Need Help: I have Modeller's Block!

My way of dealing with the problem was to simply take a break from modeling for a while. When I went back I picked the first of three models and built it straight from the box.
Forget the detail police, build for yourself and please yourself.

"build what you like-like what you build."

Maybe your expectations for your models are just too high. Why don't you just try one OOTB build...

 

If anything, step away for a while, then come back to it.

first

jhande those limits are more than reasonable

second

on the detail police hang out here long enough and you will meet them

I think Jim hit the nail on the head when he said "go back to basics" ...  I too returned to the hobby about 2 yrs ago... I started getting better, and noticing all the bling out there for the kits and wanting to try it.  Eventually I got into a block and couldn't build.  At one time I had about 6 unfinished kits sitting around my modeling room.

One day I took ALL the unfinished kits and put them in the closet.  I bought a cheap little kit with few parts and built it up in like 2 days... it felt SOOOOO good to finish a kit.  No worrying about does the PE or the kit piece look better, or "did I do enough research for this to look right" etc.  I knew the kit was cheap, I knew it was probably a bit inaccurate... but hey.. I FINISHED it!!!

Now every time the old block comes out I politely say good night to whatever I am building and take something out of my "easy" stash. 

I do mostly aircraft so I bought a few of the Academy 1/72 WWII kits and put them in the closet.  As a matter of fact, while I am waiting on the paints to arrive for my Dragon Tiger II that had all the PE and indie tracks you could ask for, I am building a Fi-156 Storch that has at the max 20 pieces to it... and probably will make me feel better about the way the kit looks than the Tiger in the end!!!

I agree with a lot of what Jhande said. One thing that works for me is to take a break for awhile. Don't pressure yourself. If its getting boring, walk away. Its not a crime, and its not a job. Your the boss, you can take a day or a week or a year off if you wish. I have the half built kits laying around to, and there is only one way to handle that problem. Take a break for as long as you need, and when you come back, pick one that is the closest to being done and sit down and finish it. If you get bored, walk away, but don't let yourself open another one until that one is sitting on the shelf, and don't rush it either, take your time and do it right, you will find that once you start feeling like you are accomplishing something again, you will start to feel better about it. Good luck

When I was younger, well ok 30+ years ago, I used to build car models all the time. I would try to find things around house to customize them, we didn't have fancy stuff back then or internet. I burnt out and went back to basics, but it was too late... I lost interest.

But now the spark is back and both me and my 10 year old son are building cars together. He's all excited about the custom stuff we found on the internet, but Dad's a drag. I set limits, heck, I'm not spending $10.00 for a kit and $50.00 to cutomize it.

So here's the limits I set for us:
We can either paint them whatever color we want, or research the factory colors.
We can add flocking for carpeting and make floor mats.
We can add wiring, fuel lines, brake lines.
We will only order new rims and tires if the ones in the kit are REAL BAD. But then we'll only order when we have a few sets we need to save on shipping.
We can make some parts out of styrene plastic.
I'm still debating on seatbelts (photo-etched buckles) and making resin parts.

My son gave me grief, I told him - "Who buys the stuff? And I can always return the airbrush and we can go back to spray cans". (not that I would...shhh)

I think just going back to the basic's that made it fun in the beginning for you might help. At least it's worth a try. And forget about all that extra detail stuff.

I'll bet you can make it look awesome just with the kit and paint.  

Maybe you just need to take a break from it for awhile. The idea is to have fun, build to please yourself and the heck with the "Detail Police"

I can only tell you that I've been there and done that. What cures me is to go back to basics. I pick and old kit and build it straight out of the box. No extras, no fanfare, just build for me.

 

Steve

The whole of 2005 was a modelling void for me. I just seemed to have other things to do, or a bedroom to decorate, etc.  My last model was a rally car in the GB in my sig, finished about this time a year ago.

Now I can't wait to get going again. Darker evenings and bad weather help too

At the moment I'm just doing out-of-the-box stuff. This is partly to increase the number of builds I complete. I know a lot of people enjoy researching a particular subject, or superdetailing, etc, but at the moment I decided to trust the manufacturer, build it as per the instructions, and use their decals.  They won't be show winners, but they will be finished!

One of the things that really got me chomping at the bit last year when I couldn't do any modeling was to come back from a day out at an airshow, museum or motorsport event with my head full of ideas.

Why not try taking a break and going to see the real thing?

Steve,

You're just getting overwhelmed on trying to make your models into award winning projects.  Just do/build them for youself.  The heck with the Detail Police, they probably couldn't build a decent model themselves.

I too see all those Detail Sets and after market decals.  I realized that I can not afford all those extras.  I improve on what is in the kit and make a good representation of what is real.  In reality, most of the subjects/models go through a lot of revisions, subtractions, addition, etc. that no one can tell the difference.

Take a week, well maybe a couple of days off of any model building.  Just build them to satisfy yourself.

Here's hoping I wrote something to help you get back at it.

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