I’m still digesting some of it to be honest. And some of it is probably very personal, and limited to my own process and way of thinking.
For me, on any given build, momentum is really important. I need to be making progress to stay excited, and to pull me back to the bench.
Yet I am very detail-oriented – an important trait for a modeler, I think – and I love deep research and attention to detail, especially historic detail. I want to know, and accurately model, the correct kind of aerial mast for Gloster-made Hurricane serial number P2961 on 30 August 1940.
However: researching some minute detail can halt that momentum for hours, sometimes fatally. Especially when there is no real certainty available about a color or cockpit detail etc., no matter how much research I do, and a “best guess” is required.
With a limited time to work, I forced myself to dramatically shorten the research time before settling on a “good enough” answer.
With that BA-6 armored car, I remember spending a week on the chassy, hours finding reference photos of Ford model As and GAZ trucks – even though I plan to put it into a diorama and the underside will permanently hidden. At the time I wrote “I’m having fun, which is the point, right?”
Yes, but – I need to balance that particular fun against the “fun” of making daily progress toward the project in a holistic sense, so that I can keep the momentum up. With this Wildcat build, I simply didn’t allow myself to fall into that pit.
In short: Being “allowed” to skip that stuff was surprisingly freeing. I’m not going to stop caring about accuracy and detail, nor never detail a cockpit again. But there needs to be balance in the force, between fun detail deep-dives/time-sinks and the overall momentum of the project.
A secondary observation on this was: every time I sit down at my PC to research or double-check a detail, I risk getting sucked in by a notification or email and soon an hour has evaporated. With a clock ticking in the back of my mind, I was much more resistant to this effect.
The second thing might be just for my brain. But with the 48-hour time limit, modeling was “what I am doing this weekend.” It was truly dedicated bench time. I didn’t feel guilty for not doing some other house work, yard cleanup, letting the dog out, etc.; my family knew I “had plans” and didn’t expect me to be otherwise available. This allowed a deep flow state for long periods, without checking the clock, leading to rapid progress.
Obviously this isn’t a realistic “every day” scenario, but there must be ways to internalize this lesson usefully.
Then there are plenty of little things, like:
- spend two seconds dry-fitting a part before cleaning the seam lines, sprue gates, etc., so that you don’t waste precious minutes scraping, sanding, and polishing the underside of a part that won’t show.
- the Tamiya extra-thin “quick-set cement” is awesome. It cures enough to handle the part and keep working within moments. If a join will need some wiggle-room for the next fit, use the regular TET.
- extra-thick CA glue for seam/gap filling. Given the time constraint, I used it exclusively on this build and it worked awesome. Applied sparingly with an old airbrush needle, and cured it instantly with accelerator. No waiting for it to dry, and it sands and scribes just fine. A lighter flame cleans the airbrush needle of extra glue in a few seconds.
- use brush painting more. My 40K side-hobby has taught me how to paint acrylics by brush, and I now have a nice wet pallet and some good sable brushes. I saved a ton of time by not insisting upon masking and airbrushing, every little part.
- I really need to reorganize my entire bench to optimize workflow. Which tools should be in drawers, vs. hanging from the pegboard, vs. in tool holders? I spend a shocking amount of time trying to find that tool I was just using, or that I know I bought but can’t find, etc. etc.
- The same goes for my airbrush station – thinners, cleaners, varnishes, etc. All the doggone Vallejo bottles look the same until you pick 'em up to read the label and getting the right one on the first try is like plugging in a USB cable right-side up. Then there’s gloves, paper towel, q-tips, etc., that always seem to be just out of reach.
I’m sure there’ll be more, but this post is already becoming a ramble. I hope others can find some utility in it!
