Hey all,
While viewing post on the board for the last few days I've noticed that people get to the completion state of their model builds quite fast. Maybe it's just that theres so many people who are members here. What I'm wondering is, "How long does your average model build take to complete??"

I seem to take forever. I average about 5 hours towards modeling minimum a week....thus i really get my moneys worth when it comes down to the longevity of a build. However i do find that this sometimes works against me when my impatience tries to get the better of me. I have 2 models on the go and its taken about 6 weeks to get where i am with them.

slow huh???

Wow that's fast compared to me......I haven't finished anything sooner than a year....been 3 years since I finished anything now.

I usually work in spurts because I get most of my painting done in the summer. I don't finish very much at all in the winter, but I build a lot.

Nic

I am real slow. I work on my models when I am at work, yes I am that lucky but it also means I am not making any money at work either. On average I put out a model about every three weeks now. It's the slow season now so mabye every week for a while, LOL.

Depends on how detailed I getting. I finnished My M51 sherman in 6weeks. but I'm still working on my M109(six months). So its alll relative to your goal

Shiryon Aka Josh Weingarten

That depends on how much extra I add. I only get 5 - 8 hours a week of bench time. I know for me I may get to completion in appearance Only. That's because I have a bunch of works in progress at various stages. So I can for example complete the Dio Campaign then turn around with an M3 in the weathering stage.
If I add detail it'll take months on the calendar. I think I only finished 6 kits last year, or something like that.
We all go at different rates, watch this thread -Dioman has his pace, I have mine, Folgore has his 'season' (to point at 3) so it's all over the map.

And you know what - You go at your pace and work within your comfort zone. This hobby is for you to please you.

Absolutely, Scott, I agree 100%. Sometimes a kit seems to fall together, and you're done in no time at all. Sometimes, you are struggling every time you snip sprue. You never can tell how long some things will take. My rule of thumb is - it takes whatever time it takes. My goal is to enjoy my hobby, and the experience of whatever kit / project I am working on. I've punched too many timeclocks in my day. I don't want to do that for my hobby too. Enjoy yourself, make it the best you can, and when you're done...start all over again. It's a sure recipe for success.

Mike

Good question, since I try to put everything I build into some sort of scene, completing a single model is not really that time consuming, it's all the associated "stuff" that takes forever. I can work on some projects for years. Others just seem to suggest themselves to a specific item that I've heard or read and it just blows my mind at how they just seem to be there, thrown together and actually looking quite nifty for no more time that was spent getting them to that state of appearance. Vacuforms seem to be a real trip and take the longest. I have been working on my Flak truck for at least two years and still have things to do. Most of the small stuff that suggests itself to me, I can dash off over the course of a rainy weekend, much to the displeasure of my ladyfriend, usually.

Jay
Pig #53 DSB

I have a really bad habit of hopping around. I have diorama ready figures and diorama ready models just waiting to mate. (If they start moving toward each other in the middle of the night I am gonna get really creeped out) Anyway, I start and stop a lot of things, as I change focus. Zimmermit p#sses me off I build Allied armor, olive drab gets boring I go back to the zimmerit, etc. I really haven’t “finished” anything but my dio for the winter contest.

Hola!

As Ive done a few armor kits in my life time I thought I'd jump in, to be honest, I have only finished 1 serious project, a Jagd Panther late version with all the PE and extras, took me about 2-3 years, with one year as an echange student. Although I have finished a couple of smaller projects such as a hetzer (1-2 weeks maybe) and a Steyr (1 week?).

As for figures, it really depends on how I work on it. Like the fiugre I just got done sculpting only took about 12 hours of effective modeling time stretched for about a week or so. As for the painting of this figure, Im almost done with the painting part after only one day of painting, maybe 4-5 hours.

For me, to get something done I have to keep the intrest going and keep plowing away with what I am doing, and to stay the course with out taking side steps, which I have a great tendency of doing

I am new to modelling and have only built one model to date. I bought it just before xmas, and finished it with 3 figures and a small simple base in about 3 and a half weeks, but that was putting a lot of time in and the build and paint standard are pretty poor. BUT i have learned a lot, and my next one will take longer and hopefully be much better.

I totally agree that it should (MUST) be fun, and that time is really not the most important factor.

Roger

I prefer to take my own time making a model. I hardly get any free time from the family and the office, so that makes it pretty less too !

Seriously, I work only about 1-2 hrs a day, and on only 1 model at a time. Most of my work gets done on weekends, when i have both Sat and Sun free to do what I want. I build mostly OOB, since I don't get the accesory stuff here, and I find it expensive to import them.

I take roughly about 1-2 months to make a model, and here's the breakup of my time for that:
15% R&D(Net, this site, books)
40% Assembly(incl scratchbuilding)
40% Paint
5 % Weathering. I like my a/c to be clean, and not too dirty!! Just panel lines and fuel streaks.

So at this rate, i guess I should be finishing the current stash of 75 kits in about what... say 10 years ?

Cheerio,
BP.

I have to say i build at a variable rate, my poiny in statingthis the 3 threads Irecently started in the reveiw board. 1st I point out my Panther D, she is a dream build. She has ben on my bench since her release in the early fall. And has had many setbacks all of which are due to experimenting with different techniques. 2nd is the NachtJager Maus concept tank that alot of people encouraged me to build as i started my membership on armorama asking for concept tanks and pushing the threads of world history. then it was back to the panther and i was ona roll finished the weathering and even fixed some stuff from before that i had not noticed, and then doom struck the project......my gloss coat ate away the paint!!!!!!! which brings to my 3rd thread in the reveiw board the wespe, this was just a break, something to clear my head of the disater that became my beautiful panther, and wow 3 days after i pulled a dusty Tamiya box off the shelf of doom i get one beautiful little spg, the difference is for once i wasn't worried if i was doing it right or wrong i was doing it, i figure i'll go back to the panther in few weeks, after i have some more fun with modeling, i seem to do better when i'm not worring about opions of others, and i got rave reviews on the wespe!!!! hehehehehe so there i really don't have a pace, i just build for fun!!!!!! and i hope to keep it that way!!!!!!!!!!!!! stug

My time to build depends on what I am building and how many other kits am I multi-tasking it with. The next question is what level of detail am I going into. If I am going to slap it together, or course it takes no time at all.

I have some tanks and planes that If I just concentrated on them would take a couple of weekends. However, I am working on a Tamiya Big E that I have had since Christmas of '98 that I am not even halfway through.

wow thanks all for your responses.....i really don't feel too bad now knowing I'm not alone in taking so long to build models.

I supose that can go a way to explain why I have a pile of over 15 kits all still waiting for me to build. Seems that building takes a long time but my collection of "to dos" grows at an alarming rate.

Also I should clarify.....the kits i'm working on that have taken me 6 months so far are no where near the completion state. Tha only kit i've completed to a point of being proud of it is my 1/16 kubel....that took me a year....although i didn't do any modeling over winter. I have piccies of my projects that some of you may have seen on my yahoo site....feel free to check them out for a laugh.

Even my simple diorama projects take months. I only get about 10 hours per week for working on this hobby/mania. I'll try to keep the model(s) and fig(s) going together for a single project.

Frankly, I am afraid if I start buying too many kits (damn.. isn't the internet just TOO easy for that...) and start more than one project, I'll never complete any!

I will use a quote from one of my favorite books, "It is better to travel purposely than arrive at a destination." So, I prefer the build process rather than having a complete diorama, model or figure.

I think I spend more time getting ready to build than building itself ...I can go down to my room and sit there desiding what I'm going to do today ....I might glue 2 or 3 pieces of PE in an hour ...Damn am I slow ...Last year I got 3 projects finished in a year ..This year I desided to take on a big project....A Dragon Wagon with an LVT2 as the load...4 Pe sets for the DW and 2 conversions to make an LVT2 out of an LVT-A1...Why didn't someone tell me that Trax and Verlinden kits are not made to go together ?? Would I have listened ?? NOT..Havin lots of fun but I'm getting worried about the deadline of the 3rd of May ...We have a show here....D'oh!!

Richard

I've ever clocked a build. Sometimes things go along smoothly, sometimes they don't, sometimes other 'priorities' get in the way.

Probably safe to say that I could measure it in months, of course depending on the complexity and/or how many times I cut or stab myself.

If I build one OOB I can do the BUILD in a week or less. If I have a bad case of AMS, or if doing a serious conversion it might take 6-8 months. It is when I get to the painting stage that I really slow down. Like someone else mentioned I don't get much painted during the winter, I paint more in the summer.

Mike