A 'just wondering' poll

Too much depends on "other commitments", those made by me and those made by others.

I could have a week where I spend 2-3 hours a day at the bench, only getting up to refill the glass or change the CD or channel, then there are the weeks where the hands refuse to work, I have to fill the obligations of  husband, father, coach, neighbor, son in law, brother in law and general all around dope that gets volunteered to do things other than kill spiders and lift heavy stuff . Oh, and if the fingers aren't as pliable as they should be for modeling, it doesn't matter when you have to haul shingles, move paint around a wall, cut grass, rake leaves, shovel snow,(yes in OCTOBER!), change the oil, etc.

If I could get to the bench for an hour a day I'd be happy, but it usually averages to that amount in a week.

Don

dkmacin wrote:

Too much depends on "other commitments", those made by me and those made by others. I could have a week where I spend 2-3 hours a day at the bench, only getting up to refill the glass or change the CD or channel, then there are the weeks where the hands refuse to work, I have to fill the obligations of  husband, father, coach, neighbor, son in law, brother in law and general all around dope that gets volunteered to do things other than kill spiders and lift heavy stuff . Oh, and if the fingers aren't as pliable as they should be for modeling, it doesn't matter when you have to haul shingles, move paint around a wall, cut grass, rake leaves, shovel snow,(yes in OCTOBER!), change the oil, etc. If I could get to the bench for an hour a day I'd be happy, but it usually averages to that amount in a week.   Don

I would consider myself a pretty serious builder.

Simply because I have hundreds of kits lieing around waiting to be built and I spend gobs of money to get all the necessary tools to make my modeling more enjoyable.

I try to get 5-10 hours each week but there are times I'll spend an entire day in the basement working on something. Then not be able to get back down there for a few days.

If I didn't have any other interests (WW2 reenacting, video games, movies, fiancé) I would spend everyday all day down there.

Tough question to answer.  A lot of my modeling time lately has been affected by our home remodeling, and when my daughter is with me every other week.  I try to spend a lot of quality time with the kids when she's here, to help with homework, play video games and watch movies with the family etc. 

So.... while the remodeling is going on and my daughter is here I'm lucky to get 2 or 3 hours of modeling in.

When the remodeling isn't going on, and my daughter is at her mom's I can get as much as 10 to 15 hours in a week, a couple of hours a night.  So my modeling time is really sporadic.  Every other week is when I can devote some time to building and that's when my projocts leap forward, then sit for almost a week. 

Wulf wrote:

It is apparent that members on this forum are pretty serious builders, as am I. Over a seven day period, I tend to clock as many as 20-25 hrs. at the ole' workbench. I get everything done I need to each day before I build. However, sometimes I feel like this is alot of time. My wife doesn't mind because she's deep into W.O.W online and plays quite a bit. Anyway.......

So. . .I'm not average. I watch 5 hours of  TV week, if theres a good game on, 2 hours if not.

Don

Hmmmmmmmm well I am home 24/7 and some people would LOVE to be able to work on there build all that time. But for me after all the house cleaning and the dishs and other odds and ends and Ooooo yea getting the kids to and from school and cooking dinner  I think I spend about 20hr + or - a week on my build. But now I am in a waiting game. watting on the paint to dry " 3 days " and nothing to do now.

Have a GREAT day all

Bud

i am with tigerman all the way on this one 5-10

now how about this guys how much time is spent on the forum vs actual modeling time   i see here on this question including myself some heavy duty posters

btw wulf  what is  w.o.w

Wulf wrote:

Just a curiousity poll. Over a seven day period, how much time do you spend building

For me, there's no "standard" for the amount of time at the work bench. My building time will vary between 3 or 4 hours in a week to over 60 hours in a week. The amount of time really depends on several factors including such things as the specific point in construction, outside commitments, and my overall interest in the current subject. I would say my average time at the bench is somewhere between 21 and 35 hours per week. However, since I'm retired and not married, if you account for sleeping/eating/etc, I could potentially spend over 200 hours a week at the bench and no one would care...

When i first start the build it's 1-2 hours a night.  When it comes to the later stages it's on the whim of the drying times.  I'm kinda weird in the aspect that i only have one build going at a time   I have to see it to the end or it drives me nuts

With my work and college schedules, the earliest I get home is 6:00 at night, and that's only for two or three days (if I'm lucky!).  Many times I'm out until 9 or 10 at night, and usually have to get up at around 6 or 7 the next morning.  I try and get about an hour a night in if I can, but I think this last week I only got about 3 hours worth of modelling done.  (This week it's picked up a little, because I just began a rather extensive project, my Bv 222 Dockwagen)

I'm working on two projects right now simutainiously, but I only get about 15 min worth of work done on either project each night.  Unless I'm REALLY motivated, projects go really, really slow.  They pick up right about the time I prime them for paint, and after that I squeeze in every opportunity to finish them that I can.  It can take me a year to build something, and a week to prime, paint, and detail it.

Which reminds me... I get home early tonight.  Gotta get some work done! 

I`ll get in a hour or two in the evenings after work.

That can vary slightly depending on if I`m waiting on something to dry or set up.

If I`m not doing anything else on the weekend (smallbore, housework,yardwork;etc.) I`ll spend several hours on a project at one sitting.

I`m only doing one kit at a time so my builds take a bit longer. I`ve timed a couple and I take WAY longer than the build times listed in some of the FSM reviews.

Jeez I wish I got that much in. Im lucky to get in two.

Maybe that needs to be my resultion, spend some time OFF the computer and away from the TV and on the bench.........

David

I used to spend about 10-20 hours a week modelling. Slowly that's dropped down to 5 or less per week. I do consider myself a 'serious' builder, whatever that term means.

Problems are work, school, and namely the girlfriend. I can go without watching TV or playing games, but I don't do too much of that as it is. Problem is, even if I'm in the same room with her, and we're both watching TV, just on the side I'm working on my model, she considers it as time not spent together, and bit#$3$, so the modeling time is going down further and further. Last week I spent no time on it whatsoever.

zokissima wrote:

I used to spend about 10-20 hours a week modelling. Slowly that's dropped down to 5 or less per week. I do consider myself a 'serious' builder, whatever that term means. Problems are work, school, and namely the girlfriend. I can go without watching TV or playing games, but I don't do too much of that as it is. Problem is, even if I'm in the same room with her, and we're both watching TV, just on the side I'm working on my model, she considers it as time not spent together, and bit#$3$, so the modeling time is going down further and further. Last week I spent no time on it whatsoever.

IMHO, I think you need to explain to her about "ME" time. That you can't spend every waking moment of everyday pleasing her, don't try to, its not fair to you. Don't neglect her or be a jerk, but be reaslistic, you do need time to yourself, that is one of those things that people start to crave after awhile. I would just explain to her that you need that time, and a few hours every couple days would help. Your relationship will improve, trust me, its something that you must have, the more she pushes you towards her, the more you will resent her, I can tell you already are starting to, just by the things you said. Trust me, if its a problem with her, there is a problem deeper than just you working on models. Trust can be an issue with some people, actually most, I struggle with it from time to time with my fiance, as does she... of course, being 350 miles away from each other for 3 years isn't helping that, but still! You need to sit down and have a serious heart to heart with her, don't be mean, and don't be a jerk or unrealistic about what you want, but be firm on what is important to you, and comprimise on the things that don't matter, and don't dismiss her feelings as BS, cause if she does feel them, they are real to her, and they should be to you to.  Granted, I don't know how serious your relationship is, but if it is worth keeping, then it is something I would do now, rather than waiting until its pushed you two apart. Remember one thing though, be honest, and don't let her guilt you into something you don't want to do! Good luck bro!

Gee, since I started college I haven't had time to even touch a model, that's been months now.

Between school, homework, working on the building for the hobby shop, my kids and helping them with their homework, doing the Mr. Mom thing, wife coming home from work late and waking me up to tell me how her day went... oh heck, just shoot me already! 

Sad thing is, I pre-painted somewhere between 15 & 20 car bodies so I wouldn't have to spray them this winter. I just can't seem to find the time to work on any of them now.

Before all this crazy stuff, I would spent probably an average of maybe 15 to 20 hours a week modeling. An hour or two each week night and a few hours on the weekends with my son modeling with me. Now I just supervise him making a mess in the kitchen.

While my time for modeling is pretty limited, I still don't spend as much time as I could.  Lazy?  Hard to think of it in those terms since this activity is supposed to be the antithesis of work.  So I try not to impose any schedules on myself, but I'm probably in the middle of that 5-10 hour a week range.  Since joining this forum, however, I have changed my modeling habits based on ideas from others, and that has actually increased the time I spend on modeling.  For instance, (I know this sounds stupid...) it never had occured to me to build more than one model at a time, until I realized that lots of you do it.  Consequently, my interest level now is sustained for much longer because I can get stuck on one thing and then work on another until I figure out what to do.  And I have something to do while waiting for paint to cure now.  I'm spending more "non-workbench" time on modeling now too, by checking in with this forum almost daily, reading more, and generally thinking ahead more about what I need to do and how to do it.  Mining this forum for advice has really reduced my trial-and-error time, so I'm enjoying the time I spend at the workbench more.  I won't always be able to control the amount of time I have for modeling, but I can control things like how many kits I build at a time, buying high quality kits, having the right high quality tools, and learning as much as I can from others.  This makes the time I do have more enjoyable, and I believe that ultimately that will also make me more "productive" (if that really matters). 

TomB