Have you ever given up?

Hello everyone. I bought an Airfix Maserati Merak (1979) model. This was about two years ago. I painted the body as it was moulded in yellow but I wanted the metallic gray. I was trying to dry over the stove and I got into a hurry and turned the burner up to high and it melted a little. I could smell styrene and before I knew what actually happened it was too late to fix it. I destroyed it by crushing it in my hands. It was still very warm when I did this. If I wasn't so impatient it would've worked as I have done this for years! However it's one of those things that you look back in embarrassment. I didn't get around to throwing the rest out until about two weeks ago. This is sent me on a search for a new kit. I just recently bought another for more than what I originally paid for the first one.

I guess that it's better that I did since the first one was only $18.50 when I bought it. But this kit was missing the decals, instructions, and who knows what else? The one I just got in the mail yesterday has EVERYTHING in it. Only the box is slightly warped but I didn't buy it for that. I gave up on the first car but now that I can have more time and it's not around the holidays I can relax a little bit. So I will take my time with this one.

I'm usually patient and do over and over again even until I feel humiliated!!! But this one I just couldn't bring myself to repair. Have you ever given up on a model for whatevever reason?

Given the circumstances, I totally understand giving up on the first one.
I've had to give up on some resin builds for similar reasons. It was the sun, and not the oven, but the effect was the same.
The resin got warped beyond repair.

Good to see that you have another one to work with.
I built one of those back in the late 80s

I've not given up on a build, but I have lost interest, which is pretty much the same thing. The build goes to the Shelf of Doom, only in rare cases to be picked back up again and finished.

It can be that I just don't feel like working on it, or I run into a technical hurdle and stop to think about it, or the kit isn't what I thought it was when I opened the box. Search the Ships forum and you'll find my USS Pennsylvania build. That's got a little bit of each of those reasons, and it's been sitting unfinished since 2010. I will probably jump-start it some day, because I don't like to start something and leave it unfinished. But I may die before that ever happens, too. You never know.

On the other hand, in my one club, we have an annual build theme, due by our December meeting. A couple of years ago, we decided to make the theme, "Shelf of Doom". You picked a SoD build and worked on it, to get it completed by the December meeting. That was such good motivation, that I wound up finishing 3 builds that had languished for a couple of years.

That photo is of the car that I destroyed. I have the new(er) car still in the box yet. I don't usually give up on projects but I have lately - mostly because my health is bad.

Due to work and personal responsibilities I gave up on the entire hobby for over 25 years. I also just lost interest. After retiring a few years ago I was arranging things in my garage and realized I had collected 72 kits in past years, some in a partial state of assembly but most untouched. I initially considered selling them but thought maybe I'd give building a try again. In the past year I've completed 6 kits all of which were the cheaper kits while re-honing my long dormant skills. I've now almost gotten to the point where a more challenging kit build is in the near future. I hope to soon post some pictures of my efforts. I think it's okay to give up for a while, chances are interest will return and the kit, or in my case the hobby will be as rewarding as ever.

I've given up on a couple. I had one custom build ( a stretched VW bus with a wicked small block Chevrolet) that just went waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far into left field and had to take a step back and re-examine things. In the end I scrapped the whole idea. Too many mods and it started getting way too engineered.

Another one was the AMT 66 Barracuda Hemi Under Glass kit. I just couldn't get this thing to look the way I wanted to. So many discrepancies with the kit and really too much for me to take on at the time.

I really try hard to finish anything challenging but these two were beyond my patience (and I've got a LOT of that) for the Barracuda kit and things just got too deep on the custom build. I've learned not to go too wild in order not to exceed my limitations.

I'll get all excited and do the mockup for an idea that I have and then it just sits. Either life gets in the way or I just can't find motivation to do anything. Sometimes I'll just stand at my bench and stare at a current project for 10-15 minutes and just turn out the lights and walk away.

Case in point, started these 2 and this is as far as they have gotten.

Absolutely, I gave up on my 1/96 USS Constitution I recieved as a gift in 2008. Turns out I bit off more than I could chew for getting back in the hobby. So much intricate rigging which in turn put me back out of the hobby.
Of course it's still up in the closet—indefinitely? Possible.

This last few months I have been back in the hobby and missed it.

GEG64 said:

Absolutely, I gave up on my 1/96 USS Constitution I recieved as a gift in 2008. Turns out I bit off more than I could chew for getting back in the hobby. So much intricate rigging which in turn put me back out of the hobby.
Of course it's still up in the closet—indefinitely? Possible.

This last few months I have been back in the hobby and missed it.

Click to expand...

It's like a ghost watching you!! Or itch you can't scratch.
Pantherman

I feel your pain. I've been working on my '57 Chevy Cameo kit and have been fighting with trying to build a custom firewall to accommodate the frame and engine off the Foose FD-100 kit.

I do know the cab and bed will fit on the frame with a little trimming on the frame. I've since put it away for another day to deal with it.

It's normal to lose a bit of mojo in this hobby.

Ditto on giving up on the Revell 1:96 USS Constitution. I received that kit for Christmas in 1969. I was 12. I worked very hard on it over the next six months or so, completing the lower gun deck and the upper spar deck. Then came the masts. One of them (the foremast, if I recall) didn't want to go through the holes on the two decks so, being 12 years old, I tried to force it. Both decks collapsed and the mast shattered. I threw the whole lot away (12 years old, remember?).

A few years ago, I received another copy of that kit (again, for Christmas) and I'm currently in the process of attempting to build it with my much-improved adult skills, patience, and wisdom. Progress is slow, but I'm taking the time to scratch-build some details this time around, including some of the internal structure and a bunch of cannon ball racks.

BTW, I read a similar story recently on the Ships Of Scale forum. The poster had given up on that same kit and donated it to a charity thrift store. Fast-forward a couple of years and he regretted letting it go so started haunting yard sales and thrift stores to replace it. He found one that had been partially built. Only after digging in did he realize it was that exact same kit he had donated years earlier. He surmised that someone had tried to continue his work but become discouraged and, in keeping with unspoken tradition, donated it themselves.

I don't think I ever gave up on a kit but I definately lost interest in them. most recently a VW Bus. Didn't realize the body was in multiple pieces and just didn't wanna mess with it at this point for in the closet it sits. for now.....

Give it time. You will trash that one kit or a few because it's just that horrible. Lord knows I have trashed a few in my lifetime. Example... the Revell P-61 Black Widow re-issued Kit. It was horrible. Nothing like the original Monogram Black Widow I did as a kid. Revell never should have re-issued them when they knew the molds are so old.
So no.... I have no regrets trashing horrible fitting kits.