calling your build good !

You usually reach the point of diminishing returns. How much more result can you achieve as opposed to the efforts that you're putting in to get them. Sometimes you gotta say, "I've done all I can for my abilities here" call it done, and move to the next project. Where you can apply any lessons learned on the last build. Other times you may hit a snag, sideline the build until you have increased your skills to overcome the problem, then pull it back out and resume work. 

Yes, you have to look at it as ROI in every sort of way.

Most importantly, did I do as good of a job as I could and kit kit allowed? If i keep beating on it, will it respond, or just frustrate me?

I never feel good about a $ 19.00 kit with $ 40.00 worth of aftermarket stuff, unless it's something like an old Matchbox F2-D that's so rare that it's the only one you will ever build, so do it up right.

My goal is to be as excited about my build from start to finish. I don't want those lows, where you are second guessing your  self through the build, one nice level feeling.  Its diffently has gotten better, it gets a little rough at shows and among your fellow builders at the club. They help me gauage my work, but the nots i get in my stomach!

Stick is absolutely right!  When you have hit that point of diminishing returns, and you feel that any more work will mess things up, and you are pleased at how it looks, QUIT!  Do not feel intimidated by comments on the forum that criticize your work.  If you are pleased with it- that's all that really matters!

i have been around here a while been building again for 10 years or so, have some first place awards from local and regional contests and EVERYONE ONE OF MY BUILDS hits the "this looks like crap" stage. usually somewhere close to the painting time or just after. i know bwtter but it still happens.

i have gotten better at not wasting time on things no one will see. my WIP SCUD will be on a base so i didn't even paint parts of the underside because they will NEVER be seen. OTOH i am on the 4th go '[round touching up the seams on the missile. i think i will write down my wash and weathering plan and stick to it. i know i can get so far into that i overdo it.

Hi:

    When I reach that point I do this . Hey ! You know this is A-Okay ! Now , then I look at it again and say to myself NO , I am not going to do any more . I like it the way it is . T.B.

"A work of art is never finished. It is merely abandoned." - E. M. Forster

That's something I've struggled with for almost as long as I've been building models. When I was a kid, of course, I didn't really care if it looked good or not, but now I couldn't leave a model in a state that didn't live up to my standards. That becomes a problem when you have only so much time to build because life keeps intruding on your fun. I've learned that I have to strike a balance between perfection and nearly so, but only you can decide when a kit looks good enough. If only life wasn't such a compromise.

It's tough sometimes to determine when a model is considered "done" or "good".

My current case in point is a Revell PT-109 model kit. Every time I looked at it, both before and after it was supposedly "done", I'd find myself wondering "What else can I add to it?"

Which led to the following add-ons:

Handmade depth charge racks and depth charges, installed forward of the deckhouse at the deck edges.

Curved handrails circling each machine gun turret, with mounts and rails made from stretched sprue.

A complete re-working of the miserably inadequate Carley float included with the kit, to include a thatched floor, new paddles, supply canister, water cask, first-aid kit, and battle lantern.

Reworking of the kit-supplied machine guns, with charging levers, elevation handles, and belt feeds.

Addition of reinforcing cables for the signal mast, as well as the addition of halyards for signal flags.

A flak helmet for the JFK figure. It bothered me that he was the only figure in the kit that didn't have one. It now sits on the ledge atop the cockpit door to the charthouse.

A pair of binoculars, made from bits of stretched sprue and scrap strip plastic, now emplaced atop the instrument panel next to the compass binnacle. Very tiny!

Three extra life jackets, and two flak helmets, made from Milliput. And added to the hand rails atop the dayroom. Again, very tiny!

Fortunately, I had plenty of sprue material and plastic scrap left over from previous modeling projects. And since I'm on a fixed budget, I didn't have any real money to invest in aftermarket sets to enhance the model.

And all of this in blindness-inducing 1/72 scale. I gave my Opti-Visor and reading glasses a real workout on this kit.

I think I can pretty much call it done, but now I have to work on the ocean base to display it on.

But yeah, it's hard for me to call a model done. Not because I'm a rivet counter, or a BB stacker, but I just look for the things that can be fixed, and cheaply.

Good topic- let's hear some more viewpoints on this.

Thanks!

Randy

theres a difference between done and good lol

I can recall a few models I considered : " Good 'N Done" ....