The Long Pause

Its been about 7 months since I’ve been able to sit at the bench a to look at building again. Due to work commitments, I was unable to be home and work on my models so it’s been a long wait of planning and ruminating on when I would be able to put plastic back in my hands. While difficult, its actually been a good thing and has allowed me to gain perspective. So that argues the point, should we as plastic artists take long or periodic breaks in our work to regroup, re-energize and refocus?

2013 Ford Mustang GT - converted to a 2014 Ford Cobra Jet in 1/25 scale by Revell

Since starting this hobby way back when, it has been a rollercoaster of having either no money or no dedicated workspace or some form of preventative measure that kept me from being able to dedicate serious energy into the hobby.

That all changed in the spring of 2020 when COVID essentially put the horse blinders on an gave me a really good opportunity to hunker down and see if I was going to make this a serious hobby or whether I was doomed to keep picking up and dropping it. That was when I decided to really sink my teeth in, start my business, and hone my craft.

Nissan Skyline R34 GTR Z-Tune “Kyza Special” in 1/24 scale by Tamiya

Fast forward those 5 years and its been quite the journey. Pushing myself to be a better modeller, acquiring new skills, expanding my repertoire, and of course building more models. Looking back I can see my progress from fit, to finish to flair. I’ve developed my own techniques and perfected the basics which has led to some stunning work compared to where I was a few years ago. The old adage of ‘practice makes perfect’ was where I started and now i like to use the moniker of ‘perfect practice makes perfect’. Not letting things be just good enough or accepting that I can always do better.

Then, work trip. Things had been building and leading to this point so I knew it was coming. What I didn’t expect however, was the positive effect that a long break like that would have.

Honda CB750F in 1/12 scale by Tamiya

What the break allowed me to do was really take stock of my stash, literally and figuratively. I compiled a list of all the models I have and categorized them. I then set out to take a few days for each model to set a base plan for what I wanted to do for them as well as the necessary parts that would be required. You might think, wow thats a great way to organize and plan each build. Yes, you would be correct. However a good plan only survives first contact so while I have the plan in mind for each, I still need to keep an open mind about the final result.

The most important part of all of this is the discipline. The discipline to build one at a time and not put one down when I lose interest, the discipline to stay on track and not pull a 180 turn on the initial plan. Most importantly I think is the discipline to never be satisfied with good enough and to listen to that inner voice that critiques a result every step of the build. If I don’t think that its at its peak, then stop, reverse and start over. Make sure its right for the final result because not only does it speak to my own mental picture, its speaks about me as a builder and an artist when it comes to doing commissioned projects for clients.

Mazda RX-7 FD3S “TRMNL7” in 1/24 by Tamiya