Still can't get properly motivated to jump back into model building of any type.

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The last few months I've been trying to get back into the saddle, so to speak. It's not from lack of material, Lord knows I have more kits than I will ever get to. It's not even from a lack of interesting subject material. I have several models under way that each at the time I started them was what I considered a great subject. Recently I've been reading fictional novels about British sea captains in the Royal Navy circa 1790-1620 and the reading has helped me to get motivated, almost.

So, I've been browsing around ebay looking for something new to start on. While browsing I found two old Revell ocean liner model kits that I had in my teens. First is the SS Oriana, a large British ocean liner owned for most of it's life by P. & O. lines. The second is the SS Brasil built for Moore McCormack lines for the South Atlantic trade. The Brasil was shorter than the Oriana by about 200' and was the last ocean liner built in the USA, well maybe her sister ship, the Argentina, was technically the last. The Brasil had the dubious distinction of being the most renamed passenger ship in history. Unfortunately all three ended being scrapped on a beach in India around 2004-5. Hopefully one of these models, most likely the Brasil, will get my juices flowing and rekindle my actual interest in building something.
 
Hallo Bob,
I know very well how you feel in the moment and I think, that a lot of us had once or several times the same period.
I think the best is simply to take one of the kits and to start,
and if you realize, that you do not have fun with this kit, put it on side and start the other one.
It is important to do something with your hands - and the fun will come.

These old kits are in the meantime rare and not very often built.

Look at this nice diorama of the SS Argentina, based on the Brasil kit from Revell

ss-argentina-irmo-do-ss-brasil-esc-1400-revell-usa-raro-S_963235-MLB26135313980_102017-F.jpg
 
Hi Bob,

I can echo what Uwe just said. Personally, I've been in such a situation many times. This especially tends to really long projects. The resolution (at least it works for me) get a really small kit, the one you can build in a really short period of time, like a couple of weeks. It should be simple enough so you can start, and most important - completed! Below is my motivation kit completed in one week spending one hour a day.

IMG_0634.JPEG IMG_0635.JPEG IMG_0636.JPEGIMG_0637.JPEG

It is only 12 inch (30mm) long and requires few tools to assemble: miniature pliers, tweezer and a hobby knife. No glue required. It comes in the package below (my next mood project). I always have one in stash....just in case) who knows when will be the next one??

IMG_0638.JPEG
Hope this may help
 
YES I TOO HAVE BEEN THERE, my solution was to do the MIDWEST FLATIE byre-doing everthing in different woods (PAINTING WITH WOOD), hi JIM are these in wood and where did you get them. Don ALSO THE MINI-KITS FROM WOODY JOE
 
hello Bob, just like Uwe and Jim agree this is also a disconcerting case, although I am still working on my 2nd construction, my first ship was the HMS Victory and I did not touch it for 2 years, I just did not like it to continue, every day my wife asked when will you start again? and I always said Mañana and suddenly the light was back and I worked on it for another year and it was ready
the same thing happened to me now with my Santisima Trinidad batery empty and no longer a desire, it all went on from November 2018 to the beginning of June 2019 but I started it again with full enthusiasm.
so I think that this will also return to you and will be fully tackled again. after all, it's just a hobby
Greetings
DJ56
 
Hi Don, these mini kits made from metal 0.2mm. Just so you get an idea, use Google translate. I bought on Amazon and Aliexpress

 
Hi Jim, interesting will get a couple for CHRISTMAS PRESENTS, DID YOU HAVE TO PAINT THEM, and what kind of glue did you use, also having a problem regetering on ali-express have been regestered on amozon. THANKS Don
 
Hi Don. NO GLUE is required!!! All you have to have pliers (small modelers), hobby knife and tweezers. The instruction is all photos (no need to understand Chinese)

They have all kind of models: super small for a few hours to build to larger projects may take a week.
 
Ok Jim, Thanks what about paint as you and I have problems with paint, and how do i regester on ali-express, is there a link to amozon. THANKS Don
this is the beauty, NO Paint needed. Some small models come in few frits of steel parts, some have multiple. The ship comes on 3 large steel and 3 smallest gold. I might do a review later.
 
Well, just when I thought I had purchased a kit that I could really dig into I got zapped. The Brasil arrived today and at first I thought it was just the ticket. The box looked rough but I didn't buy it for the box. I opened it and looked at the contents and then went to ebay to leave feedback. This evening I decided to get started and to my dismay discovered that all was not as it originally seemed. The hull halves had been previously glued together and then ripped apart so they could fit in the box. I could tell by looking at the joint that a previous owner wasn't very skilled. Then I decided to do an inventory of the parts as many were off yje trees and in a baggie. It was then that I discovered that many critical parts were missing. To be honest I could probably fabricate some of the parts but now I'm so pissed that it will probably sit while I search for another kit. Just what I didn't need.
 
Hi Bob,

For me, time is the inhibitor. When I have a lot on my plate, hobbies lose out. I stopped modeling all together when my daughter was born and I’m only getting back to it now that she’s graduated from college. (Long break!). But I’m as anxious and excited about diving back in now, than ever before.

There are ebbs and flows to life, in my experience, but artistic creativity reign supreme. Sooner or later, you’ll want to create with your hands and mind again. I really feel that modeling involves all this and a desire to learn.

Those qualities never go out of style, my friend. You will get back your mojo!

Hang in there!
 
getting discouraged or over whelmed kind of kills the thrill of the build.

getting discouraged happens when you just cant see far enough ahead in the project or you just flat out don't know how to continue. This is like the steam engine I am designing and drawing. It is a project I know little about I am learning as I go but I reach a spot I just don't know and can not find an answer so the project comes to a sudden stop because it is now just frustrating.

being over whelmed is another wall so many builders take on massive building projects and after months and months of building it seems there is little progress so they tend to wind down.

I even got a point the entire hobby seemed to be boring all these kits generally look the same and built the same, you have to challenge yourself.

believe it or not there is a sense of guilt like I am devoted to this hobby so walking away seems to be giving up or a loyalty issue.

the answer I found is whittling yup nothing gets your creative self moving again because you can whittle anything you can imagine. start with roughouts, blanks and sit back relax and start to whittle even a simple wooden spoon. Before you realize it you thinking hum i wonder if i can do a figurehead or this or that. you just misplaced the zen of creating. Actually you have to impress yourself you look down and see WOW! I actually did that.


s-l1000.jpg

s-l300.jpg
 
for 30 years I worked as a commercial artist 4 years schooled in graphic arts, members of the local wood carvers club, member of the wood turners, member photographic society creative minds get bored real fast, and they slip into dead zones of no creative energy. The trick is to expand make your mind explore
this is things I came up with
you don't have to continue with ship model kits you can always come back to it with a fresh new energy once you break the creative boundries

DSCN5303.JPGDSCN5304.JPGDSCN5305.JPG
 
Very ingenious projects. Regarding the Brasil kit, after looking at the details of a larger hand made model of the Brasil I think I can fabricate acceptable replacements for the cargo masts and booms discarding the broken and incomplete kit parts. I have a pair of propellers from an aborted Tamiya Fletcher class destroyer project and the other minor problems just require some filling and sanding. Or..............................I can fabricate new deck houses that were added to the ship in the early 1960s and eliminate the cargo cranes entirely. It seems that after they were converted for cruise ship service there was no longer any need to load bulk cargo as the departed and returned to the same port most of the time. But I will set it aside for a while and work on the Oriana.
 
Very ingenious projects. Regarding the Brasil kit, after looking at the details of a larger hand made model of the Brasil I think I can fabricate acceptable replacements for the cargo masts and booms discarding the broken and incomplete kit parts. I have a pair of propellers from an aborted Tamiya Fletcher class destroyer project and the other minor problems just require some filling and sanding. Or..............................I can fabricate new deck houses that were added to the ship in the early 1960s and eliminate the cargo cranes entirely. It seems that after they were converted for cruise ship service there was no longer any need to load bulk cargo as the departed and returned to the same port most of the time. But I will set it aside for a while and work on the Oriana.
This sounds good - you are working on a model :):):)
 
Hi Bob,

I find when The Doldrums strike that finding something completely different to fiddle/diddle and generally work with gives my quite a boost.

0AC6E047-6BF8-4112-9302-A705B05D1FE7.jpegFFE0EB94-6673-4D18-B089-151B9C4D44B0.jpeg

My wife found this LEGO for me to work away at while recovering from surgery last fall. Quite a challenge and great fun. Kept my mind and my fingers active for several months.
 
Some times you just have to take a break and let things cool down for a while, there can be the risk of burn out, I have been through the creative doldrums my self. Every so often there can be a phase where something difrent will ring your bell and take that on for a while. There are other interests that get my attention and I go with it until it runs its course then go back to something from before. Here are a couple of examples.

DSCN0245.JPGDSCN0099.JPG
 
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