How do *you* get your mojo back?

[Gazzas]

I find my mojo gets weak when I'm facing a difficult task like attaching the upper wing, or some nasty looking PE that requires nice, square corners and multiple folds.

I've given up air brushing interiors and decided to rely instead on some enamel paints and a brush. That takes care of feeling like I'm dirtying the airbrush for minimal accomplishment.

For me, the subject can be motivating. Building another fighter is nowhere as interesting as building the plane of a known pilot and a good story.

Finally, build logs are inspirational. I find it more fun to share what I'm doing them just to build it for myself. Feedback greatly aids the process, too.

Different parts of a build can be more fun than others. Sometimes it's nice to slap plastic together and sometimes I can be in a mood to paint. So, I try to keep a few kits on the go at once. That way if I'm feeling stymied by one, I might be in the mood to do another.

Best of luck finding your solution.

Gaz

Edited April 11, 2018 by Gazzas

[tomprobert]

I've been suffering from exactly the same loss of mojo as you have - I totally "get" the feeling that getting the airbrush out is a chore, the prep work beforehand, the cleaning up afterwards, etc. Sometimes even the thought of cleaning up parts after removing them from the sprues is too much to bother with on some occasions. And don't get me started on the big vacs and scratch-build projects I have on the go...

 

With a job that takes up lots of my day (being a teacher means books to mark and endless paperwork in the evenings) as well as having a very lively 2 year old means modelling time is at a premium and I almost feel pressured to make the most of the little time I have. When working on big projects progress can be slow and I often feel that I'm getting nowhere fast and start to question why I bother at all.

 

So recently I've just not bothered with modelling if I'm not totally up for it. I ask myself what is the point of forcing the issue? Instead, I only do it if the mood really takes, and I will work on whatever build I fancy at that given time (I've got about 6 long term projects on the go). It means I hop around a lot, but slowly builds are coming together and one day soon, one will be finished...

 

So my advice is don't force it: build when the mood takes and don't touch a thing when it doesn't. Watch some TV. Go for a beer with a pal.

 

Our hobby shouldn't become a chore and I've found since adopting this approach I'm starting to find my groove again. Admittedly I'm building a lot less, but when I do I'm actually enjoying it once again.

 

All the best,

 

Tom

[mozart]

Sound advice Tom, don't force a build because you feel you have to, walk away and leave it. I haven't touched my vac Anson for a year, but lately I hear it calling to me!

Max

[dodgem37]

I take a pill.  Works every time.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Hubert Boillot]

I found that coming back to a "nostalgia" build was a great restorer. especially if you change the type (for instance a ship or a tank when you build aircrafts) or the scale ... 1/32 can create very high self-expectations if your are a "detailer" , sometimes so daunting that you procrastinate and do nothing in the end.

 

I once took the challenge of building a 1/72 Matchbox Boeing P-12E, just for the sake of nostalgia. Ok, I did a bit of extra-detailing, and the rigging was sometimes slightly unnerving ... Still it was a very enjoyable build and a great mojo restorer. And I was happy to see that I could do a much better job now (thanks a bit to experience and a lot to more efficient tools and products) than 40 years ago.

 

Hubert

Edited April 11, 2018 by MostlyRacers

[STWilliams]

A divorce.

[gwana]

A divorce.

 

Sorry. Or not, depending on how you feel about it. In my case, my SO let me take over an entire extra bedroom for my man cave, enjoys accompanying me to hobby shops, holds my selections while I browse, and suggested I build a display case in the dining room. I think I'll keep her.

[gwana]

I think one decision I've made is to not stress too much over accuracy. Honestly, I'm not interested in representing serial # 12334 exactly as it appeared on September 8, 1943 at the Battle of Boogaloo. I just want a nice looking airplane that's representative of the breed. So if my tail number isn't right for the 489th Bomber Group, or if the scheme I selected was only on the -J and not the -H, well - too bad. Cal it Artistic License. I do enjoy what I learn doing research, but I'm not going to agonize over a shade of German Grey or whether *this* plane had the square intakes or the oval ones, or that Hermann Von Burgermeister never flew the BF-109G3, or that the kit I'm using has a rudder that's 3.5mm too tall.

 

I'll worry about that stuff when building gets boring or I submit models for judging. Right now, it's for me.

[Out2gtcha]

I'll worry about that stuff when building gets boring or I submit models for judging. Right now, it's for me.

 

 

Most of the time the judges dont worry about that either, since most of the time they dont really know what any one airframe should have had shade/color-wise than another. 

 

If you decided to start submitting for judging, my advice is worry about getting the wings, wheels and empennage straight and canopy clear with good paint. All that stuff can get you tossed out of a contest, and by that point the judges have not even looked in the cockpit, nor taken into account any inaccuracies with color or a chosen scheme. 

 

As you said, do it for you. 

[Tnarg]

I participated in judging an IPMS contest a few times. We focused on whether the seams were visible, if the landing gear were at the same angle (didn't even know "proper" angle), whether the tail and wing were aligned at the same angles on both sides... things that are actually difficult to do. Then we looked at things that were obviously "messy". Orange peel paint, glue on canopy, poor assembly.

 

By the time you do that, few models survive the cut. The last thing we worried about was if the victory markings were appropriate for that particular day, or if the color was scale accurate. So if that worries you, that someone else says something about the thing you created, don't worry about it. Like Mr. Feynman, why do you care about what other people think?

 

Go to a museum, go to an airshow, go to an air race if you want inspiration. Look on ebay or in a catalog from another country for something different. Try a different direction. Do a "What If?" model. Build something and race around the room with your kid, and don't forget the pew pew sounds. Star Wars or egg planes work well.

 

Have fun,

 

Tnarg

[Ryan]

I would also build oob and even going as far as ditching plug wires and seat belts, Its a model not the real thing.

 

Enjoy yourself.

 

Also the many talented print modelers there are out there don't make it any easier....the bar is set way too high.

 

I find some kits very intimidating too, they are almost perfect and thus my mind thinks they need a perfect build and finish.

 

If you have large stash that can have an effect too, when I enter my model shack i'm surround by cardboard boxes that remind me all the time, "remember when I was all you wanted?" they proclaim.

 

They don't really talk, I was just being silly, but the model kit wallpaper I have in my shack makes be think.

[gwana]

 

Like Mr. Feynman, why do you care about what other people think?

 

 

Tnarg

 

Anxiety. The thing I'm supposed to be relaxing from.

[Starfighter Jock]

I had been under the lost of mojo thing myself, so here is what I did.

 

1. Made a list of the model projects I really want to do and working on selling off everything else.
2. I don't care how many weeks or months go by, I am in no hurry to finish a project.
3. I  take breaks of a few weeks and do not work on any model projects.
4. On larger modelling projects I break it down into sub-assembles and treat each completed assembly as a model in it's own
5. The hobby is for enjoyment, if it's no longer enjoyable. stop doing it.
6. Lastly, I got rid of the shelf queen projects sitting in my workshop taking up space, I will never be working on them again so out they go.

Kirk

[Iain]

Mine's been AWOL for ages - if anyone spots it lurking about please give it a kick for me, eh? 

 

Iain

[MikeMaben]

 my SO let me take over an entire extra bedroom for my man cave, enjoys accompanying me to hobby shops, holds my selections while I browse, and suggested I build a display case in the dining room.