Just the in house water based paint…extremely rough grind.
I don’t know,stash management programs,spread sheets,computers,all sounds too complex for me.I just go down and have a quick look.
Of course my stash isn’t the size of some local hobby shops !!! 
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That is somewhat happened for me too. Over ambitious projects for my skill set, tools, and materials available at that time. At least on the SBD. Many of my Children of Doom are simply from overcommitments to GBs on this site and life saying “not so fast there buddy…”
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That makes perfect sense. I think there’s probably a big difference between a project that gets stalled because you lose interest in it and one that gets stalled because you simply weren’t ready for it yet.
That’s definitely what happened with my B-1B. I knew what I wanted to accomplish, I just didn’t have the skills or tools to actually pull it off at the time. Thirty years later, I think I’m finally ready for it. 
And your comment about overcommitting to Group Builds made me laugh. I’ve only recently started getting involved in them, and I’m already beginning to see how that could happen. 
I limit myself to a maximum of two per year, and only subjects I’m really interested in, so I can stay on task.
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Group Builds are dangerous temptations! That and model club monthly themes for the year ahead.
I can’t say that I’ve lost interest on any in my sidelined kits so much as lost motivation on a few. Again getting over ambitious with my goals, diving in deep, then getting sidetracked and no longer having the same drive to finish them up. I’m still interested in the project and goal, but having a hard time retiring the engine when a simpler project will do. I have a couple of 1/32 jets that I need to get back on due to such issues.
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When I restarted my kit building I went through the kits I kept and I thought I had an F-117 in a giant ziploc bag.
I brought it into the light and discovered that it was in fact a 1/48 Italeri YF-12 purchased in the early 90’s which I had forgot I had.
No instructions/decals so I contacted Italeri and asked for a copy of the instructions…
And they emailed me back with a PDF. of the instruction sheet.
Not gonna lie about fit & finish but it took quite a while to pre-putty sand, putty, sand, putty, sand, prime to check for defects, putty, sand and paint.
It took 3 months of solid effort to complete but it looks great on my wall.
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I completely understand the difference between losing interest and losing motivation. There are projects I still absolutely want to finish, but sometimes the thought of everything involved in getting back into one makes it a whole lot easier to reach for something simpler instead.
That’s actually part of the reason my Little Bird is next. After I finally finish this F-4 and its seemingly endless decals, I want something relatively simple that I can actually get across the finish line before diving into another big project.
Sometimes I think you just need a project that reminds you this is supposed to be fun.
I do love 1/32 aircraft, though. There’s something about that scale that really lets you see all the detail, but man, those things are huge. One of these days I’d really like to build an F-14 in 1/32, although I’m not entirely sure where I’d put it when I was done.
What are the two 1/32 jets you’ve got waiting for you?
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Now that’s a cool airplane to rediscover in a Ziploc bag! I think finding out it was a YF-12 instead of an F-117 would have been an upgrade.
I’ve always wanted to build a YF-12. It’s one of those unusual aircraft that has fascinated me for years, and you just don’t see them modeled very often. Three months of putty, sand, prime, find another problem and repeat sounds like quite a commitment, but it looks like it was worth it.
I also think it’s pretty cool that Italeri sent you the instructions for a kit you’d bought more than 30 years ago.
Great-looking model, and I really like the way you’ve displayed it on the wall. That’s probably the perfect solution for an airplane that size.
That’s a great-looking wall! I’m just finishing up an F-86 myself this weekend.
I’m curious about the Phantoms. It looks like you’ve got essentially the same Phantom in three different scales. Is that actually what I’m seeing, or is the photo playing tricks on me with the perspective?
All are 1/48 … the YF-12 is in the corner and the F-4’s are on a purpledincular wall
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From the right they are :
F-4C
F-4D
F-4G
Duhhh…from the LEFT they are:
F-4C
F-4D
F-4G
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I’ve always really want to build the SR-71 but the kits that are out there, including the new one just sound like a bear and for once, I would like to build that 50% of my build time isn’t fixing bad engineering.
Looks like you really nailed all of those!
One is an F-4… and F-4G to be exact that I’ve got somewhere past the 50% mark give or take… the other is an A-4 that is a bit farther along.
F-4s are beautiful in 32nd scale! Besides the Tomcat, probably my favorite.
I have the new Revell SR-71…it is supposed to be a good kit, a lot easier to build
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Yep, I sold my old one that I’d carried around with me from house to house for about 30 years, with the intention of buying the new one someday.
I’ve heard the new kit is much better, although it apparently still has some typical Revell fit issues. But better is better. And no matter what, if you want an SR-71 in 1/48, it’s pretty much the only game in town.
I’ll definitely be adding one to the stash eventually.
Ha ha, so I’m not the only one with 30-year old shelf of doom projects! Well, it does not make me feel any better because I still have to finish them. I usually get stalled because I either lack the skillset or am “afraid” to commit to something, usually weathering.
I started a bunch of scratchbuilt projects in the late 1980s, but so far only got one to the finish line and one just short of it. I was overly ambitious and didn’t really think through what I had to do.
But time allows us to gather up some skills, and the aftermarket has exploded. The 3-D printed stuff seems to be some kind of no-rules contest to see who can come up with the craziest accessory that nobody thought was possible.
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Long time, no see. What’s up, everyone?
I wish I could say things were going good on my model table, but they’re not.
Just day after day and week after week working at my best friend’s house helping his wife clean up and organize the place due to his excessive hoarding that he had, that I come home too tired to do anything else. Haven’t really had time for myself, much less model building. 
BUT…I did try to sit down at the kitchen table the last two nights and work on a space shuttle kit that’s been collecting dust.
The bad part on this is that the real space shuttle had a white interior cargo bay. My kit instructions mention painting the interior cargo bay a light gray color.
Well, I can’t paint the cargo bay white as the white paint will blend in with the white molded plastic parts and I’ll never be able to see what areas were painted vs what wasn’t.
The whole outside of the shuttle exterior will be painted in a USAF gray type color. So having the interior cargo bay also painted a gray color would be too much gray.
So…I went with a different shade of white. But to my eyes and the lighting conditions, it looks like a very light creme color. Not sure if I will continue with this color or not.
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