Saturday, July 7, 2012

Crazy Intense Model Making

Good day to all!

Today's post would be more of a self-reflection on my ability as a modellers and painter. This post would give you my take on an intense model-making experience that I had attempted a while back. It involved a 6 hour model-making and painting session and another similar 12 hour session. During the free time span I had earlier in the year, these two particular activities were the most energy-draining and mentally-challenging thing I had ever done in terms of my hobby activities.

Initially, I always wondered how much progress would be made if I actually did a whole day affair of model-making. Aside from the usual routine of one to two hours on a very good day (in which I would have been motivated to do my hobby), I never really had such an opportunity to dedicate a huge chunk of time to painting and fixing models. While the routine made progress for the completion of my models rather slow, it did compel me to question myself about how much could I do if I dedicated more hours into it and what was the potential that I could achieve with the time and effort.

Armed with my trusty Citadel Paints and Brushes, I am rearing to go!

 6 hour Stint

The first 6 hour stint of painting went pretty well. With a light snack and a cup of tea, I set about doing the paint task on hand. Bit by bit, I was progressing with speed and quality. By the half way mark, hands and back were stiff and aching.  As such, I decided to take a sizeable long break before I continued on. The next 3 hours, my engine was rolling full steam in terms of painting. With Music to soothe my mind, I was actually enjoying the process of seeing my models come to live. The only disappointing part of the session was that when the 6 hour timeline ran its course, I was kind of surprised that I still had a long way more to go. More surprisingly, while it was only 6 hours of labour, I was pretty bummed out that the entire day had been expended.

My Messed up workstation after the day's work.


12 hour stint

Procrastination took hold of me for a period of time before I could prepare myself to take on the 12 hour model-making and painting stint. Finally, with my mind made up, I gave it my all and began the epic journey of painting.

The first 6 hours ran like clockwork. During that period, I managed to paint my primary base coat and layer with an extra secondary coat on the Bloodletter models that I was working on. By this point, the day was almost over and grinding the next few hours of the night was a difficult task. I felt much agony without the long breaks as I was hard-press for time. Furthermore, I wasn't really giving the finest of touches to my model pieces.


One of the Bloodletter parts I was doing up during the painting stints.

It was at this point that I realized it was pretty impossible for me to sit down and paint non-stop for more than 3 hour at a time. Furthermore, anything beyond 3 hours of painting or fixing anything, and my productivity level would go out the window.


Airbrushing my F-22 Model. (This was a real hassle)

In summary, painting and assembling a model kit or miniature isn't the same as rushing to revise for a final year exam. In my context, these things take time to build and be painted. This is especially so if you want to give it the best quality paintjob and assembly that you can do.

I concluded that my old way of painting bit by bit for short periods of an hour or so per day is a more efficient and fun-filled way of doing my hobby than putting myself in a predicament where I work on something and lose all motivation to do it after grinding on it for long hours. In 20 hours of painting and assembling, I had completed 5 + Bloodletters. I did expect myself to do more, but I am not too disappointed at the progress.

Now, do not get me wrong guys, this post is not to subtlely tell you that I am runnig out of models andminiatures to feature. In fact, I have so much in store, aside from the stuff I am working on.

So do stay tune because there would be lots to show you! Till then, Cheerios!
 

6 comments:

  1. Nice Looking F-22 you got there. But yeah, unless you are a professional modeller, it ain't easy to do a whole day affair.

    Most people only work 8-10 hours a day. A 12 hour stint is crazy!

    Dalute to you on that!

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  2. That is some serious painting you have attempted. 5+ Bloodletters in 20 hours.. Hmm, They must be really really detailed.

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  3. Yeah, Doing an entire day stint of modelling is no easy task. It does require hardwork and dedication and it isn't a walk in the park.

    I have definitely done 6-10 hours of modelling on weekends and such. But yeah, it isn't something that is easy.

    I do take pride and joy in seeing my works take live and get better.

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  4. Awesome!! Bloodletters!!!!
    Can't wait to see the final product! (:

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  5. This must be some experience.

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  6. You must have had a burnout after doing these two stints.
    However, I do agree with youthat slow and steady is a better approach.

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