Prior to starting up building models again last year I hadn’t built a kit in probably 20 years. Other things intervened, as they have a tendency to do. It wasn’t for a lack of kits to build - at one time I had probably 30 kits waiting for me to get them done. Unfortunately real life, work, school and a lack of money intruded. Now that I’m retired on disability I have time to start up again. As I’ve begun to build kits I’ve noticed a few things:
The floor has gotten farther away
Getting down on my knees to retrieve a dropped part involves far more exercise than I remember it taking
Dropped parts are far better at evading recapture than they used to be
Fine details are much more difficult to paint at 51 than they were at 21
The smell of paint, thinner and glue is less enjoyable than I recall
One thing I can’t grumble about is the quality of modern kits. The level of detail some show is absolutely incredible! The prices are higher, but that’s a universal thing - nothing is as cheap as it used to be.
All oh so true… Even with no extended breaks from modeling since I was a young boy… Well maybe not the part about the scent of paint, glue, and thinner…
That’s my plan as well, apart from the GOMS, I think I was born with that.
I have only had a 5 year break from the hobby, 2003 to 2008. The one thing I noticed when I started back up was my eyes aching and straining to focus on things. That was easily solved. Though I have just got my first pair of reading glasses, I only need them for extremely fine print. So far, that’s the only thing to go.
LOL! Oh yeah. All very true! Especially the eyes! What a wake up call when I first got back into the hobby and tried to do a 1/72 plane! Played trombone with the little guy before I admitted it was age! [:$] Now I have an optivisor! Best darn purchase I have made since getting back into the hobby! [;)]
I swear that the scales, while being still called 1/72, 1/48, 1/32, etc, have gotten smaller as have many things, like candy bars, “one pound” of bacon, coffee and so on. What is ironic to me is that now that I have some income to use to buy kits, airbrushes, tools, etc…everything else has “up and left”!
I hear what you all say and I agree with all of it. I was using reading glasses and then a large magnifier with a light in it. I switched to an optivisor. Great invention. I also seem to have another problem that started a few years ago. Every time I am working on “small” parts, the freight trains start going by under the workbench making my hands shake. Anyone have any ideas on how to stop those darn trains? I tried a shot of good old Irish Whiskey, but then it seems that I can’t tolerate it like I used to [;)] and it renders the optivisor useless. Problems. Problems. I guess I should expect all this after building for 67 of my 73 years.
One option to stop the tremors is to have your arms and/or hands supported on the table.
Another option is to use weighted gloves. These are not gloves that are used in a gym. These are gloves that leave your fingertips open so that you can feel, but the fingers have small weighted wires or beads added to them. They can reduce or eliminate the tremors. I don’t know where to get them, I saw them in a hospital once, but with a bit of creativity you may be able to make them.
Then you can make few more and sell them to us [:D]. We can talk royalties later…[:D]
I like both of those ideas. I’ll try the first one out this afternoon, and I’ll do some research on the second one tonight.
Wish I could get to use a DaVinci machine like the ones used in the hospitals. Our Senior Citizen Group got to see one up close and actually try to use it to pick up a dime, turn it around, stand it on end. Saw a film of it in use and the doctor had a problem with his hands shaking. The machine picks this up and adjusts for it so the knife or other instruments don’t shake. Wow, what I could do with that.
Castelnuovo, I tried resting my hands on the workbench while working on some parts for a jeep model tonight. Instead of just holding the part out in front of me while I worked on it, I placed my hands on the workbench. It really seemed to cut down a lot on the shaking. I got quite a bit of work done. Thanks a lot for the tip. I really appreciate it.
Discovered another couple of addition to my list of observations:
My body doesn’t tolerate long sessions at the modeling bench the way it used to.
Headaches. I never used to get headaches when building/painting models.
Part of the first (probably a significant part, if not the primary cause) is that I now have severe progressive and degenerative osteoarthritis of the spine. Traumatically induced due to a near-fatal motorcycle accident in 1999. It’s why I was retired and on disability before age 50. I’m pretty sure it’s also a contributory factor for the headaches as well since the arthritis in my spine causes nerve issues, which in turn cause muscles to tighten up, which in turn causes…
I’ve noticed that as a young modelerni couldn’t get enough models, tools and such, now 30yrs later I have more kits than I know what to do with, more tools than hands to use them, and even though I’m currently a student time seems to be at a premium. I think that the early onset of GOMS. Thanks for the foresight ya old grumps LOL.
It’s the fingers for me, I came down with RA last year and like everybody else good and bad days but these new kits are really enjoyable,. Some are complicated but they build really nice AND the options we have now in AM items and types of kits that are available makes for a great time to build.
