojo podcast (what we so lovingly call the Moj around here), a listener emailed the hosts and pondered why North American model shows are centered around a contest while European shows seem to focus on display.

The hosts shared some thoughts relating to differences in personalities or behaviors between the two cultures. As in, Americans are more competitive by nature than those happy-go-lucky European types. That drives their desire for competition. Interestingly, the hosts pegged Canadians as laying somewhere in the middle. Fair placement, I suppose. But I think we Canadians differ little from our American brothers and sisters on this point.

Personally, I think that competition is very important for many North American model builders. However, I am not convinced that it is driven by a desire for pure competition. I believe that many North Americans participate in competitions to legitimize their hobby.

I spoke of this before in my post about Validation. I believe that for many of us, there is a guilt or a worry that unless we pursue the hobby to its highest iteration, then we believe we are only ‘wasting time’ making childish crafts. Oh, and it’s not just us with our scale models. It is pretty much every hobby. Tim Wu nailed it in his “In praise of mediocrity” piece where he stated:

When your identity is linked to your hobby — you’re a yogi, you’re a surfer, you’re a rock climber — you’d better be good at it, or else who are you?

Tim Wu – In praise of mediocrity

Instead of simply enjoying the process of sitting down and building, or taking the opportunity to unwind and use our hands, many of us North Americans can only ‘justify’ the use of our spare time if we are excelling at something. Therefore, getting that competition trinket is more than a pat on the back. For many, a $2 medal or plaque is legitimizing how we spend our spare time; proof we are pursuing a ‘serious hobby’.

But what about those Euros?

I don’t get to Europe a whole lot, so, I have to go out on a limb here. Perhaps those happy-go-lucky European types see this hobby as more of an art form or at least a form of creative expression. Maybe they have a healthier attitude about adults pursuing non-work interests. It could be they see the whole idea of judging ‘creative expression’ as a pointless exercise and a model show should be more about sharing ideas, showing off some completed work, hanging out with like-minded people, downing a whole lot of alcoholic beverages, and buying cheap model kits and supplies.

Actually, that kinda sounds like fun. Maybe I should go over there and give that a try!

Last Thing

I’ll be the first to admit that ‘hobby validation’ was one of the main reasons why I started participating in model shows years ago. Although I have done zero actual research for this piece, I am confident I am not alone and I’d love to hear from you if this sounds familiar. Hell, I’d like to get your thoughts if you think I am dead wrong.

Of course, a weird thing happened after I started competing in those model competitions. I met all sorts of scale model weirdos like myself. People who love making models as much as I do. People who I actually like to be around.

I still enter contests, but I no longer see them as legitimizing my hobby. Only I can legitimize what I do. I put the models on the table and seek out other builds of other modelers. If judges like what they see, I appreciate that nice pat on the back after a fun day surrounded by models and builders.