Combine a difficult subject and a deadline and what do you get? Something that feels a lot like work.
Just reading your post it seems to me that you are holding yourself to standards that are no longer fun. This is a problem with people I have met in several hobbies. The level at which they want to build is high, but the effort, time, and emotion it takes to do the highest level of work (which contests demand) takes away the fun.
I am that way myself, and I have to consciously stop myself from going whole-hog. I get enough work at work. As a consequence my finished models are admittedly mediocre. Yet, I do enjoy building them, and hopefully they will look better and better as my eyesight fades.[;)]
My advice is to build something completely outside your usual genre, and do it straight out of the box. My usual flip-flop is between race cars and aircraft, though I do own a tank kit now! Anyway, you probably won’t see the flaws in a different area as much as in your usual subjects.
The Model Psychologist (Rates available on request)
We all know how you feel, Vintage Aircraft. Most of us pull through by switching gears and trying something new or much simpler …others just take a short break and come back to it. I am primarily an armor builder but have been on hiatus for several months. I have been building Marvel characters and am having a blast doing it. It gives me a new perspective on things, but at the same time, it’s still all about the modelling!
whenever I start getting burned out on something and just want to have a finished model, I grab one of my 1/72 hasegawa armor kits and polish it off in 4 hours or so.
Build a Catalina. I love Catalinas. Or go hang gliding. Paint a picture - channel your creativity slightly differently, so you can come back to your project with fresh ideas and new enthusiasm.
Watching something on the History Channel usually helps my interest in WWII projects. Or even finding sites on the web on the subjects I’m working on. For the B-24, try finding some sites dealing with B-24s and Operation Tidal Wave. Try this site:
Hey thanks everyone, all of your uplifting posts have helped me pull through my slump and have renewed my confidence. All this support was very helpfull. And I think it was just the fact that people cared. See where I live I have no one to talk to, get advice from or be able to show my work to and not get the wow that is good by the people who dont know a B-29 from a B-17, or a crappy build from a supurbe one, (note I know I have you guys but I am talking about face to face conversations here) So I have to virtually build my skills all by my self and it became tedious and lonely. But the outcome of support has helped me alot. I think I am ready to start up again but only work on the lib until september, so I dont burn myself out again. Again thanks so much and it is also good to know that I am respected in the modeling community.
eight ace
I have built a 1/48 Catilina and did a theoretical version with a light blue and dark blue oaint scheme for the uper sufaces. Maby Ill post a pic in the Monogram GB
And also you are all right I do have to take this less seriously, But i take it so seriously because I want to meet Shepard Pain some day, and be able to show him a master piece comparable to something of his/ just plain worthy of him taking his time to look at it.
VIntage, you did the right thing by posting to show how you feel, and to see that people on here do care much more than just modelling itself. Unfortunately, when I had my low moment, I dropped off the face of the earth for almost a year and wasted alot of time doing nothing. Now , I have a renewed interest and am trying different subject matter so I won’t get burned out with doing only one.