Just thought I’d post this here as I dont have really anybody else to discuss this with. Just once I wish I could see my model through the eyes of another person. I’m sure all of you have discovered that no matter how well you think you did on a build and no matter how many “nice build” comments you get from members on the forum, whenever you look at your models all you can see is the flaws. All I ever seem to notice on my birds is the one spec of dust that fell in the future coat. , the .1mm of bleed under the masking tape, the spot of missed wash, or the one place that could have used a little more sanding. The other odd thing, is that the more skilled I find myself becoming the worse I think my finished models are. When I was just starting If i got the model painted and completed I was happy. As the years passed I began to get more critical. And now today I’m more critical still. Although I know all of my models are infinitely better than my first ones, it makes it much harder to accept those minor faults. This wasnt a rant of any kind just hoping I could get some input from other builders on how they feel about this subject.
Man, I think we all do that. If we don’t find some way to reconcile it we’ll all end up in the nut house. Personally, I have to accept the model to my standards which are different with each one, but I have to please only me. I recently stripped a B-36 I had worked on for a long time, that many other people might have found acceptable, or even liked. I have never entered shows, and I know I have some museum quality work.
The key is to try to learn, and reach your own level of acceptence with each build, and realize some will be better than others. I’m building a sailing ship now which is out of my area of expertise , so I know I will have mistakes on the ship, but my next one will be better. Then I will taccle the re-paint on the B36 which is not an easy paint job, so I’ve put it aside for awhile until I’m ready.
Its a hobby, sometimes we forget its supposed to be fun,
Well you sound just like me…I remember building a P 40 in 1/48 a few years back and I thought it was pretty good. Now its the next thing that will get move off the shelf to make space for new models. I see things I just didnt see back then. A model of a P 51B I built just two years ago now looks OK when at the time it was the best thing I had ever built. I guess you live and learn. I think that is why most of us come here.
Hehehe, if I went forth and didn’t finish the model until all them pesky little things were looked at, fixed, looked at, find the next one and so on, I’d never finish anything. I too get super critical of my work, but in the end, I just shug it off and say ‘Yea, I should have fixed that, didn’t see that, what the [censored] is THIS?’ and ‘Nutter one done, next?’ It’s the only way I build without loosing my mind [D)]
Its all part of being a perfectionist… and its a PITA! I look at mine and think about the same things, but I have learned not to focus on those things, try looking at the parts that turned out well! If you only got 1 speck of dust under your coat of Future, congrats! You want to look at one of mine that I did awhile back, you could use the Future coat for sanding!!! As your skills increase, so do your demands for perfection!
Well as for me, I work very hard at building a model that in my head I want it to be " museum quality " but it ends up with 101 things that I can see that is worng with it.
As a young kid if I made “1” mistake I would trash the kit…
But as I got older and older and older 42 this month, LOL I build for fun no matter how it comes out and beleave you me, some of my work should be in the trash [:-^] at lest to me.
But as my Moto say’s…
" You’ve experienced a set back, and without set backs and learning how to fix them you’ll never make the leap from kit builder to modeler "
I promised myself long ago that the day I finish a perfect model will be the day I holster my Exacto knife and airbrush. I will leave the sport at the top of my game. That day, at the moment, seems nowhere in sight.
I know exactly where you guys are coming from.I think this is the reason so many of us have projects that ‘have been shelved for a while’.I am 3/4 of the way through my first ‘big’ project after a 10+ year hiatus.I am the worlds worst when it comes to starting and not finishing my kits.And it’s because I ‘didn’t make that cut right’…or ‘I sanded WAY too much there’… or ‘I goofed BIG TIME on that paint job’…but with the help of my wife I am about to finish a model that will be almost a year in the making.I owe it to her because I would have ‘shelved’ it along time ago…but she keeps me interested in it, because she tells me all the time that she can’t wait to see it finished.My worst problem so far is the engine exhaust cans.They have a nasty seam that splits them on the horizontal plane,and it’s almost impossible to remedy without destroying molded detail.I tried to fix it the best I could,I even tried to conceal the seam with burn streaks.But I can STILL see it.But the wife,even after my frustration keeps motivating me to finish it.So long story short,your not any different than the rest of us…but don’t let it drag you down.Ever have one of those modeling days when EVERYTHING you touch on your model goes wrong? I hate those days.Sometimes it seems like I can’t even hold the brush right.Can you imagine the frustration Chip Foose (the custom car builder/designer) went through when he first started out? Just think of botching a paint job he spent 2 or 3 weeks prepping for, only to find out half way through, that the paint wasn’t mixed to the right shade?!? It happens to the best of us… But I’m almost positive the BEST of us had to go through it at one time or another…I’m sure Swanny has all kinds of stories. Anyhoo…enough rambling…just post pics of your models!
This is human nature, to never be happy with your work, always striving for that elusive .0001% to achieve perfection. The better you get at something, the more demanding you become, whether it is directed at your work or someone else’s. Once you become 100% satisfied with your work, it will no longer be a challenge, and no longer fun. Without the drive to excel, we would all stagnate. I have seen pics of your work, and I should do half as well as you, my friend!
I wish that a lot too. like the famous saying goes “some people can see the tiniest of splinter’s in others’ eyes while he fails to notice the log lodged in his” It would help me see my flaws VERY quickly
Yup. I see everything little thing thats wrong. Where it really shows up is in a picture. I see more problems with my builds in a pic than I do looking at it sitting on the work bench.
You beat me by one post, Ranger. I photograph every model as I finish it, and I’m guaranteed to find flaws all over the dern thing as soon as I look at the pictures. Especially a good close macro photo! I think I’ve done a perfect cockpit, then I see it in closeup and wonder what brush-happy slob did THAT mess! [B)]
Well its true isn’t it? And where in the heck does all that dust come from that shows up on a photo? Holy cow! Some of my photos look like a camel sneezed on my plane.
I usually start a new build hoping for perfection but alas, it never fails that something, sometimes only 1 thing, goes awry and I lose my quest for perfection. But there’s always another kit and another quest for perfection. Once I reach perfection, I will find a new hobby as that would mean there would be nothing more for me to learn in this hobby, nothing more for me to accomplish, all that stuff. The good news for me is that I am far from perfect, I make mistakes all the time, I just live with them (or fix them as best I can), and I move on. I enjoy the hobby too much to reach perfection.
I have been building models for years and only within the last year or less have I taken photos with a digital camera. Man can you pick out errors. Things that look smooth and flaw free from 6" away by eye look like crap in photos. Sanding marks, paint chips, small smuges show up like a becon. But what I have also found out is by using low rez pics, poor lighting, not gettting too close to the model or using a camera with a poor macro focus you can also hide flaws as well. I found this out last week. I saw this guys models and they looked ok on the net. In person they were pretty rough.