needing a pep talk!!

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

guys, i’ve been in this hobby for nearly a year now and only have one finished build hanging from my cieling!![V] i’ve trashed probably 8 kits in the past year mainly just learning how to build, trying different techniques and tricks, practicing my airbrushing skills and screwing up this and that. i’ve started about 5 projects and have gotten to a certain hump in each and cant seem to find the motivation to press on and get the kit finished because i know its not gonna be to my satisfaction once finished. i’m the one thats gonna be looking at these birds mainly but i still want them to be somewhere really close to my liking, or whats the purpose? i’m eager to start a fresh and new on other kits but should i press on and finish the ones i have going, or put them away until i have the patience to fix the problems? i just went over and boxed up 4 projects and packed them away for a while until i can find some motivation to finish them.

i’m having trouble making seams disappear completely. they seem to slip past prepainting inspection even if i prime the thing first. everybody knows that the paint job is only gonna be as good as the surface underneath. maybe i’m expecting too much from myself, but i want my models to look as realistic (as does everbody i would suspect) as possible, not some toy or something. ok, i’ll quit babbling on and having a pity party!![:(] later.

2

Post a picture of your finished model, and the problems you have with it. I’m sure we can help. Technique can fix seemingly (ba-dum-ching!) any problem! I know how you feel though. I’m trying to make my undercarriage more realistic with copper wiring, and it’s a complete mess…the glue dissoves the paint, the tweezers can’t hold the wire, the paint peels off the wire…argh. I did one wheel, I’m doing the other tomorrow. As for the seams, try filling any gaps with small dabs of superglue or molten sprue, and let it dry for 4 hours, then sand it down with increasingly finer grits. Seams on the upper fuselage work really well with that method.

3

Salty I’ve been doin the hobby for slightly over a year myself, and I too have destroyed about as many kits as you, and I have only completed one (Though there is one days away if I ever get off my duff and finish it!!). And the completed one doesn’t even look all that great anyway…the picture in my head of the finished product doesn’t always match what comes out, but I am trying. And in the last year I can safely say that both of us have learned a tremendous amount of knowledge not just from this site, but by doing as well.

And I also like to buy and open the kits, and I always want to jump in on 'em that day…so I’ve started leaving the wrapping on for the moment, and keeping the in progress builds on the bench limited to 3. So that I have at least a small opportunity of completing one. Oh and about the seams…I had to shave my head bald just so I wouldn’t keep pulling out my hair!!! And let’s not get into my crappy masking and futuring techniques!!!

You’re not alone my friend…not alone at all!!!

4

Bro the only way is to keep building. That’s the only thing you can do. Everytime you build you learn, and finish your kits!!! Bad habit there bro, You’ll set yourself up to fail. Keep building, building and building…then build some more, and ask questions here…lots of them. Huge wealth of knowledge at your fingertips here…literally. It’s a model and if you’re not happy with say a seam after you prime it…fill as needed, sand and prime again. Don’t worry about panel lines or details…you’re gonna loose them, but that’s ok… really it is! In the future when swanny is learning from you and you’re pro techniques you acquired you’ll look back at the kits you are doing right now and know!!! you were in school, and experience was the teacher.
Stay with it, don’t stress… research and gain experience, in the end you WILL have those builds you want right now, but you gotta walk that mile first. It’s the only way my friend.

-Jeff

5

Mate,
You just have to bite the bullet and “have a go!”. You might no like the finished product, but you’ll see the things you don’t like, and you’ll figure out how to avoid the same problems on the next model. Remember, you are your own harshest critic. Models that you think are crap, others probably think are wonderful.
Don’t lose heart…it took me many years before I really started to make models that I was happy with.

6

My 2 cents. You’re to close when evaluating the project. Seams will disappear when hung from the ceiling or placed on a shelf. “iffy” paint jobs will pass as well.

I suffered the same problem. I realized that my friends looked at the kits for about 30 seconds (if that long) from a distance of 18 inches to 3 ft.

If something is bothering you, put it away for a week or so. Then w/o looking if possible, take it out, display in a place approxmately where you want to see it from, step back and look at it. Work only on the areas that jump out at you. And, if you ever figure out how to do it perfectly, share the knowledge.

Hope this Helps.

Don

7

Chris, I’ve been at this hobby off and on for about 40 years. Admittedly more years “Off” than “On”, but I have managed to pick up a few nuggets of wisdom along the way.

First is that those who demand perfection are going to be continually disappointed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with “Seeking” perfection, but it has to be tempered with a dose of reality as well. We all start a model with a picture of the finished product in our heads. We can see every perfectly aligned panel line, we can see the perfect demarcation in the paint colors, we can see the perfect weathering and the perfect decals. The problem is that the picture in our heads isn’t real, it’s a picture. The model that you hold in your hands is real, and like everything else in life it is going to have a few flaws. They may be minor, they may be only things that you can see, but they will be there.

Second is that the number one thing a modeler must have is patience. We all must have the patience to do what is necessary to accomplish the finished goal or we will never even come close to that picture in our minds. Filling seams is tedious and it takes time. Properly trimming parts and aligning them before gluing is tedious ant takes time. Painting, decaling, weathering, all tedious and time consuming. If someone doesn’t have the patience to put into a model, they would be better off finding another hobby because this one demands patience.

Next is the fact that we are going to make mistakes. We are going to leave a visible seam or we are going to mess up a demarcation in a camo pattern or we are going to mess up a decal. We are human, things like that are going to happen. When these things happen we have to decide whether the mistake is something that has to be fixed or something we can live with. The perfectionists will correct the problem and their model will look better afterwards.

Finally, and I realize that this one is open to debate, is that this hobby has very few true skills. It has a lot of techniques, but not a lot of skills are required. My definition of a skill is something that you can do better than most people even though everyone has been taught the same way. A technique is something that everyone can do equally well given the same instructions. Painting is a skill. Weathering is a skill. Properly filling a seam or applying decals are techniques. Gluing parts together is a technique; knowing what glue to use when is a skill. Sanding is a technique; knowing what sandpaper to use is a skill. What separates a mediocre modeler like me from some of the experts is the development of their skills, not necessarily their techniques. If you and I sit down with exactly the same seam to fill, read and follow the same directions precisely, odds are that the results will be pretty much the same. If we both sit down with exactly the same three-color camo pattern on exactly the same model, you’ll probably blow me away because that is a skill.

To get close to the model in your mind’s eye you have to combine both your techniques and your skills. If your techniques are lacking, that’s easy to fix. Just find a better technique. If your skills are lacking, the only thing that is going to improve that is practice and time. Just don’t be disappointed when the results aren’t what you envisioned, that’s all part of modeling. Fix 'em, scrap 'em, keep 'em around to remind you of mistakes made and lessons learned. Regardless of what you do, just open another box and start again.

Later … I forgot to add that my goal with every model that I build is to make it better than the last one in some way. It may be something small or something that only I would notice, but every one has to be better than the last.

8

Scott,

You nailed it perfectly my friend. I think your post should be a sticky note for all of us who go through the same kind of feelings from time to time that Chris is going through.

Chris,

Keep persevering and you will find yourself becoming better and better.
If you can find the patience to build a house then these models should not get you down that much my friend. [;)]
We are here to help if we can, just as I know you all have helped me with problems I have encountered too.

Mike

9

Chris,
What a great bunch of advice. There is nothing I can add as the others have said it all, especially Scott. I still have the same problems as you even after modeling off and on for over fifty years. Post photos as bbaerst recommended and someone will surely jump in with some suggestions.

Richard

10

thanks for the support guys!! i’m feeling better since i slept on it and woke up this morning and read these friendly posts!! dont worry guys, the thought of quitting hasnt even began to cross my mind. i have the type mentality that wont let something beat me, i cant stand it, i’m gonna figure a way to get it right so help me!! and yes, i can relate alot of my house building experiences with modelling too. i can build a nice, big, fancy house and during the construction phase there are loads of people that walk through and just oohhhhh and ahhhhhhh at this and that, and i’m thinking in the back of my mind, you just dont see what i see!! but then, when i get finished with the house, and time passes, i usually have to go back to fix something a few times during my warranty period, and when i get there and look at it i say to myself “yes, this does look nice and crisp and professional!!” maybe i’ll leave the projects boxed up for a while and the problems wont seem so big after a month or so. thanks fellows, later.

11

Damn Scott! That made me wanna go out and win one for the Gipper!!!
That is gonna be printed out and pinned to my pegboard on my work bench! I ain’t kiddin’, either.
I have felt the same way many times but never looked at it that way.
Thanks, Scott. [tup][tup]

Randie [C):-)]

12

I have been going throught he same thing. Just finished a B-25 and noticed a seam down the middle. Anyho, when I get to “picky” and stressed out because I’m not making the “perfect” model. I just start thinking about the times I had the most fun modeling. Those were when I was young and would slap them together just to see what they looked like built. I didn’t care about specific FS colors, decals, or seams. I just had fun. So now I go into my stash a grab one of the 5 for $10 kits I got off ebay and slap a few together, practice some free style airbrushing, uncharted weathering. washes, and after doing that, I feel better and I can go back to serious modeling. I seem to build a lot better after this theropy.
Scott

13

Chris, not much I can add to what has already been said, but HANG IN THERE. You are essentally a new modeler seeking perfection, but it takes time. I’ve seen from your in-progress posts that you have a lot of talent, you’re better with an AB than most. But perfection is a very elusive goal that cannot be achieved. I’ve built hundreds of models over the years and there are faults with all of them, but I still build & try to do the best I can. Suggest you take one of the unfinished projects and complete it best you can. Then the next & next until they are done. If they don’t measure up to your ultimate, so what. Better than sitting unfinished in a dark, lonely box, forgotten on a shelf. Eventually you’ll realize that they aren’t that bad at all & you’ll hone your modeling skills. Post some pics & invite critique, lots of helpful members on the Forum.

14

I tend to build armor([:0]), But i feel your pain. I generally throw ina few airplane kits, and work on my model railroad when i need a break from the tedium of a particular project. I have in my basement now about 4 projects that need to be finished. however i have a list in each box telling me where i am in the kit, and where i should go once i decide to resume the project. ALso i throw in some easy builds, something i can finish in a week, with a minuimun of fuss.
Being perfect is a worthy goal, i think though that we are our own worst critics, and that we would all do better by taking a chill pill. LOL
Bill

15

Great post, Scott. Thank you.

Chris, fear of messing up combined with being too much of a perfectionist kept me from coming back to this hobby for nearly a decade.

Last year, I finally bit the bullet and started again. I made up my mind to try new things and work slowly. It worked. I finished a model where I did the following things for the first time:

  1. Used liquid glue (which melts the plastic at a seam, which then oozes out and makes cleaning up the seam easier).

  2. Used putty filler and wiped off the excess with nail polish remover.

  3. Used an enamel spray paint for a primer.

  4. Used acrylic paints.

  5. Used an airbrush.

  6. Used Future.

  7. Used aftermarket decals.

  8. Used Pactra tape for stripes on the missiles.

But, because I was trying so many new things, the model took over a year to complete! I worked for an hour or two a week and focused on very small steps. For some of that time, a couple of months, I didn’t touch the model at all because my wife and I were moving, but most of the time I worked slowly but steadily.

I hit a number of snags and sometimes had to pause a while until I figured out how to address the problem that was holding me up.

My suggestion for when you find yourself stuck is to put the model away for a day or so and figure out how to fix the problem. Don’t start a new model in the hopes that the new one will be easier. All models seem to have their sticking points.

I realized that I was going to be taking a while on my latest kit because I was trying so many new things. But with some patience and perseverance, I ended up with a model I am very happy with.

Regards, and good luck!

16

Just remember this…
It is a HOBBY! NOT your job!
And if you were so good, it would be boring!!

17

I can’t add much beyond what Scott and others have said, but I suffer from exactly the same troubles you do, and here are a few suggestions that have helped me over the years.

  1. Accept all the aspects of modeling, particularly those that are challenging to you, as just part of the hobby. I can fill a seam, smooth it to perfection, and after I paint it I still find boulders and valleys in the filler that appear by magic. I used to get discouraged and quit the project for a while, but now I say to myself, “Hey, smoothing out this seam and repainting is just part of it.”

  2. Don’t pay too much attention to the models built by Pix, Swanny, etc. These guys are just at a different stage than we are, and maybe they’ll always will be on a higher plane (pun intended). Sometimes for me it’s hard to imagine how I can get from where I am to where they are, and that discouragment keeps me from taking the thousands of little steps that lead to their level. You learn a lot even by building a bad model.

  3. Go to some contests. I went to one a month or so ago, and I saw some outstanding models, but I also saw a few that looked like I might have built them myself. It was encouraging to see that other people had the guts to enter what they could actually build even knowing they wouldn’t win a trophy. I’ll probably enter something myself next year (ouch).

  4. Build different subjects. Armor, planes, and cars each emphasize different techniques, and they reinforce each other.

Otherwise, hang in there and ENJOY what you are doing. If you don’t enjoy the process but only focus on the final product you miss a lot of the fun. Now all I need to do is follow my own advice…

18

WOW!! there is some really excellent advice in this thread!! thanks guys, i beginning to rise from the dust and brush it off!! thanks

ps. anybody ever watched the wrestling icon Hulk Hogan wrestle? invision saltydog getting whipped down by the models, getting tag teamed by four projects, slapped around like a red headed stepchild (no offense to any red headed stepchildren that may read this, its just a figure of speech), then, all of a sudden, salty’s hand begins to shake just a little at first, then, as the crowd begins to chant (you guys), i get to my knees, then to my feet, and begin going from one side of the workbench to the other with my hand to my ear as each person makes a post, i gain strength, then, i begin to kick major booty!!![:o)][:P][:D] thanks fellows. later.

19

Hey you are getting some great advice and it is even helping me. If this will make you feel better I have had for a bout two month now 10 model aircraft on my workbench to build, one I have had for 5 months, but the point is that they are all 1/48 bomber kits, Heavy and Mediums from Monogram and AM. I havent touched them for a month because I just lost the will to press on. But just a few days ago I got remotivated when I finnally finished my first model in over 3 months, it was nothing special or perfect by anymeans (just a test run for an alcalad finish on a Monogram Mig-15) but it was somthing to be proud of and exhilerating, to feel that feeling of acomplishment, so now I have started my builds again making shure not to run myself down. Which is important not to do. So I guess I am saying in short you are not alone in what is going on, and just remember you are among friends, and to keep this hobby fun for yourself and not to do it for fame or glory but as a self gratifaction factor, taking pride in what you have achieved

Also another motivational story for you. You were saying how your models dont come out like you would hope, and everything is wrong on them, well I felt that exact same way after I built my first heavy bomber in 1/48 a B-17G, It was a crashed one and it took me 15 months of work to get it done, but It had quite a few thing on it that I thought were really horrible and wrong. So anyway I heard about a model competition and decided to enter my some 16 finished aircraft into the competiotion, including my B-17G. (Note my expectations were not very high seeing as this was my first contest) Now I was counting on My Stuka to win the comp but only with a best in class, and I had only entered my B-17G because I had it. Then the results came in, and much to my astonishment My B-17G took not a best of class but a Best in Show, and I was entered into the National competion where I also took Best of Show in Nationals. So what I am trying to say is that a model that you might think looks like crud, could actually in the eyes of another person be a fantastic peice of work and unequalled by anyone.

Remember keep pushing on and you will be rewarded.

20

Chris,

When it comes to seams - I’ll just affirm what Lufbery says about liquid glue… Someone recommended that to me a while back and it has made a big improvement in my ability to create something with invisible seams. If you get a kit with a not so good fit, you may still need quite a bit of filler and sanding, but those little hairline splits go away.

And when you see pictures posted in this forum, remeber that the camera can hide MANY things from the eye of someone who didn’t build the kit.

Chris