The nightmare in my closet; what is your personal unfinished project, and why?

[Wickersham Humble]

Every modeler has a bete noir, an unfinished project kit that defies completion every time you fearfully drag it out!  Or, maybe more than one -- poor souls!

Some kit that was begun with high hopes, great expectations of a distinguished, innovative build, but now for whatever reason, refuses to come together for you?  Most of these have interesting stories (why you didn't just give up on it and consign it to the parts box might be one) and occasionally, a happy ending.  Tell me about yours! What kit inspired it?  How long ago was it begun?  What stopped the process?  Skills? Parts availability? Misguided cutting or cementing?  Or, just a design dead-end, something that seems misbegotten now, and not deserving of a full completion?  And, now why can't you just toss it?

If you're like me, you've had several, and possibly like me you've seen your modeling career approach 'the red zone of life' and began forcing the issue on a few old kits.  One of mine is an original year AMT '49 Ford Coupe that was quickly finished back in '62, then in the early '80's, dismantled to re-do a disappointing paint job.  The candy blue rat-can treatment I'd done over shaded gold and white just didn't charm me anymore, and a friend who also did 1/1 body work came over with a pint of a Chrysler glam color that had been catalyzed and offered it, which I accepted  --since the body had been stripped and primered already.  Already in the midst of some big-car bodywork, I put the '49 on a painting stand, fired up my DeVilbis EGA gun, and shot the body and hood, which came out very nicely.  Then -- as the day was cold, I moved an infrared lamp over to keep it warm and aide the curing process. Long story shortened; the light stand's adjuster slipped, unbeknownst to me, and neatly melted the coupe's roof into a blog, taking some fender with it as well!  I could't bear to toss it, so I hacked of the roof the next day, and tossed it back into a box with its interior, etc.  It must have been twenty years later I uncovered the project, kicked the spiders out, and decided to salvage it as a 'fifties lead-sled 'kustom', a natural idea...?  I did a 1/4in. section job, which helped in the salvaging of the melted residue oft the fender, added '55 Chevy front-fender tops and 'eyebrows', pancaked the hood, created a 'catfish mouth' grille opening that would take a Corvair blade bumper, dug up real 'fifteis cruiser skirts (from a '60 AMT kit, preserved in my stash), ditto for the rear treatment, made the cat's-eye tailights round, and added the piece d'resistance, a huge jet exhaust on the trunk lid.  This because I'd eventually eliminated the rear seat area, and used half-round to make a full tuck n' roll interior.  The windshield frame had vanished with the melted roof, so that became a bubble style.  I also got out old JoHan 'flipper' wheel covers and a lonely Buick 'Nailhead' V-8 to go along.  

But, then I mocked it up, and was chagrined; all that work hadn't produced much more than a parody of an olde tyme custom -- so now it sits.  I'm trying to decide if a really radical paint scheme would save the kit, or maybe just give it up as a bad job.  When I post pics of it, maybe I'll get some feedback.  Frankly, I'm tempted to do a version of the SoCal coupe scheme, only maybe with white and metallic blue, with white-blue alternating upholstery stripes.  Or, just fall back on finishing the twenty kits or so I've vowed to complete before my show closes for good.

What is lurking in a musty box in your closets?  Bring out your dead! ?

Wick

[gtx6970]

I have several. Including a couple that a

Sometimes it parts availability is the issue 

How to do something I want to do can be a barrier 

 

Sometimes I just get distracted and it gets forgotten about

Only to be found years later 

[johnyrotten]

I've got a couple. Drag and drive Nova wagon and a modded Jaguar. It mostly boils down to time, skill and interest in that particular project. And I'm kinda keen on not building something similar to what someone else is.  My stash is broken up into fun builds, "learners" and the one's where nothing short of my abilities will cut it. I tend to be critical of my craftsmanship or lack of, that turns certain projects into "work" in my mind.

[Radretireddad]

Mine is a stock body conversion/kit bash on the old LA dart. Fitting the chassis, engine and interior from a Mueller era Duster was the easy part. Summoning the will to do everything the body needs is another matter. It currently occupies the eternal scrap or finish realm of my essence.

Edited 11 hours ago by Radretireddad

[Ace-Garageguy]

More than I can count, mostly because I ran up against something I needed to research further, something I needed to develop a little more skill to tackle successfully, and most recently just a lack of time and motivation due to real life getting in the way.

Probaballly, maybelly, get back in the groove over the long weekend coming up.

[Brutalform]

Having around eight builds going on at the same time is kind of the norm for me. But, the few that are put away, to be honest, I really don’t know why I haven’t pulled them out, to work on, or finish. Usually, if I’m just not feeling it, I most likely will not work on it. I suppose it’s the same reason, when I get an idea to build a particular car, go and purchase the kit, and get stuff together, and not start it for a while. Which we all know, contributes to a big stash. Now you got me thinking about pulling a few of those stored builds out, when I clear my bench of the eight I’m working on. My Mel Burns 1963 Ford 300 427 is almost ready for paint and final assembly. I need a decent front bench seat. I guess that’s why it is just sitting in storage. 

Edited 7 hours ago by Brutalform

[Big Messer]

Every time I start something new all the rest of the started stack gets pushed back some more.... Not very proud of myself but it is what it is.

[bobss396]

I am the president of the BACK IN THE BOX! club. 

Maybe my OCD, dyslexia plays a part on it too. I have more than... ahem... a few stalled projects put away. I did finish 1 this year. 

Most are at least half done, maybe further. I hit a road block, need to come up with solutions, etc. On the plus side, new parts cone out that help me get done back on track.

[Big Messer]

I hate painting. This will explain many of the bogged down ones.

[bobss396]

2 minutes ago, Big Messer said:

Every time I start something new all the rest of the started stack gets pushed back some more.... Not very proud of myself but it is what it is.

I get an idea... and I jump into another project far too easily. I'm glad I'm not the only one that does that.

I have even scavenged stalled projects for parts. I try not to store them with aftermarket parts in the boxes. I like to leave notes with them, in or on the boxes.

[Big Messer]

14 minutes ago, Brutalform said:

Having around eight builds going on at the same time is kind of the norm for me. But, the few that are put away, to be honest, I really don’t know why I haven’t pulled them out, to work on, or finish. Usually, if I’m just not feeling it, I most likely will not work on it. I suppose it’s the same reason, when I get an idea to build a particular car, go and purchase the kit, and get stuff together, and not start it for a while. Which we all know, contributes to a big stash. Now you got me thinking about pulling a few of those stored builds out, when I clear my bench of the eight I’m working on. My Mel Burns 1963 Ford 300 427 is almost ready for paint and final assembly. I need a decent front bench seat. I guess that’s why it is just sitting in storage. 

ONLY EIGHT???. You are not even a beginner procrastinator... 

[bobss396]

1 minute ago, Big Messer said:

I hate painting. This will explain many of the bogged down ones.

For me, the rough scratch building is the fun part. 

I build models like real cars, the paint is last. Everything has to fit as best as possible.

I see lots of guys who paint the body first. This is risky to me.

I don't mind painting at all. I keep it simple, stick to my method. If I take a few months off from painting. I get rusty.

[bobss396]

1 minute ago, Big Messer said:

ONLY EIGHT???. You are not even a beginner procrastinator... 

Those are rookie numbers in this game... 

I likely have around 20 plus in my stalled queue.

[Big Messer]

1 minute ago, bobss396 said:

Those are rookie numbers in this game... 

I likely have around 20 plus in my stalled queue.

I can just recall around 20. I am certain there are more.

[Bills72sj]

I am generally pretty good at finishing what I started even with running 4-5 builds simultaneously. However this project took From August 2006 to April 2022 to finish. I painted both tractors and both trailers the same week. I built both trailers and one tractor within the first year. I got a wild hair and decided to attempt LEDs with working flashers into an already painted body. Consequently, it stalled. Not for lack of materials or skill. Simply for the apprehension in carving in lights with a paint job with paint that was no longer available. I finally decided to bail on the lights because, I grew weary of an incomplete set of custom car haulers. Below is a mini progression of the result.

[Wickersham Humble]

These are pics of the '49 Ford that has been bedeviling my workbench the worst though not the longest, I find.  I have a Stombecker 'Scarab' racer (actually was a kit with motorization optional) from 1959 or '60 that is only half finished; somehow I even saved the complete decal sheet intact!  Bill E. is making replica wheels for it right now; Halibrands.

Ford: I tried to keep it really 'fifties style, but somehow a '60 Valiant dash was grafted on, and I think the Buick mill is from the Tommy Ivo dragster kit.  Shown are sections from the body cut first longitudinally, and in desperation vertically to get a pleasing shape.  Fitting it's a 'lead sled' style; the car is mostly Bondo and layers of epoxy primer (PPG).  At least the Continental Kit spare is from a real 1960 Continental!  The two stles of flipper caps are from JoHan, the classic Dodge Lancer style, saved for about 65 years!  Shall I move it to the top of the 'to do' list, or back into limbo?   Wick

[Straightliner59]

I've slayed a good portion of the longest-term projects I had going, over the last eight years. Many of those had been languishing for over twenty years. The biggest, for me, was getting my scratchbuilt Nostalgia Top Fuel Dragster off the bench. I was afraid I didn't have the skills to finish it, back in the late '90s. Once it was completed, I realized that I was more afraid of forgetting something crucial, along the way! Otherts of those include a Monogram Midget, one of their Don Edmunds Supermods, a Rat Packer, a junior fuel dragster with a scratchbuilt body and induction system. A couple that remain are a Peterbilt 352 single-drive day cab, and, my quest to scratchbuild a replica of The Surfers' dragster. The chassis for that is built, and many of the parts gathered.