Coming up with THE number for a maneuver seems to be a common question asked by newbie judges. By the rules, somewhere between 10 and 40. Arithmetic mean of those is 25, which I consider a "C" grade. To me, a loose-lines & near crash deserves less, and of course, a perfect trick with no flaws gets 40 points...regardless of skill class.

I'd be interested in reading about how YOU make that decision in time to write it down before the next trick. I'm mostly thinking about Modern PA, but I have a serious problem with the climb/dive in OTS. The dive comes really quick!    Steve

Ok, I am a point counter.  Somewhat like in the judges guide. I do it as a count down in my head as I see the error.  Start at 40 and work down.  Don't need the extra lap.  I have tried using an average with plus and minus points, too much clutter.  What is fun is that you can  watch a practice pattern and not write down anything if you don't want to.  Just start the pattern at 640, count away and you already have a score when you pick up the plane to take it to the pits.  Learned this back in the 70's when we were trying to improve judging.  Didn't go over at the time but somebody picked up on it.

Ken

As I rather expected, the Judging discussion has tapered off because there are only so many maneuvers and maybe (?) limited amount of flaws that can be seen. And, I wish I could have "pinned" each maneuver in sequence to make it easier and more logical to look up each trick. But I was told that tool was not in the box I was provided.

FWIW, I start judging each maneuver expecting and thinking "40" but as the trick progresses, I am thinking  "oops", "oops", "oops", etc., until the maneuver is put out of its misery. A "yikes" gets downgraded. A number comes to mind that reflects my disappointment level and I write it down. This past weekend, the scores I awarded ranged from 22 to 40, IIRC. There was at least one 40 given to a non-Expert class flier, and maybe one to an Expert.

When the score I give dips below 25 (a "C average"), it's usually due to line tension problems/near crash situation. Guys, doing OH8's upwind is normal, but not helping your score. I suggest turning during the climb and doing the OH 8's while facing downwind. That way, you'll have better line tension through the OH8. Yes, I have tried it, and it needs practice to do it correctly. I didn't, and so far, I haven't been able to force myself to do OTS H8's...same problem...habit. Footwork is a huge part of flying stunt, and IMO more difficult than the handle wiggling part. Some guys will back away when it's calm, but not that many will move downwind to reduce line tension and windup when the wind blows. Practice that! 

I'll admit that my favorite maneuvers in the pattern probably get downgraded more. I LOVE a nice set of triangles and also the rhythm of horizontal 8's. Triangles with two acute angles at the bottom and a 90+ deg turn at the top are irritating. I bitch at guys about that constantly, yet they keep doing it. I just want to see some good stunt! GET A COACH and listen! DRY FLY at home! Practice pointing at the 45 degree point at home! One of our Sunday AM crew has improved rapidly, so I axed him how. Dry Flying at home. Yes, his wife thinks he's gone round the bend.

I tend to be tough on V8's and Hourglass, not so much because I love watching good ones, but because so many tend to make them oversize (beyond overhead) and on the V8, missing the tangent badly. They may be able to make the shape better when doing bigger, but do NOT think that it's impossible to see if the model is beyond 90 deg. If the wing is straight up & down when over the pilot, it's top is  per the book. It is more difficult with model designs with dihedral or anhedral, but not impossible. If you NEED to make them on the large side go ahead, but don't think judges can't see that.

All this kinda overlaps from Judging tips to Flying coaching, but it is what it is.  Steve