VOTE NOW! MARCH MAYHEM CUSTOM MOTION RC AIRCRAFT CHALLENGE!

[Uncle Bob's RC]

Here are rules as per the first post:

"""Now we know many pilots have customized many aircraft over the years and you are free to submit more than 1 but then you will leave it to the Motion RC staff to determine which 1 aircraft of yours is the best and if it will make the 64 Aircraft cut. WE WILL NOT HAVE MULTIPLE AIRCRAFT MAKE THE FINAL 64 FROM THE SAME PILOT, only 1 aircraft for each pilot that makes the 64 cut."""

Posting more than 1 was fine if you were comfortable with us then determine which one of your aircraft make it. You may personally believe X custom your made is better than Y or Z, but we chose Z to represent you because the contest will have 64 different pilots, no multiples from the same pilot

No matter how you justify it, the selection is still going to be skewed. I never expected to win with so many awesome airplanes but the rules are the rules.

[Elbee]

Let's have some faith in the integrity of those who judged all entries. Multiple photos of the same aircraft borders on mischief more than a direct violation. Let's agree this is not a "Photo Contest" or even "It's Must Have Flown" Contest" but rather a "send us a Photo of your Modified "Insert Product We Sell" Contest." Again, those who judged our model entries are to be considered capable, 'above reproach' and have 'ultimate control' over which entry is in the first round of 64. After that it is 'we 'da peepiz' who will choose who moves onward and besides, we get to show off our amazing work to others who might not have seen it before. The prize money is only an incentive, I figure. Respectfully, LB

[James]

This is all for fun. A way to draw attention to the fantastic work people have been doing throughout the years to the products we sell. We have always loved watching our amazing community do these customizations anyway and since March Madness was coming up it had just got me thinking, was there a way to combine these?

But regardless. Tomorrow when we announce the 64 we determined, there will undoubtedly be some who are disappointed, just like in the real NCAA tournament (or any playoff) when the schools who were on the cusp get left out. That's kind of why we didn't make the prize that large to begin with as A. hoping to find 64 people to submit was a scary venture to begin with...even Alpha said when I started it "What if we don't even get 64?" so I replied, "then I make a video canceling it and tuck my tail between my legs and move on" in other words, embarrassment. and B. This should be more about fun. People already did the work and have already shared their customs for years, so we weren't expecting anyone to go rushing to complete a project etc., just hoping they take a second to submit one. Thankfully they did.

All in all, the goal is just to have fun with it. For those whose aircraft make the final 64, congrats but for those who submitted who didn't? Alpha added another $50 gift card for a random draw of all the pilots who entered as a simple thanks for even bothering to take the time to enter.

Then obviously after we unveil all the finalists and first-round matchups tomorrow live on YouTube at 12pm (shameless plug), everyone can then enter the second part of the contest where the person who racks up the most points will also win a prize.

[James]

Elbee - While yes, its not a photo contest, if the photo couldn't clearly encapsulate just how great a custom aircraft is/was, then it certainly factored in. Dark pictures are tough to see, grainy pictures don't capture the grandeur. Awkward angles hide an otherwise gorgeous aircraft. I will say, some of the photos that were submitted were products we all remember seeing in the past and we remember there being even better photos of said product, but we only made our decisions by what was shared in this thread. We didn't go hunting the other threads for other angles etc. As you will see in the voting portion tomorrow, the website where it will be hosted only allows 1 picture to be entered side by side vs another. So the picture definitely was important.

Push comes to shove, as a videographer/photographer, sunlight to your back and low angles are your best friend. Nothing will make your aircraft shine better than that. Get them out of the garage/trailer/basement and spend some time with them. Cell phone cams have gotten exceptional too and they do most of the work!

Let's have some fun with this and since we did get a much better response you can bet more things like this will come in the future too. We won't wait until next March for another one, but next March I would like to do this custom aircraft one again, but the rules will probably get stricter, the prize larger and any aircraft who made the finals this year won't be eligible next year. But we'll cross that road, down the road.

[Mad Baron]

[Oxotnik]

One suggestion that would be of interest to me in a future photo-based competition (although I probably won't actually enter anything because I don't have anything close to the modeling/detailing skills of these other guys), would be to have an info card that accompanied the photo. On the accompanying card, details could be added regarding the specific aircraft being modeled, the motivation for doing the customization, interesting features that have been modeled, and/or something else along those lines. I, for one, would enjoy reading the details about the modeling motivation/effort as much, if not more so, than just seeing a photo.

[James]

In less than 2 hours, join us live on YouTube for some Custom Aircraft Fun! Take a break from the outside world for a little while and lets enjoy some amazing custom aircraft and have some fun

[James]

The Bracket is set, the finalists are in and now its time for Part 2 of this contest where everyone can fill out their brackets to determine just who has the best custom Motion RC aircraft!
Follow this link to vote now: http://bit.ly/MRCMarchMayhem

You have until next Friday at 9am to get your votes in and the winners will be announced next Friday Live on Youtube at 12pm EST.

When filling out the bracket just make sure you make 1 selection for all 63 matchups and then enter your name and email address associated with your Motion RC account.

Again, big congratulations are in order to all of our finalists. It wasn't easy making our selections but thanks to everyone for submitting!

Let the games begin!

[Jlink125]

Awesome! This should be fun!

[James]

Awesome! This should be fun!

Totally Jlink125 . Your Mirage conversion is beautiful. Thanks again for submitting and joining up with Hobby Squawk. Hope you stick around. We got a great community here. Good luck in the voting!

[Jlink125]

Thank you I love refinishing foam aircraft! There's lots of beautiful artwork in this competition so we're all winners in my book!

[Beeg]

That was fun. I wholeheartedly agree that there are some really beautiful paint jobs.

[MikeT]

Some great schemes.

Mike

[James]

Here are all the Match-Up graphics used in the show. Lots of votes in already, wonder how many we will get

[JamesonC]

Just got to watch the show and go vote. Really cool competition guys! Most fun I have had voting on something in a long time! Heck of a job to everyone that entered!!!!!

[mshagg]

That was actually really fun to fill out!

And wow do you end up with some brutally difficult decisions - I feel like buying a few of the guys a beer because I ended up voting against some absolutely stunning planes lol.

[the snake]

Some are very hard to choose because I really really like both of them!

[RCjetdude]

mshagg is right. Talk about brutal decisions.

[Hugh Wiedman]

WOW, I'm flabbergasted that my Corsair made it to the final round, didn't expect any of my submissions to get there. Everybody has there own likes and dislikes, so hats off to the judges for even trying. If they would have taken all submissions and thrown them in the air and picked the first 64 that landed, it would have made as much sense, every one of them is just as outstanding as the next. Since I'm from Florida, the home of voter fraud, most may think I somehow bribed someone to even get this far. To make matters worse, I was born outside of Chicago when Mayor Daley was counting dead peoples votes. Hey, can I get some dead votes, or is it a rule you have to at least be on life support?

[Hardway]

Hugh!!!! You made me laugh out loud for sure!!!!!!