| IPMS/USA National Conventions |
Every summer, IPMS/USA has a National Convention which includes the national model contest. I won't go into detail about how the contest works, but basically it is divided by subject material so similar models are judged against each other. Teams of judges select the best three models from each of over 100 categories. See the Competition Handbook at the IPMS/USA website for more info on how the National Contest is run. There is a Space and Science Fiction division that holds three categories. I have been the head judge for Space and Science Fiction since the late 1980s or so until 2007.
There are several related categories that the team judges. There is also a "Best of Category" award that the judges award to the one model that stands above all the others in the three Space and Science Fiction categories. Photos from these categories from recent contests may be found elsewhere on my website and on Sven Knudson's space modeling site. Listed below are the number of entries in each space-related category, including splits, for the last few years.
| Category | 2007 Anaheim |
2006 KC |
2005 Atlanta |
2004 Phoenix |
2003 Okla. City |
2002 Virginia Beach |
2001 Chicago |
| Total
Space & Science Fiction (6XX) |
96 | 60 | 135 |
74 |
61 |
48 |
90 |
| 600. Real Spacecraft | 19 | 16 | 20 | 9 | 18 | 17 | 10 |
| 605. Science Fiction, Kits | Robots:
32 Other: 35 |
Star
Trek + Wars: 15 Robots: 11 Other: 11 |
Star
Trek: 18 Star Wars: 15 Robots: 28 Other-Space: 16 Other-Ground: 14 |
Trek/Wars:
18 Other: 36 |
Trek/Wars:
15 Other: 20 |
Space:
13 Other: 13 |
Trek/Wars:
20 Ground: 23 Other: 22 |
| 610. Science Fiction, Conversion and Scratchbuilt | 10 | 7 | 24 | 11 | 15 | 5 | 15 |
| 699. Space & Sci Fi, Paper | 9 | ||||||
| 760. Science Fiction Dioramas | 7 |
4 | ? | 5 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
| 780. Miscellaneous Dioramas | 5 |
3 | ? | 5 | 2 | 6 | 5 |
| 820. Hypothetical - from Kits | 13 |
15 | ? | 15 | 11 | 13 | 11 |
| 821.
Hypothetical - Kit-bashed |
33 |
7 | ? | 6 |
10 |
||
| Total Contest Entries | 2179 |
2031 | 3020 | 2034 | 1526 | 1750 | 2092 |
| People Registered | 713 |
~800 | ~1500 | 729 | 513 | 658 | 821 |
| Category | 2000 Dallas |
1999 Orlando |
1998 San Jose |
1997 Columbus |
1996 Virginia Beach |
1995 Albuq. |
1994 Omaha |
| Total Space & Science Fiction | 76 | ||||||
| 600. Real Spacecraft | 17 | 19 | 8 | 22 | 9 | 14 | 10 |
| 605. Science Fiction, Kits | Space:
26 Other: 22 |
28 | Star
Trek: 12 Other: 12 |
Star
Trek: 26 Other: 29 |
51 | 15 | Cinema:
15 Other: 15 |
| 610. Science Fiction, Conversion and Scratchbuilt | 11 | 15 | 19 | 15 | 12 | 2 | 8 |
| 930. Science Fiction Dioramas | 7 | 6 | 25 | 14 | 8 | 9 | 1 (New) |
| 935. Miscellaneous Dioramas | 6 | 11 | ? | ? | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 1300. Hypothetical | 35 | ? | ? | 20 | 20 | 12 | |
| Total Contest Entries | 1629 | 1985 | 1428 | 2176 | 2026 | 1331 | 1206 |
| People Registered | ? | 691 | 416 | 1092 | 882 | ? |
Notes
Sci Fi Dioramas (930) was added in 1994 and renumbered to 760 in either 2000 or 2001.
Miscellaneous Dioramas (935) captures any Real Space dioramas, as well as dinosaur dioramas.
Hypothetical (1300) was
changed in 1999 to include hypothetical, non-Sci Fi, space models.
Therefore, all of the 50s-era kits of conceptual rocket ships and space
stations compete with conceptual German aircraft that were never built,
or real aircraft
in bogus markings. However, "Real Space" usually accepts models
of factually-based aerospace vehicle concepts even if they were never
built.