Motivation and Time

[ChrisRx718 4470]

I wonder if I'm alone.

I have more than a dozen projects which have started but are still 'in limbo'.

It all starts with an idea - some inspiration usually gathered whilst browsing the Tamiyaclub showroom - which progresses into ordering a list of requirements. This list generates a load of orders - something I'm very good at; plonk everything on the credit card from Hong Kong / Japan and sit back and wait for it all to come together.

The chassis is the bit I enjoy most, so I generally finish this bit at least. Then it goes on to the bodyshell. If it's a hardbody I'll spend forever tinkering with it, deciding what accessories will go where. Constantly procrastinating, which ultimately results in no paint being laid...

Then there's the lexan bodies - which are even worse. I get as far as cutting them out, then can't decide which bits to mask off. How will I decorate this? How will it look with LEDs? Should I paint the window trims or use the stickers?

There's currently no holes in the bodyshell. Wouldn't it be nice to mount this without any posts visible? How about using one of the many stealth mounting kits ordered over a year ago which have sat in the box untouched?

What about an interior? How will that interfere with how the body is mounted?

By this stage I've usually become pre-occupied with something else. Either the PC games, a spot of weight-lifting or playing with my daughter instead.

Am I alone?

Will any of my projects EVER be 'finished'?!

Bit of Friday food for thought there!

[ChrisRx718 4470]

In fact, this is so bad I'll even demonstrate it with a list (something I am good at):

Blackfoot-Bodied CC01 'Apocolypse Truck' - Started as a winter build off project. Body isn't yet mounted to chassis. Body is not yet primed. Accessories have not been decided on. Chassis works. I think.

Porsche 934 Turbo Road Car F103GT-S - Finished the chassis. It's a thing of beauty (all carbon). Looks great. Bodyshell has been cut, not yet masked. Purchased interior kit. Doesn't fit. Will need lots of cutting. On the back-burner.

Honda NSX Road Car F103GT - Chassis has been around for ages. NSX body is cut, not masked, but mounted at least. Purchased a rear spoiler for it recently. On the back-burner.

Nissan Skyline Z-Tune Road Car TA03F - Chassis built. 'Basher' body completed so I can use the car without worry. Display bodyshell has been cut. Not masked. Paint purchased, together with interior kit. On the back-burner.

Mazda RX-7 Road Car TT01 - Chassis finished (basic), bodyshell cut, masked and ready for paint. Procrastinating over colour. Interior kit purchased. Mounting of body not yet decided upon. On the back-burner.

Jurassic Park Pajero CC01 - Chassis complete. Sort of. Still modifying it. Bodyshell mounted, masked for paint. Paintscheme is being procrastinated over. Straight green or camoflage? How do I mask up for camo? I'm hopeless. Windscreen wipers purchased recently. They work, but they're not attached to the body yet. Roll cage bought, that's really nice. Cost me about £70 too. Still not attached to body.

Porsche 996 GT3 TA03R - Chassis completed. Bodyshell masked. Not mounted. No holes in body. Interior purchased, together with a nice new spoiler. Procrastinating over colour.

Porsche 993 GT2 TA03R-S - Chassis complete. Again, it's a thing of beauty. Wheels and tyres mounted. No holes in this bodyshell either. Paint colour has actually been decided upon and purchased. Not brave enough to start laying any paint.

The sad part is that there are a few more projects like this too. The chassis all work in most cases, but none are ready for display as they don't have finished bodies.

Help me find the motivation Tamiyaclub!!!

[waterbok 1282]

Sounds familiar

little Willy projekt (6 in total, wheeler, lwb & swb)

At least I got to the stage sorting and cleaning the parts

[Vrdetailing 1241]

I start and finish.. You are alone.

[Theibault 1535]

The trick is to not start a second project till the first is done, but who am I to say. I'm guilty of over exuberance towards starting projects myself.

[mr crispy 2293]

Wow I thought I was bad... no wait, I am bad at this It sounds like you've read my mind Reillour.

I currently have 10-15 projects in some stage of WIP

[Tamiya1/10 382]

This is what happens when your were let loose in a candy shop and with no supervision. Live is like a box of chcololate, you don't want eat the whole box all at once. Enjoy the present moment.

[Terz1 745]

I tend to get an idea in my head how I want things. Everything is then ordered and built to completion. I can't leave something alone until it's finished. That would drive me crazy! Lol

[ukfox 347]

Hmmmm, my things to finish list

Paint the camo paint on my leopard 2a6 build ~(Been 18months)

change out the glass on my Knight Hauler, want clear instead of Paint tinted. ( have the glass, just not fitted)

Paint the shell for my TLT ( have the paint, been 6 months +)

Fit shocks to the Cayenne S then do the lexan body ~(had paint for months)

Replace the steering servo on my TRF801xt (servo arrived today )

Paint and decal the replacement shell for the Madcap

Fit the new glow plug to the Tg10 and try to get it running again

fit decals to the vanquish shell

Then of course I have the NIB kits I want to build

especially the Bruiser, the Super hotshot and Fav,

Seems I too, have to many Projects

[Klausen 1197]

I really like having NIB's in queue to be built, and find it quite difficult to not buy more NIB's

I have come to the conclusion that restorations are not for me. So not many of those here. Anyway I have my HSII that needs a rebuilt, and I have some new gearcases lying.

As far as time goes, I am always in lack. Seems like work, kids and housework takes up all my time!!! But I am building my cars on one of the kitchentables, and have one going all the time, so am reminded about I have to continue every day

[Percymon 2184]

Just read my anniversary threads to see what motivation i have for a few long standing projects !

I've been pretty quiet on here (and RC in general) for 5 months - have even sold a few models over the last few months. Just not got any RC enthusiasm at the moment; maybe down to number of outstanding projects, maybe just the time element :unsure:

[Grastens 2795]

I have some projects I have not finished, and then so many more that I just cannot afford at all. The latter must be the easy part because it means I am not tempted by having stuff just lying around when it never makes it to me in the first place!

... as much as I really want to build up a Striker-style body for the DT-03 or put an Audi Quattro on an extended WR-02...

Otherwise, the only real project I have is Willy's Wheelie Rally. Everything else is just in my head or on paper.

However, among actual cars I own I have completed the rest of them. How I wish I had the problem that some of the other members have with too many projects to finish! Maybe I would stay out of the bars and alleyways if I did

[appleby20 193]

It seems that assembling chassis is your favourite part, so I assume that you do not have many artistic skills and/or patience. I would say this is common to most of us. So when the project comes to the stage of fine details like sanding, priming, sanding, painting, wet sanding, another layer of paint....coating...and waiting and waiting after every layer, you get not so excited. I perfectly understand you, and that's why many of us have more and more projects just awaiting to be finished. But believe me, there is no more satisfaction than the fact of finishing the project and being proud of it, although you may know that you could do it even better.

My recomendation, and that's what I try to do myself, is to alternate easy projects with some others more demanding and when the difficult stage arrives, try to complete an easier one first, to get motivation and self confidence.

By the way, I still have to finish a Scania R620 (paint job and lights) CC-01 Jeep Wrangler (paint job) and recently I assemble chassis for Sand Scorcher, so you can imagine what is next. Meanwhile they are fully functional and could be shown on my shelves.

[XV Pilot 1936]

I find that I am the complete opposite. I ffind it difficult if not impossible to leave a project alone until it is done. If it is sitting in a partially-complete state, it weighs on my mind, potentially interfering with other household and work activities, until I get around to finishing it.

And in my case, "finished" means chassis built with any hop-ups necessary for reliable running, bodyshell painted, fitted and decalled, radio gear installed and programmed, motor run in, car test-driven and photographed, and a build thread posted on the forum.

This has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, if I feel like a bit of tinkering time and I don't have a project on the go, I pick a completed one and stare at it until I have convinced myself that it isn't actually complete, and something has to be added/modded/changed about it to complete it. This is fine if I have the parts to hand to do this, but if not, it nags at my mind until they have been bought and fitted, which is frustrating if I have to wait for payday before ordering them.

However it does mean that I have 20-something runners that are all ready to go with the addition of a charged battery.

[Mokei Kagaku 2706]

There surely exist many reasons why we don't complete models, but feeling "unable" to complete a model was described as "the modelbuilder's disease" already in the 1978 Hasegawa catalog, maybe even in earlier issues of the Hasegawa catalog and in other media too.

Hasegawa stated that it's typical to happen when a modelbuilder reaches a certain awareness and judgement level and realises that the skills and experience were inadequate when he/she built models in the past, resulting in models that aren't up to the same person's current standard. Accordingly, he/she realises that the skills and experience will improve further, which means that certain tasks should be left for the future to be able to complete them to a higher standard. The model is put aside, and another new model is started, just to get to the same dilemma sooner or later with that model too.

Especially among builders of static plastic models, this is well known and as it's highly frustrating, many modelbuilders have started building "simple" "out of the box" models as a parallel hobby. Simply to have the same carefree fun that model building used to be in their early model building "career", instead of the seriousness and quest for perfection that it has become.

[ChrisRx718 4470]

I wouldn't say I lack artistic flair - in fact I studied art at GCSE level and got an A grade, but that was pencils, paper and watercolours!

Model painting is something I don't have much experience of and it requires patience - something I lack. One of my models (not even mentioned above) is very similar to a model I regretted selling years ago, so every time I start to work on it I become concerned that it won't turn out as good as the original. It's a culmination of obsession, pursuit of perfection and lack of self-belief I think. I lack the confidence and patience to get it done!

I think a good solution might be to follow by example and complete one project at a time. Perhaps I could even put it to the community to help decide which model to start with?

Thanks for the responses so far - my situation certainly isn't unique!

[ukfox 347]

I find that its not the lack of skill to do the final painting,

But the lack of enjoyment from painting a shell

[RichiPuppy 42]

I always do the body first, that way when I am done wrenching, I have something to put on the chassis.

[speedy_w_beans 4272]

This winter I installed some shelving in my hobby room and put every vehicle on display, finished or not. This really gave me some focus because I'd scan the shelving each time I entered the room and clearly see what wasn't complete. It really bothered me. So, I started at one end of the shelf and worked my way across, one row at a time. In most cases I already had the parts in boxes waiting, the bodies already painted (but needing decals applied), and electronics in boxes just waiting for installation. At one point I had all except three vehicles finished, and those three just need two bodies and one driver figure painted. Now when I look at the same shelving I see a collection of vehicles all in the same state and ready to drive this spring and summer. The weather is starting to get warmer here, so those last two bodies and driver figure will be finished soon.

My motivation is higher this year. Work, elder care, and family stresses are going down. Selling cars I didn't enjoy and finishing outstanding projects has given me a sense of freedom to start new projects. Some projects seemed more approachable just by lowering my expectations for them. Doing little to nothing in the hobby for about 6-9 months, reducing my spending, finishing projects, and focusing on using what I have in my stash first has helped me quite a bit. Developing a plan around the seasons' weather has given me something to look forward to -- chassis building in the winter, painting in the spring, driving in the summer and fall, and rebuilding in the winter again. Diversifying interests beyond 1/10 electric vehicles to both vehicles and aircraft, electric and nitro, gives me new territory to explore. Keeping the hobby in perspective relative to real life is a good thing, too; it's a good thing to walk away and come back to it from time to time.

[Grumpy pants 4465]

There are some great tips to work with here.

I particularly like the one at a time and body 1st tips.

I would have thought 1 or 2 might at a time would be a good way forward......

Why not do a poll to help you bring one model to the front of the queue?

[IBIFTKH 1369]

Mainly I'm another that can't leave a project alone until it's finished, though there have been exceptions. I've done a couple of time-consuming scratch-builds and found I needed a break from them, so took some time out and did something else. Usually though, I'm quite excited about whatever I'm working on and enjoy the whole process of planning, building, painting and tinkering.

PS: UKfox, I think I have a couple of painted TLT shells lying around...

[njmlondon 570]

Yup you are not alone.

Many an unpainted body to be found in my workshop combined with many mysterious brown boxes of parts that should one day combine magically into something special!

Leaving cars in primer is a particular favourite of mine, although they do look good.

I did have a clean up recently though and built a bigger work table in my shed so I can build 2 projects at once. Quite why I believe I can multitask despite 43 years of evidence to the contrary is beyond me.

I think it is a combination of impatience, failed multitasking and a big OCD streak that is the reason why I start 10 projects and finish 1 a year.

[ukfox 347]

IBIFTKH

thanks for the offer of a shell lol

I originally bought the TLT to use the steering axle under an all wheel drive Mercedes truck build. ( Paris-Dakar truck build)

BUT,

didn't have the heart to strip the TLT down after I built it, lol

[berman 5315]

Darn, when I read the thread title I thought someone had found both of these things and was going to share it's secret with the rest of us!

WTB: Time and motivation combo, NIP please, need them both as no good having one without other. Will trade for Wife/kids/job

Lol

[XV Pilot 1936]

I always do the body first, that way when I am done wrenching, I have something to put on the chassis.

I quite enjoy the painting and decalling of the shell, but trimming it is my least favourite part of the build due to the potential for it to go irreparably wrong. I therefore also get this part done first so as to enjoy the rest of the build.