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| A small sample of "Works in Progress" |
How cool would it be if at the Nationals there was a category for “Unfinished Kits”. Think about how the judging guidelines get really bent. Does a knock out mark or a fingerprint, count against the model? Is it judged on this moment of the build or what you imagine this kits future to be? Would it be held against you if too much of your model were painted?
It is a shame that there would never be such a category. We all know it’s the end product that matters. Imagine the discussions these entries would spark. Admit it, we all love to see the model with all the work exposed. The winner(s) would have to be selected using a more subjective criteria. Hard to imagine something like this would ever happen.
What a colossally missed opportunity. The idea that we cannot point to hard evidence as to why one incomplete model within this category is deemed superior to another would make a lot of people's heads melt. Forums would light up like the readouts at Three Mile Island and trolls would have to be hooked up intravenously because they would not have time to to eat.
OK, so what? Sans a verified winner of the category we would get actual discussion among the entrants, viewers and the public. There would be questions. Conversations about technique. As I recall, Tatlin’s Tower was never built and Michelangelo's Pieta never completed. Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon hung in progress for years inspiring debates that shaped modern art for decades. The overriding emphasis of the IPMS to overvalue “one way to be good at model building” is unfortunate.
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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Les_Demoiselles_d%27Avignon.jpg |
This all popped into my head when I decided to pull out all of my “works in progress”. After I had filled up most of my workspace, it dawned on me that I had only scratched the surface.
I have many. Too many. Or do I? Does it matter? Does Jay Leno lament that he can’t drive every car he owns? The prevailing thought is that unless a kit is completed it is wasted. There are no pics to upload onto “lookatmykoolmodel.com” or win an event. What if the goal was to not finish them? What if I dumped all the parts into a casserole dish and melted them together in the oven, does that count as finished? Or buying an almost finished kit and gluing on the last piece? (By the way, I did put one of my tanks in the oven as a kid).
I used to let having all these un-built kits bother me. They showed that I didn’t have follow thru. That I was weak. Lay on top of this that they all need to be “winners”. That’s a lot of pressure. The more unfinished projects there were, the more behind I thought I was in the great race to completion. What a ridiculous race I allowed myself to be duped into!
Here’s where I think I’m at now. I build any way I want. Maybe just cut parts off the trees and organise them. Leave them in bags and resell on Ebay. Put it away and finish 8 years later. Or never. A hobby, by definition is something you do for fun. So, I don’t beat myself up over having too many unfinished hobby projects anymore.
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| Belkits 1/24 Peugeot 207 S2000 |
Right now I’m focused on working on a Belkits Peugeot 207 S2000 Rally car. Last year I thought it would be a nice quick build, no researching widgets or scratch-building parts...something to build for fun. Everything went along just fine until I started putting the many, many large decals on the body. Total fail. It was refreshing to fail so spectacularly. I put it away. I found a new decal scheme from Coloradodecals based on a white bodied car. I’ve been tinkering on it for a few weeks, mainly because RL has been jam packed with work deadlines and travel. Among other things.
Right after I took that picture, the mail carrier left a box on the porch, I had a 15% coupon on Ebay and snapped up Itelari’s 1/32 F-104. What’s up with that? I have already decided to “build it for fun” and have all the parts off the sprues and staged for assembly. Without thinking I went online to research other schemes and thought it would be cool to do a Japanese one....
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| Ready for.....STORAGE!!! WHOA BABY! |
A few things regarding On The Madness Of Rearranging Bits Of Plastic:
On this blog you will mostly see two types of content. The first type is the usual stuff such as building tips, pictures of completed kits and reviews. The second type is less common, it’s the stuff that often pops up in forums or in a few editorial channels (like Dem Brudders in the Journal). As a long time Hobbyist my involvement is way more than just buying and building kits. OTMORBOP addresses the part of the iceberg below the surface of the water. There is so much more to the hobby experience than debating the exact shade of J3 Hairyokushoku or critiquing the shape of a particular manufactures rendition of a M-10’s turret.
Hopefully the stuff I write here will resonate with others. Constructive feedback is welcomed. If your a troll...hopefully your worth a lot of XP because baby needs a new pair of shoes!
Until next time.
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