Question from new ship builder

Welcome to the Forum!  In answer to your question, maybe the first thing to emphasize is that, fortunately, there are no rules in this hobby.  How the individual modeler pursues it is entirely his or her business.

I have the impression that lots of modelers - maybe the majority - have more than one pot on the burner at any given moment.  Personally, I have two projects under way right now - and, in a typical fit of idiocy, I'm thinking about starting a third one.  I suspect I'm fairly typical that way.  One particular vessel, or kit, or whatever, grabs my interest for some reason and I feel like I just have to get to grips with it - now. 

Your approach - to have two or three models under way simultaneously, at different stages of construction - actually makes a good deal of sense.  I work slow (largely because I spend so much of my time these days writing dumb forum posts, rather than out in the workshop where I belong), and on more than one occasion I've found that my fingers and brain have had to relearn certain skills - rigging ratlines and shaping 1/700 photo-etched railings, for instance - because I haven't used them for a long time. 

Sometimes I think the hobby might be more rewarding if I forced myself to stick with one project, without interruption, from beginning to end.  Maybe I'll actually try that some day, in which case I'll offer Forum readers a full report on the experience.  In the mean time, though, for heaven's sake don't feel like your doing anything unusual if you're working on more than one model at a time. 

Good luck.  It's a great hobby.

Hi ! and welcome.
I personally like committing to one build at a time. I think that I can only handle one thing at a time. For me, I have not done this, but I think that I would be too overwhelmed. Therefore if I were working on two ships that had two problems, I think 'Id go nuts !!!  

My latest project, I had to just go by another ship (didn't cost that much) especially when my wife bought it for me. She works at Hobby Lobby. 

At some point, I plan to try and strip down my mistakes on the hull and save it for another occasion. But, for simplicity, I just bought another one to start all over again. Soooo, with this being said, I think I will have to stay with one build at a time so that I can concentrate. But, it sounds like you are really into it - so do what ever your hearts desire - just let us see some pics if you do not mind.

Mr. Tilley here is a great guy always helping me and giving good advice ! 

Donnie

I have three projects going on right now. On the rare instances when I have time to go down into my shop, I try to do a little on each one. So all three are coming along slowly. It also helps if I get frustrated with one, to move on to another. Plus I don't have to sit and wait for paint to dry, etc. In addition to the three I am building, I have four more unstarted kits. And still my wife does not understand why I look at more kits. She has officially banned me from buying more until some are completed! Oh well, any others will have to be purchased on the sly. ( It wouldn't make sense to pass up a bargain if one was to appear, would it? )

  Welcome to the world of "black financing" your kits!  Yep, most of us are in the same boat (pardon the pun), and have to sneak boxes in at midnight or while ostensibly taking out the garbage...luckily, most spouse's can't tell the difference between ships, so carefully hidden vessels (mine are behind my suits in the closet, hardly ever worn, and she never looks there) often escape notice, and if they are happened upon, you can exclaim, "Hon, I bought that one year's ago, don't you remember?"  Works every time.

                  greg

 

 p.s.  thinking on this, it is also true that she is probably doing the same thing to me with her shoes...they seem to have multiplied somehow. Hmmm.

Well, I have tried to stick to the "one at a time" rule and done so for the most part, simply because I have very limited work space. However, one advantage of having more than one thing going on at a time is while you are waiting for the latest coat of paint to dry on one model, you don't have to sit around and watch it dry, you can go back to adding the details on another kit. That is what I ended up doing with my B-25B Doolittle Raider, while waiting for aftermarket decals to show up - I got busy with a 1/72 Fokker D VIII I got in the bargain bin at the local hobby shop.

I have the impression that lots of modelers - maybe the majority - have more than one pot on the burner at any given moment.

 

Two Whale ships, three schooners. two C&O K2 Mikados, a 30'gauge outside frame 2-6-6-2 in 1:48. Three 30" X 4' HO modules, including a waterfront scene with a 130' brigantine. USS Randolph CVS-15, and USS Lowry DD770, in 1:700. a kitbash 2-4-2 locomotive in HO. Installing sound in an HOn3 2-8-2..................................when the roof leaks,,,I don't have any "pots" left to catch the drips!

Oh, and six plank on frame, 28' New Bedford whaleboats in 1:87. In 1/72, an S2F, and a UH34 "seahorse".

Thanks for the input everyone. I was suprised to see that I am not the only one hiding ship kits from family members. I just bought the Apostol Felipe kit, and that has been safely hidden away until I have finished on of my other projects. Right now, I am working on Mamoli's gretel (on the rigging) and Artesinia Latina's King of the Mississippi (still planking the hull). 

Sumpter250- Thank you. You especially make me feel like I am not doing too much at once.

I almost always have several kits underway at any time.  Aircraft, armor, ships-- often one of each. Some days I feel like working on one, sometimes on another....

Sometimes, I can't advance on a project without a setup-- a tool, or maybe the airbrush.  If I don't have a lot of time, I'll work on a different kit....