Well,
it *is* just a hobby, but I also have kits I started in a different
century, different area code, in a different marriage, with different hopes
and plans for the future.
My
aspirations usually exceed my ability, and I far prefer starting or
being in the middle of figuring out something, when the mistakes aren’t
so apparent, or irreparable, when the illusion of perfect results
still persists. So its fairly hard for me to finish the last 2 or 3
percent of a build- the touch-up painting, the last antennae. I live
with models in progress so long, I get used to them not being done, it
doesn’t bother me as much as it might.
An easy test for this is whether you're ready to take the 'final picture' of the model. I sometimes take that picture and then I see what I need to go back and work on - paint boo boos, missing small parts, decals in the wrong place. With effort, I go back and eventually fix these details, or I declare victory... but when I leave them with fixable problems - paint or alignment, for example, it tends to gnaw at me. In the old days, firecrackers could solve that problem, these days, not so much.
I’ve
had multiple kits in progress going back to the
early 1970s- 40 years. As my skills improved (and they have) it can take even longer to complete a kit, if its going to be
satisfying. Trying to keep the number in progress under
control, I’ve been tracking what I have going and what is getting done on it.
Half of what was
in progress 10 years ago is now done, and I have 60
or so in progress now, most of which were started in the last 10 years.
I keep the running chart in my note book- one kit per line, one month per
column. I put a single letter in the square for each of a number of fundamental steps in building: Cutting; sanding/filing/shaping; gluing; painting; decals; I go back and forth on whether doing research should be logged or not. Thinking about working or preparing without doing actual work doesn't count!
Looking at the chart can suggest sequences - I can do that and then do a cleverer version here and an even cleverer version there... Or prove that I have actually done something when I feel sorry for myself.
The present page has 2009, 10 and 11, with space
for a few months in ‘12. I could get 3 more years onto the following
page, but I’ve discovered that things do change in a few years time.
Better to show whats active at the top, drop what’s finished or put
away. Only 30 of the 60 I’m tracking have had any work done since
October of ‘09. And I don't think a default data space for a 6 year build is all that clever an idea....
I
have completed 12 of the 60 or so kits my wife and son have given me at
Christmas and birthday, in the last 16 years, and another 25 or so that
I bought, were gifts from friends, etc. I also completed several dozen
1/700 air racers, airtankers for fighting fires and airliners, along
with the obvious military subjects the kits are intended to protray. I
have another 50 or so half completed, but they don’t count the same as a
1/144 or 1/72 kit.
I don't know if this makes me smarter or makes me an accountant, but I wouldn't stop doing it.It gives more illusion of control!
Bill