What's yer limit ?

Hi Chris ;

I guess you could say I am a long distance or cross country marathoner . It takes as much as two years for a Good Model car .Maybe a year and up to three for Ships ( not sailing vessels ). and maybe a year or more for a Plane .

    The reason ? Well , I have commissions so I do model usually six to seven hours a day . Sometimes more . So - I just want to get away from the work area .Then I will look at my models and get the thought , " Hmmm, Maybe I better get this plane farther along in the build or this piece of armor . "         T.B.

For plastic -- about 3-4 hours.  But I mostly work 2 hours at a time. 

For balsa -- I can go all day if I have the time. If im building RC its MUCH larger then anything platsic so I am forced to walk around a lot which keeps me from cramping up. When I work with plastic i'm just sitting in one spot for hours and I get neck aches and such ( only 25 years old, but hey lol).

For airbrushing -- I try to keep it not much longer then 2 hours.  My hands cramps up on the brush.

I don't usually have more then 30-60 minutes at a time with so much other stuff going on.

I'm definitely a sprinter. I will usually during the week, get a few minutes here and there. I really don't want to take time away from my family. But, I could easily be a marathon runner. Back, before marriage and kids, I would get "lost" in a build. I would build all day, even forgetting to eat.

Funny, I used to smoke back then. I remember lighting a cigarette, taking a puff, then get back to work on the kit. Then I would go take another drag, and the cigarette was out. The whole thing burned away in the ash tray. 

Between 30-90 minutes. When I Airbrush not more than 30-45 minutes cause I want to keep the maximum concentration. For a Tamyia 1/35 tank it took around 1-2 months to complete the kit. 

 IF there's nothing earth shattering to do around the house and my wife doesn't need any help in her workroom I can keep going till I realize the next day is here. I work whenever I can for as long as I can. 

Jim  

I build models for the sheer enjoyment of it and never get in a hurry.  As soon as it starts to feel like work ,I quit for a while then come back to it, especially on the "work segments" like scraping seam lines and flash off all those tiny parts...not fun.  I can go for hours though on detail painting pits etc.on aircraft .  I just love doing that.

I also however have some physical limits with my bad back and arthritis in my hands. Sometimes those limit my bench time as well.

Interesting question, being retired for 15 years now, no kids, just a wife, house and dog, I have pretty much unlimited time. But at 75, Father Time is having his way and I have some physical limitations to deal with, so long sessions at the bench cause some issues. 

I'd guess I spend three hours daily, spread over two or three times. The eyes get tired before long, shakiness is another issue, and general discomfort from sitting for more than one hour at a time.

Still, the progress is satisfactory and I enjoy the time building/painting. In earlier years I was concentrating on detailing, now I'm content with turning out good "two footers."

What a great way to enjoy our leisure hours, and the neighborhood kids love to get them for ceiling hangers. Many have made their way in to aviation museums, hopefully they will be enjoyed by others for years to come.

Patrick 

Gee Patrick !

     I am just beginning to appreciate those " Two Footers " Still get them up and close though . It ain't any easier at 73 believe me .  T.B.

I'm a notorious slow builder... I mean really slow... as a sloth.

Hmmm. Good question. Both. Im semi-retired, Kids are grown & some live in other cities. I have a good amount of time but seem to build at the same rate..lol One thing I have started though is to go back & finish started kits so my kids can sell all new stuff when Im not around..lol

OldSalty⛵✈

This time of year (work season), it's hard to even get motivated. If I only have an hour or two block of time, I can't do it. It usually takes a good hour or two, just to get in the groove. If I get a rain day (no work), I have a free day, with nothing "hanging over my head"...I can bench for hours. In Winter, when I'm not working and have no obligations, I'll bench all day, and into the wee hours of the a.m. I've had many 10-12, even on up to 16 hour sessions...broken up only by short breaks.

I'll get a helluva lot more done in one 8 hour session, than I could ever get done in as many as 5-6 two-three hour sessions. All about "the groove"!

Right On Brother!! "The Groooove" Very important

OldSalty⛵✈

I usually spend 2 to 3 hours daily on my builds.I have to wait for my wife to go to bed to head down to the workshop.That is fine as I am a nightowl and usually work 2nd shift which works out just fine!

I work as an auto body tech in a kind of laid back shop, and don't do the big hits anymore, so have some time on my hands.  I usually get a few 20-30 minute sessions in there, along with AB parts and such.  At home I will generaly get an hour or so in the evenings on a couple of kits there. Have a couple of other projects going right now, so weekends are full of other things, at least til summer is over and the PNWet comes back. 

This is quite an interesting question - and not one i can remembers seeing on the forum previously.

For me, I only have limited work time, given i'm still in full time employment. If i'm not too tired at the end of the day, i can get 30 - 60 mins in, BUT, more often than not, on a weeknight, i don't do any.

Which means, come the weekend, i do as much as possible. Some weekends (like this one just been) that may only be 60 minutes due to other commitments, but, if i have no other obligations I can easily go for 3+ hours without realising how much time has flown by.  I think the longest session in one sitting was close to 5 hours.

Nice thread Bossman. I am a full fledged marathoner. Takes me roughly a year to finish even a 1/72 single engine aircraft. My bench time is in spurts between work and other obligations. Honestly, most of it is of my own choosing. I love to work in our yard, go hiking and play with the cat and dog. Another huge distraction for me is sports. Namely Denver Bronco football and Utah Jazz basketball. Can't help it, I've got to sit and watch the games.

I get in some quality modeling in the mornings. In fact, I get up at 4:00 am and get in some bench time before I have to open the store at 7:00. I am not much of an evening modeler. Although at times I get the urge. Then, if I have little or no obligations, I might pop an hour or so on my days off. Today in fact was an exceptional bonus day as I got about 2 hrs in.

I to am a marathoner due to I use enamels which require longer drying times between coats. The masking process also. I spend about 20 to 30 minutes on any particular build. On the average for me is 2 to 3 months for completing a finished build

At this time of year, my bench time drops, and I work in short sessions, a half-hour here or there, sometimes in the early morning, when I wake up, and before I have to go to work.  I spend a lot more time outside in the summer. 

When winter comes, I'll spend more time, a couple of hours a night during the week, and a couple hours on the weekend.  But never more than two or three hours at a stretch.

It's seasonal, winter time 4-5 hours on the days I build, slowly decreasing as weather changes. This summer the weather has been beautiful, unless you're a farmer, and have had to make time to get anything done.

I may get some additional bench time in this week, in the evenings, because it's going to be stinking hot outside the next three days.  Even in the basement, it's 70, but that's better than upper 90s to 100.  With temperatures like that, and an attendant humidity, it's actually too hot to drink a beer, which is what I'd otherwise do.

Man, 70 degrees would be a real "cold front" here in Texas this time o' year.

I almost always have time to tinker, my problem is motivation, however when the bug bites me I can spend an entire day building, bending, and filling, heck even sanding mold lines or seams is relaxing( not my favorite part). When it comes to bulk painting, fine detail,and weathering it's all engines stop. Not sure why, do enjoy finally finishing something though. I have probably two or three hours a day I can devote, just lazy.

Chris, you're not alone.  Your situation sounds exactly like mine.  During the work week, I might snag a half hour here and there if I'm lucky.  Sometimes it's even less than that.  We have a big chest freezer right next to my work bench area.  When my wife sends me down to bring up some ground meat, I might take a detour over to my bench and glue a couple of tire halves together or drybrush the instrument panel on my latest build before I head back upstairs.

The weekends can be a bit different.  Friday nights and Saturday nights, if I do head down to my bench, are when I might spend a couple of hours working on a kit.  But at the same time, if my family is up, I'd much rather be with them than sequestered away from them at the work bench.  So as I think about it, my modeling time really consists of stolen moments throughout the week.  It's like the eternal question of "How do you eat an elephant?" or in my case, "How do you build a model?"  The answer is "One bite at a time."

Eric

Ha !  That's pretty funny Eric - I'm the same way - with a basement workspace . . .  I'll go down in the basement for some reason, see "the next thing" waiting for me on the bench . . .  and before long I can't remember why I went down to the basement in the first place.

Really - It's just the models - they kinda "jump me" - it's not like I'm losing my memory or anything.

What was this thread about ?

Bossman

Ha !  That's pretty funny Eric - I'm the same way - with a basement workspace . . .  I'll go down in the basement for some reason, see "the next thing" waiting for me on the bench . . .  and before long I can't remember why I went down to the basement in the first place.

Really - It's just the models - they kinda "jump me" - it's not like I'm losing my memory or anything.

What was this thread about ?

 

 LOL!  Do you know how many times I've been sent to retrieve something from the basement, got sidetracked at the workbench, then yelled at by my wife when I've forgotten to bring up what I was sent downstairs for in the first place?  Too many times to count!  But ya gotta sneak in those precious building moments any chance you get, right?

I think it's been brought up here on this forum not too long ago about "model builder's ADHD" or something to that effect.  I love model building but if I just take it in small segments, it actually helps maintain my interest in the current build.  Don't get me wrong, I still love the occasional marathon session once or twice a year, but I'll take what I can get when I can get it.

Eric

 I usually get up at 4 every morning and have about 1 hour with the plastic between Mon-Thurs. Starting on Friday and on through Sunday things change up a bit since I'm off 3 days a week. I'll get anywhere from 3-4 hours on those days. I get up that early so as not to take any time away from my family and besides I like being up that early anyhow. There's no demand on my time except modeling when it's that early so I don't run into getting pulled away from the bench for a honey do or two.

Before classes started for me, if I wasn't busy, two weeks would work. Now that i'm getting busier, I squeeze in as much time as I can to build. 

I was given some good advise by a fellow modeler and tried for a while to make it a steady, regular habit of 60 minutes a night at the modeling bench.  It worked pretty well in the winter.

I am currently planning on retiring at the end of October this year so we will see what regular and productive modeling habits I can develop after that date. 

Sixty two days and a wake up!