What the hell is going on???

[Mark P]

I really need help as I'm totally confused! I am making stupid mistakes in my modelling and now I have 3 models on hold until I order the spares that I need. I took a couple of years off but started again about 6 months ago, my modelling was going great when I took the time off but now I feel like someone who has never built a model in my life. I'm now looking at my stash and in all truth I'm scared stiff of starting another one! HELP.

 

[Deleted member 4539]

We all make stupid mistakes.


The best thing I could say is to sit back and think about sorting out your mistakes.Then fix the mistakes.


Don't even think about starting another kit until you have at least finished one of the ones you have started.


If you keep thinking about making mistakes you will never get a kit finished and so the cycle will go round and round,and you will just have piles of uncompleted kits.


I think a big part of modelling is learning how to overcome mistakes and not to worry about them too much.


I don't think anyone on here really cares too much about seeing mistakes on some ones kit,even better if you show your mistakes there is bound to be someone on here that can help you.


All the best.


Ralph.

 

[eddiesolo]

I am like this everyday Mark. I have to be focused and do one at a time. 


Mistakes happen, sometimes it is silly stuff that you know you should be able to do. Put your stash out of sight, the three you're on with, pick one and take your time, do not attempt to do the others-stick to one and finish it, take your time. Once done go to another of your started builds and do the same again. Forget the stash, they are cardboard and plastic-I was the same, messing up, wasting money and paint and time...took me a while to sort it out and remember it is a hobby, if it cheesing me off and I am messing up I walk away-the kit isn't going anywhere-the world will not stop just because you have left a kit for three months. 


Relax, get on the X-box and shoot some baddies!

 

[dubster72]

Mark, I've hardly touched a model in weeks. I just can't get into it for fear of messing it up.


Right now, I feel like giving up the hobby. I hardly even come on here these days  :/

 

[eddiesolo]

We all have these lulls, weather due to illness, disabilities or just lack of motivation. One of the worst things I did was to sell off loads of kits, there going nowhere, don't rot and when I am ready I will do them. Just take a break and forget about them. 


As for Patrick, he is just a miserable sod... :D  I joke of course Patrick...funny how many folk seem to just drift away...then back, nature of the hobby I suppose.

 

[Mark P]

The real stupid thing I keep doing is doing something and cocking it up then like a bolt out of the blue I remember how I used to do it! I know I getting older but my grey cells seem to be letting me down

 

[eddiesolo]

The real stupid thing I keep doing is doing something and cocking it up then like a bolt out of the blue I remember how I used to do it! I know I getting older but my grey cells seem to be letting me down

I do the same, crack on and realise I am doing it wrong and like you, I know how to chuffing do it! You're not the only one Mark, trust me mate.

 

[stona]

Patience, patience, patience....the three most important things in my tool box. If ever I try to rush or even push on a bit I end up doing something stupid. Sometimes I do something stupid anyway, but it's much less likely when I take my time!


Cheers


Steve

 

[PaulTRose]

definatly patience!


think things through......the old adage of measure three times, cut once is valid here.....dont commit to doing something til you have thought it through


can i ask what mistakes you have made?


i some times get the same.........i do three or four kits and they just dont come out as i had planned.......so i get scared of doing something new cos i dont want to be disappointed again........(ive got kits in the stash from when i took up this lark again back in 2006 that i havnt dared start cos i dont want to cock them up...............and thats silly cos it means i will never do them!!)..............but then i will get one go right, the confidence returns a little

 

[Gwyn]

Hi Mark, sorry to hear that you are having problems, all I can add to the above good advice is to plan each step before execution and part of that planning is thinking of possible problems so you can avoid them. Look at the mistakes as very good learning options and praise your modelling skill when you rectify the problems. As others have said leave the stash until you have your Mojo back.

 

[Doug Hughes]

Sorry things aren't going so well just now, Mark. I'd reiterate the advice of others about patience and planning. I certainly make a lot of mistakes when I don't have/do that. Recently I've taken to annotating the instructions of my kits with reminders, warnings, etc. Also - I'm not sure what you normally build, but maybe a complete change of subject, scale etc. might help. If your 1/32 AFVs aren't coming out so well, maybe you'll be more forgiving of yourself with a 1/144 aircraft (for example).


Sometimes, though, I just have to lower my sights a little and not beat myself up too much. There's a saying about rock climbing, 'The best climber is the one who's having the most fun'. I've remembered it because I'm a really, really bad climber! Maybe the same can be said of modelling. When all's said and done, we do it because we enjoy it, and it's a shame to let our perfectionism get in the way of that.

 

[eddiesolo]

Well said Doug.

 

[Mark P]

definatly patience!


think things through......the old adage of measure three times, cut once is valid here.....dont commit to doing something til you have thought it through


can i ask what mistakes you have made?


i some times get the same.........i do three or four kits and they just dont come out as i had planned.......so i get scared of doing something new cos i dont want to be disappointed again........(ive got kits in the stash from when i took up this lark again back in 2006 that i havnt dared start cos i dont want to cock them up...............and thats silly cos it means i will never do them!!)..............but then i will get one go right, the confidence returns a little

I have had this model before and one fateful night before I had finished it my dog decided to take a liking to it! Its the Ducati 1199 Panigale s and last time the exhaust pipes looked perfect when finished (2 different colours) but this time they look awful so I have stripped 6 times now and the screw placings have snapped off and I cant find them (I knew this might happen because of the times they have been stripped) so now I have to order the sprue again. Its just doing my head in because the first time I was building this model it went so well but now I have turned into a total idiot?

 

[PaulTRose]

youve not turned in to an idiot!!...you are trying too hard!!


youve got it into your head to get it as good as the first time and you are beating yourself up when its not happening......and that starts to compound itself each time it dosnt come out just how you want it


you might just have to settle to never getting it as good the first time, simply to finish the model

 

[Mark P]

Well I put the model away and have primed another one BUT after some great advice and now knowing I'm not the only one who mucks things up I have put the primed one to one side to dry hard and pulled out the Ducati again. All I have to do now is order a new sprue in the morning and until then just chill out , thanks guys! Whenever I get discouraged you guys give me the kick up the butt I need and make me realise I'm not a total idiot

 

[stona]

You are definitely not alone!!!!!!!!


If any member of this forum claims he or she has never made a silly mistake I'll show you someone being 'economical with the truth'


Cheers


Steve

 

[eddiesolo]

My only silly mistake is taking up this hobby...I never learn :D


As Paul says, you're trying too hard. Leave that model alone and do something else, the more you keep going back the more it will annoy you, just leave it and go back after a while...say 10 years :D  I joke, but just leave of of it for a few weeks.

 

[GazB]

I think a big part of modelling is learning how to overcome mistakes and not to worry about them too much.

Wise words - worrying will only make it worse.


I have got to the point in the past where I have been very nervous when modelling - almost too nervous to continue and have had to psych myself up to carry on.


Got to the point where I really had to have a word with myself - and remind myself it's just a bit of plastic.


As for mistakes:-


I NEVER finish a model without cocking something up - mostly snapping off small parts or letting at least one decal fold itself into a ball but sometimes I outdo myself. Only yesterday I stuck a small clear gunsight on a piece of Blu-tak to keep it safe only to later forget I had done it and when tidying up I lumped the small bit of Blu-Tak back in with the large lump I keep - So I then had to roll out this very large piece into little sausages that I could then squash to see if the gunsight was in it - It wasn't. I'm now melting bits of clear sprue to scratch build another (Busting things is brilliant for your scratch building skills)


I'm also guilty in the past of ruining a whole model by washing the sprues in the sink and the leaving them on the radiator to dry. - only to come back to a deformed mess - but thats more pure stupidity than a modelling mistake - my Wife didn't stop laughing for a week  :$

 

[Airfix Modeller Freak]

mate, I started a Ta 152 in 1/48, and everything was going well until I applied a pin wash like a ceramic wash. It messed it up completely and had to be scrapped/binned. Everyone makes stupid mistakes. Just keep on pushing on mate, with every "mistake" you learn new techniques and you gain a lot from trashed models.


Cheers, John

 

[Gwyn]

Hi Mark, I recently gave some advice about planning each step in the process to so you do not make mistakes, well I am making a wood and white  metal model of the Stephenson Rocket and constructed the right hand piston assembly from a number of white metal part. I dry assembled it and then superglue it, great. Then I assembled the left hand assembly and left it all clamped up to dry. The next day I picked it up and noticed that the main part that all the others glued to was upside down. I Then I spent a whole day trying to disassemble it to put it right. Thank goodness for glue buster. The moral of this story it can happen and does happen to everyone, move forward and enjoy your modelling.