Thank you Samphoto. May ALL of us go many years before heading to that big hobby shop in the sky.
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Yeah, unlimited stash space!
i have them allllll over my houseā¦ At least where my wife permits them 
probably 10 to 12 shelves with them. Then i have a bunch in boxes under the bed wondering where the heck im going to put any of them. I want to give them away or something but its harder to part with them then you think
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Yeah, during my 30 year pause, I was in the middle of a move and came across my second place A-10, my F-16 and my third place winning F-117. Thinking I was done modeling, I gave them all away to the teenagers who were helping us move. Boy do I regret that now. They are probably in a landfill now.
You should hold out hope that maybe you inspired just one of those teenagers to try out modeling!
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Good point, I wish I had a way to contact them, I would do exactly that. (and maybe get my second place A-10 back).
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So you prefer the assembly and smell of glue over the masking and the smell of paint?
I have to say, there are times when Iāve been working on sanding and painting prep where I really just want to glue something together so I stop and build fuel tanks or missiles (which I normally hate) so at least I feel like Iāve accomplished something.
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LOL, thatās a good wife there my friend. I know many who arenāt so lucky.
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I only married her after she built her 5th kit or so
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Wow, a builder wife! That is a very rare thing indeed.
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Yes, thatās exactly right. I was never able to get my indoor paint booth vented so I need to wait for warm weather - and then when warm weather is here Iām not in the mood to spray. Sigh!
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Luckily, I have a window that is close enough to the paint booth that the vent hose reaches so I can always use it. Iām with you about summer weather though, my builds take 2x longer.
I love the assembly, but I also really the artistic side of final painting/weathering/decals.
For me, that final step of decal work really brings the aircraft to life.
That is exactly my issue. I have a pretty good airbrush/vented spray booth set up and I have become pretty handy with the prep and clean up of my airbrush. I am even getting better at using it! But for me there is nothing better than the building process, so I am always stopping in the middle of a painting project to build something just to scratch the itch. I believe that is how I came to have too many projects on the go at the same time.
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Canāt say I track construction time anymore - a lot depends on my available time, paint drying time, and complexity of the build. Now back in 1979, I built the large scale frigate the United States (sister ship of the Constitution) and that took 100 hours to build before adding any rigging - the rigging took the next six months as I only had weekends home from college to work on it.
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I usually build at the speed of a glacier. It depends a lot on how I am feeling, how the arthritis is doing and if my eyes are tired. Then add in stuff to be painted outside and the weather and on and on! (Donāt forget the dropped parts searching.)
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Wow, 100 hours plus six months! Thatās a commitment. I bet they came out great though, any photos around?
Great to see you back on the forum Mark!
Thatās the worst isnāt it?! I made my first attempt at PE on the last kit and I swear I lost 4-5 of the microscopic parts, was so frustrating.
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I average 1/2 hour of search time for each part that pings out of the tweezers! Multiply by 4-5 pings per model, and time adds up!
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I think I probably have an old Polaroid of it somewhere - Iāll scan and post it.
It obviously depends on the kit and parts count, but on average I try to build at least a dozen model kits in a year. I think I spent the most time on my 1/700 scale USS Abraham Lincoln, which stretched out over a year. I started working on reviews with the IPMS several years ago, and you typically have two months (eight weeks) to complete those, which has helped me to keep focused. I also run a model club and every holiday weekend I challenge the members to complete a three-day build. The great thing I have found is that you enjoy the build more as you do not have the time to over analyze the research for the kit.
Scott