Suggestion about works in progress postings

[Danno]

[Mike Kucaba]

>I personally prefer the ones where it's just a couple of pics of wheels under an unpainted body shell and then you never see another update...<

Yeah,and they've already picked the color!

[bigmikevee]

I think I miss Treehugger Dave...

[moparmagiclives]

Is this the line for the Areosmith tickets....

This has turned into quite the witch hunt..

I can see the point of trying not to leave something unfinished, but at the same time....its called the "work bench"

not the "worked and done bench"

I personaly like the freedom of having people giving ideas in the middle of a project, that I or another builder might not of thought about. Guess thats part of the community part of this site.

[Danno]

>I personally prefer the ones where it's just a couple of pics of wheels under an unpainted body shell and then you never see another update...<

Yeah,and they've already picked the color!

Better still are the endless pix of an unpainted body, several different combinations of too-big wheels/tires propped under the body, and a creative master modeler asking "What color should I paint it and which set of wheels should I use?"

Duh. Let me build my model and post pix of it, and then you can see what color I think it should be and which wheels/tires it should wear.

Was that insensitive of me?

[David G.]

Better still are the endless pix of an unpainted body, several different combinations of too-big wheels/tires propped under the body, and a creative master modeler asking "What color should I paint it and which set of wheels should I use?"

Duh. Let me build my model and post pix of it, and then you can see what color I think it should be and which wheels/tires it should wear.

Was that insensitive of me?

Amen, brother.

[Harold]

All I can say is Bill Geary is a talented builder, and I enjoy watching his slow builds.

Edited October 12, 2010 by Harold

[Terror]

This hobbie does pose alot of passion.You don't hear of quilters going nuts over a blanket they are working on.Maybe cause I don't do that hobbie,maybe they do.?Who is to say the 'on the bench build' wasn't finished?I have yet to post in the underglass section,but I have,so called, finished a few.I feel they are never fully completed,but thats my own mental problem.

[Jon Cole]

Woo!

Slowbuild, take it easy

Slowbuild, take it easy

Slowbuild, take it easy

Slowbuild, take it easy

I'm in the mood

The rhythm is right

Move to the music

We can build all night

Oooh Slowbuild

Oooh

Slowbuild, take it easy

Edited October 12, 2010 by Jon Cole

[Guest Johnny]

Woo!

Slowbuild, take it easy

Slowbuild, take it easy

Slowbuild, take it easy

Slowbuild, take it easy

I'm in the mood

The rhythm is right

Move to the music

We can build all night

Oooh Slowbuild

Oooh

Slowbuild, take it easy

That is great!!!

I miss treehugger dave too! He had some of the coolest builds!

I'll never do a work in progress thread! It could be 5 or 10 years between updates the way I sometimes build!

[Harry P.]

That is great!!!

I miss treehugger dave too! He had some of the coolest builds!

I'll never do a work in progress thread! It could be 5 or 10 years between updates the way I sometimes build!

Can somebody explain the link between Foghat and Treehugger Dave?

[Jon Cole]

And on a related note, never use the url direct from the internet; always upload to the photo host site first. Otherwise, the photo will magically change to a different photo all by itself! So now I fixed it!

[Danno]

Can somebody explain the link between Foghat and Treehugger Dave?

Mushrooms?

[Aaronw]

Sometimes, it can get frustrating watching a build in progress that disappears for days, weeks or months before it's finished. Maybe it would be better for builders to keep a photographic journal of their build and not post on this forum until it's finished, where they can then show the progress all the way to the end after it's finished. Only a very few of the most talented builders on this forum can keep things moving until the end.

I understand the frustration having been on both ends of builds that just fade away. However, don't you think a post build log kind of defeats the point of most WIP? The best ones are educational, either the builder being given a helpful tip with a technique they are not comfortable with, or the readers who frequently ask for more info (and photos). It is pretty hard to go back and take a few more photos of a part that was completed a month earlier or to use that neat new trick, fix that kit error etc after its all done. How often have you finished a kit only to have someone point out an error in the kit that would have been easy to fix at the right stage.

I guess it depends on what you expect from a WIP post.

Edited October 13, 2010 by Aaronw

[Guest Johnny]

I think I miss Treehugger Dave...

Can somebody explain the link between Foghat and Treehugger Dave?

Foghat has nothing to do with him at all!

Did you not see the post above (in bold) a few boxes ahead of the foghat one Harry?

I intended in multi quoting but must have missed the button on bigmikevee's post..

Sorry if I cornfused ya!

[bigmikevee]

Can somebody explain the link between Foghat and Treehugger Dave?

Rarely in tune, rarely sold-out, waaaayyyy too loud, you would always run into someone else who knew better too,but wouldn't miss it for the world, t-shirts never fit right, yet it was always fun to say you were in attendance?

Edited October 14, 2010 by bigmikevee

[Harry P.]

Lonesome Dave... Treehugger Dave.... now I get it!

[MILD]

I think I use The Workbench as it was intended, but maybe I was wrong.

My work is far from advanced or worthy of entertaining or even interesting 99% of posters on this board. I post my mundane pics or my mundane subjects to get constructive criticism. I actually post to get advice and to improve my modeling. Further to that, I post to document my own progress so I can look back on what I did right and what I did wrong. Yes- I could have a document saved to my computer that I only access offline but then I would miss out on feedback from you guys and maybe, just maybe, another junior modeler could learn from my mistakes.

So far so good. I have received some great feedback and those people not interested in anything but elite level builds have stayed out and reserved their time for looking at what interests them. Everyone wins.

Unfortunately, I don't often update as often as I'd like. Typically this is due to having a demanding job that requires extensive travel and a young family. Now I tick two boxes- I'm a talentless hack who rarely updates my threads

I'd like to counter the OP's suggestion with one of my own- how about a little self moderation? If the thread doesn't interest you, click right on by.

I purposely stayed out of the drama created in various threads here during my short tenure that resulted in bickering and really achieved nothing. I also felt the removal of the rants and raves board was a move in the right direction.

Regardless it seems some people- rather than changing their own behaviour- need to focus on making everyone else conform to their standard. I am hoping that I haven't been drawn into the web of negativity the aforementioned threads create (not necessarily this one, although it have come awfully close).

I guess it is now time for me to practice what I preach and also self moderate so that I can come here to learn, view some spectacular works that inspire and talk models. Not bicker about politics, how everything is wrong and go out of my way to stroke my own ego.

Apologies for the meandering rant. I hope I made some kind of sense.

[mhadman]

I will admit to not reading every post in this thread,but will respond to the original post..I for one like seeing,and posting even incremental progress on a build,for a couple reasons.More than once,during a build of mine,someone has pointed out either a technique or something i may have missed,that i was able to use or fix before i progressed too far on the build.At my rate of building,with all the other responsibilities i have,along with everyone else,i would be posting once every 2 years...I enjoy sharing my progress,and hope to help others and maybe even inspire like minded people who like the same types of builds..Here is my olds...hoping to finish by the end of December..

A work in progress

[Scale-Master]

I take pride in the fact that I finish most, if not all of what I start posting in the WIP section. (I can’t recall any unfinished builds at the moment… at least ones I shared online…)

That said, I have been working on the same model for over a year and posting its progress here for that time frame. For a significant period of time I posted no updates.

Does it sit for periods of time without any work being done to it? Not really.

Should I post every little thing I do to it? Not my style.

When will it be done? No clue.

But as mentioned earlier in this thread, every time I post an update, it pops back up to the top for anyone who cares to see what has been done. So it shouldn’t matter if I am not making quick progress.

I have intended to post an update for over a week, ( I was hoping to get a lot more accomplished, the model apparently does not share my view at this time…) but even with as much work as I have invested into this project lately, nothing really worth showing has been accomplished yet, so what would be the point?

I do see how some may get frustrated with so many WIPs posted are in their infancy only to never get finished. A body with some wheels accompanied by the “What color should I paint this?†seems to be a common start to unfinished WIPs. So what? They slide to the bottom of the board.

But there is no direct correlation between the “inaction†and the ability of the builder.

As for creating a log to include once the model is done, well, that would negate the need for a WIP section wouldn’t it? And look how many bits of info would be lost if said projects never got finished. Just because it does not get finished does not mean someone won't benefit from what was done. I use the WIP as a real time recording of what I did for later reference; a log if you will. Why not share while it is fresh in your mind?

I personally appreciate it when a link to the WIP is included in the finished post. It helps answer many questions that often come to mind while viewing it. Now I’m off to try to make some progress worth sharing.

[Ryan S.]

I think the great thing about the WIP threads is that inspiration or ideas can come from any point in a particular build, not just a finished model. I think a lot of the time, too, little details that people spend a lot of time on are better shown as a WIP because sometimes they can get lost on the finished build, or are not easy to photograph when finished.

I get bummed too, sometimes when builds I've been following fall off the radar or stop receiving updates but that's life right? The builders could have one of a million different reasons for not updating. And that's ok because there's going to be plenty of other builds posted to look at and get ideas from.

The thing that's great about forums like this is that everyone's individuality shows though and you never know when you might pick up an idea or technique you never thought of before. So I say keep the WIP's coming.

just my $0.02

[Terror]

You can please some of the people some of the times,,,,,ah I can't remember the rest... If I takes to long,,wait some more.. It's ok by me if you never finish the thing,I'll just look at what you have.I'm kind of a fan of mock-ups for some odd reason?It has to be a ride height mock, not the one with tires under a body,thats to cheezie and you know it will never sit that low.

[martinfan5]

I have gotten bad at doing WIP threads, I will start them, but find that they sometimes(most) get in the way of the building, so with the good intentions in the world I will start one, but after awhile, I would just rather focus on the build and not posting about the WIP.

I have cut back on doing WIP threads for the most part .

[StevenGuthmiller]

I do them, but I keep them to a minimum. I don't want to be taking pictures of every nut & bolt & spending umpteen hours a day sitting at the computer posting. I usually will post when I have a large assembly done or the like. Steve

[tim boyd]

Here's my view....I for one enjoy reading the WIP postings.

I believe they encourage other readers to try new ideas, and they also provide a source of encouragement and feedback for the person doing the posting.

As for whether the WIP projects ever get finished....I learned long ago that a significant percentage of participants in our hobby get the most enjoyment out of starting projects....but not necessarily finishing them. Once they've done the basic work and "proven" that a project like that could be done, they become more interested in starting the next project, rather than finishing the current one. And you know what, I'm personally 100% fine with that if that is how they derive the most pleasure from building model cars.

The hobby should be foremost about having fun, and having fun on terms that each of you define for yourself. It should not become a source of guilt or pressure hanging over your head that you "have to complete your model" because you started posting your progress. On the other hand, if it provides positive encouragement to you to finish the model, all the better!

Now when it comes to preparing magazine articles, though, I completely agree with the original premise that the builder should finish the project before submitting a magazine article. This belief comes from the embarrassingly frequent situation in the 1960's with Car Model magazine, where they would start an article series with horns blowing and drums beating...only to have it fade away completely after one or two articles, with nary an explanation or acknowledgment as to what happened.

So to summarize my point of view (no better or worse than anyone else's here), as far as I'm concerned, please keep posting the WIP projects....whether you ever finish them or not. And I'll keep finishing projects before I write an article on them....

TIM

Edited January 29, 2015 by tim boyd