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Why do your kits end up stalled


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To tie in with the thread on percentage of kits you complete, why do your kits end up half finished and back into the stash? You know you have some of these. I have WAY too many stalled projects.

Mine get stalled for one of two reasons primarily:

1) I get to a point where the next step is something I don't know how to do. This, for me, is the most common reason. The project then goes back into storage until I gain the knowledge I need to get the job done. Hoping to change that now that I found you fine people! B)

2) I screw something up and either don't want to deal with it at the moment :angry: or don't know how to fix it.

So lets here it. What's your excuse! :D

Edited by atomicholiday
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I get bored with it, and start something else, I get bored with it , start something else , and the cycle continues

Usually though I dont have time ( I run my own business which is very time consuming) My girls have a golf, volleyball, soccer match, choir concert , etc etc .

Bench time for me is tough to come by and when I do , I get an idea for somethign else . so I go looking for that . and the one on the bench sits ,,,and sits,,,, waiting to get done

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Sometimes the mods that I want to do to a kit get too complex to do quickly, so the project stalls, winds up in a box, and collects dust for a few months/years... and I get bored with it too :P:D Like Bill said, bench time is hard to come by most days.

Edited by bismarck
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it's usually not a lack of motivation for me. exactly the opposite, too much motivation and a big lack of focus! searches for one thing bring up 3 others and before you know it you have 3 new projects. do this for 10 weeks straight and you get.... lets see.... carry the 1....... well, you get a lot of started projects and they are all in the rotation. no joke, I have at least 20 projects on my bench right now that I have done something to within the last month.

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All of the above!

Loss of interest. Once I can squint and see the finished model in my head, I can lose interest. That's where I need an under study to hand the model off to for finishing!

Club or board projects! I will push aside my current project to start one of these for a club, board or show deadline. And this one will get pushed aside when I miss the deadline.

Difficulties with vision... I can suddenly not see the next step or where I want the model to go. So I take a break... often years!

Difficulties with assembly... I'd better take a break instead of hitting the wall with it.

Lack of skill... models get put aside when I couldn't do the next step. For instance there's a certain '73 Barracuda that I didn't know how to make drip rails. Now I know how, so that one should come back to the bench.

Or the times when a model is going so very well, that I'm afraid to touch it because I know I will screw it up! :D

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The number one reason my builds get stalled is definitely lack of focus. An idea will pop in my head for something else and I'll move on. The number two reason, especially this time of year, is paint. I can only spray outside where I live and its too cold to do so now. I can paint in my dad's garage, but my parents live 20 minutes away. So, I usually get something prepped for paint and try and paint everything in one go. Sometimes I get several bodies ready to go to get agead. B)

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Agreed... its become more of a winter thing for me too. I have too many 1:1 cars that take up my time. Amongst other projects.

Also, if the kit is molded in color I have to paint everything twice. That gets annoying. If something goes wrong I get burned out on it and throw it back in the box for the time being.

Or if I lose a part I'll also put it back in the box and be done with it for a while.

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The only time that any of my models will get stalled and put away is if I run into a snag while trying to put some part of it together. This usually only happens at final assembly time when either the interior won't seat right into the body, or, when the chassis / engine assembly won't fit properly up into the body. Test fitting is difficult to do properly until all of the sub-assemblies are completed. I get totally frustrated and aggravated and instead of throwing it against a wall or stepping on it, I'll just put it back in its box and come back to it either weeks or months later. At that point I've calmed down about the problem and approach it with a fresh attitude and perspective, which always winds up being successful.

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Or the times when a model is going so very well, that I'm afraid to touch it because I know I will screw it up! :D

Tom, I know exactly what you mean. I have a '59 Impala I'm afraid to touch right now, because everything is going perfect. It's by far the best work I've ever done, and I know I'll screw something up soon...

Edited by atomicholiday
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4 reasons:

1) I get stuck where my vision has overreached my skills, and I have to let the skills develop. I'll fiddle and work on other things, and sneak up on the required ability.

2) I decide to make a somewhat major change away from the original idea. Usually, rather than hacking into the thing, I'll put it aside and ruminate on it, to be sure I want to un-do work that is already complete.

3) The most fun part of the build to me is the "imagineering", the creative design phase. When it gets to be more like work, final fitting, finishing and detailing, my interest declines. I need to work on my self discipline...a good character-building side function of the hobby. Though I often use the excuse "I enjoy the building so much that I don't need to finish anything to be happy", I think I'd look back and feel my time was better spent if I could see a few more finished models on the shelves.

4) Real life gets in the way. For well over a year, I've been so immersed in taking care of things that shouldn't have been my problems to begin with, that I've had zero bench time until a couple of weeks ago.

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Dwight55, on 16 Jan 2015 - 08:37 AM, said:

... this dang puter takes away from my time working on models.

interesting. I've come to grips with internet research, sketching & rendering, buying supplies, even clearing & vacuuming the workbench, as part of modeling "administration" and as such, a support activity which further allows me to get back to "the Zone".

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1) I get stuck where my vision has overreached my skills, and I have to let the skills develop. I'll fiddle and work on other things, and sneak up on the required ability.

3) The most fun part of the build to me is the "imagineering", the creative design phase. When it gets to be more like work, final fitting, finishing and detailing, my interest declines. I need to work on my self discipline...a good character-building side function of the hobby. Though I often use the excuse "I enjoy the building so much that I don't need to finish anything to be happy", I think I'd look back and feel my time was better spent if I could see a few more finished models on the shelves.

4) Real life gets in the way. For well over a year, I've been so immersed in taking care of things that shouldn't have been my problems to begin with, that I've had zero bench time until a couple of weeks ago.

I can completely agree with those reasons you listed. I see all the wonderful builds on here and I want to make mine that awesome... and get in over my head.

Imagineering seems to take hold of me in both the model world and the 1:1 world... I like building it and buying parts more than I do having the thing together it seems.
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Usually, it's a project that snowballs out of proportion. It starts out as a simple, out of the box, build. Then, the kit wheels & tires aren't right. How about an engine swap? Measure 3 times, cut twice, & the engine is still crocked. Before you know it, you have a bench full of cut up plastic, I'm in over my head, or I figure it'll take 2 years to finish. Then, it's back in the box, stand in front of the wall o' kits, to decide which one is next.

The last "victim", actually was out of the box but I just wasn't excited about the subject. I will finish it, later. I boxed it up, grabbed another kit, & started to get into the snowball mode but caught myself. I'm now back to, out of the box with a simple wheel & tire swap. Those ones usually get finished.

Jeff

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Usually, it's a project that snowballs out of proportion.

Each and every time! :lol:

My Volare is a prime example. I've been working on that one for 20 years. Each time it comes out of the box I get into some major detailing or modification, so a bit got done, then it would go back into the box for another 5 years. It's on the bench again, and the last time out, it got stalled on getting a slant six to fit and in proper position. My thought was to just abandon that idea, put the old 318 that came in the kit back in, glue the hood shut and just finish it as a curb side.

But you know where that went. I solved the issue of fitting the slanter in there pretty quick. Which led to... how much detail could I get under that hood? Next thing I knew I was 2-3 weeks into creating wires and charcoal canisters! This time I promised myself it will get done. So I'm forging ahead with the chassis fighting me and the chassis/interior refusing to sit right in the body. Still I am getting it done this time!

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