Do you ever get tired and...

It's the story of my modelling life. For me, I think it's the old bugaboo of "perfect is the enemy of the good". I have several projects that are not too far from completion, but I keep seeing some really great models from others, and think that I should hold off finishing them until I can get those same perfect results. In the end, I know my kits will never be perfect, and that the only way to get better is to build, build, build, and not be afraid to make mistakes along the way. As human beings, many of us learn the most from our mistakes and failures, so I try to remind myself of that fact during each build. I am almost done with a 1/1200 Titanic, and it is far from perfect, and I am OK with that. Heck, it's hard to feel bad if your model is less than perfect when you picked it up for less than $10!

Yes Stik, it happens to me all the time!  I think I have built a model straight away only a few times since the 1980s.  Sometimes the time span is condiderable, like 20 years.   The decades-old projects usually are the ones where I run into (or create) a problem that I cannot satisfactorily solve.  I have a 1/48 Tamiya Rex floatplane that I bought in the early 1990s which has nothing wrong with it, but I just can't seem to get around to paint it.  The Aliens APC I'm working on now is of similar vintage.

I do get a little sad and envious seeing other guys crank out model after model, but I try to reason to myself that building stuff at my own snail pace is okay so long as I am having a good time.

stikpusher

 reach the point of just wanting to be done with a project?...............

You have just stated the reason why I have started to build some duplicate models; one OOB to create immediate satisfaction and one, more involved project which proceeds as skill and time permit.

That probably describes most of us.  I've been stalling on a wooden ship for over a decade over the wooden planking.  My current BF 110 build is down to the fiddley bits like canopy doors, antenna wires and tiny PE handles but these few little things are taking forever!  Too much superdatailing damages my calm.

I'm going full Toshi on the next build. Build it, paint it, stick it on a shelf, move on to the next one!  Few days tops.  That sounds lke more fun.

OMG!  All the time!  Last night I was trying to put the finishing touches on my Revell F-86D.  It's coming along so nicely but so slowly at the same time.  All I had to do to finish it up was paint the stupid framing on the front windscreen and I could call it done.  I masked and painted the simple frames but, in my effort to just get the darned thing done, I picked it up before the silver paint fully dried.  Now I've got a small bit of a silver finger print on the inside of the windscreen.  GRRRR!!!  Stupid mistakes like that is what happens when you get impatient because the build seems to never end.  

Eric

yes and the bigger the model the more likely due to model cost and time invested, i have 3 little things that have sidelined my K-5 RR gun for half a year.

Boy Howdy! Happens to me a lot and it can be anything - a scribe to fix, an unhappy paint color, PE boredom, or you name it. If I have a new direction for 2016, it's to tackle those issues, one unfinished project at a time and get some of those models completed.

But then again, there's a couple new kits whispering "open me, open me"...

Yup, had this happen during the '45 GB, working on USS Shangri-La. It took a lot more scratch-building than I'm used to (normally I don't do any; OOB is usually just fine with me), and a lot of frustrating PE work; stuff falling off or being knocked off by clumsiness; doing, redoing. It took about three weeks to scratch build the two tubs for the Mk 51 gun directors alone. Yuck!

It helps to set the project aside for a day or more, let better attitudes and perspectives develop--have some Guinness (or scotch, in serious cases); and resume things when the time is right.

I also find much rejuvenation from reverting to simpler kits I've built before. There's always room for one more Battle of Britain Spitfire or Hurricane!

I'm at that point right now for the first time, being a relative newb. Will post details soon.

A definite yes to that question.

As with the others, all the time.

The last time was with my 1/320 KC-10 (in the Aircraft forum). Months into the project and I ask myself why I have gotten myself into this awful quicksand.

There are also times I wish Im done with a kit even before I start building. These are situations where Im really excited to build a kit but Im holding back until I could get solid references.  Ive got a 1/700 Pohang class corvette and a 1/72 FA-50 waiting in the cages right now that I wish I could start and finish.

Yes stik, sadly all too often.

Absolutely, yes.

Yes. There is a cure.

A long while back I bought in on the Hans Von Hammer theory of model collections.

With few exceptions, when I finish, I throw them away.

GMorrison

Yes. There is a cure. A long while back I bought in on the Hans Von Hammer theory of model collections. With few exceptions, when I finish, I throw them away.

I wasn't aware there was a name for this :) I don't throw them away, they usually end up being given to my nephews. This has the added benefit that they get broken very quickly and my mistakes are then hidden for good. Then someone else throws them away.

Far too often!  I have three long shelves filled with in-progress kits that are up there while I temporarily work on something else.  Some of them have been up there for ten to fifteen years :-(

templar1099

I'm at that point right now for the first time, being a relative newb. Will post details soon.

Well. After reading some of the later posts I'm glad I had to come back to this topic. What I thought was a case of hubris, choosing a subject too ambitious for me, turns out to be an evolutionary stage of this hobby. In for a penny..., I hit the wall with the ship and succumbed to MBS by starting a new subject. It was like a psychic enema and am already thinking of the next one to pull off the shelf. Maybe it's just seeing some concrete ( quicker ? ) progress, or the change in subjects. Anywho, I appear to be in good company. GMorrison, you throw them away?

Man, I can't imagine throwing something away that I devoted so much time and effort to.  Someone else may do that someday, but not me.

So it is not just me... sounds like I am in some good company. Right now I have a couple of HMMWVs that are oh so close and I am trying to power thru them in the next few days. Part of me says finish 'em up ASAP so I can say I got something done in January. And part of me says slow it down and do the last bits up right no matter how long and how much I am holding up the line...

stikpusher

 reach the point of just wanting to be done with a project? There is a little detail, two, or three, that you have holding you up, have been for quite some time, and you either can let it sit and eventually you can possibly get it done with a future better degree of skill, or you can get it done now with lesser finesse and move on to other projects you are more fired up to work on...  

 

Have you been looking over my shoulder while I'm building? That is so very true. Just when I'm about done with a kit, I would sit at the bench and just stare at it, some time for days unable to find the motivation to fully finish it.

CN Spots

That probably describes most of us.  I've been stalling on a wooden ship for over a decade over the wooden planking.  My current BF 110 build is down to the fiddley bits like canopy doors, antenna wires and tiny PE handles but these few little things are taking forever!  Too much superdatailing damages my calm.

I'm going full Toshi on the next build. Build it, paint it, stick it on a shelf, move on to the next one!  Few days tops.  That sounds lke more fun.

 

Wow!! Toshi has his own verb now! Cool!!

I do have this syndrome, but it 's more because of my job. I'll get started on a kit, and then it might be the next weekend before I get back to it, or, as in most of my builds, it'll be months before I get another crack at it. My job keeps me on the road quite a bit, and weekend work happens as well. When I do get to have some time at home, it's usually getting caught up with all the things the wife wants/needs done. So, modeling time is of a secondary nature.

A big issue that I encounter with this is that I forget where I've stopped on a build, and spend a considerable amount time going over the build to figure out where I need to continue. Even annotating the instruction sheet doesn't help me most of the time. 

And painting is big hang-up for me, too. That's the part of a build that I actually dread, and I think it's because of all the clean-up involved afterwards. The actual painting is pleasant enough - just hate that darned clean-up afterwards!

Gary Mason