Bummed out...

one of my rare threads but here it goes... i cant finish a friggin' kit. over the last year and a half ive started six projects and havent finished one. i just keep losing interest before i finish. so i start a new kit and the cycle continues. ive got some 100+ kits now and im totally uninspired. i wanted to just clear my work space today and start something new and i cant even find something i want to do. im sad really. all i think about is cars, i read about them, i spend 2-3 hours a day on this site. an hour or two on others. i read motor trend etc... but im just not inspired to build a kit. last year i took a three month break from modelling and this site but i couldnt stay away from modelling any longer. what can i do? what should i build? why is this happening? im depressed so any help or suggestions would be nice. anybody been through this? sorry just had to vent my anger, thanks for listening! :disappoin :disappoin :disappoin

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/500/77057kits100-med.jpg

I know exactly how you feel. I have about 6-7 kits on the go aswell but they always take so long because I always want to make them the best they can be, that is, perfect paint jobs, extensive customization and scratchbuilding. Most of the time I just want to do too much.

However I find that just picking a kit you're not too bothered about and just doing it box stock is a great break from all the extensive projects.
Use it for experiments aswell, like trying Candy colours or two tone.
Just make it as simple as possible and you'll end up with not only a finished model (at last!!) but hopefully some new skills and increased motivation for another one.

Cheers

Farrokh

When you go to the hobby store, pick better model kits. :D
j/k.
I have the exact same problem as you. I currently have 3 projects started on my desk, and about 5 model boxes full of painted parts that were never put together. So I`m afraid I don`t have any advice for you, just sympathy. :(

i feel the same as you i wanna see the finished product but i rarly work on it its weird and i keep buying i dunno whats wrong with me. :(

I cant finish kits either. I usually have about 5 projects at any given time. All 5 of those finish about 1.5 years later at the same time.


What helps me is to:

Watch Monster Garage, Southern Steel, American Hot Rod, Overhaulin, Extreme 4x4, PHRTV, Trucks, Powerblock, etc. with fabrication

Look at pics of a similar project.

and i forgot the rest. Point is. We all have our downtimes.

I find myself in a very similar place...

I actually think this forum is part of the problem... don't get me wrong, it's absolutely awesome the amount of tips, solutions, etc. that can be taken from this site. However, it makes me set my standards too high. I screw up one little thing and I think the whole project is dead. Sometimes I think it would be best if I just do one, without looking on the site here, and without trying to go too crazy. You know, start simple, even though you've seen how to do awesome things. For example, I wanted to customize a die cast eclipse before the plastic ones came out (I know, wrong medium), so I stripped it, put down a primer coat, then a base coat of orange on the bottom, followed by black on the top, with a BMF chrome trim line along the joint. But then the paint chipped in one section, and suddenly I have no desire to finish the thing.

And all my projects tend to want to be ultra-cars. Wildly modified, but I want them to look perfect too.

So next up, I think I'm going to start from scratch (again) and work on a Toyota Celica Rally Car (Hasegawa) and just lay down a simple metallic gray paint, with clear coat, and just 'stock' decals. If I can get one body well done, I know that I'll continue with it. That's always the difficult thing for me, because I'm always trying to get the PMan shine, and tend to screw something up.

Good luck with it!

Hey,

This is also my everyday. All I get inspired to do is buy more and more kits. I have too much inspiration to get a new kit rather then to finnish one:-/ Every once in a while, I will build when I can't sleep. Maybe. it's that there is too much inspiration around us, and that we should be starved of it for a while. Then we'll get a model fever. lol. My whole room is filled with models-in boxes mostly, car posters, diecast, and I work with cars at school. There is no hope. When I close my eyes to sleep, I dream about what I'm going to do with a model. It never formulates into the plastic form though.:-/ I feel your pain.

Frank X.

Same boat here Chad. I think the solution is to keep the projects simple. I can't help myself trying to add extra details and modifications that slow everything down way too much. Like right now I'm itching to lay some paint down on my latest Peugeot 206, but still have heaps of work to do on the engine/bonnet and intakes I've modified. If I'd just kept it simple I'd be high on paint fumes right now! After I finish my two current project I'm going back to curbside or out of the box engines for a model or two... :)

I have mucho downtime...I like models, I generally enjoy building them, but my free time gets spent on websites, PS2, and other things. Taking way more time looking at/talking about models but not building them. But I don't get too torqued about not building...when the time is right, I take advantage of it. When it's not, I do whatever else I want to do...much of it while my mind is thinking of new/better ways to build models. It's all good :biggrin: .

Honestly there's nothing you can do to remedy the situation, except perhaps choose a kit that you know can come together in a minimum of time...something simple and not complex is usually a good antidote to being depressed over working on a kit that takes too much time and saps your creative energy.

Same boat here Chad. I think the solution is to keep the projects simple. I can't help myself trying to add extra details and modifications that slow everything down way too much. Like right now I'm itching to lay some paint down on my latest Peugeot 206, but still have heaps of work to do on the engine/bonnet and intakes I've modified. If I'd just kept it simple I'd be high on paint fumes right now! After I finish my two current project I'm going back to curbside or out of the box engines for a model or two... :)


This kills me too. I have a project that I really want to paint but I am AT LEAST 3 days of hard work from getting there. I build about 1 model a year. It takes me 3-4 months until I am relatively happy with the results then I dont build again for a while. Then, later on, I will pick that model back up and remember all the things that went wrong or that I could have done better and all of a sudden, the fever is back.

I've spent more time dusting my unbuilt kits since moving than i have actually building them.

I think my new nitro monster truck has alot to do with that though.... I break it alot!

I use to be like that, would have 6 or 7 started kits on the go and never finish one of them. Just go and pull one out and finish it, even if you aren't entirely happy with it having it completed will spur you on. Does for me anyway.

Hardest part of modelling in my opinion is choosing what to build next!

I say do somthing totally differant, try building a motorcycle or something like that. a change like that could get you excited abouit it again

im pretty cheap, so i hate my self and feel like i wasted money on nothing when i dont finish a model. i feel like that money, regardless of the amount, could have gone to better use some for something else.

but if most of those kits are gonna go to waste, feel free to send some of them my way :grinno:

I refuse to start another kit before the current kit is completed. Sooner or later I just do it and move on to something else. I think I might have 2 partially completed kits here stored away . Just set the goal to complete them one at a time and do it. I never try for perfect just the best my skills will allow. With each one I learn more and most of the time the next model is better than the last.

wow thats a great collection, it seems a lot of people put down a model and start a new one for different reasons, i for one put it down cause i get too anxious. There has to be a car you really want to finish out of your huge collection. Hey btw do you want to get rid of that tamiya golf v5 by any chance?

I say do somthing totally differant, try building a motorcycle or something like that. a change like that could get you excited abouit it again

Yupp!
That's what I do when the inspiration for cars/bikes is down the drain. Mostly I tend to build some cool WW2 aircraft in 1/72, it's a relief as I don't have any expectations on the result just trying to learn something new on the way. Somehow I always get back into civilian vehicles after a while and find myself building a new car again. I, like you have quite a big pile of unbuilt kits and everyone is in some state of progress. What I've done now is to try finish one before starting a new one over, it's hard but it keeps me focused in a whole different way than before. Hey! If it's getting you sad, give it a rest for a while...eventually you'll find the spark again and in no time you'll be at it again, don't force it...just let it come.

Niclas

More Corsair pics (http://niclasproos.fotopic.net/c115374.html)
http://images1.fotopic.net/?iid=y1mavf&outx=600&quality=80

How about sighing up for a blog? Usually, the blog pages are formatted such that you want to update often. Maybe not everyday, but you still don't want blank marks on the calendar. Also, you can participate in contests. That will set you deadlines.

I have mucho downtime...I like models, I generally enjoy building them, but my free time gets spent on websites, PS2, and other things. Taking way more time looking at/talking about models but not building them.

I WISH I had this problem!!! I have NO downtime right now. I have class 3-4 hours a day and homework adds up to about 10 hours, and I still don't finish!!! It's driving me crazy because I promised a friend I'd have his model done by Spring Break, and I haven't even started yet. I also want to finish my Cobra, but I don't think I can even touch it until May at the earliest. I think I'm gonna lose it. Worse, midterms are starting up so what little time I did have will now be spent studying. I can't even check out this site during class because I actually have to seriously pay attention (I don't usually screw around during class, but this semester it's like I'm drowning) and then some of my classes don't even have computers with internet, how rude. If I can make it through this semester, I will be amazed. If I make it through sane, well I don't think I can do that. And if I finish one more model this semester, well, that'd be great. Impossible goal, but it'd make me happy! Hey, that snap-tite is starting to look pretty good......

Sorry to hijack your thread.

Being creative individuals with a nonstop flow of modeling ideas coming from all outlets automotive related, we tend to lose interest in some projects as something new and unique steals our attention. I am always like this, like most of us here. I had a severe problem with this in 2004. So for 2005, I adopted a new policy. A few tips that I use ...

Like David mentioned, force yourself not to start another kit while your building one. I tried this, but couldn't handle it, so I found a middle ground. Have a couple of side kits you poke around with when you are not motivated on your main kit. Key word is poke around. Don't start the new kit, just do little things. Example, after seeing the limited Nismo Skyline Z-tune, I thought to myself, Nismo should do that for the Silvia, too. So I began to plan a model for how I would do this car. This is my side project. During slow patches with my primary build, I've slowly worked on this, just a small piece of it though. Right now, I've only finished the front bumper. Also I'm helping a friend of mine with a military diorama, so that is also providing a bit of a change (it's cool not having to worry about a mirror perfect finish).

Keep a journal of your modeling tasks and ideas. Make a list of what you are going to do next on a particular project or what subassemblies you still have to work on. That way when you sit down to work on your kit, you know what there is to do. Let's you stay focused. Also when new modeling ideas strike you, don't run to a kit. Run to a journal. Jot down your thoughts and notes about your new idea. This way you can keep a record of it for later without adding another kit to your in-progress pile.

And one last thing, try to stop buying so many kits. I found that going into the closet to get stuff or store new kits I just bought and seeing the unbuilts was a bit of a downer. This year I've only bought three kits, and two of those were pre-ordered from last year.

For me, 2005 is going good with these things in place. I started my Blitz Chaser on Jan. 21. Three weeks into the project, I am very near completion with just the chassis to sort out. Body is finished and polish. Interior is done. I am very happy with this pace, plus no other kits started this year.

one thing that i dont really get (honest...!!) is that how can you manage to 'stock' that much kit?? i can understand if this particular one or that particular one is one of the rare find. but that much of common 'cars' or 'vehicles' .... cant get my brain around it to make a reason.

btw, yea... agree with what have been said earlier. we do have our down time. but for me, making a huge mistakes or things like that really put me down. i already put aside at least 3 kits. 2 that i dont know when i will continue, and 1 that im not sure of what im gonna do.

must agree with the earlier post, watch a lot of cars related program. especially if you like cars or a car enthusiasts. subscribe an automotive magazine monthly will do good to arouse ur interest of building cars.

or.... another simpler one is to make a time frame. finish ur 'in-progress' kits through the summer break or anything like that, by next month or by mid of this year. that actually bring ur self up a bit by meeting the 'deadline'.

my suggestion is to try to start building if you have enough interest to fiddle with ur tools and ready to face the problems u may face while building one. that is what i always do.

I'm in the same boat as you. I have 5 models that I've started, but I can't be bothered finishing them.

Perhaps what you could do is buy yourself a cheap 'snaptogether' kit(you know the ones that can be put together in like 5 minutes), just to get you back in 'the zone'. It might inspire you to finish your unfinished models. Also, put all those boxes somewhere where you can't see them(like a cupboard), because maybe the reason you don't want to build anything is because you look at all those boxes and think "Man, I have to build all of those!". If you can't see all those future projects, then it will help you concentrate on what you have already started.

Failing that, I'm sure there's a few keen AF'ers who wouldn't mind getting their grubby little hands on some of those kits! :evillol:

Luckily (through lack of funds AND being a newbie) I don't have your problem.

I think your biggest problem is the amount of kits you have. I think you should give SERIOUS consideration to the thought of selling them. I don't think having that many kits is inspiring. It's obvious you're gonna feel bad cos you want all of them built.......NOW!!!

Seriously, I suggest selling as many kits as possible - don't think about it - do it, either on ebay or on this site. You have to be hard with yourself here. Just keep the kits you have started to build plus maybe two (maximum) unbuilt kits. This should make you build what you have. And, no, don't buy new kits with the money you make - buy extra detailing for the cars you are building, or stock up on paint, or put it in the bank.

This problem WON'T go away unless you take drastic action. Have you ever heard of 'hoarders', you're gonna end up as one of those. You'll end up with hundreds & hundreds of kits, with hardly any built, then ten years down the line you'll jack it all in. If that's what you want - fine. But - if that's not what you want - tougher action is required.

Hope you get out of this rut. Feelin' for you :(

Sometimes out of work hobbies can become hard to keep your mind stimulated. The mind wants all the very latest, and you keep spending the money, sadly though an untimely boredom sets in and your mind looses it’s interest. I also believe that sometimes with hobbies you set your own standards “way” too high. And this creates an uneasy feeling of not being good enough. Total rubbish, and the hobby is just a pastime and shouldn’t be taken overly seriously.

I myself have just found the same situation with playing computer games. My mind just couldn’t focus and keeping my mentality to continue was more time consuming then actually playing the game. I’ve since taken a break from playing games, and turned to model car building. I think sometimes the hobby becomes “boring” or no longer instils any drive into your mind, therefore you lose interest more quickly. This is common as already seen from the replies you are not alone.

Plus as Sticky Fingers has mentioned, you are spoilt for kits to build. I wouldn’t sell any though. Hide them, forget about them, and go and buy a new kit. Just one kit.!! Make this your project, no matter how long it takes. Sod the quality just build it stock. Take your time, don’t aim for a high standard, make a mistake – sod it, just continue. Get bored with it, go for a walk or do something else, but you must ALWAYS go back to this kit. And remember HIDE all your existing kits. Don’t be tempted to start another kit from the ones you have hidden.

I found this worked with me and computer games. I installed JUST one game, and played it, and I managed to rekindle my love for computer games. And the break I'm having at the moment building cars will help to strenghten my love for computer games. I now have two hobbies. Computer games, and car building. I can switch between the two. Maybe you also need another “side” hobbie..!!

Just don't have too many "side" hobbies! Mine include PS2, DJing, Music Production & Graphic Design (though that is also my job), in between all this I have to try and find time for my fiancee!!!

Too many hobbies can drive you daft. Some nights I think, shall I spin a few discs? Shall I start work on another club thumper? Shall I play GTA San Andreas? Shall I continue working on my 'in progress' model? Shall I pleasure my fiancee?

The problem for me is time-management. Soemtimes I don't know which hobby to do & just end up on the couch slouching in front of 'brain-drain' tv!

P.S. There's always time to do the ol missus pleasuring! hehehe

Sounds familiar. One thing that helped me was, that I wanted to participate to model contest. Therefore i had to finish couple of kits. I finished 3 kits just for the show and started and finished 1 whole kit. Try this tip.

First i would like to thank everybody for responding! alot of you are people i have a ton of respect for and have inspired me for a couple years now so i especially thank you! i feel a bit better and i knew i wasnt alone. but when the love of your life falls flat its scary. i think you all have some valid points.
Mark really hit the nail on the head for me though. Before i found this site a couple years ago i didnt know any car modellers and so i had nothing to reference my work to so i was always happy with a build. but then i found all of you wonderfully talented modellers and i was blown away and down on my own skills. but i learned alot from you all and ive gotten very good at modelling which is a blessing and i thank you all very much. sometimes i cant believe some of the work i do. BUT now the problem is that the curbside kit i used to build in 2 months now takes 8-9 months because of all the detail im capable of and its hard for me to stay inspired because my original inspiration was sparked by a show or article i read. but 7-8 months later that spark isnt there anymore.
Its hard to not add detail when your capable of doing it but i look at all my kits and i no longer think " that would be fun to build", now i think " that carbon fiber is gonna take a week, the paint 3 weeks and so on". like now i know how long kits will take to be good so i dont even bother.
I'll snap out of it but i think im going to build a motorcycle, thats a good idea. i dont care for them so i shouldnt be disapointed if i blow right through it in a few weeks with no detail. I just wish these things didnt take so long is all.
Thanks again everybody it meant alot to me that you all responded. your a really great group of people and i cant tell you all how happy i am that i found this forum! you guys always cheer me up when im down. thanks and i promise ill be back at it soon and ill take all your suggestions into consideration as i think im going to go through a rebirthing of this hobby and not take it quite so serious. its a hobby, i need to enjoy it!

I to have a few models started but my problem is that I have no airbrush so I don’t feel like trying to do anything else.