Generic Contest Discussion

[letsbuild]

16 hours ago, mocbuild101 said:

Those seem a bit to big to me...

I'd say to limit it to PF only, using these rims:

 :snip:

Those will limit the size of the builds, while still allowing for a wide range of different tires.

I like that idea. It would make it easier for people like me with smaller collections.

[Didumos69]

I would like to see an invention contest. Build a model of whatever system with a completely new and authentic approach to one of the essential features of that system. For instance a completely different approach to a gear box. Or a revolutionary approach to makng a robot walk. Anything. I would like to see what the iinventors of this forum are capable of. Who knows we'll change the world with a real invention.

Edited October 6, 2018 by Didumos69

[Jim]

Okay, I will think out loud for a moment. Next contest should be fairly basic. These are the two things I have in mind.

C-MODEL CONTEST
Build an alternate model of an existing set. I'm thinking different categories to make it more interesting. For example, sets under 1000 parts, between 1000-2000 and >2000. Something along these lines. Winner in each category gets a prize and the top-3 of all contestants get medals. Unfortunately no physical prize for #2 and #3, unless these contestants happen to be the winners in their respective category.

40 YEAR TECHNIC SUPERCAR HOMMAGE
Build yourself a proper 40-year anniversary supercar. There is one catch though; panels are NOT allowed. No panels....why?! 40 years ago we didn't have panels, so we relied on different techniques to make the bodywork. And since the 8880 is widely considered to be one of the best supercars TLG ever released, I would like to see you match it. This is all about getting functions in the chassis.

Downside to this contest is that people can use an existing chassis, possibly add some functions and work on the body. This is hard to avoid/judge/detect. Not sure if this will pose a problem. And I am not really sure this is interesting enough. Probably, but not sure.

For this contest I would like to make two categories, one for former medal winners (pro builders) and one for non-medal winners (the future pros). Each category winner gets a prize and I will raffle one prize. Top-3 overall get medals, but no prizes for #2 and #3.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

For the 41 year (not 40, it's 2018 already haha) homage, maybe you can stipulate that it uses Arocs rims and tyres. That will scale up the model and prevent reusing the chassis of the model by Lego.

[Jim]

5 minutes ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

For the 41 year (not 40, it's 2018 already haha) homage, maybe you can stipulate that it uses Arocs rims and tyres. That will scale up the model and prevent reusing the chassis of the model by Lego.

It's 41 years indeed, but I would like you to build a 40 year hommage, not 41 

I don't want to limit anyone by enforcing certain rims or wheels (unless more people think this is a cool idea). If people want to use the chassis made by TLG they are not seriously competing.

Edit: Using the same rims and wheels does provide a basis for building the same scale, which is kinda cool.

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

@Jim most Technic fans already have lots of motivation to build a supercar, whether it's theirs or someone else's. A supercar contest would bring in lots of already popular builders, thus driving away less skilled builders such as myself. The idea, while good, is very intimidating. Thus I would prefer a C model contest. The categories make it easier and give a higher chance of recognition for builders skilled and less skilled alike.

*EDIT: some may believe I am biased towards C models, however my love for c models is dwarfed by my inability to build supercars.

Edited October 6, 2018 by BrickbyBrickTechnic

[Jim]

@BrickbyBrickTechnic That is absolutely something I have been thinking about and it is kinda what I meant by "is it interesting enough".

[Seasider]

@Jim - the chassis idea is ok but I do agree specifying a wheel size would be good. But I fear the pro builders would run riot on this competition. Would it be unpowered too as any buwhizz, sbrick or rc motor often has an advantage when showing off functions compared to standard PF.

Just checked the last time we did a C model competition was back in 2014 as I did one based off the Hot Rod.

 

happy to take part in either

[Jim]

I forgot to mention, but the supercar hommage competition will not allow electronics either.

[TechnicRCRacer]

I’m not a big fan of these ideas. Can’t we have a competition that just has to do with making original vehicles?

[Seasider]

@Jim do you have a list of all the TC competitions ?

Another thought regarding the Supercar idea is how do you define what a Supercar is? Even in the real world it’s a very unclear definition and depends as much on the era it’s from.

 

[TinkerBrick]

I'd like to propose a "Universal Set" contest. "Universal Sets" were great in the 80s. They got my started into Technic. 
Brickset got a list here: https://brickset.com/sets/theme-Technic/subtheme-Universal

The task could be: Design a Universal Set with a given number of parts. At least 3 models have to be designed using those parts. The models should using different building techniques and display different mechanical principals.

 

[mocbuild101]

12 hours ago, Jim said:

C-MODEL CONTEST
Build an alternate model of an existing set. I'm thinking different categories to make it more interesting. For example, sets under 1000 parts, between 1000-2000 and >2000.

That would be great, not only because it's really simple, but it also should bring in a lot more entries due to only needing a single set to build with.

 

8 hours ago, Seasider said:

@Jim do you have a list of all the TC competitions ?

See here:

 

[Jim]

9 hours ago, TinkerBrick said:

I'd like to propose a "Universal Set" contest. "Universal Sets" were great in the 80s. They got my started into Technic. 
Brickset got a list here: https://brickset.com/sets/theme-Technic/subtheme-Universal

The task could be: Design a Universal Set with a given number of parts. At least 3 models have to be designed using those parts. The models should using different building techniques and display different mechanical principals.

 

We have discussed this in the past and it will boil down to building three models and it's hard to enforce rules for using parts. While the idea sounds great, it has complications.

12 hours ago, TechnicRCRacer said:

I’m not a big fan of these ideas. Can’t we have a competition that just has to do with making original vehicles?

Define "original vehicles"?! 

[Bublehead]

I liked the format of TC14, and the theme was a good selection. I enjoyed the freedom of creativity.  But there was a small chasm between the top 3 entries and the bottom 7 in terms of ambition, design, and execution.  And although functional as all the entries where, real innovation in mechanical design was limited to either dealing with size, dealing with motion, or dealing with control, or some combination of the three.

What I would like to see is a build competition that would challenge us to innovate interesting things. Solve mechanical problems, design interesting functions never seen before in Technic.  We have seen super cars ad nauseam, and the only innovation they usually bring to the table is a new gearbox, a new way to open the boot or bonnet or doors, some form of steering, full independent suspension, or hide away headlamps, and fake working motor and pistons, all of which were on the 8880.

Now I enjoy a good supercar build, but as a platform of innovation, the selection of functionality that a designer has to work with when faced with building yet another point A to point B vehicle is very limited. I have to build something new that does essentially what every supercar has done since TLG released the 8880 almost 25 years ago? That’s not innovation, that is stagnation.

[Seasider]

Totally agree @Bublehead

[MangaNOID]

23 hours ago, Didumos69 said:

I would like to see an invention contest. Build a model of whatever system with a completely new and authentic approach to one of the essential features of that system.

yep!

1 hour ago, Bublehead said:

What I would like to see is a build competition that would challenge us to innovate interesting things. Solve mechanical problems

 

yep.

the only drawback is that innovative mechanical things don't look that great in photos! but as this is a Technic forum we should be able to overcome that. 

[Erik Leppen]

The difficulty of having to invent whole new things is that it's hard to come up with something completely new. I think lots of members here are modellers, more so than inventors. Many of us like to replicate existing things, and vehicles and cars are a popular subject.

At least with a supercar or C-model compo, it's relatively doable to come up with ideas. If the question is to invent something new, I'd have no idea where to start.

Having said that, I agree with @Bublehead that I prefer to see a competition where we build things we don't normally build. But this is done now a few times in a row, and it's also good to cater a competition to people who are less comfortable with such unusual topics.

One thing you have to consider with a supercar competition is that the entries will tend to look very similar. Especially if we all need to follow the same styling limitation. TC8 "build a crane" had more varied entries, because there are a lot of different cranes. Supercars are inherently similar. That said, you'd have that with any supercar competition, so if you want varied entries you could never do a supercar competition.

C-models will at least look different, but the thing there is that there are already many good C-models on the forum, so in that sense such a competition may not bring that much new. But I don't know if that's an issue at all. One thing I like about the latest contest is the many highly original and inventive builds we have seen. But that's only one perspective. Seeing 25 people try to tackle the same challenge could bring a wholly different but equally interesting vibe through the community.

In any case, as far as TC themes go, I'm fine with either theme choice.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Erik Leppen

[TechnicRCRacer]

6 hours ago, Jim said:

Define "original vehicles"?! 

Sorry, I wasn’t  really clear with that. I meant like a simpler competition where people build a car or other vehicle with not too many restrictions (I can understand size and modified parts). I just think that I haven’t seen a competition where we build cars out of our collections (not C models or anything like that) in a while.

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

29 minutes ago, TechnicRCRacer said:

Sorry, I wasn’t  really clear with that. I meant like a simpler competition where people build a car or other vehicle with not too many restrictions (I can understand size and modified parts). I just think that I haven’t seen a competition where we build cars out of our collections (not C models or anything like that) in a while.

I don't see how this differs from a supercar contest very much at all. For most AFOLs a car out of the collection is a supercar in the end. We have lots of fantastic original vehicle builds already as well.

Edited October 7, 2018 by BrickbyBrickTechnic

[Bublehead]

@Erik Leppen, you don’t need to invent something unknown or new, but innovate a way of doing something with a Technic solution to an existing problem that has never been done before... like maybe a competition to build a working Technic can opener, bottle opener, pencil sharpener. Electric toothbrush... or apple or potato peeler.   Don’t think of it as inventing something that doesn’t exist, think of designing an existing device using an innovative Technic solution. Scrambled egg making machine... a machine that loads bread and unloads toast from a toaster...  this was the reason I liked coaching a First Lego League team. The kids were given several problems they had to solve by building and programming a single machine to solve multiple complex tasks.

[Jim]

55 minutes ago, TechnicRCRacer said:

Sorry, I wasn’t  really clear with that. I meant like a simpler competition where people build a car or other vehicle with not too many restrictions (I can understand size and modified parts). I just think that I haven’t seen a competition where we build cars out of our collections (not C models or anything like that) in a while.

This is basically the Supercar Hommage competition, limited to cars (without the use of panels).

1 hour ago, Erik Leppen said:

Having said that, I agree with @Bublehead that I prefer to see a competition where we build things we don't normally build. But this is done now a few times in a row, and it's also good to cater a competition to people who are less comfortable with such unusual topics.

I was under the impression that the majority preferred a more down to earth competion. Hence the supercar or C-model concepts. If we all like the "Build Something Innovative" concept I am not against it. But I am afraid this will cater the pro-builders much more than the not-so-pro-builders.

[schraubedrin]

On 10/6/2018 at 3:29 PM, Didumos69 said:

For instance a completely different approach to a gear box

I had an idea in a similar direction: How about a competition without gears?
This will produce either nice models to look at or crazy mechanical linkage systems for any functions.

On 10/6/2018 at 4:25 PM, Jim said:

Build an alternate model of an existing set

I liked the contest where one could combine two models to create an new one.
How about only giving the part ranges and the requirement that they have to come from official sets?
Like this one could either use a big model, two medium ones or several small ones to be in the 1000-2000 part range.

[Lipko]

In my opinion the most interesting contests (big entry count and also some wonderful-by-itself models) were the ones with the more generic topics. The pneumatic contest, the SBrick contest (probably my favorite so far), the C model contest, the first contest with the water theme, etc. These unusual and specific topics were not as exciting for me as a spectator. So in my opinion, it's time for a generic contest again.

But maybe it's just me because even in a contest I look for models that are complete by themselves without context.

Edited October 7, 2018 by Lipko

[BrickbyBrickTechnic]

How about a technic aircraft contest? Not the flashiest idea, but it's generic, and there aren't very many technic aircraft. It also doesn't take a pro builder to make one. There could even be an airplane or helicopter categories to give less experienced builders some breathing room!