Major modeling decisions

[Alvis 3.14159]

1-Realising I was not as good as I wished I was, at about 13 years old. I was ready to give the hobby up completely when I saw a hilarious diorama of a glof green, twisted up gold clubs askew, and realised I could do funny, and have fun doing it.
2-Deviating from "Only RCAF in 1/72 into "Whatever I like". It was a major decision, and a fatally flawed one. I now have likely 4,000 kits that will have to be seriously thinned out, and all their presence does is cause grief and strife at home.
3-Posting my first "Silly Week" builds on ARC. I was having a bad year, and was on my way to something not so good, when Steve at ARC more or less forced me to do something weird for his site. It got me out of a rut, both hobby and personally.
4-Sticking with modelling in the last year. I've had a lot of personal problems cropping up in my life as of late (15 year old daughter primarily) and I've wavered a few times over dropping the hobby again, as the stress is incredible, but in the end, I find the hobby can be a good stress relief, especially when i trash a couple old Monogram kits into something freaky yet not that bad looking (And a couple that were so hideous they will never see the light of day...but I had fun bashing them)
5-Sticking that first model together when I was about 6 or so. It set me on a course that is still taking me places, at least in my mind....

[Steel Penguin]

an early one and several later ones.
the early one    To do a 1:35th kit of each tank type that the British army has used ( its a verrrry long term one this, and ill need more space as well)
and the recent ones
Air craft 1:48 only  unless you cant get em in that scale or they would be unfeasible, so they can double as wargaming models. (hence i had a 1:72 TSR2 as that was all i could get  and I've a 1:72 Concorde to do as i couldant get a bigger one and use it)
Finding here and joining up  as the site isn't pretentious, or precious, but does encourage me to "stretch" what i can do and what i attempt.

[The Rat]

1-Realising I was not as good as I wished I was, at about 13 years old. I was ready to give the hobby up completely when I saw a hilarious diorama of a glof green, twisted up gold clubs askew, and realised I could do funny, and have fun doing it.

If anyone would like to see it, here's a link. 

[Fulcrum]

Not a whole lot of Major modeling decision, but recently I had 2 minor ones I had to make: 1.Decide which countries air force better deserve my small model of the Su-17(RNZAF or Phillippines)

2.Since some other people had posted fictional countries on this forum in the past, I had a few ideas of my own(I still have to do some more thinking).

[Taiidantomcat]

I am happy to say I have never met a Luft 46 "if only" person. I think if you asked most "mainstream" modelers though about what "what if" is they would probably mention Luft 46 first. But as all of us know thats not even 1 percent of what we build! I love the variety, and the imagination displayed here everyday!

I do agree that the stash can be become a burden and add pressure. I have way too many kits, and luckily I plan on doing lots of bashes, thus turning 2 or 3 kits into 1, I have way too many kits.

Some of the major decisions I have made have been deciding not to buy anymore kits! books and decals only from now on. I decided to stick to a genre and not a scale so example I can build anything Russian from 1/4000 to 1/1 scale and its nice not to have to worry about it. I decided to think of models as a kind of canvas, so the best ideas get the biggest canvas, but other than that scale is no problem. Sticking with the Genre theme I decided to not worry about a time line, and also go for a "Star wars" feel. If i want to make a Soviet WWII Tie Fighter I can!   

I also decided to stop worrying about background stories. I will worry about that when I am done with the model. I was putting the cart before the horse for far too long!

[JayBee]

I have way too many kits.

STRANGE PERSON :wacko:LoL

Jim

[GTX]

If i want to make a Soviet WWII Tie Fighter I can!

Well?

Regards,

Greg

[GTX]

For me, like many here, it was finding this forum which inspired me to get back into the hobby.  Oh, and telling the wife who encouraged me.

Regards,

Greg

[sequoiaranger]

I have made models since I was four or so (1952+), from "Perry the Squirrel", the old "Highway Pioneers" where you put a hot knife to the axles to allow the wheels to spin, to dozens of Revell Ships in the late 1950's and HO trains. In 1961 my mom took me to visit her brother (and my cousins) in London. In Northwood, a suburb,  I took the bus with my cousin into town and went to the "local hobby shop" and was BLOWN AWAY!! This was the heyday of Airfix and Frog 1/72-scale aircraft, though virtually unknown in the States. *I WAS HOOKED*. My suitcase was *STUFFED* with the 2-shilling bags and boxes coming back home. I decided to concentrate on WW II-era 1/72-scale aircraft, and although I have "strayed" and done occasional other things, that has been where my future lay. Within a few years I also decided to do almost exclusively "whif" aircraft, as that is where I had the most fun.

Another big (and very hard to do) decision was a couple years ago, when I moved. I had had nearly an entire storage garage full of models, and wistfully realized I would never accomplish my modeling dream, and was paying $1100 a year for the privilege of storing them, so decided to winnow 95% of them. I carefully kept all I needed for about 30 projects (some 120 models even then), but let the rest go for pennies on the dollar. I had been collecting a huge stash, and ENJOYING collecting thinking of the future builds (never collected for the sake of collecting), but sadly realized that my multiple interests, and some ravaging cancer, would curtail my lust for building in quantity.

But I would have to say, as others have done, that my decision to engage here, sharing, proposing, watching, and participating, have been a great boon to my spirit. I was an early whiffer, and found only one other person for years that did anything like it, so finding a whole "nest" of you all was exciting. Contrary to some here, my creations were met at modeling clubs with praise, wonder, and appreciation of the entertainment value, and not the scoffing, JMN attitude that some have encountered.