How do you fight your perfectionist tendencies and start a build. This has been my problem for many years now. I get right up to starting and stop. Everything from removing old paint to total model break downs. When it comes to actually starting the project I fold up like a paper bag. Do I need professional help? How do I overcome my fear of non-perfection? How do you do it?
I look at all the great, no, fantastic builds here on FSM and I want to be like you but can never get there. FSM is ruining me. No aspersions on the great modelers here but I feel so inadequate.
First, forget perfection. There is none. As someone who has judged for many years, I can say I’ve yet to see the perfect model. Some come really close and I’ve seen some master figure painters who are on the razor’s edge of perfection, but I’m still waiting to see it.
Second, not starting will absolutely, positively never lead to quality builds. Accept that your first efforts will not measure up to people who’ve been doing htis for years. You need to learn a new skill set and the only way to do that is to do it. “Do or do not… there is no try,” as Yoda said.
Third, start simple, go for out of box builds. Become proficient at filling seams, aligning parts correctly, laying down paint properly, applpying decals straight and without silvering, etc. These are the basic skills upon which to build. Don’t buy anything after market until you can do a decent build OOB. Don’t weather until you are happy with a clean model.
You can’t expect to qualify for, let alone win, the Boston Marathon the first time you lace up your running shoes. Likewise, you shouldn’t expect your first build to be a cover for FSM.
I have had this same problem time and time again. Plan, plan, plan…accomplish nothing. Not just with models, it’s the same with home improvements or landscaping etc. Now I just plan out a general idea of where I want it to go and dive in. It usually ends up somewhere else and I like it that much more. JUST DIVE IN, THE WATER’S NICE!!! As any pilot here can tell you, “Plan your flight**,** fly your flight” everything is subjected to change!
Well, if it’s been a problem for several years, then it’s definitely not just a little annoyance; this is a developig or nascent trait which could wind up getting out-of-hand and potentially destroy your enjoyment of many things in your life–not just modeling.
Do you need prefessional help? If I had the same symptoms as you, I’d sure seek it.
I know your problem, trying to build “perfect” models leads nothing.
You must make a change in your mind. Do not focus on the end result but enjoy the proces.
That’s what I did, this made my production go up. The first models I made with this mindset where not that good but now that I build more, my skills are improving. And so is the end result.
I’m not worried about perfection, as I know I will never come close to it. But I am hesitant to try new techniques for fear of screwing them up and ruining a model.
Just recently, one of my earlier works suffered a mishap and I decided to use it to try out new techniques. I stripped it (/forums/1081281/ShowPost.aspx), and am now in the process of putting it back together. Every time I sit down to work on it, I think to myself “I can’t make it any worse”. It helps me get over any apprehension I may have about stretching my boundaries.
Part of my…maturation(? not certain that’s what it is?)…since I built models as a teenager is much more patience, for me, the build is the relaxation. It’s a welcome distraction from stress, I won’t let it become ANOTHER source of stress. As a kid, I just wanted to be done and I rushed a lot and never went back and did something twice.
I recently spent a week putting hardware and making springs for a single 1/35 loader’s hatch, and I ended up doing it twice before I was happy.
Regarding new techniques, I had no trouble at all slapping my fist ever wash, dot filtering, and all the rest all over a fresh camo job on the first model I built since I got back into it. I really had no old models to practice on, but intentionally putting colorful oil dots all over a fresh paint job is really a leap of faith.
First off I “know how you feel”! I’m right there with you.
I tell myself to not let it became a “job” that I feel I have to do. When that happens its no longer a hobby.
I don’t know that the perfect model even exists. As a builder you are going to know where the flaws/imperfections are even when no one else can spot them.
Try this: Pick someone you love and/or respect highly and build a model for them. Since it’s highly unlikely they’ll be a rivet counter, you can probably turn off the perfectionist tendency and they will be thrilled with the build and never care about imperfections. Once you’ve done that, you can probably convince yourself that it doesn’t matter much if you’re perfect.
I ignore all the urges and each model i build i try a new technique on. I like doing dot filtering and using MIG pigments on my tanks. It helps.
JUST DO IT MAN It is not hard. get an easy kit and build, without rivet counting. Trust yourself, you can do it. I’m far below the levels of The doog or crockett or panzergut but i try on each build and mine are steadily getting better.
And don’t think that the mag articles’ builds are perfect… If they got posted here where folks could critique the model, I betcha at least 10 other modelers would find flaws in 'em…
Besides, if you build your stuff better than anyone else does, you’d quit trying to improve your own skills… It’s like playing chess for me… I’d rather play someone I know I can’t beat than someone I know I can…
At home, in my war room, I’m the best there is, man… But in here, Sheesh… I gotta hustle, scheme, cajole, and fight just to be mediocre… Hard to find that much fun doing something that you won’t need an ambulance standing by or bail money for…