Anyone else get "stalled" on projects?

 Almost every one ends up with one hold up or another.

 Mostly, it happens when it comes time to throw some paint at it!  Usually I end up forcing myself to do it(couple days to a couple weeks to do so), but I'm always glad I did, cause, once I start, there's no stopping me!!! I'd be willing to bet, that if you broke it out, and got busy, you'd see it through to the end.......that's how I roll!!!

Just a few times...

Starting is easy, finishing them is the hard part.

HawkeyeHobbies wrote:

Just a few times...     Starting is easy, finishing them is the hard part.

 I been wondering where that TSR went!!!

    Do it.........Do it!!!!!

fermis wrote:

HawkeyeHobbies wrote: Just a few times...     Starting is easy, finishing them is the hard part.  I been wondering where that TSR went!!!       Do it.........Do it!!!!!

It just needs a few fiddly things done...landing gear wheels, touch up a couple spots on the paint which I hope to get done over the weekend so it is ready to go to a contest next weekend.

Oh yeah. I have 5 shelf-queens. I seem to be fine as far as construction is concerned, but slow down when I get to the painting and weathering. Might as well throw in the decaling too.

I have a Zero that still sitting after 3-4 years with just the cockpit painted. Need to hit it with a base-coat.

Yes-

I just had a 2-3 month stall on an auto build (my first one).  I was very unhappy with my crappy paint job so I ended up stripping the whole thing (major pain in the arse), then I was so unmotivated the whole kit sat on the bench for months.  I finally got back to it and resprayed and spent 2 weeks finishing the kit just in time for a visit from my father (the kit was always intended as a gift for him).

Swede

Hi-

Do I ever get "stalled"??

The short answer is Yes. More get stalled than finished sadly.

Keep your stick on the ice,

-Ray

Yep, I get stalled to.

I have got a few kit that I started before I knew how to drybrush, wash etc. I do not think I will ever finish those.

But my really stalled project is my Hit-Kit MiG-3, I started it in 2005 (see link)

/forums/404676/ShowPost.aspx

Since then the trumpeter and ICM kits became availble and I know these wil build more easily. The kit has never left the bench (it's there, lurking, in the upper right corner of my work table, reminding me what a nice model it can/could/should be)

The reasons for stalling are the clean up of all the resin parts, bad fit and parts that where glued on and broke of again. But the real reason is that I know I screwed up, the wings and tailplanes are not squared up. So what ever effort I will put in to it, the model will never be "up to par".

I have some models, don't know exactly how many, probably around 10... They are sitting in boxes, waiting an inspiration...

Kugai wrote:

I'm talking about starting on a kit and something happens that you end up putting it aside and don't get back to it until much later than you planned. Modeler's block?  Some technique issue?  Lost or missing parts? My worst case is a ST:TNG Enterprise-D I started on years ago.  I had a grand scheme for lighting it like one I'd seen in FSM years before, but using lightsheet instead of the mini-fluorescent lantern lights used in the article, properly opened windows instead of the pinpoint lights of the fiber optic kit. Do you have any idea how many windows are on that thing?  Now imagine going frame-by-frame on the movies to mark which ones are lit ( about 60% of all the ones on the kit ) and drilling an average of 3 holes per window ( by hand, with a pin vise ) to prepare them for carving to the right shape. I think it added up to about 4000 holes drilled and by then I was so sick of dealing with the thing, I put it in storage and still haven't gotten back to it.  I still plan to once I get the supplies and electronics design together. Anyone else?

Absolutely I have.  I had a dozen or so kits that I had started over the past few years, then put aside to start the next one, in a running stream of Short-Attention-Span-Modeling.

I tried a new tack for this year and made a New Years modeling resolution.  I identified 12 started but unfinished kits and resolved not to buy any new ones, or start any unstarted kits in my stash, until I had finished those 12 kits.

It hasn't been perfect--I've only completed 2 of them, though another 3 are further along than they might otherwise have been.  I had signed up for a group build in my club, too, before making the resolution, so I worked on that kit and finished it.  And I finally broke down and bought a new kit in July (couldn't pass up a Monogram B-24D for $9 on eBay!).

But I don't look at those things as failures.  It's kept me motivated, I've spent more time at the bench because of it, and I went 7 whole months without buying any new kits for the stash.  I'm pleased with the result.

Participating in online forums helps, too, I've found.  I'm motivated to make some kind of progress, no matter how small, just to be able to share it with the gang online.

I have a thread around here somewhere, showing all of my resolution kits, by the way.  At the end of the year, I'll put up shots of the ones I finished.

In any event, don't give up!  You'll get the bug again and start up with new gusto!

Regards,

Brad

HawkeyeHobbies wrote:

Just a few times...     Starting is easy, finishing them is the hard part.

I've got a cabinet that looks like that. It ranges from I just screwed something up, to lack of interest, or just don't have the money to buy more paint, etc.

All the time! I got more stalls than I would every care to admit to. The sad thing about it I really don't know if I will ever finish any of them. But I keep them around just in case I do. I have even stalled out in one.....bought another of the same kit and stalled out on that one to. That's just sad if you ask me.

Normally I stall out during the painting stage. However, lately I have been stalling out during the starting stage. I think of a project get all geared up to do it, wash the parts, get the paints ready, make the first cut or paint the first part and......that's it. Life just keeps getting in the way I guess. When I am at work I want to be home building on a project. When I am home I seem to want to anything but sit at the hobby table. I don't know what's going on right now. So I am just laying off until can come home, look at the table and go to work. It might not today...it might be tomorrow...but someday I will. Hopefully I will be able to finish those stalls as well....time will tell.

I've been stalled for two years...yes I said years.  They are a Star Wars AT-AT and an Italeri Tiger Ferdinand and both due to paint.

I believe my biggest issue is paint.  I have two brand new airbrushes that have never thrown paint, because I screwed up two paint jobs with an airbrush once and now I have this thing...I would really like to find a live class where I could learn by doing WITH an instructor.

My second biggest issue is that I have so many ideas and not enough talent AND I am very intimidated by all the awesome models people build and show on this site and in FSM.  I am not a rivet counter, I just want to build OOB and not worry about how accurate the shape is, or if it has an early this or a late that etc.

Maybe I need an intervention!

I have been tackling this beast this week. I finished for a show a 1/72 airfix LCVP that has been kicking around my bench for over 6 months. It is amazing how such a small model can go ignored for so long. I can't say what amount of satisfaction I got from finally putting this one on the shelf.

I am as we speak working on a Tamiya JGSDF armored vehicle that I started in December of '97 while I was on vacation in Florida. Now that I am back to it this kit is a real pleasure to build. I have simply put other things in front of it. I have a resolution to complete my 1/2 built kits before the end of the year.

The last one on my bench that has been a work in progress for too long is the Lindbergh DespatchN tugboat. I was inspired by the doog's article on hairspray technique to simulate ancient weathering and got to the point where I was about to spray on my top coats and just stopped. I vow to get this done before new years.

I'd say every kit I started (except 2 presents for the farther inlaw) since I got married until I got an airbrush last christmas (10 years) stalled, also many pieces got lost from these stalled kits. On the brighter side I've now given most of these stalled kits to the kids to build so they can build and play with them and it doesnt matter if they lose a part or two here and there.

Andrew

Yes, but I refuse to start a new kit until I finish the one I'm working on.  It's bad enough I have one stalled project - I don't need a shelf full of them.

Most of the time, my stall is due to one thing - analysis paralysis.  I have a tendency to want to super-detail all my builds, whether it's scratchbuilding or adding PE.  So what happens is I get stuck on trying to figure out what parts I want to keep, what to replace and in what order do I replace them.  I can't add something until I paint something else, but I can't paint that piece until something else is added.  And it starts going round and round like that until, eventually, I'm just stuck.  So, I walk away for a day or a week or even a month and try to tackle the problem with a fresh perspective.

-Fred

I also don't start a new build until the current one is done.

I hate masking so I always seem to stall when it's time to paint.

Mike

Two of my three stalled builds are done!

First Up Airfix 1/72 LCVP

Next Tamiya 1/35 Japanese Ground Self Defense Forces LAV

PontiacRich wrote:

I've been stalled for two years...yes I said years.  They are a Star Wars AT-AT and an Italeri Tiger Ferdinand and both due to paint. I believe my biggest issue is paint.  I have two brand new airbrushes that have never thrown paint, because I screwed up two paint jobs with an airbrush once and now I have this thing...I would really like to find a live class where I could learn by doing WITH an instructor. My second biggest issue is that I have so many ideas and not enough talent AND I am very intimidated by all the awesome models people build and show on this site and in FSM.  I am not a rivet counter, I just want to build OOB and not worry about how accurate the shape is, or if it has an early this or a late that etc. Maybe I need an intervention!

When I first got interested in getting an airbrush, I did my research & asked a few questions on this forum & came up with a decision pretty quickly, saved the money & bought the brush.

That was the easy part, after that I had to figure out how to use it. I live a bit beyond the back of beyond, so any sort of real life class or tuition was out of the question, so I decided to look for a book or DVD on the subject & to be honest I could not really find anything much that seemed to be directed towards scale modeling - what now?

I did a few searches & found quite a few sites with plenty of good beginner / basic articles which gave me something to go on, I also found a considerable number of good video articles on Youtube. You need to remember that the technique is pretty much the same no matter what make of model of brush you are using - although it would be wise to find articles applying to single / double action, dependant on what you have.

After doing this, I started shooting water through the brush to get a feel for & get to grips with the brush. I then sought out a popular, available, well supported & documented brand of paint - I went for Tamiya Acrylic, I recon for a beginner acrylic is an easier bet (Im sure some will argue that). Use your chosen brands specific thinner.

When you get all this together, start playing with painting some cardboard or scrap plastic until you gain some confidence, then move onto the real thing.

Most importantly, don't forget that if you do have any problems, there are more than enough knowledgeable people on this forum who will assist you willingly, also dont be forget that there is no "black art", its all pretty straightforward.