Personal Design Improvement

For a long time I've had some works in progress sitting around collecting dust. I've mostly been a slow builder from the beginning. For some builders, the slowness is a tactic used to improve and perfect their models, but for me, I am often just slow at finishing the darn things. I also have this strange need to have finished work to add to my catalog so if a project is taking too long to finish I tend to move on. It is very easy for me to acquire several multi-year old WIPs and only actually produce a handful of finished models.

So, when nnenn offered up his starfighter cockpit box frame to the general public to fiddle with in the spirit of the train heads, I took it upon myself to embark on a challenge. See, once you have the box frame done, all you have to do is add some wings, engines, and guns, and BAM! You have a starfighter. The box is small enough that you can easily finish one a day, sometimes more. So I did one a day for a month. By the end of the month, I was a different builder than when I had started.

I have a host of new strategies to finish a model, to decorate a model, to present a model, and most importantly to design a model. Towards the end of that month, I had begun to draw out ideas. This led me to purchase a small spiral-bound drawing pad and I am about half-way through it. I have hundreds of illustrations in that book. Everything has changed for me.

Now, if I could just get motivated and STAY motivated, I could really pump out some half-way decent models on a regular basis.

I would love other builders to go through a similar process. Maybe we could get away from some of the fads that just won't die.