A Gundam builder's guide to IPMS

I've been building models for over 10 years now and competing for close to 5. In that time I've learned some hard, painful lessons but I've also made some of the best friends of my life.
Competing in model building is a very unique and rewarding experience and I hope to better equip you for what is to come!

I want to take a moment to say thank you to those of you support me on Patreon!
If you're not subscribed yet, go check it out and consider signing up for as little as 1$ per month. I raffle off some of my completed works once per year and take tutorial requests from all patrons!


It seems to me that the dudes who spend their time gluing bits of plastic together to make model robots should have a lot in common with the dudes who glue bits of plastic together to make model planes and tanks. But walk around the sci-fi sectiont at an IPMS show and you’ll almost certainly hear someone complaining that “these IPMS guys just don’t know what they’re doing when it comes to (my category)”. Usually they say it a little more pointedly than that. And you hear it again at the end of the show when the unpainted snap build wins an award over your 60+ hours of kitbashing and painting. (I'm definitely not speaking from experience here 😉)


The International Plastic Modelers Society has been around for over 50 years, and has gone through many changes. In the beginning IPMS was just a newsletter, kind of like a fan 'zine before modeling magazines existed. It quickly grew into a network of local clubs and contests, and played a big part in shaping the hobby into what it is today.

IPMS has always been open to all kinds of modeling, but before long it became clear there were two schools of modeling: those focused on building strict realism and those building hypothetical subjects in a more stylized and or artistic way.
Military modelers typically fell into the realism school, while others leaned toward a more creative avenue.
This is where the first split began.

Much shit was flung and many feelings were hurt but this was all decades before most of you reading this were even born.
What is important to know is that there are some firm rules that both sides have to follow to build a technically good model. This is an important distinction because the most aesthetically pleasing  thing on the table tends to get us excited and maybe distracted from the little flaws. IPMS competition is about building the best model not creating the best work of art. Understand this and you may save yourself some heartache later on.



First the Rules.  You may believe that IPMS contests are well defined, strictly regimented processes with lots of rules and procedures, run with military precision. The reality is a little more complicated. If you poke around on the main IPMS website at ipmsusa.org, you should find a list of things labeled as rules.
Some important details:

• IPMS only enforces these rules at the IPMS National Convention. This is the big, once a year IPMS show and contest held every summer at some location that rotates around the country - This is the only IPMS contest that you must be a National IPMS member to enter (anyone can pay general admission just to go in and look around). National IPMS membership costs $30 per year, and registration for the convention is another $50 or so.
• A few of the rules specify administrative things like who can enter (for the National Convention, only paid-up IPMS USA members), the age brackets for the junior categories, and what kind of models you can not enter.)
• Most of the things referred to as rules are really definitions of the many (100+) categories in the contest. For example, there are a number of categories for out of the Box models and Scratchbuilt models and those names don’t necessarily mean what you might think. The latest version of the rules go into painful detail to prevent any last minute bickering.
• One other twist comes at the very end of the rules: the IPMS Nationals is a no sweeps contest. That means that in any category, you can only win 1 award (the Nationals is always a placed show so that means a 1st or 2nd or 3rd place award). And that means it can be in an entrant’s best interest to spread their models around multiple categories, which can involve a bit of meta gaming that I’ll talk about in a bit.

Now for the complication: many IPMS clubs will change these rules for their local shows, removing parts that don’t make sense at a smaller show, and picking and choosing the parts that the club agrees with and leaving out the things they don't.
The only way you can know exactly what rules are in effect at a local IPMS show is to find them (check their website or give their chairperson a call) and carefully review them.
Something to watch out for is that some IPMS local and Regional contests do not allow models that have won at an IPMS Regional or National contest to be entered, or require them to be entered in a special "pros only" category.
Do your due diligence! traveling to a show and not being able to even enter your models can be a real pain.

Meta Gaming The Categories 

As mentioned above, at many IPMS contests you can improve your chances of winning an award (or winning multiple awards) by entering your models in more than one category.
This is often possible regardless of what kinds of models you build because some categories are defined by subject and some by how the model was built.
This applies more to cars and some planes but Sci-fi is gaining in popularity as well as representation so you never know what categories will be added.
Another tip is to enter empty categories, if a category is listed on the program it will be awarded (even if there is only one model in that category). Its not the best feeling to win because you're the only one to show up but a first place award is a first place award 😉

Many IPMS contests also have some sort of out of the box (OOB) category for models that are built without any aftermarket parts or major modifications - just what comes in the kit box built according to the kit instructions.
Usually you can use whatever decals and paint you like.
This category applies to any kind of kit built using only what's in the box so you can enter a plane, a car, or a gundam. The subject doesnt matter, only how the model was made.
Here is the confusing thing: you can use all of the photo etch and resin you want if you start with a kit that includes all that stuff in the box. The only catch is that you must provide the instructions that come with the kit as proof that you built the model OOB.
Many contests take that rule about the instructions being there very seriously; even if the model is obviously OOB, it will get moved to another category if the instruction manual isn't there.

Because of the way IPMS judging works (see below), a true OOB model is not at a big disadvantage to one with detail parts added.

In addition the standard IPMS "placed" style judging of awarding a first, second, and third place you may come across a contest that instead divided into a "tiered" judging system. Also called "Chicago style" in this system a group of judges scores each model, then an average is taken and based on the average the model is placed into a tier according to its score. For example with a 100 point maximum you'd get Gold tier for 90 points, Silver for 70 and so on.
This can be a good way to evaluate beginners because the positive feedback of knowing what they earned rather than what they missed can motivate them to get better.
The top scoring build of each can then be awarded a special best of award. Zeonic Corps competitions use this scoring method so plan ahead!


A word of warning when trying to "snipe" softer categories with work that is way over the average skill level:
When entering competitions that have a split between intermediate and expert level models, it may be tempting to put your killer model in the intermediate category for an easy win. However, later on when superlative awards are given out your model may be overlooked for a best of award due to being obviously sandbagged into a lower category than it should be.
Be a good sportsman, enter the category you belong in!

And an appeal to common sense, fight in your weight class. Don't feel pressured to put something in an advanced category when you've only been building for 3 months. Put in the time, learn and grow as a modeler. Ego has no place in competition!

In Open Judging there are usually only a few categories, and they don’t really matter much: each model is being evaluated on its own merits, based on the same criteria as used to choose the top models in a placed contest. Most Open Judged events add an element of true competition by considering the gold medal winners for Best of awards (Best Armor, etc), and then picking a Best of show winner from the Best of subject models just like at a placed event.

There is a variation of Open Judging where each entrant receives at most 1 medal for their best model, regardless of how many models they enter. This variation is used largely to limit the number of medals the contest hosts need to buy, but there is also a bit of philosophy: a gold medal recognizes a top tier modeler; receiving 2 or 3 (or more) gold medals doesn’t mean they are a better modeler than someone who built only 1 really good model. Often the medals at this type event are a little bigger and fancier than at a show where every model can take a medal.
Read the contest info carefully to figure out exactly how the medals will work!

The Rules 

Enough with all this rules stuff, what are those IPMS judges looking for and what are they thinking when they look at my model? Again, if you poke around on the IPMS USA website, you’ll find the Competition Handbook. It tells you what judges should be looking for; if you follow all the guidelines in there you should do well at a contest. What isn’t in there is how the judges use those guidelines to decide who wins. I’ll try to do that here.

Mostly Judges are looking for obvious mistakes that distract from the realism of the model. Here is how it usually goes;

• First I look at the flat surfaces of the model. Is the application of the paint smooth?
• Are there any glue marks, seam lines or nubs?
• Is there any dust, lint, fingerprints, or hair in the finish? I also make a note of the quality of the paint job at this time. Is there any shading? If yes, does it make sense or is it only stylistic? 
• I look at any weathering and consider it as a whole. Is it uniform? Do rust, dust, and verdigris appear in logical places? If there is chipping or other damage does it look natural?
• Then I look at the decals for wrinkling, silvering, or unintentional damage.

This is the first 30-45 seconds, and these are make-or-break items. At competitive contests, models with any of these type of mistakes are usually cut from consideration without a further look (at a less competitive show you might get away with 1 or 2 mistakes).

A brief aside: a common misconception even among some IPMS members is that IPMS assigns point values to various kinds of mistakes and the kit with the lowest score winning. IPMS judges might tell you something like  "you lost points for decal silvering here". Don't take this to mean that you literally lost points, this is just an expression for letting you know what to improve on. In every competition I have personally judged, the other judges and I will pick out the best 3 models and discuss each ones strengths and rank them accordingly. In the very rare case of a tie we may total negatives to choose a winner but again this is VERY rare. 

Assuming your model makes it past this first cut, the judging becomes more strenuous.

• Now I'll start looking at realism in context. Does your model look like it belongs in the world that it lives in?
• If you weathered your model, did you do so in a way the suggests it has seen multiple months or even years of use?
• Do all of your decals match? Are they from the same series, faction, and show?
• If you built a diorama, does it look "alive"?
• I also give a closer look to the under side of parts. Armor panels, frames, and the bottom of the feet. Does these hidden places have any small mistakes?

This level of mistake is generally not fatal, but if a judge finds too many of them the model is likely to be eliminated from judging. At a tiered event, the difference between a bronze and a silver medal is the number of these minor mistakes the judges find - a silver medal model usually has no more than 1 or 2 such problems.

Once a model makes it through the mistake hunting phase, the judges are finally going to look at things like detailing, scratchbuilding, and what I call the presence of the model (how impressive it looks on a table and the things that make it unique).
These are the things that make the difference between a silver and a gold medal, and at a very competitive placed show like the IPMS Nationals (or SCGMC), these are the tie-breakers that will set the award winners apart from the losers. Here are some specifics of what judges are going to look for:

• Cleanliness. Fingerprints and dust are unacceptable, if the modeler doesn’t care enough to fix the easy stuff they dont deserve an award.
• Obviously hand-brushed detail painting is another killer: judges expect to see sharp, straight separation between colors and smooth paint everywhere. If you can’t get smooth paint with a brush, mask and spray it - even if it is a tiny part. 
• A big one: realistic finishes. Rubber hoses and wires are not deep saturated colors, and they often have a flat or barely semi-gloss sheen; don’t paint them gloss black - some judges may count this as an outright mistake. Understanding texture and how to render it in scale is an essential part of model making.
• Every individual component should be a different color. If you have an open hatch with a panel that has 3 cables, each cable should be a different color.
•  A couple specifics:
• Real bare metal parts are not shiny. Nothing says second place to me more than a giant war robot with shiny chrome thrusters.
• It’s tempting to leave real metal kit parts unpainted for an easy “real metal” look, but that can just highlight the fact that other parts of the model are metallic-painted plastic. It is usually better to paint everything to get a consistent look, or at least limit the real bare metal to those few places where you are representing highly polished metal or chrome. 
• IPMS does not give any extra credit for simply using photoetch or machined metal parts in your model, so do not leave them unpainted just so the judges know that you did!
• PAINT YOUR DAMN PHOTO ETCH
• 
  
• The plated parts in most model kits do not really look like chrome or polished metal, and preserving that plated finish means not fixing mold-lines in the part. Top modelers strip the plated kit parts and use something like Alclad paint to create a more believable chrome finish (even though it is not quite as bright and shiny as the kit plated parts). Most IPMS judges will cut some slack to a model using the plated kit parts, but in a competitive placed show the Alclad chrome can make the difference between an award and going home empty handed.

• If you're going to use LEDs, make sure you can hide the entire wiring system.
  If I can see any exposed wires you are getting 0 points from me. I can not stress enough how much this ruins the sense of scale immersion.
• 
  
• Weathering: Military modeling has long embraced the idea of weathering models to make them look realistically worn and dirty. No one polishes a tank; their usual state is sun faded and mud spattered, and a model tank just doesn’t look right if it’s perfectly clean. The same is true of other subjects.
• Like everything else the weathering has to be believable. Mud looks different than dirt looks different than tire dust, and where and how they accumulate and rub off and streak will depend on the vehicle and where and how it was used.  Slopping a mud colored wash over the model may look good at arm’s length, but when a judge is looking from inches away it just looks like sloppy paint.
• If you weather your model so heavily that you can’t see the basic assembly work, I am going to assume the weathering is there to hide poor workmanship underneath. Weathering for a contest model is a situation where you want to apply moderation. Consider a construction vehicle, it may be covered in dirt and have a bit of rust showing but if it gets a giant gash in the body it will either be replaced or repaired. Vehicles beyond a certain level of damage are no longer operable and should not be presented as being in working order.
• 
  
•  Know your judges. A little bit of extra meta gaming can go a long way here. If your local competitions are judged by guys who love clean builds, guess what you should build? I know that this kind of sucks because competition is supposed to be a level field but all humans have some bias  If you want to win, look at what's winning and do that.

A word to those on the other side, if you find yourself judging a competition there is in my opinion one very important thing you must realize.

Modeling awards and really awards of any kind have no inherent value. They are a physical representation of respect between you and the entrants of the competition. A way of saying, you are recognized for your skills (in not so many words).

To gloss over your duties in judging or to simply give awards to your friends is a grave violation of that trust and respect.
Do this once, and the entrants will lose respect for the award.
Do it twice and they will lose respect for you.

A Bit of IPMS Philosophy 

I’m going to wrap up with a bit of the IPMS judging philosophy that will hopefully help you get into the judge's head when thinking about how to build for an IPMS contest.

• IPMS strongly believes that models represent real things, and the judge’s job is to decide how close to reality the model comes. 
• That makes a lot of sense for military subjects and cars, but less so for space craft, robots, and tiny monsters. The thing to aim for with fantastical subjects is to make them look realistic in context. We will probably never see a Tyranid in real life but we can render scales, chitin, and skin as they are in life.
  
  Most judges will not know if a Jesta cannon ever came out of the factory with blue paint in the cockpit or how many ion engines a TIE fighter has but they will see defects for what they are.
• 
  
• IPMS judging emphasizes what can be seen, not the amount of work that might have been needed to achieve that result. You do not get extra credit for taking a crude 40 year old kit and turning it into a respectable model, or machining your own thruster bells out of blocks of aluminum. All things being equal, a modeler buying a better kit, or buying aftermarket parts, will get the same consideration when it comes to judging even though they invest less time and effort to get those results.
• IPMS judging gives little consideration to “Wow Factor”.
• A G-system kit with a candy paint job and metal parts everywhere will have little advantage over a similar model with basic solid color paint. Your 10 kit kitbash with magnets in the feet may be really cool, but the idea doesn't buy any consideration with the judges. The IPMS terminology for this sort of difference is “degree of difficulty” or “scope of effort”, and it only comes into play as a tie breaker. The only real advantage for a flashier or otherwise more interesting model is that it will catch the judge’s attention and earn a closer look - the “wow” factor only helps if the entire model is well built. 

To expand on these points consider the following. You gain no extra merits for trying to use a technique that you haven't fully mastered but you will lose merits for executing ones you do not understand fully, poorly.
Competition is not the time to try something new. Stick to what you know you can do and play to your strengths.

A Final Bit of Advice and Perspective 

If your main goal in entering an IPMS contest is to take home a plaque or medal, there is a simple formula that IPMS members figure out or have explained to them soon after their first contest:

• Target a category that is not especially popular. It’s hard to predict which categories will be the least popular, but you can generally guess (and stay away from) the categories that are really popular (MG for gundam, Vehicles in sci-fi)
• 
  
• Pick a subject that is simple; when it comes to Gunpla avoid those with tons of necessary seam filling work and lots of rounded parts.
• 
  
• Start with a modern, good quality kit. It's hard to go wrong with a Ver. Ka. Or modern HG. This one really can't be overstated. Set the game up to win!
• 
  
• Build it nearly out of the box; don’t take chances with modifications or scratchbuilt details. 
• 
  
• Build the model as clean as you can. Go with a basic 1 or 2 color paint scheme (Stick to stock colors for gunpla unless you have a strong understanding of color harmony). Pay attention to the demerits listed above. 
• Above all else, do not brush paint anything.
• Add just a bit of aftermarket metal to catch the judge’s eye. Limit yourself to a few parts that are a simple add on, SIMP metal parts are a great choice for Gundam. (Remeber to paint them)
• Repeat for another 2 or 3 categories. 

 This is basically the “Try Hard” approach to modeling: avoid taking chances that can lead to mistakes and count on the odds to knock the more daring modelers out of the race. This might not get you a 1st place or a gold medal, and it almost certainly won’t earn a Best of show award, but it is generally enough to put you near the top of most categories.

If playing it safe isn’t your idea of fun, if you want to be the modeler who takes chances, builds the cool model and then takes home the big awards, the only thing you can do is work at eliminating your mistakes. The biggest problem is that after you’ve spent countless hours working on a model, you literally become blind to your mistakes.

A good way to spot those mistakes is to shoot closeups with a digital camera and zoom in so the model appears twice life size. Enlarging and isolating on a single feature can make the mistakes more noticeable. Always have a friend who knows what to look for go over your models a week or two ahead of a show when you still have time to make repairs.

Volunteering to judge at your local IPMS contest is another good way to get plenty of experience looking critically at lots of models - both good and bad. After taking the judging plunge, many modelers say that is the best way to learn to build better models. If you want to get involved with judging for Zeonic Corps don't be shy, reach out to me on IG and I'll gladly bring you in at our next event!