I will take your advice about membership. Certainly, I’ll have at least the slender privilege of approaching those holding any office if I pay some dues. It’s really more like a small scale (oops) TEA Party, isn’t it? I want to look back at my presence on this rock, like most older folk, and believe I had a hand in making things a little better.

It would be nice if our string attracted other voices. Thanks for your site! It’s a great place for just a bit of model pick-me-up, without anything but positive stories, great products, and hard work!

As with any organization, the leadership should listen and act towards the memberships behalf and interest. It is a common problem with many organizations, like our government as an example. The membership is to blame, as we aren’t coming together as a section (tenors) to compel the rest of the choir to sing along.

The problems we are dealing with in our hobby and industry didn’t happen overnight. They were set into motion long ago by several influencing forces. Yet, now it is perceived this is something recent. In our society, two entities create attention…huge well funded ones and small grass roots ones. The Tea Party has gotten the attention of those in office, just as the negativity has in our hobby.

Nothing for ones dues, try joining an industrial trade organization once…or an exclusive club. The “benefits” offered by many organizations are of no real benefit to a majority of their membership. SAVE $$$ on office supplies when shopping at Store-X, fine, but there are no Store-Xs within 500 miles of here! Hell I pay money to be a part of Sam’s Club, which gives me what…oh yeah the opportunity to spend more of my money in their store! BTW they aren’t necessarily the cheapest venue in town either…no matter what they advertise.

Instead of calling it dues, consider your membership in IPMS nothing more than a subscription for a good scale modeling magazine and the opportunity to spend more of your hard earned money to attend and participate at events. Again some organizations give you nodda in return for your dues, many of the organizations return nothing more than an opportunity to socialize with peers or those with common interests.

There is no simple answer or solution to the woes we face in this hobby/industry. But I know this, if we stop talking we’ll only have one, the end or as I refer to it in my business consulting…“The EXIT.” aka The End, ceasing of activity…death.

This hobby as well as others are individualistic by nature. However, there are those who feel the need to come together to share their efforts and interact with others who share the same interests. This coming weekend is the annual boat show in our area…I stay as far away from it as possible. But there are those who flock to it like a fish to a nightcrawler. Yes, they too have issues within their own hobby/industry. Pick any hobby/industry and you’ll find they all have issues.

One example that was recently brought to my attention…Automobile collectors and restorers. Our state has changed the licensing laws to make it impossible to get license plates for restored vehicles, especially military vehicles. They don’t meet modern safety standards, therefore they must be transported (carried) to events not driven. Yet passenger cars of the same age don’t met the standards either, yet they get a pass on compliance. Can’t drive your Willy’s jeep across town to participate in a Veterans day parade but you can drive your Nash? The vehicle owners are having a hard time being heard. Their voices alone will not raise above the din but if they don’t form a choir there is no chance of being heard and the restoration of harmony.

Encourage your IPMS eBoard to get involved by attending the division meetings at the various industry functions. An IPMS representative at the General or Plastics Division or even the Marketing Committee meetings would benefit both industry and the IPMS/Scale Modeling community. Another single voice contributing to the choir.

It’s odd to see your response that tends to make my very points. It’s a circle of thought. “Here’s problem A that you are (a tiny) part of… Here’s group B dedicated to helping… Here’s Solutions c-d-e that don’t work… Now, could you please start ANOTHER group to solve INDUSTRY’s problem?”

So, Gerald, please help me understand. I only wish to be respectful and my response here originally was meant to be an energetic endorsement for exactly what you have already done and observed. As I clearly said, I have and will do what I can as an individual, BECAUSE the group fails. My membership and voice have no history of making changes. You will see all the evidence you need by visiting IPMS USA’s web site. Again, it matters not what any of us HAVE done. That’s all great for its intentions. What WILL we do is the motivation to belong.

It’s only as THE GROUP chooses to openly discuss the matter, and engage membership, that any problem COULD be solved. That’s why I cannot join, because the path the group chooses is leading to a quiet, self-satisfied oblivion, proven by the craft’s inability to attract and hold younger participants.

Is this bad? Well, carving wood was a National passtime, and we don’t hear much about it. Modeling grew from it, of course. Model trains took from wood carving as a parent skill, and flourished for decades, especially post WW II. I would point to their more established system of mentoring a skills-based set of titles to distinguish a person’s investment and results. While not everyone has to participate, it at least formally acknowledges a person’s heritage in the craft. All you’ve seen at IPMS is trophy or not. The same story lines prevail: “He was robbed.” “The judges don’t apply rules uniformly.” “I only build for myself.” “Why would anyone build to earn a trophy?” Do these outcomes build a larger fraternity?

You can see a parallel history in leather workers. Tandy Leather and craft stores used to flourish. Now, they hide inside Michael’s Craft Stores.

Even though railroaders have aged/dwindled/died, they seem to attract enough younger followers, which is especially odd given that trains are not nearly as iconic as they were post WW II. This happens despite the industry crippling trend of selling junk train sets at Christmas to “get kids started.”

You are already recognized, and deservedly so, for how you are participating. As you chose to form a livelihood from it, and join with others in similar business, I aplaud you and wish every good fortune and success. Such success attracts the energy of like minded participants, each with diverse experiences and reactions. It seems a little unrealistic to expect anyone like-minded will want to join IPMS/USA. Most of us are too busy earning a living to support life and hobbies to begin with.

So, we have to find representation. I’ve heard all I need to about how hard it is to run a club or chapter as volunteers; thankless, expensive, time-consuming, etc. Any of us with charitable hearts and hopeful minds have and continue to serve in various volunteer capacities. Few freedom loves would want paid government functionaries in every endeavor of life. HOWEVER I cannot shy from the observations that these outcomes don’t define what COULD or SHOULD be done.

IPMS/USA is not some group I uncharitably scoff at. In my club, some of the Nation’s great modelers join with a slinking, defeated tolerance. They actually have been conditioned to expect nothing for their dues. About all I’ve seen is scuffles over insurance for events, which I still find bizarre. Some modeler is going to sue a nearly broke, volunteer group of modelers if his creation is damaged or stolen? Someone else will sue if they slip on a banana peel at some contest venue? This baffles even my aggressive mind. Has this whole country cowered before lawyers’ pens? What happened to the coverage of the venue, which is in business for just such events? What happened to signing waivers for mediation or simply accepting adverse, foreseeable outcomes? IPMS/USA never explained this adequately. They just levied fees and forced membership on chapter club officers, setting “an example” for the others.

Leatherworkers and carvers use similar dangerous tools. Did I miss something, or did they have the same sort of Stalinist/Statist leadership decisions levied on their followers? Home of the Brave, Land of the Free, lite.

You can compensate volunteers, and not with expense money. You can use peerage to motivate excellence and growth by setting rewards for results that others would find satisfying, attractive, and complementary to their careers. Until IPMS/anywhere wakes up from it’s post Cold War slumber, it is on the wrong track, where there is little or no light at the end of the tunnel.

If there is some position in Industry that needs my energy, education, talents, temperment, ambitions, I’d be thrilled to be a part. But not as a token stooge or dues-cow.

Apply pressure to a gushing wound. I wrote to IPMS/USA after going all over their web site for content. I’m not expecting an answer any more. I do plan to join IPMS/Canada, at least to try it. Here’s my email to the Secretary:

I’ve not been a member since coercion to do so as a condition of holding office in my local chapter, ’94 At the time, that ended any interest I had in future membership. I do not dispute that IPMS/USA does many great things. I had my first membership in 1975, which lapsed due to internal politics. Not very generous of me, I’ll admit.

I’ve been building throughout those years, and active with web-based builder sites such as HyperScale. I’ve been actively supporting modeling through Make-N-Take and Boy Scouts. It’s been difficult to get much interest. I have not, however, returned to the fold of IPMS, and write to politely and formally inquire:

What exactly is IPMS doing, as every modeler’s industry representative, to advance the art and craft of scale modeling, BESIDES Make-N-Take and the usual business of running the society, journal, and contests?

If you are the wrong person to ask, please excuse my request for taking your time. I mean no offense, but I’m trying to set a proper example by speaking out with my wallet. I would LOVE to be a member, as long as I could understand how this essential, mission-related concern of mine is being pursued. I am influential among my peers, and would be more than happy to sponsor and promote further membership should you answer this question of mine.

Further, I will carry water for IPMS on the many web sites I make a presence, when this issue is addressed successfully. I look forward to your response, and hope IPMS can become a greater influence, for all the hard work and right reasons I can imagine.

Joseph Grimme, Nominal Enzyme
Adventurer, Healer, Survivor of the post Cold War victory

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