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Build 'Hopping'


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I'm sure this topic has been discussed a million times before, but I thought I'd bring it up again in case it's not been talked about recently.  How many of you are plagued with the condition of what I'll call 'build hopping', that is, starting a kit, getting a little bit into it, then finding another kit, for whatever reason, that strikes your fancy, and you drop your current 'underway' kit in favor of the new one.  Then, getting a bit into the second one, and then a third hits your interest, etc.  I'm finding myself, of late over the last many months, doing just that.  I've begun maybe 7 or 8 kits that were interesting at the start, and then another kit, either one I've newly purchased, or one that resides in my stash, but now strikes me as newly fascinating, and I start that one.  It's been a long time since I've actually finished a model, and I'm wondering how many of you find yourselves in a similar condition.  I have reasonable confidence that I'll get back to all of these models, eventually, (primarily airplanes, but a few tanks sprinkled in, too) but I'm just curious how many of you, if any, are in this spot.  Since I'm retired, I can choose to do whatever I want, whenever I want, so time is less of a concern than it used to be, but still, I'd like to get a few models done and put on my shelves to sit with their model friends.

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Similar but a little different. Messy health over the last couple decades has really slowed me down & model building can be halted for days to weeks to months to sometimes entire seasons.

So it becomes a case of things like, "Been working on that model once a week for 6 months, burned out on it for now, do a different one for a while."

Or, "That model needs a bunch of tiny parts added at this point, my body is only good for big parts right now, which model needs some big parts done?"

Or, "This one is ready for painting but I'm not up to focusing enough to do the airbrushing, where's one which just needs a couple simple parts stuck together?"

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Doing the same, but for a different reason. I currently have about 30 kits in rotation that are either commission or gift/squadron builds. I've tried the approach of just working on one at a time, but I can't do it. Can't really explain why either. I'll work on one for an hour or two, then put it away. Grab a different kit the next day and do the same....rinse and repeat! Some days I work on a kit for a few minutes (maybe cleaning a couple parts) and some days I work on a kit for several hours. The positive is I get 'something' done every day. The negative is it takes forever to finish a kit and it's caused some issues with a couple recipients. My other issue is every day I'm also drawing decal art, printing or designing resin items for the product line, filling orders, doing research, etc. Every day I'm all over the place. While it drives some people crazy because they're still waiting, it would drive me bat shite crazy if I just worked on a single thing in a given day. 

 

Every once in a while I wonder if I'm the only one that suffers from this problem, but I don't think I'm alone here. 

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I tend to have at least two kits in a build rotation. When my interest just starts to wane on one build, I'll pack it up and move to my second (or third) kit and work that one for a while. Keeps my progress going and I feel like I get more done that way without burning out on one project.

 

John

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It would be interesting to see what percentage of us do this (or don't do this).  Typically, I just work on one kit at a time, but I have kit hopped my fair share of times over the years.  For me, my biggest determining factor is if I have the room or not.  If I'm working on (for example) a 1/48 Monogram B-17, that's going to take up all my workspace.  If I'm working on a 1/48 P-51, however, yeah, I see that I can fit another single-engined 1/48 plane on my workbench.

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My plan to help with that is to build an L shaped workbench so I can just swing around and work on a different build. Plan is one side for planes and the other for everything else so hopefully it mixes thing up enough that I don't get burned out again.

 

Mike

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Try to never do that. However it happens. Had just started 3 Super Hornets for myself. Then above and below decals asked me to do a couple test builds. Customer comes first.

The Voodoo was almost done when I found a error that HAD to be fixed.

While I wait for the new decals started (almost done) another special Canadian Hornet for Above and Below.

Once these two are done its 10 or 12 builds for another customer.

 

My 3 super Hornets are going to wait a long time.

 

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I totally understand the urge to start something new, but I avoid doing so at all costs. I almost never have the same enthusiasm resuming a half-built model as I do starting a new one.

 

Many years ago I had (just) six or seven models in various stages of completion and found that, as I spent time across them -- an hour here on this one, an hour there on that one -- none of them got done, which made the hobby very unfulfilling for me. Because ultimately we want to complete models, not just build them.

 

 

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I started reading this thread yesterday but halfway through I hopped over to read another thread, then another and another...  Just now getting back to this thread, hope to finish it today.

 

What were we talking about?

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I have ALWAYS been like that - hence why probably half of the kits in my stash are started/part-built to some degree or other...

....and I'm not talking single figures, or even double, either - I have approximately 300 kits on the shelves, so it'll be about 150...

....some were started 30+ years ago, either as individual builds or as parts of 'themes' or 'projects' that I was 'into' at the time...

....one that springs to mind is a Hasegawa 1/72 F-14A that I started immediately after going aboard USS America in Sept 1986...

....I do occasionally pull out an 'old' started build and finally complete it - like this 1/72 RNZAF Huey, started 1988, finished 2020:

NZUH-1-01.thumb.JPG.2665d9208ecbd28cbbfde4c09b4b1028.JPGNZUH-1-11.thumb.JPG.45838337e03ccf97657ea137f496f6d5.JPG

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4 hours ago, habu2 said:

I started reading this thread yesterday but halfway through I hopped over to read another thread, then another and another...  Just now getting back to this thread, hope to finish it today.

 

What were we talking about?

Ha ha!  I love it!

 

Geoff M

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Sounds Like I might be in the minority here.  I build one at a time, (ok sometimes 2 at time but they are both always on the workbench and usually same subject from different companies). Build to completion then pick out a new subject to work on.  Currently doing 2 F-4J, one from Academy and the other from Z-M.

 

Geoff M

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I quit unwrapping new purchases at least a decade ago to try to force myself to finish already started kits. Earlier this year, I had to rearrange stuff in various closets throughout the house to free up space for more kits in the stash closet. 

 

I track my stash in a spreadsheet and I've started about 50 out of 275 kits. Around 100 are still shrink wrapped, the rest are open, but still not otherwise started. They vary from new kits that arrived without shrink wrap, to some pretty ragged e-bay purchases that while not started are in pretty poor shape with crushed or water damaged boxes or lots of loose parts.

 

Last winter I started a job working from home. The problem is my office space is also my modelling space, so M-F it's set up for work, on Friday I throw the company computer/mouse & keyboard in a desk drawer and work on models over the weekend. Come Monday morning the model stuff gets stashed out of sight of the webcam for chatting with colleagues  There are currently 3 I'm rotating between all 1/48 Hasegawa F-2A in decal, Hasegawa F-16A in paint, and a Trumpy F9F-2 strictly OOB that should be done with another couple days of effort.

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Here's a part of my started-but-not-finished models. In my defense: I found the painting and finishing of my model mostly unsatisfactory, so often I stopped at the primer stage. But now that I use MRP paint, it's actually great fun, with great results. Take the Phantom eggplane, that I recently painted in four colors, plus decals, in one evening.

 

rzh-pauze-28.jpg

 

eggphantom-26.jpg

 

Rob

 

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18 hours ago, andyf117 said:

I have ALWAYS been like that - hence why probably half of the kits in my stash are started/part-built to some degree or other...

....and I'm not talking single figures, or even double, either - I have approximately 300 kits on the shelves, so it'll be about 150...

....some were started 30+ years ago, either as individual builds or as parts of 'themes' or 'projects' that I was 'into' at the time...

....one that springs to mind is a Hasegawa 1/72 F-14A that I started immediately after going aboard USS America in Sept 1986...

....I do occasionally pull out an 'old' started build and finally complete it - like this 1/72 RNZAF Huey, started 1988, finished 2020:

NZUH-1-01.thumb.JPG.2665d9208ecbd28cbbfde4c09b4b1028.JPGNZUH-1-11.thumb.JPG.45838337e03ccf97657ea137f496f6d5.JPG

 

I am a BIG FAN of this. Sat in this Huey many times as a kid. The RNZAF was always so kind to me as a kid and you NAILED this build.

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2 hours ago, Alternative 4 said:

I am a BIG FAN of this. Sat in this Huey many times as a kid. The RNZAF was always so kind to me as a kid and you NAILED this build.

Thanks!! That aircraft was here for the 1988 IAS at Middle Wallop, where it won the 'Concours d'Elegance' sword - something which led directly to my building the model of it...

....one of the ground crew 'gifted' me the tins of paint brought for 'touching up' the paintwork on arrival - I already had a couple of ESCI kits, and got the model built and painted within a few weeks, but then it sat unfinished due to lack of correct style of lettering/numerals and the squadron crests...

....then, 30+ years on, when filling up space on a couple of homemade decal sheets, I finally managed to produce what I needed - a few months later, I suddenly had the inclination to pull it out of the box containing it and four more variously part-started UH-1D/Hs, and finally finish it!

 

I still have the original tins of paint - the last time I checked, the fuller ones sounded like the contents were liquid, but the emptier ones didn't...

Edited by andyf117
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I think it's pretty common to have a few/several projects underway at any given time.  

 

I usually have 2-4 kits in progress, in various stages of completeness.  It helps get the most productivity out of time at the bench; when one gets to a point where it has to sit for glue/paint/decals to dry, move on to another that is ready for whatever the next step is.  

 

It works for me...

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I keep finding myself in this situation recently. I start a project I'm really into -> I get through some annoying bumps along the way or almost 80-90% of the way -> -> i manage to complete most of what I thought will be troublesome in the built -> I find that one thing that is extremely insignificant but I just can't do it.

Think doing all the stages of build, stopping after wash and weathering thinking... very slowly... Maaaat cooooaaaat? too haaaard.

And then I start something new. I hope it's just airbrush allergy.

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Yes, I certainly do.   I have ten kits underway right now, some that haven’t been touched in a long time and some that I’m working on regularly.    
 

What tends to happen is finishing them in spurts,  I have three that are about 90% right now, and once I get motivated to finish stencils and ordnance they will be done. 

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I do this all of the time. Very rarely do I start a kit, and then finish it before something else catches my fancy. I currently have 25 partially built kits on my shelf. However, I do always go back and finish them. Last year I finished off a 72nd Heller Connie that I started ten years prior! Occasionally I'll really have to force myself to finish a kit, but I always do. A lot of the time I'll start two or three of the same kit at a time, finish one, and then finish the other as the mood strikes me. It's what works for me anyway 😆 Fred K.

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