Is there any hope?

[seadude]

I'm not sure where to post this. Sorry if it's in the wrong forum or doesn't belong. I could use a bit of modeling moral support.

For the last few days, I've been in a rut, or maybe I should say.......depressed. I'm not sure why, but I've been thinking about my 1/700 scale Project Habakkuk model:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v216/icyhusky/HMS%20Habakkuk%20model%20project/Final%20HMS%20Habakkuk%20model%20photos/
........and have wanted to improve upon it in the forthcoming future as well as submit pics or an article to a local modeling magazine. But for some strange reason, I can't.......or maybe I don't want to. I'm not sure what it is, but I've been getting thoughts where I actually HATE that model.    Despite what friends or others have liked about it or how many contests it's been to and how many awards it's won, I actually feel like it has not been my best work. I actually feel like I shouldn't have built it. It was a major pain in the @$$ to build.   
The whole model just doesn't "feel right" to me. It just doesn't feel like it's finished. And part of that problem has to do with the aircraft. Most of the aircraft I have come from "cheap" spare ship kits and do not have photoetch propellers or detailed landing gear, etc. I'd love to build all new aircraft, but my eyesight is getting significantly worse as I have cataracts now.
I've had modeling friends tell me that I should send in pics or an article to modeling magazines about my Habakkuk. But no matter how much I sit down at the comp and try to type something up, I just don't want to take the time to submit anything. I don't feel like my model would be a worthwhile subject as I don't believe the quality of the model would meet certain submission standards or guidelines. Most of the models I see in magazines are 99.9% professionaly built by high quality model makers. What chance do I have? None. I know it sounds like I'm putting myself and my skills down, but if you look at my pics from the link, you'll see the following:
* No weathering anywhere on the model.
* Aircraft have no propellers, proper landing gear, missing side fuselage insignia decals.
* Name of the ship is wrong. I regret using USS Thule.
* Lot of surfaces are brush painted. Can still see brush strokes everywhere. (I don't own an airbrush and can't use one due to bad eyesight.)
* No photoetch crew deck figures.
.........and the list goes on and on.

In short, I just don't feel this model is my best work. I hate it and everything about it. But yet, there is a part of me that still wants to try and improve things. How, I don't know. My eyesight is getting significantly worse as time goes by. I actually hate 1/700 scale as it's a scale too small for me to work with. But 1/700 was the only scale to work in for such a large subject as the Habakkuk. I didn't want to build anything smaller or larger when I had started this subject nearly three years ago.

I'm sorry if this topic comes off as a rant. I just don't know what to do and I was hoping to get a bit of moral support. I don't know what will happen to the Habakkuk model. For now, it just sits on my living room floor covered up in a box away from dust and prying eyes never to see the light of day again.

[The Rat]

I just don't feel this model is my best work.

Bah! 'Best' is entirely subjective, and when you take on a task like this one you have to expect that things will be a lot different than slapping together a 1/72nd Spitfire. With something like this it isn't the detail that's important, it's the overall effect. I've often toyed with doing one, at least you got stuck in and actually finished it.

Now do two things:

1 - give yourself a bloody good pat on the back.

2 - get those cataracts fixed, it's in and out surgery now. You'll be driving in 24 hours.

[seadude]

I've often toyed with doing one, at least you got stuck in and actually finished it.

Yeah, I saw your old thread here:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,22994.0/highlight,habakkuk.html
I've toyed with the idea of a future 1/350 scale Habakkuk, but I suspect that will only exist as a pipe dream and no further. Only thing I've actually done was drafting full scale 1/350 blueprints.

[lenny100]

you don't need to use a airbrush, i am sure a local shop has the small rattle tin paints in them and they are in most colours these days, and the do just as good a job

[Hobbes]

I've had similar experiences, where due to depression, burnout et al I just didn't feel like doing anything modeling-related. Don't force yourself to do it anyway, because that'll only lead to more trouble. Leave your projects on the bench, and go do something else you enjoy. I didn't touch a model for several months, then as I started to feel better the urge to build returned on its own. Then I started with something simple, not the complex half-built, stalled project that were lying around. It took another couple of months before I tackled the first of those. 

So yes, there is hope. It'll take time, though.

[Leading Observer]

Hope was the only thing left in the box when Pandora let out all that bad stuff that wrecks our lives. I am never satisified with the stuff I build, especially when I compare it to some of the stuff on here. Then again there is stuff put up on here that makes me think my stuff is really good! It's all about perspective.

Cover up the model for a while, get those eyes sorted, take some counselling if your depressed, [trust me it works having someone else outside of friends and family to talk to] and I think you'll find that there is hope after all. 

And, if after all that, you still hate that model, you could always take it outside and set fire to it!

[Spey_Phantom]

yes, i to have had a bit of a modelers block and a burnout, no fun.
there was a time i could build 4 models a week, now im luck to get that many finished in 2 months.

dont be to hard on yourself when the model comes out not the way you intended, the purpose of a hobby is to have fun, not to get judged by others. ive been building models since i was 12, im 28 now and have improved a lot since i joined the boards, reading up on tips, tricks,....

if your not in the mood to finish a started model, put in on the shelf until later when inspiration strikes again (like i did with my carrier projects) and start on something else you want to build or do.

or do what i did, get away from the workbench for a while, take a bikeride, watch a movie, calm down a bit before starting again.
its no good starting a new project if your to tired or demotivated.

PS: dont get demotivated by what you see in modeling magazines, thats why i dont buy them.
some of those modelers spend more time on details rather then enjoying the hobby and can no longer find the fun of it.
we call those people JMN's (thats "Joyless Modeling Nazi's" for those not familiar with the term)

[NARSES2]

Nils and the others have offered some good advice, my two pennies worth :

When I got back into modelling I assumed you had to add all the flashy resin and etched going as that's what the magazine builds did. I looked at my finished work and thought that's terrible. Eventually I realised that we build models for fun and relaxation. You build to your standard and nobody else's. Most modellers will have felt the same way at times and most will have come through the other side and be comfortable in their own little zone. The UK Wif Group also helped me realise that modelling is to be enjoyed, it's not the be all and end all.

Put the project away for a while and build a simple, fun kit. Eventually you will get your mojo back and move back to her.

At the end of the day you model for you and no one else.

[Joe C-P]

Fancy finishes and fine details are only for the obsessive and those who build for museums.
So suck it up and get building! 
That, or sell your models and take up stamp collection.

[Old Wombat]

seadude, it's your best work in that scale don't kick yourself over it!

1:700th? I wouldn't even touch it, I don't like working in 1:72nd & I'm figuring my eyes are in better nick than yours.

I prefer 1:48th for aircraft & good ol' 1:35th for vehicles.

You have done an excellent job! Certainly better than I could do!

Anything more detailed is just pandering to the after-marketeers selling stupidly small super-detailing sets at insanely inflated prices.

What? A 20mm Oerlikon & mount? In 1:700? Accurate to scale the milli-micron? Only $50 (+ Postage & Handling) per unit? Just what I need! I'll have 12 of them thanks!

$600 For 12 guns I can barely see? OK, maybe not.



Guy

[ChrisF]

If your not enjoying it stop walk away and go back to it later... I had to do the same with an old mould airfix swordfish ... the thing was a pig :/ and yes i HATED it with a passion... over a year later i went back and now im ... happy enough   lol

As for your standard of work one of the very reasons i like this forum is it welcomes people of all levels of workmanship from kids throwing together their pocket money kit to seriously professional jobs worthy of a magazine cover... If your happy we're happy

btw i dont see anything wrong with your work.. I like it !

[Geoff]

We have all felt our work isn't good enough. I have stopped 2 aircraft projects recently as every time I looked at them I could not summon up the will to do anything with them. My way around it was to start fiddling with a model of a tank after a few weeks break. OK it was yet another idea I had kicked around for a few years, but not got around to.
Don't be too hard on yourself, your pics look good and I was impressed with the cross section you did of the ship. As for magazine articles, well a lot of them seem to be about how much extra I can spend on the kit for resin bits etc.
It's a hobby, it's supposed to be fun.
Take care of yourself.