It’s been going on for about a month now. I go to the desk, sit down, then immediately turn away and get on the computer. The problem started with me getting Trumpeters USS Stevens for a Christmas present. A beautiful kit and I jumped right on it. It has a good bit of PE, which I absolutely hate working with. And that’s what started it all. That damn PE.
So I thought I’d try something else. I ordered a Tamiya Sherman as well as one of their Corsairs. I built the Sherman, which had link and length tracks. The instructions called for using 11 individual treads. They gave me 11 treads per track. Trouble was I needed 12 per track. I double-checked my work and could find nothing that I did wrong, but both lengths of track came up one tread short. So now the Sherman can’t be completed and I set that aside.
Now I sit here with the open Stevens kit on the desk. I hope it finally ignites something and I get started. Now if I could find a 3D print of that crane, I could ditch the PE. Or I could try and re-make it into one of the other destroyers that didn’t have the float plane. Or maybe I’ll just sit here on the computer.
Anyway, just thought I’d vent a little. If you have any suggestions, feel free to share.
Those pe cranes are tough…ask me how I know. Distefan makes great stuff as does model monkey, you can detail up without all the brass bending. Good luck!
If the PE is giving you problems, work in stages, and in between those stages have an easier kit to keep you occupied in between those stages. Above all don’t force it… that will kill your motivation.
That’s normal for me, I go a few weekends im really into what ever I’m building, the next 4 I’m not interested and do another hobby. I just figured I had a short attention span
I get it, but at least PE is something that you can start and then put down when you’ve had enough. Nothing stunts my progress quite like a massive job that needs to be finished once started, because there are periods where I have limited confidence that the required uninterruped block of time is available
What scale is the Sherman,I hate link and length tracks, look at AFV Club for some one piece tracks which look okay on a Sherman,AFV Club also has plastic indies,or check out Quick Wheel tracks for some nice 3-D printed indies.
MisterMesster, I hate everything about PE. I hate that most of the time there are no alternative plastic parts to use. CA glue is a pain to work with. It seems to stick to everything except what I want it to stick to. You’re given a piece of PE about 2mm long and you’re supposed to bend it in half. How? I have all the tools I need to do the job. The PE is just too damn small a lot of the time.
I could go on, but you get the gist of it. I understand the benefits of using PE, it’s just not for me.
The Sherman was in their 1/48 line. Great little kit, and I probably did do something wrong to make the tracks not fit. I just can’t figure out what it was.
I’ve been in the same funk the last month. It started with a decal issue on my F-86 that is still unresolved and continued with my “alt build” F-4 that has so much filling, rescribing, sanding that it almost made it’s way into the trash.
I’ve been eyeballing my stash for something new but I know I shouldn’t start another one.
Oh yeah I hear you. PE parts can be such a pain, fragile little things that they are. They need a different set of tools, another glue, sometimes need to be primed with a specific primer if we want the paint to stick, but most of all they generally don’t accept mistakes.
I also have my block at the desk. Mostly it’s when it’s time to prime, because that’s when it becomes necessary to whip out the whole airbrush set, the cleaning solutions, the various protections… Then we have to wait for the primer to dry, then we fill and file the seams and imperfections and prime again ( if necessary ) and I generally think of alllll this boring step, sigh, and go do something else.
I find that model building works with “in the zone” moments. If I can’t enter it, and stay “in the zone”, I can’t work well.
I do not try to fight it. If the love isn’t here, the love isn’t here. If there is something I wanna do more, I do it. That’s the purpose of a hobby after all!
Still I feel you. Because of a ton of external factors, the progress on my Zero has come to a crawl. And it went down a rank or two in my “what to do to relax and have fun after work” priority list. And it doesn’t help that my next step is my most hated one : a gloss coat
I know what you mean about hitting that wall. I used to put off painting as long as I could because I just didn’t like dealing with the airbrush. I wasn’t any good with it, and it was a pain to clean. Since then I’ve gotten much better with the airbrush and no longer put off the painting part.
This PE induced block of mine will hopefully abate soon. I’ve found a shop that sells 3D parts and they have the crane and racks I need, but they are in 1/300 scale. I’m talking to the owner now about possibly scaling the parts up to 1/200. He’s working on it now so I should know shortly. Hopefully this block of mine will soon be gone.
With regard to the PE, have you tried soldering the parts instead of gluing them? With some assemblies, it adds so much strength it makes the entire project easier and more fun. For other parts, annealing can be a game changer.
Then again, some parts are just not meant to be PE, even if Eduard or the kit maker includes it. Good to know when to deviate from the instructions; I’ve been known to try to do things the hard way just because the instructions told me to, only to later realize I had a better solution at hand all along.
I agree with you about PE. The ship I’m working on has depth charge racks along each side of the ship. Six in all. In real life they were made of steel. From the pics I’ve seen it looks like 2" angle iron was used for the frame. The models PE racks have legs that are so thin that they just don’t look as realistic as a plastic part would.
Sorry to hear your in a modeling rut. PE can be a huge pain sometimes, especially with something as delicate as your towers. It always helps me to step away from the difficult process, and move to an easier one within the build. Hope you’re able to get out of it soon.
Well, I’ve solved my PE issue. I found a supplier of 3D parts who sold replacements for the PE parts, but they were in 1/300 scale. He agreed to scale them up to 1/200 so now my PE problems are solved. I still have a bunch to install but they are pretty straight forward with not a lot of bending.
