I just took a peek at the all time best in the gallery
http://www.dakkadakka.com/core/gallery-search.jsp?sort1=5
Most of them are
WIP models with 1 vote (obviously a 10/10). But if you don't figure that out then it looks like this
Is dakka's best model.
I know the problem of wanting models to be rated even before they get to 5 voties (let's face it 90% of the gallery will never get to 5 votes) but this is silly. The best models this week/month/all time should require 5 votes.
A suggestion, on the gallery keep the right side as top 10 of the week, but make the left side a rotating gallery of 'noteworthy models'. Let registers members nominate 1 'noteworthy model' a day (so they can't spam it). That way some models can get expose without people giving them 10/10 votes just to land on the front page.