The state of the US/World has me down in the dumps lately. Every cloud has a silver lining though and thats what brought me back into modeling.
Just curious as to how many ktis you guys build in a year? I find my self at my desk pretty much every night these days…and most of the weekend as well. Its been a blessing truly…but i find my self getting multiple kits going at the same time so there is always something to do other that wait for paint to dry etc.
There is that saying, “That every cloud has a silver lining”. But the truth of the matter is that, yes, it has a silver lining; but if that lining falls, it will crush you like a bug.
That being said, we must find our own path to sanity. Some of us drink (that works some of the time.) and some strictly model (personally I do not adhere to that mantra as it interrupts my drinking).
But you do what you do, and hopefully it gets you thru the @!^*%^ of the world.
Be safe, be kind, as for modeling, build what you want - when you want - as good as you want. You are the only critic that matters . . . Enjoy.
Ya I just shake my head and carry on. Last year was a low count of 5 for me. I usually finish 10-12 kits in a year.
I started working on 1 at a time (in 1946 -6 years old) and over the years I went from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 for the same reason as you. I used model building as a decompressing tool from sometimes tough and hazzardous jobs and sometimes from just the daily grind. I got to really like building models. I even went as far as trying to get a job as an industrial model builder. I had a friend who was one and he used to call me when he could use some help at work. I would go in at night and help him with all types of projects. The pay was good but he kept telling me that he was getting burned out and didn’t want to work on his models when he got home. He got lucky (maybe) and was promoted to manager of the builders. He switched from building to designing them but he had tons of paperwork to do.
After I retired, I started restoring models for a WWII museum part time. The last couple of years there was quite a bit to do. I finished the last 2 1/48 carrier planes from them the end of last year. I’m going to call it quits for them as it is really a lot of work and this old mans shaky hands and bad eyesight continue to go downhill as I get older. So, now I’m building for myself and only do one for someone else for special reasons. But I will still be doing more than one at a time because it keeps me busy while the paint and glue dry.
Jim [cptn]
Stay Safe.
I only work on one kit a time,for me it’s s hobby,not an assembly line.I do about six builds a year,not that I’m a master builder or even close, that’s just the way my time shakes out.
I took a break from building kits for years because I felt like I just didn’t have time. My therapist suggested I get back into it because no matter how busy you are, you need to find some time for yourself or sooner or later you’ll have a burnout. So I totally get what you are saying about depression.
Since I restarted the hobby last May I’m on my 14th kit. My time per model is probably much less than many of the masters on here but the process and the results make me happy, which is what’s important.
Monogram Madness, I feel your pain. The last two years have been a roller coaster of emotions for me too. I retired in June of 2000, due to the pandemic, to stay at home to care for my 22 year old disabled son. Then we found out that my youngest son needed to be driven to and from medical therapy (280 miles a day), then right before the holidays I had a “health” scare, so if you throw in the pandemic, you can say that my retirement hasn’t been what I thought it was going to be. I’m not complaining though, because I know that there are a lot of people who have and still are suffering a lot more than me and I have a very supportive and close family to lean on. In 2019 I set the goal of finishing one kit per month as a way to appease my wife, keep my sanity, and a way to reduce my stash. During the initial lockdown in 2020, March to June, I was working from home so the goal of finishing 12 kits that year seemed possible. Since then the number of completed kits has gone up to the goal of 24 completed kits for 2021. Now, being retired certainly helps along with the fact that I build a little bit of everything so boredom doesn’t become a problem. Modeling and modeling related activities(reading reference books or listening to modeling podcasts) have helped me tremendously to get through the stress of the last two years. I still miss attending in-person monthly meetings of my local model club(we tried Zoom meetings but they weren’t received well)and I’ve only attended one contest since the pandemic started(I was the only person wearing a mask) but hopefully those conditions will improve over time and get back to normal. The goal this year is 12 kits again and we’ll see how it goes. I build for myself, and sometimes for others as gifts, and I’ve pretty much sworn off from entering contests. Presently, I have three kits in front of me, Revell’s 1/9 German Kettenkrad, Trumpeter’s 1/32 F4F Wildcat, and Tamiya’s 1/35 Panzerkampfwagen 38(t). In the “on deck circle” are Revell’s Ford Bronco and Kenworth semi tractor, Lindberg’s L.C.T., and Trumpeter’s 1/32 SBD Dauntlas. Once I get my workbench/hobby room organized I plan to start one of my two “Retirement” builds, Revell’s 1/96 USS Constitution or Tamiya’s 1/350 USS Enterprise. Without having modeling as a hobby, I don’t know how I would have gotten through the last few years.
TJS
I take my time and work on one at a time. Probably only 3-4 per year depending on scale and level of detail.
IMO: The state of the world is not nearly so bad as the main stream news and politicians would like us to believe. It’s a safe bet that anyone with the resources to be on the internet and building “little toy plastic models” woke up in a warm house, turned on a faucet that produced clean water and opened a refrigerator with enough food to eat.
By the time we had breakfast, most of us have experienced a level of comfort unknown to most humans that have ever walked the Earth and many living in the Third World today. We are blessed beyond measure.
The world can be a crazy place sometimes, like the last year. You see things happening and changing but know there’s not much you can do about it. You hve to calm down. I don’t drink, having given it up during the war, strang as that may seem to some. I did continue to build when I could find a model on the base. It helped me relax while I listened to the AFRTS radio station.
Some preferred to take theri chances and go to town and pick up women and shack up for the night or hit one of the massage parlours and bars scattered around the local area. A friend of mine found out how risky that could be when he woke up the next morning and discovered he was in a place operated by the enemy and quickly and quietly snuck out a window and worked his way back to the base.
Anyway I am concerned about what is happening but to maintain sanity I build, ocnsider finnd a job again for the extra money (good luck being 90% disabled), work around the yard while taking care of my animals, or try to get to the gun range for some practice plinking, and check my hyper tension blood pressure.
All in all, it could be a lot worse. So just relax, listen to music while you build, and hope things will change for the beter.
2019 and 2020 were absolutely awful years for me due to a battle with cancer, but I won it, so now I’m back to building again.
I have tried many times over the years to build more than one at a time, but I have never been able to make that work, so I’m back to just building one at a time. I normally build between 1 and 3 models per year. I have enough time pressure and stress in my job without having to self-impose those things by rushing to see how many models I can build in a year. I like to relax, take my time, and get things as right as my skills will allow. Its definitely not a race for me.
Congrats on your victory over cancer! Stay safe and keep on modeling.
TJS
Sanity? What is sanity?? The big thing I try…emphasis on TRY…is to tell myself the worlds problems are not mine. As stated above I have been blessed to be born and live in a part of the world where my needs are met and I’m " comfortable". As for building models…I get stagnated when close friends comment on how " off" the detail is on a kit. Example, “Why did ya paint all that cool detail but not drill out the gun barrel of your 35th scale Luger?” The answer is " It’s NOT my style!".
We can get hung up on the oddest things, however what is odd for your view may be “the norm” for someone else. As Hoo Ya stated be kind, and enjoy what you do.
As for finishing a kit…oh boy if I get one done a year I am very happy. I’m a life member of the Mediocre Modelers Collectors Society. Better than AA and easier than solving world problems. Stay strong we will overcome this hiccup in time.
I’ll start year seven of retirement in April. My wife got me back into the hobby shortly after we got married and I can’t thank her enough. I used the hobby as a stress reliever during my 32 year policing career. One thing I tried to do, and I was usually quite successful, was to not bring work home with me. When I put the uniform in the locker at the end of the shift, that’s where work and the day’s stupidity stayed. Having the hobby helped during the times when I wasn’t so good at leaving everything at work.
Since I retired, I go through fits and spurts when it comes to building. I have a number of competing interests; gym, guitar, walking the mutt, driving the Mustang, playing golf, reading and other activities. I tend to be more prolific during the winter because with all the cold temps (-17C / 0F today ) and snow (22 inches over the last few days) we get, going outside (other than walking the dog and foraging for provisions at the grocery store) is very low on the list of priorities. If I’m luck I’ll finish 6 or so kits per year.
Look up, there is hope in Jesus no matter what the world looks like! As long as we’re alive, each of us has a purpose to fufill!
I unretired just to get some more focus. Modeling time is harder to come by now because when I get home I want to spend more time with her and the dogs. But I recently ran a GB and the participants gave me a new sense of direction. Cracked open a box for the first time in a while.
Bill
Be not afraid.
As far as my building pace goes, I didn’t finish a single kit in 2021, not even the 4 I picked from my Shelf of Doom as a Resolution Build, to finish last year. I just did not feel like working on them. And I started no new builds. Didn’t finish a kit in 2020, either. The last build I completed was in 2019, a Maschinen Krieger kit.
I have painted a good number of figures in that same time, but that, too, goes in spurts.
Besides starting a build and then losing interest, I also have the problem that I really don’t have display space. So finished builds go into boxes and storage till I can finish remodeling a room in my house to display them.
When I feel like it.!https://clipartmag.com/images/animated-swimming-pictures-40.gif
Define Sanity!
I find it best to ignore the world and bury myself in my stash and come up for air to eat and sleep. I intend to build lot of kits this year. I’m off to good start and as long as I’m hiding in there I forget about the mess we see around us. It’s my Zen zone.
BK
That’s why I throw away most of my builds.
Bill
