14th Annual N Scale Vehicle of the Year Awards Announcement

[cfritschle]

The N Scale Vehicle Association will be facilitating the 14th Annual Vehicle of the Year Awards at the National N Scale Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah.  If you are unable to attend the convention, or will not be able to vote during registration on June 20, but would still like to vote, the nominees are listed below:

New N Scale Vehicle of the Year Award: Assembled Model – Vote for one:

___ Artitec Fordson Dexta farm tractor

___ Athearn 40-foot UPS drop sill parcel trailer

___ Atlas 1973 Ford F-100 pickup

___ Busch Land Rover Defender

___ Showcase Miniatures ST Class side dump truck

___ Trainworx 1956 Peterbilt 351 log truck

Enhanced N Scale Vehicle of the Year Award: Kit Model – Vote for one:

___ Atlas Ford LNT-9000 semi-tractor

___ Classic Metal Works 1954 Ford flatbed

___ Lemke Volkswagen T2 bus with canoe

___ Showcase Miniatures Mack Model B fire truck

___ Trainworx Mike Sabia’s Kenworth W900 semi-tractor

___ Wiking John Deere 8430 farm tractor

You may use this thread to vote “publically” or send me an email/personal message to vote “secretly”.  Please indicate one (1) new model and one (1) enhanced model for which you are voting. 

The “poster” with pictures the models is still a work in progress.  However, photos for most of the models can be viewed on the N Scale Vehicle Association’s web page.  Go to nscalevehicles.org (http://nscalevehicles.org/) and click on the Industry News tab.  Begin scrolling down to view the models

All early/absentee votes must be received by June 18, 2018.

[bbussey]

Atlas 1973 Ford F-100 pickup for new model.  Can't decide on enhanced choice between the Sabia W900 and the fire truck, so I'll skip that vote.

[peteski]

New vehicle: Atlas 1973 Ford F-100 pickup

Enhanced Vehicle: Showcase Miniatures Mack Model B fire truck

[SecretWeapon]

Mr. Bussey may not be able to choose between the 2 trucks, but I certainly can, Mike Sabia's Kenworth W-900B

[Philip H]

New N Scale Vehicle of the Year Award: Assembled Model – Atlas 1973 Ford F-100 pickup

Enhanced N Scale Vehicle of the Year Award: Kit Model – Trainworx Mike Sabia’s Kenworth W900 semi-tractor

[cfritschle]

Someone kindly pointed out to me that I had carried over vestiges from last year's nominations.  This year’s categories, New and Enhanced, are a return to the original categories from the first N Scale Vehicle of the Year Awards in 2005.  The reference to "Assembled Model" and "Kit Model" do not apply.  The Showcase Miniatures’ models are kits, the rest of the models are assembled.  I apologize for any confusion this may have created.

And thank you to all who have voted so far!

[Mark5]

Category 1: Atlas 1973 Ford F-100 pickup
Category 2: Lemke T2

Mark

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I cannot believe I slept so hard on those pickups and didn't get any. What was I thinking?

They're really nice.

[sirenwerks]

Wouldn't the Showcase Minatures 1961 Chevy C-Class pick-me-up qualify as an enhanced model, considering it was designed by Rapidpro and adapted for production by Showcase? IMO, it's a great production concept, the model is sturdier and easier to work with in terms of kitbashing (than the Shapeways material) and , the metal casting even shaved a healthy amount of $ off the Shapeways price. I'd love to see more of this type of partnership, which is a win-win for modelers.

[peteski]

Wouldn't the Showcase Minatures 1961 Chevy C-Class pick-me-up qualify as an enhanced model, considering it was designed by Rapidpro and adapted for production by Showcase? IMO, it's a great production concept, the model is sturdier and easier to work with in terms of kitbashing (than the Shapeways material) and , the metal casting even shaved a healthy amount of $ off the Shapeways price. I'd love to see more of this type of partnership, which is a win-win for modelers.

From the very faint printing artifacts (striations) visible in Showcase Models' castings I suspect that all of their models designed in the last few years use 3D rapid-prototype masters.  But they must be printed on a printer which produces much better quality items that FXD.  I suspect that Walter himself does the CAD work on them.

[ljudice]

1: Showcase Side Dump
2: "Secret Weapon"

[cfritschle]

I cannot believe I slept so hard on those pickups and didn't get any. What was I thinking?

They're really nice.

Ed,

Several online hobby shops still have models from the first run available, and a second run has been announced.

[cfritschle]

Wouldn't the Showcase Minatures 1961 Chevy C-Class pick-me-up qualify as an enhanced model, considering it was designed by Rapidpro and adapted for production by Showcase? IMO, it's a great production concept, the model is sturdier and easier to work with in terms of kitbashing (than the Shapeways material) and , the metal casting even shaved a healthy amount of $ off the Shapeways price. I'd love to see more of this type of partnership, which is a win-win for modelers.

Bryan,

The Showcase Miniatures 1961 Chevy pickup was on my list of potential nominees for the New N Scale Vehicle of the Year Award since this model was new to the Showcase lineup.  However, in early February 2018, Debbie Vail (of Showcase) sent an email inquiry about the cutoff date for new models to be eligible for the N Scale Vehicle of the Year Award.  Debbie informed me that they had a new model in the works, and that they hoped it would be available before the April 30, 2018 cutoff date.  The new model that Showcase released in March was the ST Class side dump truck.  So that model was nominated for the award instead of the pickup.

Starting last year, I decided that every effort should be made to avoid having a manufacturer compete against itself.  That is, having two or more models in the same category.  Several times in the past when a manufacturer had multiple models in the same category, that manufacturer's models received the majority of the votes, but another manufacturer's model received the most votes for a single model.  It just did not seem fair to me that a manufacturer did not receive the award because they had too many excellent models nominated at the same time!

[x600]

Mr. Bussey may not be able to choose between the 2 trucks, but I certainly can, Mike Sabia's Kenworth W-900B

+1, This, ^^^ 

(Since the John Patten Pete wasn't in the running) 
Greg O.
mrns.org

[cfritschle]

+1, This, ^^^ 

(Since the John Patten Pete wasn't in the running) 
Greg O.
mrns.org

Greg,

John's Pete was in the running, but Mike's Kenworth ran a better campaign.  The KW had more graphics.