At what point or deciding factor happens where you have worked on a model and you have pulled out the last hair, do you say enough an put it on the shelf for another day/year. I generally work on something and at some point say enough and on the shelf it goes whether its a model or some other project. As a returning modeler I am extending that time I try and tell myself its a learning thing but at some point I want to play hooky.
Since I ussually work on 6 or so kits at a time, I often put off to the side and focus on something else until inspired to work on it again. I have put builds off to side for up to 10 years!
When it’s not fun anymore,when it’s off the rails so bad,I know I can’t correct it.
John3M;
Playing Hooky from modeling probably goes back to the early days of when societies depended on them to buy something big.(Like a Warship?) So don’t feel bad. After most of my commissions I played Hooky. I needed to let the brain settle down to looking for the pleasure side of Modeling, which can be set aside without us knowing it. Until it slapa us upside the head like a two by four! Back away and don’t feel guilty!
Patience.
Take your time, plan and most of all think ahead.
I think about a situation quite a bit and sometimes when 
asleep, I’ll wake up with an idea that surprises me and is the perfect fix…
Same. I have several storage tubs full of completed kits that are still waiting for me to dig them out and get around to the “final” weathering stage. Most of the time I find the last stage as bad as going to the dentist, simply because I’m not that good at weathering. I either over-do it badly and wreck the model or under-do it and end up with something that looks too clean.
I have to live with this I suppose. There’s nothing wrong in acknowledging one’s artistic limits and having to be satisfied with a mostly-decent oil-wash & dry-brush. It’s not like my kits are as clean as museum pieces, it’s just that they’re not any where near as realistic as the true artists of our hobby make their projects look. Oh, well…
I usually work on 3 or 4 models at a time. When one needs a new part made or ordered after several tries to fix, it gets set on the shelf as #3 or #4. Others are worked on and finished (hopefully). When they are done, I go back and work on the one with the problem till completed. Then I start on another 3 or 4.
As I’ve stopped restoring models for the museum and also commission builds, I have a lot more time for my own builds. Hope to really start cutting into the stash. Not going to as many shows as in the past so won’t be hitting as many raffle tickets to add to the stash either.
Stay safe.
Jim [cptn]
I work on only one at a time and take it to completion (or rarely to the point of no recovery and trash). That’s not to say I work on it every single day. It’s plastic and not going anywhwere. Sometimes I just feel more like woodworking, welding, yardwork or something else. When the modeling bench calls me back, I answer.
Yeah, I have some kits that I set aside after a lot of hard work that I just can’t bring myself to throw away. It will never get completed.