When do you call it quits?

[FlyingSnowmew]

When should one walk away from this hobby? I feel like this hobby is just something to kill time. I haven't finished anything in years, and anymore I don't even get close. I usually screw something up or just completely lose interest. I've tried taking long breaks and switching subjects but still the motivation is not there.

[Oroka]

Something keeps bringing you back though.

I research if I just dont feel like building. Sometimes I will just box the kit I am working on and start something I am interested in. I am currently working on a X-32 kit, I have to force myself to work on it, so I boxed it and pulled out a Enterprise D kit I have been eyeballing for a while. Eventually, I will get back to the X-32.

If you screw something up, fix it. It is plastic. I have messed up models, tore it apart, just to keep the cockpit (I enjoy doing cockpits). A few times I have just glued everything together, and used it for painting practice, or just handed to to my son. If I could get some fire crackers, I would splode one or two.

If you are interested in the subjects (Aviation, Naval, Armor, Sci-fi), you will probably keep coming back to modeling, do it as the interest comes and goes. I haven't actually completed a kit in nearly a year, but sometimes I get the urge and fly through a few in a month or so.

[Hawkins]

Hey Snowy!

I'm in a relatively similar situation, not because I lost interest but because of work I could not build anything for about half a year. Now I'm struggling to go back at it but it ain't easy......

I think you answered your own question, you feel you're just killing time because you lost interest in this hobby. No one should tell you when to call it quits if that's what you feel you should do.

Just my 2 pesos!

Cheers and hopefully, happy modeling,

Emil

[Hawkins]

Something keeps bringing you back though.

I research if I just dont feel like building.

Now that, almost might be a hobby on it's own. That's the only thing(related to modeling) I did, occasionally, for the last 6 moths.

[SBARC]

Do you know the song "Hotel California"......that is what this hobby is like.

Find out what aspect of this hobby gives you pleasure and do that. It might be building....kit collecting of just visiting modelling websites and related forums.

As I always tell my kids..... "Find out what makes you happy.....and do it." I live my life by this one statement.

[Old Blind Dog]

OF COURSE it's something to kill time with! That's what a hobby is!

I've probably screwed up half or more of the models I've tried o build over many years--but I still derive pleasure from the effort. Sitting at the bench, taking my time, maybe listening to something good on the stereo, even just staring at a couple of parts for an hour, imagining how they'll go together, or watching paint dry, it's all relaxing and its own reward.

The thing is, nobody's breathing down my neck or imposing a deadline, or insisting that I increase my productivity; I decide how much or how little I'm going to do--and how many endeavors in this life allow you that sort of freedom?

Sure, when it becomes a source of stree, than it's probably time to put things on hiatus, but to call it quits? That seems kind of extreme.

cheers

Old Blind Dog

[rm20886]

I have gone through the same feeling with this hobby and others over the past year. I have gone through a divorce, lost my house, and of course had to move. I just haven't had time or at times the interest to crack open a kit and get started. I am looking forward to a couple of the group builds coming up and hope that will get me going again.

I guess if you have lost all interest you might want to pack it in for awhile. I wouldn't get rid of anything though because I bet you will want to come back to the hobby one day. You'll kick yourself if you sell everything off.

Good luck with you decision.

Rob

[richter111]

Research can be a very rewarding hobby within and completely of itself.

Try switching genre's altogether. I was stuck bad earlier in the year, built a AMT Klingon D-7 and Enterprise for fun, and since then, I have gotten back to enjoying the aircraft, and seriously considering beginning my holy grail model,

a 1/200 Yamato, with all the bells and whistles.

[ChernayaAkula]

When should one walk away from this hobby? I feel like this hobby is just something to kill time. I haven't finished anything in years, and anymore I don't even get close. I usually screw something up or just completely lose interest. I've tried taking long breaks and switching subjects but still the motivation is not there.

What was that about time enjoyed wasting wasn't wasted? If you don't enjoy it any longer, don't do it. With all the other things you could do and with life being too short anyway, quit modelling if that's what's best for you. No point in investing time and money into this hobby only to later look back and regret the time and money spent that could've been put to better use on another hobby.

Do you know the song "Hotel California"......that is what this hobby is like. :P

"I hate the f***ing Eagles, man!"

:lol:

[K2Pete]

I know exactly what you mean. Just putting a model together doesn't do it for me. Now, I've only been back in this hobby for about 4 years, and I'm loving building complex models that have a lot of scratchbuilding ... and my interest hasn't waned ... yet. With all the research and learning how something works or looks and then trying to replicate it ... I think it's a whole whack of fun. I went down to the 2009 IPMS NATS and did pretty good with 3 third places. Then called up the local newspaper and they did a full page article on my model hobby. The local club got a lot of new members with that. The article process was a lotta fun too!

But I've also done a lot of other things with my time, joined a lot of clubs that cater to my varied interests ( from Astronomy, Tae-Kwon-Do, Tai-Chi, gun clubs, woodworking, hiking / canoe / backcountry camping, and a whole bunch of others) and this model phase is just that I'm sure ... just a phase. When the urge to build isn't there, no worries, just try, and do something else.

I joined a model club here and one of the old guys, was just putting in time with his models. Just like you said, "I feel like this hobby is just something to kill time." So he tried painting watercolours, joined a club, met some lovely ladies and now just paints. He is re-invigorated and, dare I say, HAPPIER than he's been in years!! Will he come back to model building? Probably not ... he's been there, done this and yadda, yadda, yadda.

There's nothing wrong with "packing it in" ... it is after all, just a way of spending time. Explore other venues, meet new people, enjoy yourself. Life is way too-o-o-o short to be handcuffed to one hobby.

There's gotta be something you've always wanted to do, but was a little shy to try it. Well now, go .... get out .. try it, do it, enjoy it!

Okay, end of my 5 cent lecture!

Pete

[Phantom ordie]

I'm 70 years old. I had spurts of building models then I would lay off for other endevors. Now I have a plan to build every Navy plane ever made. I worked on Navy A/C for 23 years but I,ve learned more building models then I thought I knew. Take a break and come back later. Go to A/C museums and Air shows and get motivated.

[Jay Chladek]

Well, it depends on what you want to get out of the hobby. What is your goal? In my case, I had bad modeling burnout the early part of last year. I could start a project, but never finish it. So the pile of half built models just got bigger. I eventually did manage to push through and finish one project, but it was tough.

So I sat down and tried to reevaluate what I was doing and why I was doing it. It is very rare that I can keep going at a bigger project for longer then a month before interest wanes. Then I store it for a bit until I work up the nerve to tackle it again. So my therapy has been smaller stuff. I worked on a 1/72 Airfix Spitfire and finished it. It took about two weeks off and on to do and I was shocked since a model very rarely ever goes that quick. It was OOB, no resin, no photoetch and not even aftermarket decals.

It went full circle and I realized something. This model sitting in front of me is not a contest winner (could it compete, perhaps), but it was a cool model of a Spitfire I built with my own two hands. I can picture myself in the plane, flying it in combat with Jerry. Glancing at it makes a nice mini-vacation. It got me back to why I liked models when I was a kid. To me, I think we get bogged down in the journey sometimes and have to get to the destination quicker to remind ourselves of why we like doing this. What was stopping me with the big projects is I would dread working on a spot I hated on a model and not push through to finish it. As such, that was causing me to change direction and work on something else. The problem area was still there though, untouched. And as such, I would lose sight of the finish line and why I started the model in the first place.

In my own case, I'll have to tackle the stuff I don't like on those models eventually. But for the diversion projects, I try to minimize what I am trying to accomplish so I can speed through quicker. That means no resin, no photoetch, and using simple problem solving skills to accomplish my goals. It seems to be working as I am getting stuff done quicker. I am doing another simple model right now, a Pegasus Hurricane Mk1. The cockpit is painted and weathered. I just need to put some seatbelt decals on the seat and an instrument panel decal on and I can seal it up in the model and speed through the fuselage construction to get to the painting stage. And this is all on a model I only started two days ago. Will I use it to try some techniques I want to experiment with? Yes I will. But it will still get done unless something goes horribly wrong in the process.

I see it no different than an artist who paints portraits simply wanting not to enter his studio that day. So he pulls out his sketchpad and just draws. The creative energy flows, but does it in a different direction. Eventually, he'll go back into the studio, but he ends up getting work done on something. If you no longer feel the joy of model building and feel a change is in order, then get out of it or take a sabatical from it. But eventually if you still like doing it, you'll come back. I keep doing it because I can't see myself not doing it. The benefits for me outweigh what I would lose if I didn't do it. But I have to constantly keep reevaluating why I do this just the same.

[cksh]

I like to change it up. I have mostly Sci-fi kits, but years ago started getting into props and haven't built a sci-fi kit in years (although I still buy them!). I love researching prop planes. Even if I don't build the kit.

Now I am into WW1 and am building the only 2 bi-planes in my stash that I have.

I also stopped worrying as much about after market. One build this year I even left off the seat belts and it felt great!

I will also finish a build even if it has some flaws. It feels better just to have it completed, than trying to fix it. It will never be in a show anyways.

For me this hobby is relaxing. I don't think it is wasting time. Especially considering all the other things we waste our time doing.

My family and this hobby are the two loves of my life!

[Shawn C.]

I've learned a valuable lesson over the past year or so. If you screw something up, don't spend too much time trying to fix it! Paint the damn thing and put it on the shelf. For me, I tend to think that every build should be contest worthy. I'm slowly getting over that and it has helped me enjoy my modeling more.

[andrew.deboer]

Here's my take, which may or may not apply to your situation:

I think a lot of us dilute the hobby, by which I mean that we load ourselves down with so many other concerns that we lose what got us into the hobby to begin with. For instance, many of us have more money than time, so our hobby becomes more about accumulation than execution, and then a significant part of the hobby becomes selling stuff and buying other stuff. Yuck! I do this because I love the subjects and the process, not because I like processing transactions and tracking shipping!

Discipline yourself. Clean up your hobby area, put all the stuff away where it belongs, and survey what you have. If you hate what you see, walk away for a while. If you come back and still don't care, so be it; if you like what you see, pick one thing and stick with it until it's done. Don't try to force yourself into an ultimate-detailing exercise. Pick a set of decals you've been wanting to see on a subject, and build that subject to the finish. Will it have some warts? Yes, but you'll have something done and the warts will fade into the distance.

Discipline yourself. When you sit down to surf model websites, get up and go do something with a model instead. It's all baby steps. Clean up a few seams that have been bugging you or shoot that paint you've been putting off because it's two square centimeters and it seems like such a chore to airbrush.

Discipline yourself. Got a big pile? Quit building it. There is no scarcity in this hobby; anything that's on the market now will be available later or will be superceded by something better. Don't worry about the rare exception to this rule; you have more than enough stuff to work on even if that 1:72 Fairey Titmouse goes out of production forever. I was sorely tempted just this morning by some stuff a guy was selling right here on ARC, but the fact is if I bought a sixth Hasegawa F-14, I'd have five others ahead of it and I'm not moving that fast on any of them.

I realize that "hobby" and "discipline" seem at odds with each other, but a little discipline can increase your skill and make the hobby more satisfying. I recently finished an A-1J Skyraider, which had been languishing for a long time. I finally cleared the decks, dug in and did the Southeast Asia camo, which I had been very apprehensive about, and it came out great. I looked at the seat, which I had intended for the longest time to make a harness for, and just decided to paint the cushions and glue the thing in. I'll never look in that cockpit again, and the thing that had stood in my way turned out to be nothing. It's not an IPMS contest winner, but it took 2nd place in Aircraft in a local competition.

Good luck reigniting your interest in modeling, but if you boil things down and don't want to keep doing it, the models won't be offended. I hope everyone has a hobby they like as much as I like this!

[FlyingSnowmew]

I dare say it's not for me.

[datahiker]

I'm constantly struggling with this. Lately it seems I've been doing more repair work than constructive progress, so that every session I'm fixing something that didn't go well the last time instead of just pushing forward. It's also really hard to start up again when it's been put off for months because life got in the way. I would really, really love to build a contest-worthy model but I've come to realize (over and over) that I just don't have the skills or time to do so.

The good news is that my stash is small so I don't feel I have to complete them on any kind of time line to get my money's worth out of them. The other good news is that winter is usually the season I get more done because my other hobbies are warm-weather oriented.

So my "building style" is to work on a kit until I'm ready to throw it in the trash, then take a break until I miss the smell of paint and styrene. I may never finish another model but the burnout is never permanent either. Switching to a completely different build works for me temporarily but it's also the reason I have 10-15 models in various stages.