Work satisfaction,when is it good enough

You are asking a question that doesn't have a definitive answer. 

Simple answer?  You are doing this to have fun, relax, and be creative.  If you choose to stretch the bounds of historical accuracy, that's fine if that aspect of modeling is not that important to you.  Others may take an opposite approach and go to great lengths to reproduce a model of a specific subject at a specific time.  They enjoy the research to determine the exact configuration and colors etc.  of the subject.  Both are perfectly fine approaches to take.  I think that you will find that your approach to modeling will evolve with time. 

With regards to showing your work in more competitive settings, my best suggestion is to start with a local club and see what feedback you get and progress from there.  But overall, the best answer to your question is "what satisfies you"?  And realize that may be a moving target.

Don

Thanks Don, i know it was a difficult/weird question, more then likely there is know right answer.  I have seen In my clubs and the shows i seen really great work, and to be honest i am steps behind, but that's OK, i love where i am at. I want to show them, and after writing this I will, its not about winning. Its showing my work and where i am at. I just hate to go through and explain my work ethic's every time someone ask why I did not this or that, seems like that would get old LOL. Just wanted get some feed back.

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For me it comes down to laziness versus a feeling akin to being almost obsessive-compulsive. I will let some mistakes go in the interest of calling it  officially done, but oftentimes those same mistakes will eat at me until I decide to go back and fix them. This is magnified if I plan on taking that particular model to a show.

 -Chris

+1 on pordoi's comment. My thoughts? When I'm done, I'm satisfied. I, too, do kits for relaxation and enjoyment. We all have stress in real life as it is. The last thing we need is stress building model kits. Except for those darn ill-fitting ones. LOL!

To me, it's not the destination but the journey.

I am never satisfied with my modeling skills and strive to improve them on every successive model.  Analogous to the Olympics, success is only measured by attaining the gold medal, but the joy of merely competing at that world-class level is satisfaction enough.  If I can duplicate even 1 or 2 aspects of a model done by the experts seen on this site, I am happy in doing a job well done and contue to improve on the next one.  We are all ,as a matter of fact , imperfect creatures by nature so to expect a model to be built perfectly is ,for me ,too much to ask and it only leads to frustration and disatisfaction in the hobby. After all this is supposed to be fun ain't it ?

I am satisfied with my build because I keep a Kevin Costner movie quote in mind: "Perfection is unattainable". I've never been a stickler to absolute correctness, especially with colors. Sometimes I go for paint/markings schemes of my own fantasy. I would happily take a build to a showing, if there were any near me, but that would merely be for the sake of attending a gathering of fellow enthusiasts.

Now, i really want to make my build part of my creativeness a part of me. To make something to exzact  ability like the great builders at Fine scale, it stress me out, and i could not bring that out.. In turn i was self conscious about showing my builds. Also builders would always say yes do it to have fun,enjoy the build, to build to your ability, but they will be quick to criticize your builds for your lack of ability??, this always confused me?.  LOL I am one that realizes more then half of the time my work is just for fun, but the need for builders to point out every mistake??, i do not get It!. Don't like it, move on LOL

I don't think I'm ever completely satisfied with a model when I complete it.

The basic question to me is, "Is it better than the last one?  Did I improve?"

I don't enter contests and don't belong to a club for comparisons.  I do frequently post here with complete builds.  I've posted one WIP until it was finished and I'm posting a WIP now in SHIPS.

I do enjoy building and often enjoy how I may have covered a mistake I made, etc.  I often try to match my subject to a photograph which can be a good challenge.

I agree that each builder will draw satisfaction in ways possibly unique to that builder.  If I'm happy that I met the challenge better this time, than last time, that keeps me building another project.  I will however, always see the flaws, wince a little, and hope I don't repeat it again.

I like the clubs, i thought i would not!, but the guys and some Gals,really give me encouragement, its nice to bounce ideas off of them, and see where my work is compare to them. Its funny we talk about working/building with In our self's and not try to over reach. I find that my co builders,in a good way i mean, like to bicker about the quality and the reasoning of other builds in general. Where they do not apply any of those to there own builds?. I my self find the + and quality from every build,if its a master piece,museum quality work to the i built this model in 3 hours. Every build has a quality, and every build has faults,somewhere, so why judge,,,,unless your in a contest

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I just was looking at the IPMS( i belong to a couple local groups) rules, and if they judge that way, LOL my builds would be dead in the water even before i was done with them LOL. My Builds are to be seen and enjoy,win??? well most likely not but i am there to show. I just don't want someone go, sorry sir your build is just not good enough to show :/, now that would be bad LOL,,,,,yikes please tell me that does not happen

I've never been to an IPMS event, but experience with other alphabet organizations leads me to believe that they would indeed say such a thing. Once someone decides to create a "top" organization, the first order of business is to establish a set of "standards". I can see that if one is putting on an event that will be hyped as the "cream of the crop", they would want to make darn sure that the viewing public is treated to only the very best that particular hobby/group has to offer.

I guess the "local yokel" shows are for the rest of us, those who can't clear the bar to be shown in the "Big Leagues".

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I will never enter any model contest. If I'm happy with my kit, who's to have a IPMS judge tell me otherwise?

Please accept my apologies for what you think I said.

Roger on that, Black Sheep.  When I am pleased with what I have produced, I call it quits.  And I never put those tiny, illegible stencils all over the model-  they just look like fly specks.

So today I did show my B 25J Mitchell,revell i did last year,it was my first model In some 15 + years. , at one of my IPMS clubs. Was i nervous.yep, but i put it up there on the table right along just some breath taking work. My build that i am really proud of, had a ton of mistakes,i still thought it look good. My turn came along and i got up there and explain the process of my build. Show them where i started and where i am at today. No smirks,no "well why i did not do this" and actually gave my complements. I still think, that they scrutinize builds way to much, but not today, and if they do,oh well, i love to build and after i leave for the night, i leave them behind. Yes i look at our show rules(local) and the national rules. Yes they are insane requirements,at least for me but its funny there disclaimer is even with those judge requirements, they still say its up to the personal judges. I think the clubs are great, i get together with like minded friends for a few ours a week, show off my builds, where normally other then my Family no one gets to see.

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I know exactly what you mean Cadet Chuck. Kinda makes you wonder if it's all worth the effort if it's gonna look like that - tiny specks. LOL!

Yeah, I'll still do them regardless. ROFL!!!!

I mostly agree with the original poster. I have my own standards, which other people seem to think are relatively high. I don't believe in model contests. I do belong to a model club (I'm president at the moment, and I enjoy it tremendously. But it's totally non-competitive. At this point in my life (age 64) I build models for my own enjoyment.

I'm pretty sensitive to criticism. I generally don't invite it where I can avoid it. I have also evolved quite a bit in modeling. I'm not much of a kit builder any more, more of a kit basher and scratchbuilder. For that reason a lot of my stuff looks pretty "made at home with loving hands" and doesn't stand up to close scrutiny.

When I was a kid, I just slapped models together and stuck them on the shelf. Sometimes I didn't even paint 'em. I dropped the hobby when I "grew up," but picked it up again when I was introduced to resin kits. These days I mostly build female figures and spaceships, and I try harder to get them as well-done as I can, but as someone said above, the OCD pretty much makes me do it that way. OTOH, I have a couple of models from my youth I picked up on eBay, and I'm planning on building them for fun, so I won't be nearly as concerned about perfection.

The only time I get really fixated on that is when I'm planning to display a model in public, as I'll be doing with my 1/8 scale Weird-Ohs Digger at Wonderfest. I've been working on it for more than a year, and there are still little imperfections I'm trying to work out. But in the end, that kind of obsession is much less fun in the long run than just building a "good enough" kit. The next one is gonna be something simple.

Criticism is a touchy subject for anyone, one person treasure is a another disaster LOL. My opinion is it should always be (For Model building here,everything else is up to you to wing it LOL) non personal,constructive and reassuring. So the builder can walk away not with his or her head down but with a better understanding of what they did, and what they can do better and what they did good..If you can not do that, and a lot of us can not including my self at times, you should just leave the opinion to nothing, and unless asked personally. Me my self,  i know the level of my building skills, if i have a glob of glue visible, i know, its hard to admit it, but to be chastised, pr pointed out to me over and  over, is not going to help me nether..

There isn't a kit in my collection  I have called "done" that I didn't look at it months or even years later and see some glaring problem that totally escaped my original notice. Sometimes this is due to my skills improving other times its because I haven't looked at it in awhile and now see it from the perspective of a stranger seeing it for the first time.

I have been entering contests since the mid 70s and I have never heard anyone tell a builder that his entry shouldn't even be entered because of the way it looks.

I have seen judges at the regionals and nationals walking around with the actual aircraft manuals to see if the model has what the real aircraft had on it. One had a book of pictures so he could check to see if the markings were accurate down to the smallest detail and heaven help the modeler if it didn't.  Some  people are just that way.  I got stuck with a guest judge one time that started talking about a model we were approaching.  He said he was getting tired of seeing this kit entered all the time and it never won anything was wondering why this person that he knew kept entering it.  I immediately called for a main judge, explained what just happened, then explained that this was the first time it was entered and I was also disqualifying myself because I can't judge my own model.

Anyway, go ahead and enter.  Do it for the experience if you want, do it for the fun, but do it if you can.  You get to meet all sorts of people, get tips on how to do certain things you are interested in, maybe find a kit or decals, or detail set you have been trying to find or didn't know was available.  Before I started going to and entering contests I would build a model and then what.  It would sit on a shelf until I got rid of it someway.  Most would go to recruiter's displays, but many would just sit there.  As they did I would wonder if it was really any good.

At the contests you meet all sorts of people who can tell you little known facts or general information about your subject that you might never have known otherwise.  

If you don't win, you don't win.  It's not the end of the world or your building life.  Believe me, I've been building since I was five in the 50s and I have lost plenty of times and still keep coming back.

Wait.. the judge commented on why a certain kit is always being entered  and was getting tired of seeing it? Talk about an insult. Another reason why I don't believe in entering model contests. I often wonder if it can get political in judgings.

I have to believe this judge is one of a few, LOL i hope. My models are not historically anything.. Colors, decals, my builds have faults, maybe lots, you will see glue in places. They are what they are. I am not going to criticize a judge for not grading my builds. I would just want appreciation for my effort, if i call out the judge for his or her opinion,well then i am the only one to blame for there critique of my build.. I have gone to a couple shows, i have not brought any builds, i can see where the intimidation comes in. There is a lot of great builders, but i think there is a need for all skill level,and judges need to weigh this in when judging. Have fun, build lots.

He was the only one like that I ever ran into.  It did surprise him when things suddenly went against him and I withdrew judging for that reason.  He got assigned to one of the club's leaders to judge a different area.  As for me, I stopped judging after that for this and another reason.