"What Do You Work On When You Don't really Want To Work On Anything?"

rtwpsom2 said:
I still remember the first time I watched the intro of Homeworld and they played the aria of Barber's Adagio for Strings, and was just like, "Oh my god! This is AMAZING"
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I still play HW 1, 2 and remasters and the model complex 9.1 and Evo. HW 3 not, I have to buy a new computer for that. It's such a good game from 1999. And indeed the music.
 
Smithy said:
Note: I've set this post off in its own thread as it is rather off the original topic.

I find it interesting that we refer to our hobby as work. When I first began to build models (aged eight), did I talk of work benches and tasks and progress? I don’t think so. I think I simply ‘played with my Airfix kits’.

After school I went to work in a factory. I hated it and definitely had to be paid to go there. Work, I discovered, was something unpleasant and compulsory (if I wanted to eat!).

Later, in the RAF I was allowed to service and repair my country’s aircraft. I’m quite sure I never said “I work in the Royal Air Force” or I work on IX Sqn.” It didn’t feel like work at all. Sometimes it was unpleasant in those Lincolnshire winter winds and it was definitely compulsory but to be honest, I’d have paid them for the privilege of being a member and playing with those fabulous machines.

It became work much later when I was lumbered with staff type jobs in pleasant heated offices. Something I didn’t enjoy but was forced into by military discipline and financial need.

After demob I was a bookseller in a large bookshop. I didn’t ‘work in a bookshop’; I was a bookseller. It was another job that I loved to do and I took most of my wages home in paperbacks. :D

I won’t bore you with my entire CV because it’s a long and varied one but I think you are probably getting my point already. Work = unpleasant. So why do we speak of this hobby as work?

I have other hobbies. I like to walk the hills with my dog. I can’t think of a plausible way to describe owning a dog as work. I play with him. I train him. I care for him. I never work on him.

I’m learning to play the guitar. Sometimes it’s a bit boring. I suppose I might say I’m working on my scales but usually I’d say “I’m playing guitar” or “ I’m practicing”

I read a lot. I don’t work on a book. I just read it. I enjoy cooking so I don’t work in the kitchen, I cook there.

All the the things I like to do are by my definition of the word - not work. Except modelling. Why is that?

Perhaps it’s because I’m retired. I have no real work to do and maybe I miss having the status of a working man so I elevate my hobby of playing with toy boats, planes and tanks into ‘work’ to fill that empty place in my self-image? If I do, it’s not something I’m conscious of. I’m rather proud of my status as a retired bookseller, airman etc etc etc.

Perhaps calling our hobby ‘work’ is something that modellers of a certain age all do because we all unconsciously feel this need to still have the dignity of a job and copy each others’ use of the W word to make it so.

Or perhaps it’s because a lot of time spent in the hobby is actually unpleasant and boring. Sanding the char comes to mind.

Work and play - two little words that we hardly notice coming out of our mouths and once you start to notice them they raise so many questions.

But that’s just me ruminating after a rather fine home made dinner and what do I know about anything?

Not much. ;)
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Your tome looks like it took a lot of work. Well said. :)
 
bowwild said:
I make these:

This a rifle tote. Airgun enthusiasts use them to carry air rifles around field courses. This one is for two rifles or one rifle and shooting sticks. It is highly adjustable for different makes and models with the elevator screws (leather padded) in each holder. Delhrin runners along the back and front for scooting around on the ground.
View attachment 513868

This is a Rifle Maintenance Cradle. Wood is walnut and tiger. I thread the wood bolt. Leather protects the rifle and this device is highly adjustable as well.
View attachment 513869
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Those are handsome pieces of work! Be a great project for some of our 4H shooting sports youth.
 
Ship modelling is what I do when I don't want to do anything else. My main hobby is writing, novel writing hobbyist. My job is also very cerebral too. Ship modeling gives me a chance to take a break and work with my hands, although the inherent problem solving and working out plans can be a strain on the brain, too. And if I am planking and it gets boring (literally waiting for planks or glue to dry), there's always plenty of work to be done on the guns.
 
I sing bass in the church choir; read Shakespeare; read Romantic Period writers; and read the Bible comparing Greek, German, Old Dutch, Anglo-Saxon, and Gothic versions. And then I play old computer games and occasionally peek in to see what y'all are up to.
 
Unfortunately my workshop is now a storage room as we move the daughter and grandson in, consolidating two house into one. I might take a few months of yard sales to clear out all the extra stuff so I can get back to work
 
I am presently in the 9th month of a hiatus from working on the "Endurance". I get to a place where I just have to take a break and have been riding my trike, reading, playing a little pickleball and I signed up as a "Citizen Archivist" for the National Archives. Soon (I keep saying this) I will get out my sand paper and get back to planking the hull.
 
Smithy said:
Note: I've set this post off in its own thread as it is rather off the original topic.

I find it interesting that we refer to our hobby as work. When I first began to build models (aged eight), did I talk of work benches and tasks and progress? I don’t think so. I think I simply ‘played with my Airfix kits’.

After school I went to work in a factory. I hated it and definitely had to be paid to go there. Work, I discovered, was something unpleasant and compulsory (if I wanted to eat!).

Later, in the RAF I was allowed to service and repair my country’s aircraft. I’m quite sure I never said “I work in the Royal Air Force” or I work on IX Sqn.” It didn’t feel like work at all. Sometimes it was unpleasant in those Lincolnshire winter winds and it was definitely compulsory but to be honest, I’d have paid them for the privilege of being a member and playing with those fabulous machines.

It became work much later when I was lumbered with staff type jobs in pleasant heated offices. Something I didn’t enjoy but was forced into by military discipline and financial need.

After demob I was a bookseller in a large bookshop. I didn’t ‘work in a bookshop’; I was a bookseller. It was another job that I loved to do and I took most of my wages home in paperbacks. :D

I won’t bore you with my entire CV because it’s a long and varied one but I think you are probably getting my point already. Work = unpleasant. So why do we speak of this hobby as work?

I have other hobbies. I like to walk the hills with my dog. I can’t think of a plausible way to describe owning a dog as work. I play with him. I train him. I care for him. I never work on him.

I’m learning to play the guitar. Sometimes it’s a bit boring. I suppose I might say I’m working on my scales but usually I’d say “I’m playing guitar” or “ I’m practicing”

I read a lot. I don’t work on a book. I just read it. I enjoy cooking so I don’t work in the kitchen, I cook there.

All the the things I like to do are by my definition of the word - not work. Except modelling. Why is that?

Perhaps it’s because I’m retired. I have no real work to do and maybe I miss having the status of a working man so I elevate my hobby of playing with toy boats, planes and tanks into ‘work’ to fill that empty place in my self-image? If I do, it’s not something I’m conscious of. I’m rather proud of my status as a retired bookseller, airman etc etc etc.

Perhaps calling our hobby ‘work’ is something that modellers of a certain age all do because we all unconsciously feel this need to still have the dignity of a job and copy each others’ use of the W word to make it so.

Or perhaps it’s because a lot of time spent in the hobby is actually unpleasant and boring. Sanding the char comes to mind.

Work and play - two little words that we hardly notice coming out of our mouths and once you start to notice them they raise so many questions.

But that’s just me ruminating after a rather fine home made dinner and what do I know about anything?

Not much. ;)
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This is a wonderful story and very thoughtful.
Having retired as an educator five years ago, I've found that the discipline of ship modeling requires some of the thinking and planning that were part of the world of work, but I'm spared me driving to campus (in Los Angeles, everything is at least a half hour away), dealing with fussy parents, or navigating through bureaucracies (my last gig was at a very large university). As a result, ship modeling gives me many of the joys I found in my work life without the annoyances.
 
Modelling is a fascinating hobby and requires patience, a mixture of skills and the will to want to carry out the task until its finished.
In my case another task took priority and the poor model had to take backstage. My Endeavour from Occre is once again in dry dock and has been there since January 2025.
I was approached by our local museum, whether I would consider taking on the job of carrying out a complete cataloging of its inventory, involving some 1000 objects. I agreed and the first step was create a database (Access) to store the data of each object. Each item in the collection required photographing, a brief description of the object and, finally, physically identifying each object with its inventory number.
Now that spring is here and gardening taking centre stage, the Enedeavour will stay where it is until the end of this year.
 
As an old dog, I like teaching myself some new tricks! I often troll through YouTube and look for some interesting projects to have a go at. I also really like fixing things so I often look for things to repair - anything - it's fun tearing stuff down, seeing what's wrong, finding out how to fix it and then have a go -it's already broken so if it's a "no fix", nothing is lost.
 
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