Modeling Moods?

Well said MMthrax, have you ever considered writing as a career ?

Retired In Kalifornia

This is my final Airfix Savoia-Marchetti S.79 build completed today January 30, 2017 on what would had been Mom's 97th birthday. The "motivation" began in 2006 with my first build of this kit since the early 1980s followed by four others over the years, determined as I'd been to get all of them built.

This isn't my favorite model, deceptively easy to build all six had annoying quirks notably the cranky cockpit canopy fit necessitating gluing one side of it on a fuselage half before assembly, just glad the near 12-year journey building "these things" finally has ended.

 

That is a beautiful job and a beautiful airplane!

I suppose thats what gets me - the lines of a plane or car or the specific markings/camo inspire me to build.  I used to do theme builds - I had a huge collection of 1/48 US Naval aircraft, but there's only so much gull gray and blue one can do.... nah, I still love them.  I go off in different directions all driven by the aesthetic.  Some stories will drive me to build as well.

Jrock83

  what gets you going to start, continue or finish a model.  

To START, I love working with my hands.  OK, great, go replace the kitchen faucet.  Not so fast....

Modelling allows me to work with my hands, yet also be creative and artistic.  It allows me to express myself by building a car the way I want.  Choosing certain wheels, seats, engine, etc..  It allows me to learn about different engineering methods:  torsion bars vs coil springs, etc..  It also allows me to work with certain cars that I like but wouldn't want in real life.  No insurance, gas, tires, to worry about.  

To build a plane or a ship allows me to participate, in a very small way, in what the 1:1 article was about, and pay homage to the guys who really did it.  I don't have the guts to crawl up ratlines in the rain on the high seas to pull in a sail.  No way!  But I can look at the model and imagine the guys who did have the guts to do it.  I can imagine a Hellcat climbing high above the pacific trying to outrun a Zero, and in a very small way feel the thrill, or perhaps fright of the situation.

To CONTINUE, moving forward with a project brings great satisfaction.  Seeing subsystems come together into a whole is rewarding.  Seeing results is HUGE to me.  My job has me on the phone taking orders and selling parts.  When I leave at the end of the day, my desk looks exactly the same as when I got there.  When I was digging pools, at the end of the day there was a huge hole in the ground.  You actually felt like you got something done.  I enjoy tangible results.

To FINISH means you are getting somewhere, or perhaps got somewhere.  You are a bit better at painting, or putty, or now you have built all of a certain series of whatevers.  To finish one is to start the next one.  Forward momentum.  Progress.  The worst day modelling is better than the best day working.  When I am at work I feel disengaged and brain dead.  Modelling is involving, revolving.  Even the enraging is engaging.  I am believing that it is relieving, so I don't mind if it can be unkind.  I won't say Frig-it, 'cause I can dig it. 

going through one now , computer shut down , compressor is on the fritz , need inspiration , to get back onto my victory

Yeah, I work in spurts.  I'll have a dry spell, but if I have a meeting, or go to a show, that'll get me fired up again and I'll work on some projects.  Reading also inspires me to start any given project, or seeing a subject in a movie, things like that.

Hi Eric :

   Oh , You said the Magic word - MONOGRAM !! I have always loved their models , especially their Classic Cars and Hot Rods . I won't refuse to build and own any of their planes either . I loved the " Century " series !

     I still have their older kits with the working features . Remember the B-58 with dropping weapons pod feature ? Yup , Hanging in my shop , all dusty but still works !

 All those folding wings and the Visible Mustang of course . I think I built that about thirty years ago . Kept it in a bookcase inside , so it is nice and clear still .

 I only get " Model Drunk " when the FSM and Scale Auto arrive .

Some sort of media normally gets me interested in a subject. Whether it is a TV show, movie, newscast, book or article in a magazine or newspaper. A modeling magazine may deter me from buying a particular kit (if they say negative things about it) or guide me to buying one over the other (if two companies make the same subject).

I like building armor I crewed during my military career. A new, good, accurate kit of something I crewed is motivation to buy it.

Movies usually do it for me. I own "The Aviator" and each and every time I watch it I find myself unable to do anything else but model at the work bench. Very inspiring to me. When  my wife has a honey do list, she hides my Aviator DVD.

I am a member of my local IPMS.  We have two build days a month and a meeting once a month.  Talking shop, meeting with like minded builders keep me going.  Also entering into a contest once a year keep me motivated to continually improve and challenge myself.

I also try to fit in a couple of trips a year to visit museums that display armor and aircraft.

I find magazines, TV programs, movies, and especially books lead me to start a specific model project.  I find when stressors of life hits me, or a particularly busy time, when that is over I recover in my workshop with extra modeling time.  Modeling is a real stress reliever for me.  I can forget the real world and bury myself in my project.

Jrock, I'm pretty much with you.  I have probably a good 3-4 inch stack of FSM mags on my night stand that I love to leaf through.  As you phrased it so perfectly, it's enough to get me "model drunk" and, more often than not, I find something that sparks an interest in me to get started on a certain kit.

The exact same thing can be said about the FSM web site.  I see an endless stream of wonderful builds that really make my nose flair with heavy breathing.  As you can see from my banner below, I'm a huge Monogram fan.  I love going to the Monogram/Revell group builds and that's usually enough to make me race to the workbench filled with a newfound sense of inspiration.

Above all else, I think I get inspired in "sub-sections".  What I mean is, if I'm working on a cockpit and I see an excellent cockpit in a magazine or on line, then that's what inspires me to do the best that I can and even try new techniques on my cockpit.  Next, I'll read an article on seam clean-up or I'll see a picture where there's no seam on the leading edges of a wing and that'll inspire me to attempt to accomplish the same thing.  Then I'll see an article about masking and/or painting.  Then it's on to the decals, etc, etc, etc.  At times I think I have modelling ADD and I find it hard to keep on going just for the sake of finishing up a build.  But finding inspiration at certain stages of the build sort of "jump starts" me into going on to the next step in the build until it's finally all done.  If I'm lucky, and sometimes I am and sometimes I'm not, the finished product will be greater than the sum of its parts.

Eric