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A personal observation about myself....


Mark Deliduka

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I have been spending the last few weeks trying to finish a B-1 bomber for a person who's paying me for it. I have been doing my best to use all the techniques I know for making as close to a master model as I can. I have spent five times as much time making sure all the seams are as solid and filled as possible, yet I always seem to find more flaws and pinholes. I am usually finished with a model like this by now, but this is taking so much more time than I expected. I have sanded and filled and primered and sanded and filled and primered so on and so on ad infinitum and I'm still not ready for paint yet!

 

Earlier today, while trying to fix yet another flaw, I finally sat back and said to myself, 'I don't want to do this anymore.'

 

And I just didn't mean the B-1. I meant building models period.

 

I have quite a few other projects I've been working on, as evidenced in my Thread below showing my workbench, and I have been working on these to keep myself motivated enough to finish the Bone. But just the opposite has happened. The Bone has killed my enthusiasm for finishing the rest of them! I think I understand now more clearly why so many Masters take so long on their models in part. I have never had this happen before. I've had burnout times before, but I've always knew I wanted to keep building. This is different. I've never felt thisn way ever in my thirty-five-odd years of model building. Until now.

 

 

 

I'm not real sure whether I'm being clear or not, or even what I am trying to say. I'm not looking for sympathy or anything like that, but anyone having suggestions as to what I can do to keep motivated, I'm open to hear them as my usual tricks ain't working. Meanwhile, I will keep working on this. After all I made a commitment to finish this and I will.

 

After that, we'll see.

 

Thanks all for letting me vent a little.

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I know what your talking about. As far as I am concerned, if I have a build with a deadline to meet or it's for someone else I get to thanking about giving up the hobby. It just gets boring. So I just build what I want and when I want and if it never gets finished so what, as long as I had fun with it. Anyway It works for me.

 

Texas :smiley20::smiley20::smiley20:

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Mark,

 

Do you normally build on commission ? I have been asked to several times and will not because the model will then not be for me and I can't do (or not do) whatever I want to it.

 

Maybe you need to step back from the commission stuff a bit ?

 

I always like to kick up my enthusiasm by getting interested in a theme, researching the history, collecting kits, etc .... Not saying I actually build anything (I'm not anywahere as prolific as you are) ...

 

John

 

 

 

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Duke, building on commission means that particular model is really a job, and not part of your hobby. That usually sucks most, if not all, of the fun right out of it for me (and I do a few commisson builds now and then). You do excellent work all the time, but with this one, you're seeking perfection, and that's awfully hard to find when you're tired and frustrated...

 

You didn't ask for advice, but I'll give you a little anyway...we ARE friends, right???

 

If you're not on a deadline, take a short break from it (a couple of days) and just chill...do some woodworking projects or spend some extra time with your lovely wife. Since this build is technically a "job", just treat it like one of your remodeling jobs...you should probably work up a materials list, estimate your time to complete it...make your priorities list...and set your mind to work on it and finish by whatever date you choose. After all, when you work on a remodeling job, you know when it's quitting time at the end of a long day. Don't put in any overtime on this job, just finish it at your own pace.

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Mark,

 

Sometimes the pursuit of perfection can kill motivation. I can't build for a contest; it kills all my enthusiasm for building. I end up fussing over every little detail, like seams and mold lines, and then I start putting off making decisions on the build sequence, technique, etc because I'm worried about how it will affect the outcome for the contest, and eventually it goes back into a box, and I end up in a funk. Right now though, I'm building a Mustang for a surprise Christmas gift (it won't be completed in time, but he'll get it anyway). For some reason, building one to give away as a gift keeps me enthusiastic. They aren't looking for it, mostly they appreciate the effort put in it, and it's usually something that they have an interest in. It's not anything like a commission build, knowing someone is going to possibly take a pen light to it in order to haggle on the price. Anyway, it is Christmastime...grab some hot chocolate and watch Ralphie shoot his eye out :smiley20:

 

Glenn

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Earlier today, while trying to fix yet another flaw, I finally sat back and said to myself, 'I don't want to do this anymore.'

 

And I just didn't mean the B-1. I meant building models period.

 

I've seen a few members in my local club hang-up the hobby over the years. A few of them were really top-notch modelers.

 

In every case I think there were either outside interests or pressures that kept them from putting time into the hobby the way they wanted to. One got into racing (including doing track time in his own car), another became interested in civil war re-enacting. One of them had "gone commercial" doing resin-casting and commission work, and was putting lots of time into modeling trying to earn a living. In every case I think they were happier after quitting, and some of them have drifted back but are not nearly as active as when they quit.

 

The modelers I know that have been at it the longest - and most successfully - have a number of interests besides modeling: an interest in history, or old cars, or movies, etc. Often those other interests relate to their modeling interests, but they're a change of pace. Most of them only finish a few (1-3) models a year.

 

The other thing I've noticed is that if its too much work to model - because you have to move stuff around to get to your workbench, or you don't have the right tools, etc. then its easy to find something else to do. If thats the case maybe take a break and spend some time fixing up your workspace.

 

In the end its a hobby, and when it stops being fun you'll find all sorts of reasons to spend time on something else.

 

Don

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I slowed down building when I started getting review samples sent to me. Building and completing the model became work and was no longer fun. It was a chore, so I stopped doing reviews. I even stopped taking in progress photos to upload and share because there was really no difference between building for a review and building to show others my work in progress.

 

Now, I build just for myself and my young son. I may take a photo of the completed kit, but most of the time, I do not. I stopped caring about how my kit looked and just had fun building.

 

I'm not criticizing how other modelers build; I know may of them get enjoyment out of super detailing and extensive research and others like to quickly build them OOB.

 

I've often used the analogy of men and their yards. You may just like to cut with the riding mower to get it done as quickly as possible and the retired neighbor next door tends to his immaculate yard for hours on end with nary a blade of grass out of place.

 

Neither one of you are wrong, you just go about the same task differently.

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Duke, the best part about the hobby is that you can enjoy it any way you please. Some people will take one kit, a lot of miscellaneous parts, and three years to put it all together--once done, the model is a masterpiece. Some people do as you do--grab a kit, build it as it comes in the box, and move on to the next kit. As Harry Callahan said, "A man's got to know his limitations...."

 

For every "detailed" model I build, I'll turn out four of five OOB efforts. In fact, a good 99% of my models are built OOB or nearly so (I may add some resin doo-dads or a cockpit set if I'm feeling ambitious). Also, 99% of my models are built for me--when I do build for someone else, it is usually a gift. On the rare occasion that I build for money, we agree up front to the terms and build constraints. I rarely set deadlines, the client is told that they will be contacted when the project is done.

 

Keep on churning them out--if you're happy with the results and progress you've made in your model building endeavours, then you're doing a great job.

 

Ralph

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Duke,

Same thing happened to me during the Hummel build. I just lost interest. I am not sure what caused it but what did help me were the Friday night builds with my friends. The finish (point that got me re-motivated) was the fact that the red and white aiming stakes came out better than I expected. Heck, in honesty, I am zipping through the JSU-152 build. I think that was why I took it on. To help keep the motivation going.

 

Mark

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Thanks to all who answered. I am seeing a better motivation lately, so maybe this is finally passing. I am going to be working hard on this model as well as others to hopefully see what I can finally get done before the end of the year.

 

Being here and seeing all these replies helps.

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