How Do You Select Your Projects?

[afx]

Me, I get an idea in my head and it won’t leave me alone.  I start collecting any reference I can find.  I want to know how the thing was built and what are its unique features.  I throw myself into the subject.  I guess that speaks to my obsessive/compulsive personality.   

I've seen people ask for someone else to decide what they should build - I could never do that. How do you decide?

 

 

Edited February 10, 2017 by afx

[gtx6970]

The voices in my head talk to me A LOT

[Brizio]

usually the projects pick me...

[Modlbldr]

I wish that I decided! I always have multiple projects in the works. Then I get an idea for another and, like you said, it wont leave me alone. Next thing I know I am working on it and all other projects either get pushed aside completely or I work on them as fill in. I guess that's why I have a difficulty finishing one. As an example, I have a 56 TBird that I started (without any forethought) because I saw a drawing of one that I thought was cool. So, I dropped working on my 64 Chevy pickup for a while. Once I got to a point on the TBird where it wasn't as interesting anymore I started on a 34 Ford Flintstone resin. Back and forth from the TBird, 34 Ford, 64 Chevy, 66 El Camino, and now I am AGAIN working on a 67 GTX that I started in 2011!

It's a vicious circle!!! But I enjoy it.

Later-

 

[Pete J.]

It has got to be something that inspires me.  I've built my share of commissions and the customer decided, but even those have to be something that I am inspired to do.  Some times the motivation is the challenge to go something I have never done before and will have to develop new skills to accomplish.  Other times it is just a subject that I like, such as a vehicle I have owned or would love to have owned.  Sometimes it is just a stunning subject that I see as a work of art.  Regardless, I have to have some connection with it. Just throwing together a kit because it is in my stash is never an option.  I could never feel right about posting a group of builds on the internet and ask others to decide for me. Not that I denigrate that concept but I just don't understand that mind set.  

[Xingu]

For me it is easy. Since I am only doing mainly box stock models, the first box that I pick up and go "that looks like fun" is the winner. Turns out the fun is short lived on many of them though. Luckily, I have learned to step away from things when they start giving me trouble (fiddly pieces, not happy how paint turned out and such) and come back to them when I am more confident (or determined) in my skills to complete them. That is why I have a lot of started models and only a few completed ones. At some point I will want to do something unique and I am sure I will then add a new, previously unexplored, level to my OCD.

[jaymcminn]

Sheer randomness. I'll buy a model, let it gather dust for a few years, and finally get a wild hair and build it. The Porsche 356 Speedster I just finished is an example of one of those. Sometimes it's a case of buying a kit and starting it the same day... my previous build was the AMT Sunbeam Tiger, which I finished within about a month of buying it. (Pics of both soon... Windows 10 install bricked my built-in SD card reader and I haven't gotten around to buying a new one yet!) I like having a big stash of kits on hand so I can build what I'm feeling at the time. Next one will be the Aoshima Pagani Huayra... or maybe the Hasegawa Lancia 024... that Ferrari f50 won't build itself, though...

[Belugawrx]

I picked up that tiger kit not too long ago,...but I need to finish the 5 I have on the go already lmao

I have a very limited number of kits at present (maybe 20) in the stash....

When an idea hits me, whether in a mag or on the street, I will go through my limited supply and build that idea into something I have on hand... 

[iamsuperdan]

For me, it involves a lot of standing and staring at the stash. Lots of muttering to myself, "What do I feel like building now?"

There's no rhyme or reason to how I pick them. It's just whatever grabs me at that moment.

And then once I have made a selection, it's off to the internet to find as many reference pics as I can, then I figure out paint and make sure I have what I'll need.

Then it's go time.

 

 

[disabled modeler]

Me its usually what I can find the parts for...LOL..

[BigTallDad]

I'm coming off double cataract surgery, and the clarity is overwhelming. I've decided to do the Revell '40 Ford Coupe, because it offers so much as far as extending the (excellent) kit features.

Maybe a sediment bowl, in the fuel line, that actually has liquid in it...plug wires and boots that actually show the metal bases...and so forth

[MrObsessive]

Whatever really strikes my fancy at a particular moment. My current WIP-----the "Green Hornet" Shelby is the result of a major desire to remake a better one than the one I built over 20 years ago. 

I like to do different eras in cycles too. Right now with the Shelby, it's the '60's muscle era. After this tough project, it'll more than likely be something relatively simple such as a box stock more modern car. Then it's back to the '50's. I have a number of projects lined up in my mind that actually take me through the end of next year, but of course that's subject to change. 

Something can come along which will make me drop everything and race to get started on it!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Whatever really strikes my fancy at a particular moment...

...(but) something can come along which will make me drop everything and race to get started on it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsKOYQ7z9CE

[Tom Geiger]

Yea, those voices in my head win every time! It's often when I get far enough along on a build that I'm past any perplexing challenges and I can squint and see what it will look like finished that the voices are satisfied and try to point me in another direction.

And that's why I started the Christmas Amnesty builds better than a decade ago. I had so many 3/4 completed models that I had to force myself to sit down and finish them. At least I get to one every year that way!

When I'm in the zone, there is no amount of work or cost that's too much.  Once I bought 5 different cans of Duplicolor red until I found the right shade. I'll do a ton of research and sweat and artistically feel every detail. When I get a phase correct,  I'll celebrate and leave it mocked up on my workbench and look at it every morning as I pass the model room on my way to get ready for work.  And I'll daydream about it during the day.  Finishing those models is almost a let down because the excitement of the build is done.

 

 

[Phirewriter]

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe... 

Seriously though, my projects begin mostly will some inspiration. Other people's builds, a photo or artwork, somthing seen at a car show, sometimes for a club build. Problem is I've so many started projects I'm trying to finish one before starting another. I began a notebook to keep track of ideas. I also put post it notes on boxes that have additional parts or are started projects. It's helped me get on track to finishing some long in the works kits.

Edited February 11, 2017 by Phirewriter

[restoman]

The voices in my head talk to me A LOT

^^^ This^^^

I typically build something the way I would have it were it a real 1:1 car. Sometimes, to me, a look or a theme will pop out and that's the way it goes...

[Russell C]

I see cars that aren't there. That should be.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I see cars that aren't there. That should be.

A truly great line.   

[Ace-Garageguy]

When I get a phase correct,  I'll... leave it mocked up on my workbench and look at it every morning as I pass the model room on my way to get ready for work.  And I'll daydream about it during the day. 

Boy, do I understand that.  

Unfortunately, that's often where I'll stop for a long time. I don't honestly know if it has something to do with a fear of completion, or a nagging feeling that the rest of the build might not live up to the first part, or what...but it sure can be saddening sometimes to see so many 1/2 or 3/4 or 7/8 done models with so much potential that may never get finished.

[High octane]

First I put on a blindfold, then I pick up a dart, and then I throw the dart towards my "stash," and wherever the dart lands, that's my next project.

[slusher]

The build idea I strongest about..

[martinfan5]

I go to the stash, and grab a kit, pretty simple really.

Honestly, I have no idea, it just comes down to what ever toast my goat.

[stitchdup]

The club I'm in has themed builds each month, so I usually try to build for whatever the theme is, but saying that I have others that I do work on while waiting for paint and glue to dry but they tend to be long term projects. I have too many builds that something has annoyed me on and they have been left to sit such as my chopped/sectioned and fadeaway fenders 48 woody, that just needs the body painted.

[ChrisBcritter]

I usually pick the old and rare stuff and see what I can do with it that's different. About the only kits I'm building stock are my Continentals - but the rest will have some large or small mods to set them apart from the usual.

[landman]

I seem to have gotten into a cycle. A truck, a restoration, some dio stuff, a new model, another restoration , some engines, then another truck. I get a lot of ideas here of course, others on the street.