Favorite and least favorite step of the build

It is NOT my favorite thing to reach the final stages of building an automobile model to find that it has alignment problems. One wheel is off the ground while the other three touch nicely or the body sits kitty-wampus on the chassis, the grill won't fit straight or the hood has too much gap around the edges and my favorite is that the windshield won't go in without major surgery. Yes.....trial and error, fit as you go, check your work...automobile models are a pain....But I like cars soooooo much.

I just remembered a task that I really loath.  Whether it is an early step or the last step in a build depends on my motivation.  I use a suction style airbrush, and have several bottles. I mix up the colors for the current build near the beginning of the build, so I can just grab the right bottle when it is time to paint something.  I could, I suppose, just toss the bottles when I am done with the build, but that seems a bit extravagent, so I wash out the bottles- a messy and difficult operation (I use enamels).  I can generally get about three builds out of a bottle.  I buy them a dozen at a time, and I have to buy new ones every so often when some bottles no longer clean up adequately.  But I hate the bottle cleaning.

Favorite: painting and decals

Least favorite: sanding

Favorite: I like most all aspects of a build, but if I had to pin it down to one thing--assembly is what I enjoy most. Throw some fabrication in there and that puts my engine running on all cylinders.

Least favorite: I absolutely hate poorly written instructions, and nowadays, that is the norm. All too often instruction sheets are terribly vague made worse by low detail illustrations. It really bugs me that I need to research a 1:1 just so I can assemble a part correctly, so in that vein, I hate researching. It's a real velocity killer.

Second to that, like what Patrick said, a tough to fix highly visible part that is poorly designed.

stikpusher

 Favorite part: the finish line. Finally getting that project done and taking in the finished work for the first time.

Least favorite: the hump point that nearly every project has where I tend to lose interest for one reason or another... it could be in seams, or painting, or  assembly.... 

 

Just got over that hump point on my current project. I never know how long that will last, sometimes a few days to a few weeks.

 Favorite part: the finish line. Finally getting that project done and taking in the finished work for the first time.

Least favorite: the hump point that nearly every project has where I tend to lose interest for one reason or another... it could be in seams, or painting, or  assembly.... 

Favorite: Building cockpits

Least favorite: Applying Bare Metal Foil to aircraft. It just seems to take forever.

GMorrison

Favorite: opening the box.

FLeast favorite: paying for the box.

 

or a close finishing the kit for least favorite. I find finishing a kit a bit of a letdown until I remember I have more kits to build.

I hate the putty, sand, prime, repeat process.  But I love painting, and final assembely.  Decals can either be fun, or drive me nuts.  It all depends on how the decals behave.

armornut

slowing down is good

When I got back into modelling 10 years ago, I could only do little bits between work and family obligations. What I found was that this allowed paint and glue to dry properly before I went on to the next step, improving my modelling significantly. Impatience was always my biggest problem when I was a teenager in the 70s.

Ironic when I think about it: I was in too much of a hurry when I had all the time in the world.

Tick, yea slowing down is good, my problem though is actually finding those few moment between work, and other stuff to do. All in all, I'll get everything done......someday........

Boy " G " ; 

       You sure hit that nail on the head ! T.B.

I generally like everything except sanding the road wheels, and cleaning up the individual track links. As I carefully manipulate the small 1/72 parts I can hear the carpet monsters baying.  

In the case of models that need fixing...

Favorite: Planning all the cool stuff I want to try and do to make this model better.

Least favorite: When finished, Thinking about all the things I could or

should have done.

In the middle of all that is the absolute enjoyment and satisfaction of 

"The Build".

        Nino

@ armornut

I did that at first when I started back with modelling last year. It was mainly inexpensive Tamiya models I was practicing different skills on. I quickly learned when I started a more detailed model, I did not enjoy that. Now it's one at a time until I'm done. Slowed me down too which is a good thing for me.

Favorites are decaling and weathering (with one exception on decaling).  Things I don't like are seam cleanup and weighting nose on trike gear planes.

Exception to decals is when I neglect to test sheet for shattering.  I usually scan sheet so in worst case I can try inkjet decal duplicates.  If I test and they break up I have a bottle of decal film.  If I forget to scan and test, however, I can lose a good decal.

I like weathering because I can stop at any point- it is optional.

I can do seam cleanup okay, but it takes patience.  Nose weight is a problem if kit does not tell you how much to use and you have to figure it out for yourself.

Favourite part is starting on a new build; ideas of ooh I'm going to do this and this and make this bit look really used. Least favourite hitting a snag scratching the head, then I start procrastinating time goes by until I have to catch the bull by the horns. 

I'm with GMorrison, LOL. love to build and all involved however least favorite is NOT finishing something before I start something new......ooooooh SHINY

Best part definitely is taking the sprues out of the box and figuring out how this thing is going to look put together.

Worst part for me is masking. Especially multi colored paint jobs. But the reward is the end result.

I am not a fan of painting. I just hate it and would be satisfied to park unpainted kits on the shelf with just minor detail painting; like we did when we were kids.

I like just assembling the components, building the kit and watching it take shape.

Favorite is taking the sprues out from the bag and examining them for the first time.  Least favorite is painting.

Favorite: opening the box.

Least favorite: paying for the box.

What I dislike the most is painting  faces on figures . I can handle all else ok . I guess I’ll keep  practicing on them

I would say my least favorite part is masking the canopy.  Especially when building 1/72 scale. UGH.  Favorite part is everything else.  i dont mind sanding and filling seams especially since i discovered Mr. Surfacer.  What a game changer. The second worse part oabout building a model is finishing one.  I always hate to see em leave the bench

Actually, I find enjoyment in all aspects of a build, especially the painting. I even like the time spent on making minor adjustments for parts that pose some difficulty, that require only some filing, sanding, shimming, etc, just some massaging really.

But what does present a genuine negative, is critical parts that are just so poorly made they cannot be corrected to at least an acceptable state. Mainly that is the canopy bits, one of the most important and visible components. Thankfully that rarely happens, especially over the past several years.

I love the assembly process more than anything else and dislike weathering, probably because I'm not good at it plus I'm impatient.