Howdy All,

I've been wanting to ask this question for some time now, but keep forgetting to breach the subject.

What with my modeling time becoming quite a personal premium, and my desire to model elevating, I find myself losing patience with the speed with which I model.
I don't think I'm slow, neither do I think I'm very fast. But I question first, if I am being too an*l about certain phases of my modeling (i.e., spending too much time fine-tuning my cleanup of parts) and/or too 'creative' with my desired depiction of said project.

So, I want to ask all of YOU for some potential guidance in this matter.
My question is: Can anyone suggest anything as a method to speed up and otherwise streamline one's model making techniques, applications, construction, organization, etc, etc, etc.......?????/

Many thanks in advance for any and ALL suggestions

Tread.

plan out the stages in which you want to build your model. i never try to rush my modeling as it will leave you with poor results.

Ok Tread, here is a remedy.
Send the wife to her sisters and lock the kids in the back yard ! Now we have modeling time! :-) :-) :-)
Ok ok I guess we cant do that!
But realy, that a tuff question. I'm sure we all would like to speed up our modeling progress. For me I try to use a routine from start to finish. Just little things! Like as I attach a part to my model, I mark off that part on the instruction sheet. That way I dont waist time trying to remember what parts I forgot to attach! Then I also circle parts that I want to come back to for attaching at a later time. That way I dont keep going over and over the instructions and waisting time. Another way to save time is to have a plan of attack before you start your model. Like Build lower hull, then Bogi;s, then road wheels, paint track, attach track, and so on. It realy does help when you keep the same plan of attack like that for each model you build. Come to think of it Gordon, Good question! I will dwell on this some more.

Cheers,

Garry

I think that you need to step back and evaluate your desire for "speed" in modeling. Why do you feel that your modeling is not "fast" enough? You indicate that your modeling time has become "quite a personal premium" which implies that other activities are competing for your time. I find that, for me, it is not a matter of how much I accomplish during my modeling time but the quality of my experience, in other words do I enjoy it and find it relaxing. I have found over the years that many people do not understand our need to build and create and thus do not understand our allocation of personal time to modeling, if that is the case you should indicate that you need that time for modeling and your own mental health. I also find that having a visable "stash" of models can cause both myself and others to question my "productivity" which is surely a road of modeling best left untraveled. Bottom line, don't worry about speed.

I usually keep a few projects going at once, and I hardly ever have marathon work sessions, except on the weekends. I work a bit on one thing, the next day a bit on another, the next maybe I don't work on them at all. That way you get a healthy dose of modelling without losing interest. Each time you should implement a "plan of attack" as garybeebe said. Don't drop the model in the middle of s step, but maybe do a coat or two, but spend about 3 days to build, then do a step each day. Plus, I don't have much of a choice since school has started

forgot to add this...you can only work as fast as the glue dries, so dont try and rush yourself.

This is a tough one......
What I've done is to utilize ALL my 'sit down' time with some type of modeling in my hand. What I mean is when I'm just hanging out with my kids or taking turns at a game - I have some type of modeling work, either cleaning flash or seam lines or filing down putty that I put on earlier.
With my stash at a decent size there is ALWAYS a kit or a step I can do this with. My modeling doesn't necessarily go faster but I get more done in the course of a day. It's kinda cool to see small steps move kits forward then all of a sudden you have 5 kits 'popped out' in a month.

Work in a boiler room on the night shift..... LOL
just kidding..... but the truth is that is really where I do most of my building..... I even do the basic airbrushing there.
The slow down comes when I get them home for the finishing.
Doing the bases, figures, etc, and waiting for things to dry and cure. Plus a good smidgin of procrastination.

I take the same approach as Slodder, when i'm watching a movie or in my special chair i'll clean up a model. I have about 7 cleaned of flash now and about 4 or 5 started. This way here i can open the box and start building. Now for painting, [i'm not a one kit person as i like to do a few at a time], i mass paint. What i do is seperate and combine all the parts that are painted the same color and then paint the rest. This way here i can get a few kit painted in one afternoon.

I gotta go with John & James. Unless you're building for a campaign, or on a commission basis, what's the hurry? As long as you're doing it for yourself, take the time to enjoy the process as well as the finished result. If you still want to "speed" things up, go with the multiple kits/parts thing, although sometimes that can be counterproductive and cause you more stress than being "slow". Whatever you decide, have fun with it!

Art

I just hafta add that i'm not in a hurry by doing what i mentioned above. I'm relaxed and enjoying myself, but at the same time i do get ahead.

My fellow Armoramans, our friend Tread indeed does build in a lot of campaign's. And in this case, modeling speed does come into play. Yes building slow and enjoying your time relaxing at the bench is what we all enjoy. But the exitment of building for campaigns, plus spending lot of your modeling time online with said campaigns has its merrits to! So trying to squeeze all of this into a time bracket, modeling speed is a factor.
Just my opinion mates!

Garry

Hey Tread just because I model Shermans at scale WW2 production speeds doesn't mean that will work for you. I have a job that allows me to spend plenty of days at home. If I recall you have a wife and kids that you have responsibilities to as well where I don't.

Just work at whatever speed you feel is comfortable. However I think you need to post more pics so we can see your progress and give you encouragement.

Tread, it is to be enjoyed, but if you find yourself waiting to long for pieces to dry. Try my way of doing things, mine wasn't set for speed, but because I had to wait for other supplies, which forced me into doing this. I got better then a dozen models going at one time.

What I done was start a model clean all the parts, go to where I was missing supplies, then put all the parts in medicine vials, marked good with tape so I will know what is what.

Grab the next model then do the same, clean all the parts, go until I was needing something I didn't have, and so on. That way when I got supplies, I would grab out the one I got the supplies for, and go as far as I could.

I got these big tupperware containers if the models are almost put together, to store them in, until there other supplies show.

This way when your waiting on one to dry, pull out another, and work on it, then switch back, and forth.

I'll tell you now, if you like to put models together fast, never get this Italeri BMW R 75, cause it took me almost a month just to clean the mold lines, it is starting to look really good, but it was a lot of labor.