I started modeling in the early 70’s, and took a break for about 30 years. Recently I’ve picked the hobby back up and my results aren’t pro… but they probably show the result of doing research and having tools that weren’t available to me back in the day.
My question is this: How long do you continue a project that isn’t going well?
In the past I’ve held on to botched builds for years… but recently I’ve decided to bite the bullet and throw them away or donate them. Just feel like every time I see them sitting on the shelf it makes me guilty or drives me away from the hobby.
Would like to hear from others about how long you are willing to hold on to builds that need to get put on hold… for skill, time, money, enjoyment, or anything else.
30 years or so for me. But I have resurrected such old projects and have successfully completed them. Not the botched ones mind you, but the ones where I painted myself into a corner and didn’t know what to do. You can learn a lot of new tricks in 30 years, so some seemingly insurmountable problem back then can be solved today.
I started a model 30 years ago and didn’t know what to do to make a bubble canopy with a true “omega” cross section, and where to get wheels and white decal lettering to a specific font. It sat dormant for over 20 years and came out several times to be worked on, but it did get finished.
The horrifying thing is I have several more of these projects on the shelf of doom.
But yeah, I really should throw out the 30 year old botched ones.
I have no definitive answer,I just know how I feel.Its been quite a while since I trashed a kit that I had it with,I usually try to struggle thru difficult or discouraging stages and it usually gets better.
Usually cost of kit,amount of time already invested,what is wrong,do I have the skill to correct it or is it going to look like crap all play a part.
But no,there is no set time limit where I make a decision.
I have an intermediate solution. Sometimes if I am having a hard time with a model I will take a break from it and put in on the shelves above my bench. I call them the shelves of doom. I then start a new model. Every so often I look at the kits up there and decide if I want to continue with one, or that I will never complete it and trash it. In the intervening time, my mind has either decided I know how to overcome the problems, or that it will stay problematic.
If I start them I gotta finish them. I find modelling is the only thing I manage to do that with. I have many household projects half done that may stay that way for eternity but I gotta get my models done.
As soon as things are not going well and the kit is getting aggravating, and it appears to be a hopeless case, I will pitch it into the recycle bin. Life is too short for that kind of stuff.
Right now, I am almost at that point with an old Tamiya kit from 1991. ( I had no idea it was that old, when I bought it recently.) I keep thinking it feels like a cheap old Revell kit. I have already screwed up step 1 and step 2! (But that’s MY fault.)
Oh boy does that one hit home. Actually, I don’t finish them all, but my track record at finishing models is better than my other endeavors. This thread got me curious, I just counted. 3 shelf of doom to 7 finished in the case (since 2013 return to hobby). That’s 3:7 and that’s not all that great, is it. [:$]
Maybe I’ll toss the kit I started for a GB and don’t even like the kit out just to drop it to 2:7.
In other words, whatever the answer is, if there is one, don’t feel alone, Mark. I’m right there wondering with you. Heck, I’m one of those nuts can’t even bring myself to throw out my empty boxes with spares and instructions. (there’s a thread going on about that here). Fortunately, I’m not a prolific builder so it’s not been much of a problem yet.
" I’m one of those nuts can’t even bring myself to throw out my empty boxes with spares and instructions."
Hahaha that is me. I have about 10 kits missing one piece or a few decals because I screwed something up and just bought a duplicate kit to solve the problem.
The solution comes next weekend when we are having a “Garage No-Sale”. Take what you need, donate what you can, and the proceeds will go to our church. I find it much easier to get rid of cruft if it’s for a cause.
I can never toss away project. It may go into a spares box that I never intend to build, but I frequent a lot of modeling sites. Someone somewhere in the future will desperately need a part from that kit, and I will have just what they need.
Over twenty years ago, I retrieved some of my childhood “prized” possessions. These ancient, built kits had been on my dresser for 20+ years collecting dust. They also lost quite a few parts to my mom’s vacuum cleaner.
These were vintage kits and replacement models went for collector’s prices. So I was able to find a “glue bomb” builder’s kit for one of them on eBay. It was a whopping $5 plus shipping. Another glue bomb kit a buddy found at a swap meet. He said it was $8.
So, I was able to get parts to complete these two kits for next to nothing.
My oldest unfinished project is a Tamiya M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle with interior. I started it the summer I finished college, but did not complete it before I left for active duty.
It sat in my closet for almost 20 years before I got it back from my parents’ home. They were retiring and moving to Florida which is why I was retrieving all these old kits. For some reason, I have not finished it, although I have cracked the box and thought about it.
Yeah, I don’t throw a model away, if I get stuck during the build. I do have over a dozen builds on the Shelf of Doom, though. But I’m with the others who say, once I start, I have to finish, no matter how long it takes.
Donating kits is a good idea, though I’d still keep anything that I had started, and only give away unstarted kits. I wouldn’t want to saddle someone else with something I started but didn’t finish.
I HATE to throw away a project. I have sidelined quite a few for one reason or another. But each kit was purchased with the intent of building to completion. I did throw away one project though, simply because when purchased and started the outcome was beyond my skills, tools, and capability for intended conversion at that time. And after being started and sidelined, a proper kit of the subject came out. There was nothing in the base kit worth saving. Especially when a much better kit of the same subject came out later.
I do have one project that I am contemplating disposing. But that one became heavily damaged in storage, and I don’t know if I can repair the damage.
I hate throwing anything away Mark. I have four Tamiya Willys MB Jeep kits, a Tamiya M4 Sherman - Early Production, a Tamiya M4A3 Sherman and two T23 resin M4 Sherman turret kits that I will probably never use or finish. I tell myself I am keeping them for parts, or just because they might come in handy someday.
When I started building models after 55 years, I did not have the skills or knowledge to even complete a simple project like the Willys MB Jeep. Plus, everything had changed since I was a teenager. New methods of painting and gluing had revolutionized the scale model industry. Model manufactures had advanced in tooling beyond anything I could have imagined when I was a kid.
So, I decided to stick with everything Tamiya: models, paint, glue, putty, and tools. However, in time I learned there are other great model manufactures out there in the market and other paint, tools, and supplies. Today I would say AFV Club kits and Asuka kits are my favorite, but there are many others. There is also nearly an endless list of aftermarket resin kits, tracks, metal barrels and photo-etched parts. The hobby has changed in an incredibly positive way.
To address the point of your thread, I give all my completed models away, to friends, veterans, veterans families and organizations. So, I have no shelf of completed projects in my studio (spare bedroom). I plan to eventually donate all my new and unfished kits to a local modelers club that has an active youth program. My joy comes from planning and building a model, not keeping it, sort of like ‘catch-n-release’.
I finish them all. As I’ve said before, I have no “so called shelf of doom”. I have table of a “curious cat”. A year ago, a long hair, tuxedo cat we adopted, jumped on a large table I had about 40 built kits stored on. He really did a number on them. Lots of broken wings, engine nacelles, canopies, even some tank barrels, tracks, individual, lots of small parts. A real mess. After I murdered the little beast, just kidding, I gave him some kitty treats. His name is “Bruce Wayne”. He’s a nice kitty. Anyway, most it is fixed, some not so much. Well, some of the models are 30+ years old, some National contest winners among them. Some not so much.
No, I never throw models away. I always finish a project. Some may take me a while, I will do another, but eventually get back to it. I guess I’ve been doing this for over 55 years that I have nothing brand new to learn. I tend to forget things now. For me, they just wear out, break, they get replaced by a new kit. Ocansionly, they get sold or given away.
It’s also a pain to get firecrackers now. Here in Hawaii you have to buy a permit which allows you to buy a limited amount of explosives. Gone are the days when you could roll into a store with a shopping cart and load up to your CC limit - not that I ever did that, but lots of people did.
That is not the case for the illegal rockets and concussion bombs that make their way into our post-911, TSA enforced, USPS regulation restricted state every year - you can get as much as you can buy. [:(]
But I digress. No blowing up old models anymore. The ones I do dispose of get gently placed in garbage bags and given a solemn farewell.
Last year I put my 1/48 B-58 on hold for 6 months. I was done with dealing with the bad engineering, especially the wide joint at the tail. However, i finally finished it.
The only model that I never finished was the Revell Tommy Ivo four engine Showboat. The assembly of the 32 exhaust headers were more than I could deal with. They have sinkholes that are half the thickness of the headers.
Mark, your discussion about throwing away a model has prompted me to find the last model I worked on before leaving home to join the Navy in 1963. This AMT kit was released in 1963 and I had painted it white if I remember correctly. Unfortunately my parents moved shortly after I left home and I never saw it again. I recall thinking at the time this is the way of the future, each new model year for cars a scale model will be released. I don’t know if that ever happened, but it seemed cool back then.
Interesting question. In my case I like to see the project through. A few have been shelved, but I am never too far from wanting to finish them, and I plan to.
I started building in 1946 (6years old) and never stopped. If I run into a problem with a build, I put it on the shelf of doom. While waiting for the glue or paint to cure on the present build, I pull one off the shelf and figure out if I can get the missing part somewhere, fix the broken one or use the kit for spare parts. I don’t think I have ever thrown away a kit. I have plenty of spare parts for all types of models and plenty of bodies to use as practice mules for painting experiments.
Good question. Looking at the stack of boxes containing spare parts from finished kits, and several uncompleted kits, I’ve realized that if I don’t throw them out someone else will at some point.
I build for fun and when the kit turns into a chore, it gets shelved. I’m not sure how my mind decides what is a fun challenge and what is a chore. Most kits on the shelf of doom are old Revell kits. I bought them when I started back into the hobby, nostalgia, brand familiarity, and price being the motivation. Some I just didn’t have the skill to build and would like to try them again (P40 Warhawk), others I wouldn’t touch with a piece of ten foot sprue (PT 109). Also learned that it’s best to build those kits with the panels open to avoid fit issues! (ME262).
Anyways, yes, I need to toss some unfinished and finished kits.
