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What makes us/you shelve a build ?


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Sometimes it's modelers A.D.D.. Most often I tackle something that I don't quite have the skills for yet, and I get frustrated. So I put it away till another day. The oldest one I have is from about 1983. I out the suspension off of the frame, with the idea of scratch building a new front suspension. Someday I will drag it back out. I am determined to finish this one, Some day.....

Edited by uncle potts
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First, I never think of "shelved" builds as "unfinished". Just "in-progress-longer-than-others", or delayed.

The reasons:

1) I get in over my head, skill-wise, and have to wait for my ability to catch up to my vision.

2) i take the time to work out an experimental technique before committing to and bodging a nice kit.

3) I decide my original vision was flawed, and I decide to re-think a large part of the project

4) I can't find enough reference material to do a replica of a specific vehicle.

5) I have to source oddball parts.

6) Finishing a model with a LOT of detail CAN become tedious. Sometimes it's more fun to start fresh on something creative.

This IS supposed to be fun, right?

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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I have only shelved a Tamiya F50. It requires a lot of carbon fibre decaling and i am not yet up to the experimentation required to make the templates and start cutting such expensive decals. I will attack it soon. I have a bike and a '58 Covette and a 1970 Challenger first.

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Yes, a previously mentioned build in another thread. I had strted a kammback Firebird from the Airfix/Lindberg kit. I grafted a 70 nose onto the body and used a Revell chassis. I then decided to restyle the rear of the body and cut up the rear bumper/taillight assembly. I then realized what I wanted to do was impossible for my skill level. So now it sits...watching me....watching....calling my name....Gregg, come to the dark side.....

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Winter, waiting on weather, for paint.

Waiting on parts/supplies to arrive.

Boredom! Another build may inspire me more.

And occasionally I just mess up and set a build aside...

I will say I rarely build from only one kit and I have been able to finish 95% of those projects I start.

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Sometimes all the parts are not supplied in the kit to build what I am truly after, so I wait until I can find what I need to finish a vision. Other times I lose parts in the process and put the project aside. Still other times I get overwhelmed with the difficulty I have created by building too much extra detail and becoming over involved, like spending 4 hours to build a header that is just right but, I need two. And finally other times I just start out with a real piece of you-know-what and just can't bring myself to finish it.

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99% of the time it's due to messed up paint.

Paint is definitely my problem. I have a tamiya gtr r35 that I stuffed the paint up on and have stripped most of it. Will need to get back into it. Currently finishing a 1/32 mack r series and tamiya Porsche carrera gt before starting a Laferrari. Also, I might have solved my paint issues as I've just figured out how to airbrush. There really is nothing like that feeling of completing a model.

Ben

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I work mostly on vintage cars, and I spend all my time on researching them. I'm intimidated by the prospect of actually building them to the standards they require for me. As a result, my shelves are full of models kits but my display cases are not.

Edited by sjordan2
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LOL Short attention span?

That's actually a joke I used to make about my wife when we first started dating, as she can lose herself in mid-story if something catches her attention.

But yeah the downfall of a big stash is having too many things staring at you, and you fiddle with a little of this, then you tinker with a little of that. Pretty soon all that fiddling and tinkering has you a bunch of started model kits, but nothing actually completed.

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Well, having just completed my first build in two years, I have a big problem getting things finished. With a large stash that keeps growing, things just keep grabbing my attention. I have on the go six builds that I would consider quite far along in progress but can't keep interested in them long enough to finish. One is a Jeep CJ-7 that just needs the roof painted and installed as I screwed up the paint on it, another is a replica of a truck my dad built when I was young that just needs tail lights. I also have any number of kits that has SOMEthing started on them. Most of the time I get ideas for builds and start fiddling with them. I have an idea list tacked to my wall with 16 items and another list started on my desk at work! And with a seven-month-old daughter, my build time is severely diminished.

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I'm intrigued by the engineering aspect of model building and get up a big head of steam building a chassis and solving suspension and engine mounting problem. Then I get to the fine details of finishing the project and get distracted by something else. My Pro Mod 49 Merc is a good example. It's just about done except for fitting the windows and finishing the engine details. Then there's the Super Stock 68 Mustang in the garage calling me...

Dale

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