[TC25] Technic Shrinking Contest - Information Topic

[SaperPL]

1 hour ago, Jim said:

Since we are doing Jury voting, I guess it won't harm posting the right away.

Why would releasing instructions be connected to type of voting? Do you imply that letting people have a look inside how things are built and let them potentially build it themselves affects their voting?

[Jim]

4 minutes ago, SaperPL said:

Why would releasing instructions be connected to type of voting? Do you imply that letting people have a look inside how things are built and let them potentially build it themselves affects their voting?

Yeah, maybe. Probably not, but who knows. Some people might not be able to make instructions, so it could make a difference.

[pleegwat]

8 hours ago, Jim said:

Yeah, maybe. Probably not, but who knows. Some people might not be able to make instructions, so it could make a difference.

Perhaps, but I expect a good video presentation makes a bigger difference, and we generally leave people free in that.

[brickphisto]

Sorry if this has been asked before but: Are we allowed to use pictures of the official set for side-by-side comparison in our entry post?

[Jim]

1 hour ago, brickphisto said:

Sorry if this has been asked before but: Are we allowed to use pictures of the official set for side-by-side comparison in our entry post?

Of course.

Actually....this should be mandatory  

[SaperPL]

On 6/29/2023 at 11:25 PM, Jim said:

Original sticker sheets are definitely okay.

 Let’s stick (pun intended) to those.

Just to make sure it makes sense - cutting them down to size is okay when we're making a shrinking contest?

[Jim]

1 minute ago, SaperPL said:

Just to make sure it makes sense - cutting them down to size is okay when we're making a shrinking contest?

Yeah, that's okay 

[JoKo]

I know that no electronic is allowed but I'd like to use an external (out of frame)  motor for the vidéo.

Should we allow that?

[Jim]

1 hour ago, JoKo said:

I know that no electronic is allowed but I'd like to use an external (out of frame)  motor for the vidéo.

Should we allow that?

There are no limits in how you shoot the video. So that's  okay.

[mirrorbricks]

Hi! Are custom stickers permitted? (genuine Lego cutout shapes, but custom graphic)

[Jim]

1 minute ago, mirrorbricks said:

Hi! Are custom stickers permitted? (genuine Lego cutout shapes, but custom graphic)

Hi. No custom stickers. You can cut genuine LEGO stickers (at least, I think I said that on one of the previous pages), but that's it.

[mirrorbricks]

@Jim Hmm... Disappointed a little, cuz it's the same as 3rd party strings and rubber bands, Lego exactly uses it. And it will add some authenticity. But okay, thanks!

[Jim]

1 minute ago, mirrorbricks said:

@Jim Hmm... Disappointed a little, cuz it's the same as 3rd party strings and rubber bands, Lego exactly uses it. And it will add some authenticity. But okay, thanks!

No, it's not the same, because 3rd party strings and rubber bands don't make a model look better. Being able to make great stickers is not part of the contest. Would not be fair to people who don't know how to Photoshop and make stickers.

[SaperPL]

5 hours ago, Jim said:

Would not be fair to people who don't know how to Photoshop and make stickers.

I wouldn't see this being the problem here. The problem is that with stickers you can easily cheat and make something look really good even when the paneling is a mess, especially something like a race car.

Stickers of headlights, tail lights, mirrors, wheel rim covers, door knobs etc could easily make a model feel more representative of the original without actually building it.

[Jim]

1 hour ago, SaperPL said:

I wouldn't see this being the problem here. The problem is that with stickers you can easily cheat and make something look really good even when the paneling is a mess, especially something like a race car.

Stickers of headlights, tail lights, mirrors, wheel rim covers, door knobs etc could easily make a model feel more representative of the original without actually building it.

You don’t see it as a problem, but the you pretty much sum up all the reasons why I’m not allowing stickers  

[SaperPL]

18 minutes ago, Jim said:

You don’t see it as a problem, but the you pretty much sum up all the reasons why I’m not allowing stickers  

I don't see the problem being the difference in photoshop skills - you know that presentation of the photos matter when people vote, so their setup, their camera and the skills will matter. Why being able or not being able to photoshop the stickers be the reason where we have corresponding reasons with the photos themselves. The problem lies in stickers potentially masking complete mess of liftarms stacked together with stickers :)

[Jim]

56 minutes ago, SaperPL said:

The problem lies in stickers potentially masking complete mess of liftarms stacked together with stickers :)

Another good reason not to allow them 

[howitzer]

Custom stickers also add an additional cost, as proper printers and materials are not free, nor are printing shops. Sure, you could print on office paper with standard home-inkjet and tape it onto the build, but that's going to look really bad and proper stickers with good surface can be more costly. In my opinion these contests should be about building with Lego bricks and not about photoshopping.

TLG of course uses a lot of stickers in official sets, and that's fine as their goal is to sell stuff, which is why the builds must look good on photos and also have manageable production cost. From that perspective I can see why some people think stickers might be a good idea in contests too, but if customs stickers were ever to be allowed, I think it should be a requirement to also post proper photos of the unstickered build - and failure to do so would be grounds for disqualification.

[Berthil]

1 hour ago, howitzer said:

Custom stickers also add an additional cost, as proper printers and materials are not free, nor are printing shops.

Just ordered the original sticker set for my Barcode model, was also not cheap!

[mirrorbricks]

Good points, I don't want to debate year-long, and totally okay with straight rules and respect them. But I have a few concerns, cmon this is a forum 

- Some people cant print original Lego graphics on the same polyvinyl as Lego with a proper cutter finishing, and it will one to one looks like genuine stickers on photos (it is not fair, sometimes it costs much cheaper than ordering the original, waiting for delivery, etc.)
- Some parts like 77107 exist in yellow, but not already in yellow on Bricklink, so some yellow stripes on pale yellow will be helpful. Small panels exist in dark gray but I need them in light gray, and they can be replaced with liftarms, but the original set has panels in the same place. 
- Some rubber bands can help to skip mess with the gears on small-scale builds. I already got this case with a bucket excavator, but I still use gears for authenticity, this is the way! And maybe there is no tailor shop in my city but other guys have it, so feel unfair a little bit
- Some sets like Nascar car, Extreme off-roader, and Dragster have a lot of stickers initially, and it's part of the design. So compared to a solid white Liebherr excavator, they will look meeh...and it can feels unfair for people who choose these models
- Nice camera, studio lighting, or even camera angle can make your model looks better, and also hide some not-fancy parts

There are just opinions from the guy who wants a small MK lll label on his build Contests are for fun!

[Jim]

11 hours ago, mirrorbricks said:

- Some sets like Nascar car, Extreme off-roader, and Dragster have a lot of stickers initially, and it's part of the design. So compared to a solid white Liebherr excavator, they will look meeh...and it can feels unfair for people who choose these models

Then don't choose these models 

I can see the Extreme off-roader working perfectly fine without stickers btw. I know a guy who did a review back in the days and he didn't apply the stickers. Model still looked great.

[lcvisser]

Unrelated question @Jim: any particular requirements for the entry posts? The first entries are in and usually there are some guidelines in the entry topic.  Just checking. 

[2GodBDGlory]

13 minutes ago, lcvisser said:

Unrelated question @Jim: any particular requirements for the entry posts? The first entries are in and usually there are some guidelines in the entry topic.  Just checking. 

I think there were some guidelines in the first post in this topic, if that helps

[Jim]

42 minutes ago, lcvisser said:

Unrelated question @Jim: any particular requirements for the entry posts? The first entries are in and usually there are some guidelines in the entry topic.  Just checking. 

I need to add them. Forgot it. Will do that tomorrow.

Basically the usual rules with the addition of a picture of the original model.

[SaperPL]

@Jim another random question about stickers - is it okay for sticker to be not cut into two separate pieces when placed on two connected panels? I ended up with middle of the letter in an original sticker being on a seam between two small panels and there's literally no way of going around it, and if I do cut into it, the letter there will get messed up: