SPA Modeler

It has been over a week, now. I have absolutely no desire to get down to the bench. I think part of it is my old nemisis, "I am not that good at this, why bother?" and part is, well, I don't know. The only way to get better is to build and learn.

More tea!

Who knows? I have not had any real productive time at the bench for the past several weeks myself. I will sit there and dabble with stuff there for hours, go to the hobby stores, look around and buy stuff, order stuff off the internet, and go thru my stash trying to decide what my next project is gonna be. But seriously I have had very little desire to build and paint over the past few weeks myself. Sometimes I really miss the old days of buying a kit, bringing it home, slapping it together in a day or so, and moving on the next one.

That is exactly what I am experiencing. I'll go downstairs and just stare at the bench (and mess). Even the supposedly easy build (P-80) is stalled due to decals. Just not worth the effort it seems.

I'm trying to convice myself to go down and clean the place up. Maybe that will help.

yeah, my biggest block is just getting some stuff done. I really want to finish up a lot of those sidelined projects that I have sitting around. I did do a tad bit of work on one the other nite after a couple of drinks, but that is a recipe for trouble... I know that the mojo will flow back in eventually, but it is a question of when...

I know the feeling. I always end up funk-ing out when I get to the decal stage.

why do modern planes have SO MANY stencils??

CallSignOWL wrote:I know the feeling. I always end up funk-ing out when I get to the decal stage.

why do modern planes have SO MANY stencils??

"Realism" my dear Owl.....Realism. Then the old ones fall apart.

This is a question I’ve asked myself many a time and I think you have to ask yourself what’s important to you.

I used to feel like you do – I’d see the fantastic builds in magazines and on the internet and then look at my builds and then get really depressed over the perceived lack of quality in them. Then I’d try and emulate what I’d seen, AMS would kick in and it’d totally kill my mojo – I gave up for most of a year because of this – and I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it.

But what I’ve learned is this – I’m never going to build models as good as the ones I’ve seen on here and other places, and I’ve never going to be as good or productive as some of the these guys because,

A. Let’s face it these guys are artists.
B. These guys have far more experience than me (I’ve been at this for 5 years and have only actually completed about 20 models so far).
C. I don’t have the time to devote 2 or 3 hours a day at the bench, learning the skills I need to produce works of art.
D. I don’t have the patience to learn how to use an airbrush and produce faultless finishes with great pre and post shading, or how to do masterful weathering.
E. (and this is the most important) I don’t really have the desire to do that either, or the patience, or the drive.
I build models to have a bit of fun and escape from the crap of everyday life and relax – it’s a challenge sometimes, it fulfils a creative need, it’s a good bit of nostalgia, and is most importantly is a lot of fun. It’s not (I have to remind myself of this) life or death – it’s a plastic model kit.

I always try to make the best of my limited abilities – I think I have a reasonable amount of skill and yes I do like to learn new skills, I do enjoy doing little conversion or improving the kit if I can – but my only aim is to produce a nice clean build of the subject in question, but I’m not particularly bothered about accuracy, or if I’ve got the right shade or grey. If I build a model of a spitfire, and it looks like a spitfire from three feet them I’m happy, and if I had a bit of fun building it then that’s even better.

And I’m happy to carry on looking on the Interweb at all the great builds out there and just enjoy them.

Sorry getting long winded -

So Lyle you really need to think what drives you, and what is it that's killing your mojo, or that you're not enjoying – it’s daft to say ‘you’re no good at this’ because that’s crap – your P-80 for example is coming along really nicely. But you have to ask yourself why you spend time sticking together and painting bits of plastic? – is it to produce a ultra-realistic work of art, or is it to slap it together and have a bit of fun, and to enjoy the challenge? Or maybe somewhere in the middle ground? And then accept what drives you for what it is – and work to that - and stop worrying about anything else.

Good luck mate!

CallSignOWL wrote:I know the feeling. I always end up funk-ing out when I get to the decal stage.

why do modern planes have SO MANY stencils??

See - if you jump on the 'looks good enough' bandwagon like me - you'd just add the important ones and ditch the rest

Thanks, Portman. I'm off to the bench! Not really. I have always suffered with "I want it now, practising / learning the skill be damned" syndrome. I seem to plateau at a skill and that's it. Flying was the only one that did not suffer that fate. I loved it, was very good at it and lost it due to medical reasons.

I agree they are artists. This group is also extremely accepting of what is posted regardless of the skill or outcome. That alone, keeps me posting my builds. My hands are getting more sore these days, and i have fingers that will lock with trigger finger. Woe, is me!

Oh well, feeling better about it now. Sun is shinng, near 60 today! Hooray!

Y'all need to start building and posting pics...asap...

This was a topic I remember called the "98% Syndrome" over in another Forum...