Dealing with mold familiarity bias

About to put on my first show and I find myself faced with some dilemmas.

Put simply, how do you manage to judge a class fairly without taking prior knowledge of the models into account?

Let's say that you know that mold A is widely considered the best representation of its type at the moment - should all entries on that mold automatically place higher, regardless of paintjob/breed assignment/photo quality?

And what if you're aware that mold B has an anatomical or sculptural fault on its non show side - misaligned eyes maybe, something that doesn't show up in photos. Do you judge only what you see, or are you influenced by what you know?

Judge what you see, not what you know in my opinion. Every class should be judged like it's the first one ever. Use the breed standard (or the closest thing to it) to judge every class, and ignore all the partiality. All parts of the entry should work together. :)

If you would like a more in-depth view of my opinion on judging, you can visit my blog (spotteddreamsstudio.blogspot.com) and search for "Judging Photo Shows". I have a series on it. However, as a disclaimer, the series is on my personal judging preference, and not everyone will hold the same views. Everybody has a slightly different method (that's a good thing!).

Hope this helps! Good luck on your show. :)

I agree, with photo showing it's always been 100% what you see, rather than what could be lurking on the other side.

Some models with a lot of damage can still go on to be photo show champions, if none of the marks are visible from the side the photo is taken. I've got a Marengo (grey Huck Bey) with a huuuuuge jagged zigzag crack round the base of his tail and some deep chips in his plastic (he threw himself off the shelf in the night and bounced behind a radiator), but it's all on the off side so you can't see a bit of it in his pictures. He used to do really well in photo showing, and I'd absolutely, guilt free, still be including him in my show string here if I didn't have the 250 limit and one of a different colour with more sentimental value who's got his place as my OF Arabian of choice.
Same with factory flaws, if there's a horrible paint smear or bit of rough and lumpy seam, but it's on the other side, no judge would see it was there and count it against your horse. Even if the model's owned by a friend, and you remember them describing the horror of the shelf fall which gave the horse his scars, or their grumbling about the lump of glitter stuck in the paint, the photo itself is what's being judged, no knowledge outside that exact image should be considered.
In the same spirit as that, take some known mould issue like you say with a misaligned eye - if you can't see it cos it's not in the picture, then it doesn't 'exist' from a judging point of view.

On a similar note, regarding familiarity of moulds and how it can affect judging, just the other day I had a custom factory resin disqualified with the judge's comment 'It's not resin, it's custom plastic'. The judge had seen a familiar-looking sculpt from Breyer and assumed it was the better-known plastic Stablemates version of a mould, when actually that horse is customised from the resin unicorn tree ornament version, which was released first. I prepped and painted him myself, I know he's not plastic under that paint, but to the judge looking at the photo, they saw a model which is usually plastic, perhaps forgot or weren't aware of the factory resin, and thought I'd somehow got him into the wrong class - custom factory resins were allowed, or he wouldn't have come up as eligible in my entries.
I couldn't apologise and explain I wasn't trying to rule-break, as there's no way to reply on judge's comments, so I've put a note about this in his description now - hopefully he won't get kicked out again!

There's also another thought-provoking aspect to the whole 'best example of the breed' aspect of judging which suggests we can predict mould should always win - national and personal bias. The breed standard in one country might be a little different with another county's society. Or it might cover two visibly different types depending on what discipline the breeders and judges are involved with - take Quarter Horses for example, the people breeding for halter don't aim for the same ideal as the people breeding for reining! Shetland ponies are hugely varied but compete in the same class, and what's to say the island-bred type should win over the more modern prettied-up type, other than personal bias? Should the best Thoroughbred be one which looks like a compact and powerful sprinter, or the one which looks like it could run three miles in the mud and still be jumping?

This carries over into model showing too - one judge will prefer a different type to another. Someone's ideal sculpt is someone else's making-up-the-placings second choice. That's mould bias, in a different way, and has always been a big part of model showing. We can't possibly all come to a unanimous agreement on the best mould of each breed, unless we all agree on real life horses too. And no two horsey people are ever going to have the same opinion about every breed in the book, we're not built that way cos we all love different things and that's what makes the horse world so varied and wonderful.
And it's what makes showing so entertaining too - it'd be boring if the shows all had repetitive samey results lists cos there was a formula of judging where the same models would inevitable be in the top spot week in, week out, so matter who was running the show. I love the unpredictability of it, how the supreme champion of one week can come back with a DNP next week and you think 'oh, bless him', or the favourite horse unplaced six times in a row can strike a chord with a certain judge who gets what you see in him, and you get a ribbon and an enthusiastic comment.