Ever get in a rut with modeling that you can't...

This is a tough one... SOMetimes I feel a bit like that too. When I do I usually start a new model -- that may be why I have about 10 in various stages of completion!

Also I have had a little more energy about modeling since I decided to build them the way I want them... i.e. Team naplak Formula 1 cars... and a YF-23 fighter as a racing plane...

And for my 737... my own Airline... IoAir!

Sounds cool. It might be that I am a perfectionist and what I envision in my head rarely translates into the quality that I expect. And I know that I am not the worlds most skilled modeler.

While I know this is unimportant as most who view my work are in awe, I know the shortcomings.

Maybe I am just a little ADD :)

Been there Marine1. It took me 5 years to get out of my modelling funk. I tried just about everything to get out of it. Starting new kits, changing area of focus, going on photo shoots @ museums. What got me out of it was just a friend, who had no experience building models, coming over and seeing my old, dusty collection and asking a million and one questions. Picked up a kit the next day and started building again. At a slower pace mind you, but still building. These forums really help too.

I have to agree with Shermanfreak. The quickest way to get energized about modeling is to read this forum on a daily basis! It must get the subconscious mind working on it or something, but I find myself just itching to get back to the workbench. Try it!!

I am. I remember when I sent an email suggesting a forum for this site. And they did it. Not that I had anything to do with it. They even picked the same snitz program that I use for my website.

I am just so freaken worn out by the end of the day that I just can't get started and by the weekend, I am what I refer to as recovering and doing yard work.

I love to read the forum when I can and I go on lots of photo shoots.

Hang in there marine1...just make the time and you'll work yourself out of it. It may not be today, tomorrow or next week, but it will happen. Just stay in touch with the hobby and them juices will start to flow. Play hookie from work one day and glue yourself to your modelling bench and have at her.

I am hanging by all twelve fingers. How do we post a pic in a thread? I have my own website with the pic's.

Use either "reply to topic" or "post new topic"
Find the insert image icon, it kind of looks like an arrow head pointing at a pic
click on it and you will get this on your screen
insert your url for the pic on your site between those two symbols like this

please note tha there is no space between the g and the ] when you go to post a pic, I had to do this to show the sequence on screen.
Hope this helps

Ahhhh, I remember those days. Been used to just uploading pics to the webserver hosting the forum.! :)

Some hosts will work here, some won't. That's why I made my own little site, so much easier that way and I have no problems posting anywhere.

I hear ya marine1. I know exactly what you mean by being a perfectionist and getting discouraged because the finished models are not what you had imagined. It took me awhile to get my head around that but finally I just said to myself, They may not be exactly what you envisioned but you'll never get any better if you don't keep building. Just try and concentrate on the one sub-assembly or the one aspect that really turned out better than you expected and that may just give you the push to keep going. There are a lot of good tips in this thread and there is also another thread on this site that deals with the same topic (I don't recall where just at the moment, sorry). This site had a lot to do with me getting excited about the hobby again. Also, going to a couple of meetings of the local modelling club really got the juices flowing. Bottom line is, you've got to want to and if you don't feel like it that may mean packing everything up and putting it completely out of sight and out of mind for awhile and then one day when you least expect it, you'll get bit again and nothing will be able to stop you.
Keep hangin' in there. We're all behind you, cause we've all been there too.

Ray

Yeah, I have my own site, I just have to actually set up the format that I want. I got gobs of reasearch photos that I would like to for people to have access to. Can anyone guess the photo above? It was taken in Mesa, AZ at Falcon Field.

All I know Marine1 is what it's not...it's not a Sherman Tank and Ray's right above clubs too. Be with modellers and see what they're doing and it will help get over them blues.
Hey Ray....how's Saskatoon.....they got a great club there.

P.S. my real guess would be a German long range recon aircraft..the name escapes me but Condor comes to mind

It is an HE-111. I am looking for a club at here in AZ. Living 20 mile from civilization has its drawbacks :) I am gonna see who at work is into modeling. Several are into photography.

When I was in Wichita, a friend of mine and I used to get together at least 3 or 4 times a week to work on models. It was really cool and he was real good. I'll make it. Just gets ya bummed now and then.

I really like this forum and FSM has come a long way from when I first read their magezine back in the 80's

I still get like that. I'll leave a kit or 2 for a couple of months while I'm off doing other things.
I usually get stuck during the sanding stage.

2 things usually get me back into it - a trip to the history section of the bookstore or my monthly copy of FSM (unabashed plug- naaaahhhhhh) - this is also assuming I don't have clients crawling up my backside for work to be done.

marine1, try this, two hours yard work earns you one hour at the model table. Even if you just sit & stare at the pieces, eventually you'll pick up two bit's and dry fit them together, then you'll look for the glue, and with a bit of luck, you'll be away!
sorry to be pedantic, but the aircraft featured earlier, Isn't it actually a CASA C-2111, with the Confederate ( Or nowadays Commemorative) Airforce.
Me, I'm working in Riyadh, 3000 miles from home (UK) even with satellite TV there's not much on and there's always something on the model desk to do. With all this spare time, my problem is stopping modelling!

Well it belongs to the Arizona wing of the Confederate Airforce in Mesa AZ. They labeled it an HE-111. I have lost most of my aircraft identifying skills over the years, so I just go for the name card on the craft till time to research it. I'll post up a different shot of it tonight. An overall one.

Yeah, I like that, but I figure one hour of yard work 2 at the table. :)

looks the same as a fw 200 but...

Here is another view of the first pic I posted. Like I said the chart said HE-111. It looks like it.

What is it you marines say in tough situations? Learn ,adapt ,and overcome? (Or something like that) I my self have just pulled out of a slump that lasted about two years. What I did is pick two kits out of my collection that will never be contest quality and bashed them together and now I have a really cool looking mig-21 with phantom wings in 1/32 scale.This prodject has brought me back to the table like a bat out of hell.My problem was(and still is)that I tried to put that 100% in to every kit that I built and that burn't me out.The kit bash prodject has brought me back to the basics of building and I had forgotten how much fun the basics can be.The model does not have to be perfect to be fun.
Hang tough. You will break through soon.




SEMPER FI............

Adapt, overcome, improvise, survive. I am getting there. I guess the biggest problem is that I work 8-10 hours a day, then have a total of about 2 hours in car commuting, and little time actually at the ranch. So I feel like I have to cram everything I do into a space of about 2 hours before bed. It just feels like whatever I am doing, whether it is fun or not, that I could be doing something else so I don't relax and end up running from one thing to the next. It is like I don't want to waste time doing just one thing, when really it isn't wasting time. Can you follow that logic?

Maybe think of it this way - if you're in a bit of a funk (for whatever reason) and can't get out, maybe have a look through some old model mags - look at the photos of models and think "I can do a better job than that"! Then go for it and put it into practice.
Or think of the folks who CAN'T model, and think even ordinary efforts look fantastic. We're our own harshest critics, you know.
As the commercial says, "Just Do It".

Here's some advice that works for me. (my schedule is very tight too and there isn't much time I have for the hobby):
1. I keep a stack of magazines handy that I flip through when I can.
2. I spend about 10-15 minutes at my bench every day, even if it's just cleaning up or cutting parts off of trees.
3. I've started to 'plan' my kits out (ie. write a gameplan). Not sure how this is gonna work out yet, but after one day it is really promising. I accomplished more in 20 minutes tonight than I have in the last week...)
4. get onto the forum for a short time each day. I can't read everything, so I just hit the threads that look interesting to me and contribute what I can.)

So far that's kept me fresh as a daisy!

M.

So far seem to be working.

I have had a spell or 2 that i just had no vision on what i wanted to build, then I see a movie or a race and the wheels start spinning again. having my daughter and nephew get into building also helps. I'm the "uncle" all the other family members fear because they never know what's going to happen as soon as i come in the room. I also try not to say " we'll do that later" later to a kid means never gonna happen and i'd rather have the kids find something in our hobby room to do than turn on the PS2 any day. The other tip for getting out of a rut I read somewhere was to get a kit, open the box and start glueing, no paint no added parts nothing but what came in the box,and just glue it together. blowing it up or setting it on fire afterwards is optional, kids don't try this at home.

Shouldn't be a problem there. I have like a hundred kits.

just buy snap kits. i also do acrylic(tamiya and model master) paintings on paper, try to throw my knifes into a block of styro, and i try to airbrush paterns onto paper when im bored

I think it is just learning to slow down too that I must master. I feel like I have to be doing everything all the time.

Yeah, paint camo patterns!