Is anybody else like this or is it just me?

[David Davis]

On 31st August 2021 I started building a Pegasus models "Mystic" for my Laser 155. By 13th December I'd just about finished the basic structure, see picture below. It has remained in that state to this day!

A few months ago I decided that at seventy-five I was not going to live long enough to build all of my projects so I sold several and prioritised finishing off a DB Sport & Scale Auster which has been cluttering up my workshop for at least ten years and finishing the Flying Flea which was started by my late best friend Michael Harker over twenty years ago. Progress on the Auster has stalled until my couturiere has made pilot Barbie some more appropriate clothing and work on the Flying Flea will start again on Monday when the main spars will have taken their set. I hope!

Last Thursday my Belgian friend Frans came round to work on his Peter Russell STOL. Frans's building has improved greatly over the last year and he noticed that he'd built a twist into the nose of the model so he decided to take the model home and sort it out. So what did we do? We stripped the covering from the fuselage of an old patternship, a Dave Smith Models "Aero Star" which I'd bought years ago on eBay!

So now I've four incomplete projects on the go at the same time and a BE2 to recommision and a Baron to repair! Is it just me or is anybody else like that?

Must close. Going to the Gueret club's fly-in later today.

PS. The short kit of my much vaunted 1/4 scale Fokker triplane waits patiently under my work bench But I'm not going to start on that until I've finished all of these these!
 

[Trevor]

I'm sure it's not just you but, speaking for myself, I have neither the physical space nor the mental capacity to cope with more than one ongoing project. So, while I have a major build underway, maintenance jobs, unless they are very quick and simple, are noted on a list until the bench becomes free.

 

Trevor

[J D 8]

   Always a couple of  long time on hold projects, longest I recon a fun fighter FW190 at 25years and counting.😁

[Graham Bowers]

It's not just you !

 

To try to gain some control, I recently wrote out a list of all craft requiring work, everything from unstarted kits to minor repairs and everything in between. Assigned one of three priority codes.

 

3. Major build.

1. Minor repair.

2. Somewhere between 1 and 3.

 

Aim is:

To clear the 1.'s - no excuses! (OK, the need for new repairs happens............................)

To have one each of a 2 and 3 in work at a time. That means shifting other candidates into the loft, for example, so they are no longer a distraction.

 

It has helped. Somewhat.

 

 

[Piers Bowlan]

My dark secret is that I am a serial ‘non-finisher’. There, it’s out! I do finish models of course but I have a long list of various models in various states on built, usually awaiting covering! These include Peter Miller’s Alley Cat, Derek Woodward’s Holly, Peter Rake’s CL215 and my OD PSS Blackburn Firebrand, that just needs painting. 
Post house-move I am itching to get them finished but there is always the prospect of that ‘exciting new project’ that beckons temptingly!

[leccyflyer]

I have lots of unfinished projects and like Graham have a list of maintenance, refurbish and convert tasks in my model spreadsheet. My categories are ranked by Priority and Ease of fix) each of which are ranked 1-3 when the model is assessed and added to the list. I then have a checker which indicates when, or if, the task is started, when it is completed and when the model is back in service. For any model that could be a single line entry, or multiple tasks that need to be completed.  Using conditional formatting each cell in the spreadsheet is colour coded, so that when I get three greens the model can go back in service. Models in that repair or maintenance category get a yellow background on the sheet. When that turns green they move back into the In Service fleet. Some, however have been on there for years- my Balsacraft Hurricane has been on there for about 20 years, just lacking some tape stringer simulation to the fuselage and painting. 🙂

 

There are currently 25 models in the yellow Maintenance, Repair and Refurb list - which could be anything from a prop needing replacing, to a sticky retract, to a repaint to a significant repair, almost amounting to a rebuild. It's quite an active list as models needing a minor repair or routine maintenance don't stay in there for long.

[Paul De Tourtoulon]

Not me, 😇, I never start a new project until the last one is properly finished, if there are some touch ups, engine bearings or film to be repaired, then that is done then back to my build.

[Cuban8]

D.D. Sounds like a familiar MO to me and nearly all modellers TBH. I used to be able to limit myself to one project at a time, but that gradually faded as being impossible to stick to. I have five models that either need finishing or are in the process of being modified for one reason or another. Being out of circulation and not going near my workhop or models for over year because of illness - now thankfully resolved - means that I've lost track of where I was with those jobs, which makes it all the more difficult to get going again.

Obviously, not being able to go flying regularly whilst being repaired myself and now that I'm able to carry on pretty much as normal, the weather has decided to be terrible........gales today! I find that the flying side of the hobby encourages the building side rather than vice versa, so stuck in a downward trend at the moment.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Cuban8

[Piers Bowlan]

I am glad you are firing on all cylinders again Cuban8, so time to drag out all those old  projects to see where you are. No time to waste! 😊

So why is it that we get distracted and lured into starting a new project and leave our current one to languish? (At least I do)

Personally I like ‘sculpting’ a new model; sharp tools and soft wood (or foam) etc. The covering or painting I find a boor plus the myriad of jobs needed before the first flight. It you hit a snag the project can drag on and become a chore rather than fun. As hobbies are supposed to be fun I start another project. 🤭 That is my excuse anyway, I wish I could be like Paul 😇

Edited August 6, 2023 by Piers Bowlan

[Steve Colman]

It's not just you David.

 

I currently have four models in various stages of completion and I flit from one to another as the mood strikes. I find that as I get older my boredom threshold worsens and I lose interest in one thing and need to go onto something else, returning to the other project with renewed enthusiasm at a later date.

 

It's the same with flying, for a period of time it'll be powered gliders, then it will be sport models, then flying wings, then helicopters,etc, etc.

 

A case of never ending circles.

 

But, the models get finished and flown eventually  - all part of the enjoyment from the hobby for me.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Steve Colman

[Don Fry]

Guilty.

[Cuban8]

A big advantage of our hobby is that it can be more or less conducted in a manner that suits the individual. I've known people that only build and hardly ever fly and vice versa. Others pay their annual dues and are never seen from one year to the next (I think most clubs actually rely on their armchair flyers to remain solvent).

Twenty plus years ago when the hobby was really on the up, we peaked at 147 members, of which I reckon only a third were regulars, and of those, probably a half would be seen at the field every weekend (or during the week) without fail.

Same sort of proportions now, although the membership numbers are down by around a third.

[kevin b]

It's a male thing and is not specific to our particular hobby.

Lots of us have "projects" of one sort of another which can lie around, sometimes never completed unless compelled to do otherwise by some external force

(usually female).

[GrumpyGnome]

Think people who concentrate on one thing at once are in the minority....... I'm currently 'working on': 

 

• Repairing my SE5 - fixing the warp I created when repairing a wing; part way through covering. This has been 'under re[air' for 14 months
• SIG Smith Miniplane - mostly built - just cabanes, undercarriage, cowl and fitting out do do - untouched for 9 months
• Black Horse Yak - fixed the airframe and started installing the engine - been in same state pretty much for 2 months
• Recovering a Spitfire to I was given - taken 4 months to half cover the wing....

 

Progress is always slow during 'summer' as small maintenance/repairs takes priority

 

@Cuban8- good news!

[David perry 1]

I have countless projects on the go simultaneously, not all aeromodelling related.  Its a constant nag to me that i have too much on in too little time.  Still, id rather be dragged to the grave bewailing unfinished projects than stumble into it bored!

[Outrunner]

I too always have several projects on the go, aeroplanes, boats, garden railway even a working submarine. I get most of them finished eventually but I sometimes put one down when waiting for bits and it can take an age to get started again. Sometimes I loose enthusiasm on a build, leave it for several years and pick it up again. I always like to have something on the go to keep me occupied and out of trouble, I don't know what I would do if everything was finished!

[Nigel R]

One project on the go at any one time. Except for the odd exception, but it's the rule. 

 

I do lots of things badly, or one thing well, in my experience. 

[martin collins 1]

Good thread, yes i always seem to have a few on the go.

Only one in maintenance at the mo luckily, repairing the Spat crush damage to the underside of the wing on my Bowman Magister.

Several in the part built list though.

1  Warbird Replica Lavochkin, started a couple of years ago

2  Plan built Percival Proctor bought part built 

3  Pacific Aero GeeBee needs u/c sorting to finish, been waiting a year

4  scratch built foamboard/depron Aviation Traders Carvair 70% finished, not touched since January.

5  scratch built foamboard/depron GeeBee model D not touched since March.

 

In my defense the i have been restoring a classic car i started eleven years ago which has seen a big push to finish it this year which is now completed so hopefully i can crack on with some of those on this list! Hoping to get the last three in the air this year.

[Phil Green]

With several hobby pastimes besides model flying I generally have so many projects on the go I find it very hard to keep track.  Since the start of Covid I've been 3/4 through a 'retro' reproduction build of a 1970's SWTPC6800 computer with little progress,  my homebrew fhss R/C project has been pretty static since I started flying it all the time, its taken 2 years to rebuild my motorbike after the big crash, the 'garden' is a jungle...  but it doesnt worry me, these are all hobbies, none are crucial, a pastime should really be just something to pass the time when there are no chores to do!  (as if that ever happens...)   😁

 

[Trevor]

7 hours ago, kevin b said:

It's a male thing . . .

It most definitely isn’t! My wife is a quilter and she and her quilting friends are forever teasing each other about how many UFOs they have.

 

Trevor

 

UFO = UnFinished Object

[David perry 1]

3 hours ago, Phil Green said:

With several hobby pastimes besides model flying I generally have so many projects on the go I find it very hard to keep track.  Since the start of Covid I've been 3/4 through a 'retro' reproduction build of a 1970's SWTPC6800 computer with little progress,  my homebrew fhss R/C project has been pretty static since I started flying it all the time, its taken 2 years to rebuild my motorbike after the big crash, the 'garden' is a jungle...  but it doesnt worry me, these are all hobbies, none are crucial, a pastime should really be just something to pass the time when there are no chores to do!  (as if that ever happens...)   😁

 

I hate the phrase "passtime".  Time is too precious to pass it.  My hobbies are my life...they make me who i am.