How many models are you working on at one time?

[rossfox]

  On 5/1/2025 at 4:23 PM, hedotwo said:

For what it's worth, I use my dehydrator often but I don't put stuff in right away after painting but rather give the paint time to settle in the open air beforehand... maybe an hour or two.  Not sure why it would make a difference but maybe the dehydrator dries the top too quickly and kind of keeps the lower coats from drying sufficiently??  I use a hand hair dryer between light coats to gently dry them before heavier coats.  Works good for me.

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Good point on not putting it into the dehydrator too soon.

[rossfox]

  On 5/2/2025 at 1:26 PM, Zoom Zoom said:

The LP's are amazing. I got to test them for a magazine article about 5 years ago prior to becoming available in the US. I was instantly hooked...and then they were greatly delayed due to pandemic. I assume if you'd tried them before acrylics you'd never look back. They cure pretty fast, they apply smoothly, you get better results much faster. You could have done your masking, painted the blue, put the body aside while you cleaned your airbrush and work/spray area, done a fingertip test on the masked area to see if it's dry enough, removed the masking and put the body in the dehydrator for 6 hours, and be working again on it the next day. Especially if you'd applied the white first over the entire body as a base coat, and masked that area before applying the blue, therefore only doing the masking task once. 

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Good point. Wonder where there is a big selection of Tamiya Lacquers?

[Zoom Zoom]

  On 5/2/2025 at 2:30 PM, rossfox said:

Good point. Wonder where there is a big selection of Tamiya Lacquers?

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It depends where you are located. They are easily found online. Even though I live near a major city the only hobby shops I know of that carry it are a couple hours away (both out of state) and the only one in-state is only open weekdays. Two of those sources do have online stores. 

[bobss396]

  On 5/2/2025 at 2:23 PM, rossfox said:

Good point on not putting it into the dehydrator too soon.

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I give lacquers a little time to flash off. Otherwise I have had little bubbles form if I put it in right away.

[bobss396]

  On 5/2/2025 at 4:43 PM, Zoom Zoom said:

It depends where you are located. They are easily found online. Even though I live near a major city the only hobby shops I know of that carry it are a couple hours away (both out of state) and the only one in-state is only open weekdays. Two of those sources do have online stores. 

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I have one shop within a few miles that is well stocked with Tamiya sprays. The next close one is a 20 mile drive.

I have bought some on eBay, I look for sellers with free shipping, but the selection is sometimes limited.

[Zoom Zoom]

  On 5/3/2025 at 11:01 AM, bobss396 said:

I have one shop within a few miles that is well stocked with Tamiya sprays. The next close one is a 20 mile drive.

I have bought some on eBay, I look for sellers with free shipping, but the selection is sometimes limited.

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Does that shop carry the Tamiya LP jar paints? That's my issue, LP's that I've been discussing are generally hard to find at hobby shops for a variety of reasons, one of which is shelf space because other paint lines proliferated due to huge interest in Gundam, gaming, R/C, etc. that draw much younger crowds and they spend more $ than car modelers. They all have the TS sprays.

[vincen47]

I used to just focus on one at a time, but that seemed to create a lot of stalled builds. But now…two is perfect.

For the past couple years, I’ve found it helpful to have a “main” project and a “side” project to alternate between, when waiting for parts or inspiration. It’s revolutionized my workbench success.

The main project has huge amount of detail and scratch building, so it moves slowly.

The side project is a much less demanding build, (and I tell myself that it’s ok that it is less detailed) so it moves faster and it helps to provide quicker “gratification”, when I just need the satisfaction of getting something completed - whether knocking off few steps on the assembly instructions, or a full build, in a relatively short amount of time.

I’ve fully completed four or five side projects since the start of my main one a couple years ago. It’s a good balance for me, and my overall success of completing builds has increased drastically.

[thatz4u]

Usually 3 on the bench & 3 more in my head...😉

[Redisetta]

  On 5/1/2025 at 6:29 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

When I was at my building peak I had as many as 60 going at any one time, in "rotation", with 3 or 4 or more getting actively worked on, and I've never had a problem staying current in my head with several projects running concurrently.

This was possible because I had several benches where I could leave a project undisturbed while I worked on another one, and in-progress shelves immediately adjacent to the benches.

My projects usually involve heavy modifications, scratch-building, problem solving, and much scale-engineering, so pushing one through to completion really isn't a realistic option.

When I'd get to a major stopping point or run up against a complex problem that I needed to work out, before boxing things up for the "resting" shelves, I'd make notes to record exactly where I was.

Probably not an approach for everyone, but it works well for me.

Last time I was building seriously I had 5 going, but most of them are now boxed up for a cross-country move, the benches are stacked high with packed kits, and the atmosphere in my house right now just isn't conducive to building much of anything...and the modeling space that's clear is tied up making parts for a custom full-scale instrument panel for a client.

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Wow Mr Ace, 60 at a time ,you must have had a very very larger work area 😎

[Ace-Garageguy]

  On 5/3/2025 at 3:54 PM, Redisetta said:

Wow Mr Ace, 60 at a time ,you must have had a very very larger work area 😎

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I said I had up to 5 being actively worked on at any given time, spread across multiple benches.

I also said I had storage shelves for in-progress projects immediately adjacent to the benches.

That means I could easily rotate between builds when something needed to dry or cure or I needed to figure something out before proceeding further.

The highest "in-progress" count I recall when this topic came up several years ago, including active builds on the benches and stalled or resting builds on the "in progress" storage shelves was somewhere around 60.

Edited May 3 by Ace-Garageguy

[stitchdup]

I'm glad the subject wasn't how many builds do you finish, most of us would be hanging our heads in shame, lol

[Ace-Garageguy]

  On 5/3/2025 at 7:21 PM, stitchdup said:

I'm glad the subject wasn't how many builds do you finish, most of us would be hanging our heads in shame, lol

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Waddya mean?  I finished two since about 2012.   

[obs.caleb]

The most i will be working on is 2 anymore than that is too many.

[bill-e-boy]

  On 5/3/2025 at 2:54 PM, vincen47 said:

I used to just focus on one at a time, but that seemed to create a lot of stalled builds. But now…two is perfect.

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This is similar to my strategy of using my build time. One main project and a side project that will become the main project when the first is completed then start another side project. Then along comes a dead-lined group build and it all gets pushed to one side. Some projects get started and put to one side if there are too many issues or inspiration. I recently finished a build that I started in 1997 and had one revisit since then. Great to see it on the shelf.

Any more than two projects on the shelf and I find that I lose impetus on all of them so the needs to be some discipline to keep the build numbers down. I think I have only two or three stalled projects, so I am quite driven to complete builds once I have started them   

Lots of builds going on in my head all the time though 

The discussion on paints is for anther thread but I do use a lot of Tamiya LP paints these days

[johnyrotten]

  On 5/3/2025 at 8:33 PM, bill-e-boy said:

Any more than two projects on the shelf and I find that I lose impetus on all of them so the needs to be some discipline to keep the build numbers down.

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That's my logic with it, not biting off more than I can chew. Not gonna lie, recently accumulated kits have caught my attention, though. 

[NOBLNG]

2,3,4…it depends. I have a whole bunch started, but usually only 2 or 3 active builds going on at once.

 

[Mark W]

I’m with Greg, I have 3 main ones now. But maybe a dozen on the shelves 3/4 or more finished, I’ll get to them…….yep, I will!

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi!

I usually work on 4 models at once, in often very different genres: Bonneville car, a street-rod, a Pro-Touring and some "oddball" thing to get me out of my comfort zone. It avoids downtime when bodywork or paint take more time. Then, i often finish two at one, a few hours apart. About 12 in a good year. 

CT

[Deathgoblin]

I try to only do one at a time due to space constraints (I've also got my work computer on the same desk).  Currently I'm working on two.  Coming to a close on the Boyd Coddington "Smoothster" 1937 Ford.  Also still working on a 1/1400 scale USS Titan from Star Trek Picard.  She's a long-term project.  A really rough 3D print that takes a LOT of sanding, and I've had to carve off a lot of the surface detail and remake it.  

[bobss396]

  On 5/3/2025 at 7:21 PM, stitchdup said:

I'm glad the subject wasn't how many builds do you finish, most of us would be hanging our heads in shame, lol

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I finished NONE in the past year. 

[Zippi]

I just finished my Charles Carpenter '55 Chevy Pro Sportsman, I have a Fiat Abarth 395SS that I'm turning into a Pro Street, and a 1935 Ford chopped 3-Window Coupe I printed out to build.  

Edited Saturday at 11:09 AM by Zippi

[Bullybeef]

I’ll generally have one major build going along with a couple of side distractions( squirrels) sometimes I’ll get an idea while working with the major and hash it out as a side project to see if it will work. That being said I have over a dozen of these “ideas” sitting within reach of the bench so if I reach a stalling point I can dredge up an old idea and make some progress. Having a rather depleted stockpile of glue bombs and rebuilders has been a hinderance lately. 

[Spooker]

  On 5/3/2025 at 7:21 PM, stitchdup said:

I'm glad the subject wasn't how many builds do you finish, most of us would be hanging our heads in shame, lol

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Amen, brother!  1 or 2 a year seems to be my current rate.

[Bill Anderson]

To address the original question, I work one vehicle model from start to finish - albeit it takes longer these days than it used to. 

When I was heavy into HO model railroading, I would often build like rail car kits in an assembly line fashion.  This method worked out really well, but I wouldn't attempt it with model cars due to the uniqueness of each. 

[Mike C]

I like to work on One at a time.