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Threw away 3 half-done models today...


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In a moment of clarity (I have learned to act when these occur), I tossed three half-completed 1/48 Hasegawa kits today. An F-14A, and F-14D, and an F-16D all went in the trash. It had been years since I worked on any of them, and when I opened the boxes, I was completely uninterested in touching them again. The Tomcats have been more than eclipsed by Tamiya (I’ve finished 3 to my single Hasegawa), and the F-16D was not some of my best work. 

 

Anyone else ever dispose of things because you just know you’ll never touch them again?

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I would have taken them off your hands for you. I love reclaiming projects that have been given up on. I bet they weren't as bad as you thought they were. In response to your question, I've done it a couple of times over the years. Ususally, I just push through and give them to a kid if I don't like the finished project.

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 Just last week-I was going through The Naughty Closet picking my projects to revisit in January when I opened the box on an Eduard 1/48 FW-190A-5, the early release that can be built with everything opened up. It was years ago when I started it and the wing went on so far off the wing root gun panels didn't line up. After collecting dust for a few years I bit my lip and tore the wing off successfully and refitted it. Then the paint went straight to hell. I tore it apart again last week, pulled the motor and cockpit and trashed the rest.

 

 I bought another kit last year so I will give it another shot. But every now and then you get a jinx build like that and the time comes when you have to decide if it's worth the extra time to beat it into submission. Fighting a build isn't a pleasant experience and that's not what my hobby is about. Besides, with the next attempt at it I am already a couple steps ahead with the engine and cockpit built :thumbsup:

Edited by WymanV
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10 hours ago, andrew.deboer said:

In a moment of clarity (I have learned to act when these occur), I tossed three half-completed 1/48 Hasegawa kits today. An F-14A, and F-14D, and an F-16D all went in the trash. It had been years since I worked on any of them, and when I opened the boxes, I was completely uninterested in touching them again. The Tomcats have been more than eclipsed by Tamiya (I’ve finished 3 to my single Hasegawa), and the F-16D was not some of my best work. 

 

Anyone else ever dispose of things because you just know you’ll never touch them again?

Andrew...dig them out and send them my way....I'm less than an hour south of you....

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Sometimes. I threw out a revell A-7 which I was building for a GB .. it was a cheap kit which I did not do a great job on, and I figured it was not worth going back and finishing. It was a relief to get it out of my life and get something off the shelf of doom. Too many other models and limited time and attention span for me to go back to something which would need a lot of remediation to look acceptable. 

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I've done it.  Not so much because I wouldn't finish, or even touch, a kit again, it's mostly because I was so frustrated with the quality of the work I had done that I would have been ashamed to continue that kit.  I've done it maybe 5-6 times.  However, I've written here that most recently, I've put models away, ones I've not been happy with at the time, and resurrected them later, to complete them and be at least okay with the end product.  Which is not to say that I won't ever trash another kit, depending upon how horribly I end up doing things to one.

Edited by Curt B
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I’ve thrown out more than should probably admit to. My philosophy with each has always been that I can still find that kit, and I can do better the next time around building it. If it has no sentiment it goes. 

 

Rick L. 

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On 12/24/2020 at 2:58 PM, JackMan said:

Have you been watching Marie Kondo?  🤣

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AvWs2X-bEA

Did throwing away those models "spark joy"?

 

You’re a funny guy! And no, I didn’t hold each one and thank it before tossing it. Throwing them away did not spark joy, but looking at them didn’t either. I’ve built several Tamiya F-14s, and when I looked at the surface detail and shape and fit of the Hasegawa parts, I just couldn’t justify spending another moment of my rapidly-dwindling time on earth working on them or even storing them. 

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Kurt, I feel you.  Sometimes the kit is soooo bad I get less than 1/2 way through and pitch it. (z.B. Hasegawa 1/72 F-105D)  Sometimes I get through with the building (not too bad) and mess up the paint job and send it to file 13 (more than one I am afraid).  Sometimes I just hold onto it/them for 25+ years, knowing I WILL finish it/them someday.  So I feel your pain and exhilaration at cleansing the "to do" pile a little.  Congrats! You have mastered the art of modeling reality.  K/r, Dutch

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I've come close, but I never ever start a new kit unless I've completed the previous one. Learn all the lessons I can (and make all the mistakes I want) then move on to the next. Even if it starts to go down hill, I figure it's an excellent opportunity to experiment with a new weathering technique, or maybe try some scratch built details, or a paint scheme. 

 

 

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7 hours ago, Dutch said:

Congrats! You have mastered the art of modeling reality.  K/r, Dutch

Thanks!

👍👍

 

And I did finish a model which was stalled for 23 years this summer, a General Lee I started when the pro modeler 1969 Charger was first released.. back in 1997. Sometimes it isalvageablele, sometimes it is not. 

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Well i`m happy for you. This means you have not (yet) grown an emotional bond with your model kits/stash, in other words there is still hope for you. Trust me when i say this is not the case with many modelers 😉 At the end of the day you (most likely) paid money for something that ended up not being put to good use. Money down the drain...ethical issues...how to best consume a plastic model kit toy? Personally i don`t like the idea of throwing away a half completed kit. Why not save it for a rainy day? That being said, if it can be of any joy to someone else i would not hesitate to give it away.  

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