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Hello all,

 

Something has been on my mind and I want to share with you. I notice that as years go by and as my skill improves, every single built is carefully researched, after market parts, after market decals galore and the color paint has to be exacting as possible. I start to pay attention to smallest details and spent hours correcting tiniest mistakes to a point of exhaustion. Then I look back in my younger days of modeling in the early 80s. There was no after market decals, no resin parts, paints come from mixing various bottles and 99% of a time, the shade is off. But the main part was that I really enjoyed the built and I was no where near as obsessive as I am now. Now as my skills improve, I start to be more critical of my builds, anal as heck when comes to tiniest details and I see that I lost the innocence days of modeling that I enjoyed so much then. Yes things were simple, you built what came in the box but I truly loved and enjoyed each project. Now I feel I have lost that "special feelings" and sometimes I wish my skill stays the same so I do not have to be so critical that make me lose the enjoyment I had in my early unexperienced days. What are your thoughts? Dai 

Edited by dai phan
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I agree.  OCD can be crippling to just having fun.   I watched my mother go through this where a simple task would either take her days, or she would just never do it because she knew it was a project she was not ready to tackle.  It was obvious with her ceramics hobby, her cooking, writing a letter, etc.. 

I've often thought about just putting a big old glue finger print on a new model to just get it out of the way.

 

I try my hardest to select kits to "just have fun" with and build them.  And I have a few I want "done right" but I never seem to get around to building those.  Wonder why? :dontknow:

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5 minutes ago, Scott Smith said:

I agree.  OCD can be crippling to just having fun.   I watched my mother go through this where a simple task would either take her days, or she would just never do it because she knew it was a project she was not ready to tackle.  It was obvious with her ceramics hobby, her cooking, writing a letter, etc.. 

I've often thought about just putting a big old glue finger print on a new model to just get it out of the way.

 

I try my hardest to select kits to "just have fun" with and build them.  And I have a few I want "done right" but I never seem to get around to building those.  Wonder why? :dontknow:

I kept saying to myself " stop being so damn anal" so I can have fun with my built. Most of the time does not work :(. DP 

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I think this is a very common occurrence. One thing I did that helped with this is finding some reason to force myself to just build a kit for fun, the old way. What helped for me for instance was our club had a interclub challenge that only allowed tube glue, paint brushes, and kit out of the box. Because it was a club challenge, you could tell yourself "I know this isn't what my mind tells me to do, BUT I HAVE TO in order to complete the challenge. I think that tricks the part of the brain that normally says "That's not right!" into focusing on the task of completing the challenge. That frees up the fun side of your brain to enjoy just building again. It worked for me but YMMV.

 

Bill

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Been there done that...therefore I only kept the dearest models in my formerly prefered scales (48 & 700) to go all-out on them and otherwise switched to another scale (144) just to build and have fun. Still adding details and doing corrections here and there but otherwise just building, painting and finishing models and come out of it relaxed. No intention to go back 😉

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I started building back in the latter half of the 1970s when I was but a mere lad.  Even now, just thinking back to the kits I used to crave and build gets my heart thumping with excitement today.  I still have the childlike eagerness when it comes to building kits!  There was a time several years ago where I found myself in your shoes.  I decided to dabble in aftermarket resin cockpits and photoetched detail sets.  I quickly learned that they were far more trouble than they were worth and thereby contradictory to my "I build for the fun of it" joy.

 

One day, I found myself in a modeling funk.  I would look at my small stash and not a single kit made me feel excited.  It wasn't the kits' fault, though.  It was something in me, not in the cardboard boxes.  I ended up buying the 1/48 Monogram P-51C because of its excellent fit and extremely simple construction.  That was it.  That kit got my mojo working again.  It reminded me of why I got into the hobby as a kid.  Screw the overly-engineered kits.  Screw the aftermarket junk that does nothing more that separate me from my money.  Ever since then, I get the simple kits that the "serious modelers" of today would look at down their noses.  I don't build to brag.  I don't post the "woe is me.  Look at all the details I have to deal with" karma farming kits.

 

I didn't get into this hobby so I could "fix" things.  I got into the hobby to have fun.  And that is what I am doing now.  Life it too short to sweat the details.

 

Eric 

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3 hours ago, dai phan said:

I kept saying to myself " stop being so damn anal" so I can have fun with my built. Most of the time does not work

What worked for me to end the AMS drudgery and stress was getting a couple neurological, endocrine, and musculoskeletal, diseases which made it so that I Can't build and paint like I used to.

 

1 hour ago, echolmberg said:

Ever since then, I get the simple kits that the "serious modelers" of today would look at down their noses.

 

Those can indeed be fun!

😄

(and fun to saw apart to make sci-fi models!)

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I noticed the same thing.  We slapped kits together when we were kids and we had great fun no matter how they turned out.   You gotta remember though, kids are so much easier to please.  And there's no one to judge our work back then.  There's no internet forums to post pics for viewing by a huge audience and getting worried and stuff.  Today, everyone has access to the internet and reference pics and they will see where you slipped up : )  We do need to quit worrying about what others think.  I guess, too -- the novelty of model-building has probably worn off somewhat, but there are ways to rekindle it.   It's like the way your heart used to flutter whenever you saw your crush.   Now she's your wife and none of us stay cute, the passion has to be rekindled : )

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Neurological problems ensure that I'll never have the skills to be a master modeler,  but i came back and am enjoying the hobby again. 

Guess I have OCD tendencies,  as I always try to build a specific plane or ship.

Building a specific plane takes time and research, but I don't have a lot of storage space,  so i can still enjoy myself,  just takes longer.

The F-16 I am building won't be a winner,  but I am enjoying it.  The same for the next in que C-130.

That said, my C-130 started to get away from me as I tried to add details after the fact. I finally took stock and scaled it back.

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👍👍👍👍👍!!!!! You hit the nail on the head. I can't believe I in the '60s I use to brush paint and fill gaps with Testors or Revell tube glue! My models are now much better looking with putty, wet dry sanding, spray paint and clear cotes BUT the amount of time I waste and worry about small details and accuracy seems to be a waste of time, especially since I don't and never will enter a contest or turn modeling into a business. I always considered modeling a "therapy" but now I think I need therapy to break my obsession with over doing it with nit picking details. What doesn't help is I am about to start a Hobbyboss F9F-2 Panther. definitely the wrong choice for a person with my affliction! jon

Edited by jonwinn
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11 hours ago, dai phan said:

Hello all,

 

Something has been on my mind and I want to share with you. I notice that as years go by and as my skill improves, every single built is carefully researched, after market parts, after market decals galore and the color paint has to be exacting as possible. I start to pay attention to smallest details and spent hours correcting tiniest mistakes to a point of exhaustion. Then I look back in my younger days of modeling in the early 80s. There was no after market decals, no resin parts, paints come from mixing various bottles and 99% of a time, the shade is off. But the main part was that I really enjoyed the built and I was no where near as obsessive as I am now. Now as my skills improve, I start to be more critical of my builds, anal as heck when comers to tiniest details and I see that I lost the innocence days of modeling that I enjoyed so much then. Yes things were simple, you built what came in the box but I truly loved and enjoyed each project. Now I feel I have lost that "special feelings" and sometimes I wish my skill stays the same so I do not have to be so critical that make me lose the enjoyment I had in my early unexperienced days. What are your thoughts? Dai 

 

I don't have this problem, because my skills don't improve... 🙂

 

Also, I am much more casual than most modelers, in that the only research I usually do is to read is the instructions.  I'm not too interested in the history of the subject, either the particular subject I've modeling or the basic variant.  I just like putting plastic together.

 

Stacey

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I have also done quite a bit of introspection over the years, very much driven by the fact that I went from building a model a week as a kid, to one or two models a year now, 40 years later. However, my conclusion has been quite different, and I suspect it comes down to what you personally enjoy doing. You shouldn't do anything in a hobby that you don't like - unless you are into some weird form of masochism. In my case, I have found that my own improvement in skills actually resulted in me enjoying things that I did not enjoy in earlier years, and therefore used to avoid at all costs. For example, the simple task of filling seams used to be a headache for me, but over the years I learnt what type of filler and technique to use in which situations, which made the task easier, more consistent and eventually - enjoyable. It is now an aspect of the hobby that I actually enjoy - I put on music and over a few weeks of evenings I enjoy watching bad fitting seems getting better and better until every flaw is eventually gone when I reach for the primer. A similar situation for decalling - I used to struggle to get that perfect "painted on" look - but I developed a method that works consistently for me (sanding, Tamiya X-22, decal, decal solvent, X-22, sanding, X-22, sanding - until the decal is perfectly blended). It seems like a lot of work but the result is its own reward and makes the task much more enjoyable now than I remember it being in the past.

 

This goes for many things:

Resin - used to hate all the work to make certain sets fit so for a while avoided them - now very much enjoy the process.

PE - used to scare me, now cannot get enough of the stuff.

Decals - once mastered, makes my models comes alive.

Weathering - still working on this one, but will get it right one day:)

 

Maybe it is my own personality - find a challenge, figure out how to solve it - enjoy the satisfaction of getting it right.

 

The fact that I now only build a few models a year - not a problem. I'm much more satisfied with the final result and I enjoy the journey very much. That being said, every now and again I buy and build a "practice model". Those are deliberately 1/72nd scale (I prefer 1/48th scale), because if they don't really fit in my collection I don't care too much about them, making them ideal for experimentation that may fail. Many of them come out surprisingly well, but it is a nice change of pace to "not really care", which usually gets me in just the right frame of mind to tackle the next "serious build".

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I can completely relate. As much as I enjoy the hobby today in my 50s, it’s not the same joy I experienced in my teens.

 

I think there’s room for the anal builds while mixing in a few fun builds along the way. A few years ago I wrote about painting cockpits black as a way to increase my output. Maybe that’s a technique you might consider.

 

LINK
 

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I sure agree with you guys. I also went through the OCD era of total after market products. Now the only after market I use is decals. I buy quite a few because you never know when you might need them.....:doh: OCD my still be at play here!

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Very true, I have stopped with some of the after market stuff. Apart from decals, ejections seats and lights, no one is ever going to notice all the extra money you put in the model. If you want a shelf with only 5 super duper detailed models go for it. If your like me with 4- 500 built in the basement, NO ONE will ever notice the difference. so why stress out on a hobby?

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I “found my joy” again by putting the airbrush away and picking up a brush. The last few kits have been rattle cans or hand brushed, or a combination of both.  I’ll save the airbrush for the more complicated camo (SEA, etc) schemes, but for the single or two color schemes I’m brushing….also helps  me burn through my huge stash of Polly Scale. I also stopped buying resin and etch. Decals though that’s another story!

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I have found it refreshing to build something else that you don't have a passion in.  I have been building model aircraft for 40 years.  Every once in a while I'll spontaneously buy a model car or truck, just because it "looks cool".  I don't know much about them, I have no reference guides and also because generally it can be pretty cheap.  The whole building, painting and weathering mindset is completely different.

 

It allows me to revisit just the joy of building again.

 

Edited by model junky
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Something I've found that helped was to get kits already started and just finish them. I got a few from a friend, and then bought some online for cheap. Since they were already started, my thought was just finish them up as best I can with what I've got. 

Those kits actually turned out better than I expected and are some of my favorite builds.

 

Maybe I'll have my wife post some of my started kits online so I can buy them from her.... 

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4 hours ago, model junky said:

I have found it refreshing to build something else that you don't have a passion in.  I have been building model aircraft for 40 years.  Every once in a while I'll spontaneously buy a model car or truck, just because it "looks cool".  I don't know much about them, I have no reference guides and also because generally it can be pretty cheap.  The whole building, painting and weathering mindset is completely different.

 

It allows me to revisit just the joy of building again.

 

I tried that. Now I have a couple of helicopters and a few cars on the shelf of doom. 

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One poster nailed it ... don't build for us ... for ARC ... or any other modelling forum.

You need to build for the guy you built for, 35 years ago ... just one guy!

 

My longest build was a year and a half long and I was building my intricate model for me, but wanted to share it here on ARC, on another forum. But when I lost interest, I found I was building it because ... sheesh ... I didn't want to disappoint the other guys, whom I've never met, except 1. 

 

However, that urge did get me over the finish line and I'm still EXTREMELY proud of that model, 11 years or so later.

( I'm close to 70 years old and have been modelling only since 2008. And with all the 3D skills on display, my scratch building skills are just about useless ... but I love following the guy building the B-17 ... all by hand! And it's GORGEOUS! )

 

But I wanted to avoid any criticism ... about that seam, or that tiny glue blob, or that slightly crooked decal ... none of which anybody would notice like another poster said.

 

dai phan, stop trying to show off your advanced skills to us, you ain't having fun anymore! ... phantom just shows us the finished model, very few build pix ... we're happy to see his skills and he's building more and more models every day ... to hell with us poor mortals!  ;- D

 

Sure hope this helps!  :thumbsup:

Pete

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1 hour ago, K2Pete said:

 

 

dai phan, stop trying to show off your advanced skills to us, you ain't having fun anymore! ... phantom just shows us the finished model, very few build pix ... we're happy to see his skills and he's building more and more models every day ... to hell with us poor mortals!  ;- D

 

Sure hope this helps!  :thumbsup:

Pete

 

 

Thanks Pete! Just wait till I retire , less then 2 years!

 

I have also found building for others a help. The buyer knows I don't win IPMS shows, but build good for a fair price. Customer takes home the model happy, it makes ME happy. Also, it makes my WIFE happy as there is very little room left in the basement for new models.

 

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On 8/18/2021 at 8:53 AM, niart17 said:

I think this is a very common occurrence. One thing I did that helped with this is finding some reason to force myself to just build a kit for fun, the old way. What helped for me for instance was our club had a interclub challenge that only allowed tube glue, paint brushes, and kit out of the box. Because it was a club challenge, you could tell yourself "I know this isn't what my mind tells me to do, BUT I HAVE TO in order to complete the challenge. I think that tricks the part of the brain that normally says "That's not right!" into focusing on the task of completing the challenge. That frees up the fun side of your brain to enjoy just building again. It worked for me but YMMV.

 

Bill

 

 

 Yup. A lot of this stuff is psychological. You make your own arbitrary rules and then refuse to break them, even at the cost of enjoyment. This is a good thing, like with work or achieving a hard goal, but not for a something that is supposed to be enjoyable. in your case, you had to find a kind of "excuse" to free yourself. (and good for you BTW) 

 

OP, not every build should be a marathon. Some people really love marathons, but the most fun I ever have running is the 4 mile course I run near my parents that i've run since I was in high school-- and yes I've done marathons. They don't give me warm fuzzies.  they are grueling. 

 

 

The peak for me was when I realized there were large portions of my stash that I would rather sell than build because I didn't think I could do them justice. Think about that, I would rather lose them than potentially have them but imperfectly? Thats nuts. thats stupid. That not the point of this. especially because I look at the stuff I love on my shelves and lots of them are terrible LOL I mean bad, but some of my favorite models are also some of my worst. So what gives?

 

lastly a part of it may be money. Theres a sunk cost. Its not unheard of to have about 400 bucks in a 1/32 scale modern fighter, with all the fixings. might be getting pressure on that end. 

 

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