I admire those that can focus on more than one project, but it’s not for me. Though self-analysis is often a dangerous master, this all goes back to my days doing commissions, where multiple builds would had to be completed at the same time to keep the lights on…
Yesterday I posted a video on my YouTube channel discussing the merits of a new 3D printed update set from Mini Craft Collection. Designed for the Academy 1/48 A-10, the set offers some additional gloss into a project that is already proving to be highly involved. The results, I hope, will be a centrepiece of my collection and a lasting testament to Fairchild’s masterstroke.
Within the video, though hardly central to its theme, I discussed how long the project has taken me (six months and counting…) and how, thanks to the stop-start nature of my progress, I’ve found it very difficult to maintain any kind of momentum. Indeed, I used the phrase “walking in treacle” to describe my work on the model several days ago, as very little progress seemed to result from the time I was spending on the model. So much so in fact, I wondered if I was now simply titivating the work for the sake of it, rather than actually wanting to push the project forward.
The fact of the matter is that I’ve now put so much work into this model that I really want to finish it, but enthusiasm is a little low. It’s not down to the kit per se, but rather my now embedded approach to building models. I simply cannot focus on more than one project at a time. When I start a model, it has to run from A-Z without a break, or it will not be finished. My world is littered with the wrecks of good intentions, projects that I started with overwhelming enthusiasm, only to stumbling at the halfway marker, as a shiny bauble caught my eye. Once replaced, the impetus has gone and almost always, I never return to my now rejected first love. It happens all the time. So my A-10 is sat between two stools: one which I sit hoping to complete it; the other on which I have a desire not to.
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I admire those that can focus on more than one project, but it’s not for me. Though self-analysis is often a dangerous master, this all goes back to my days doing commissions, where multiple builds would had to be completed at the same time to keep the lights on. Though I had ‘fun’ with such things (whatever fun actually means when you are fighting professional deadlines…) after a while you don’t see each individual build as something to become emotionally attached to, rather ammunition on the way to a pay day. Once I stopped doing that, I think I broke the connections in my brain that allowed such miniature multitasking to be possible and so here we are: an inability to focus on more than one project at a time.
But there is perhaps more to it than that: I simply don’t enjoy working on more than one build at a time. I really don’t. As I’m sure is the case with many modellers, I enjoy the all-encompassing nature of a project; the research, the hunt for colour schemes, the details, the rifling through images, the construction, the painting and of course, the display. It may be my OCD, but anything that takes me away from any of those aspects, tends to dilute the enjoyment. As a result, I stay in my lane, focus on the task in hand and then see a project through from start to finish. And of course, this makes me more efficient. If I am only looking at one cluster of steps that deal with one specific machine, I don’t have to clutter my studio and desk with reams of other nonsense that will distract my eye. My studio is far from large, so keeping everything as tidy and organised as possible, keeps me firmly on track.
As this is being written, I’m deep into planning my next two builds for work, both 1/48 and both Airfix kits: The Gannet and the Vampire FB.5. These two will need to be completed over the next month, so I guess my A-10 will be sidelined once more and who knows what impact that will have on my enthusiastic progress! The model will be completed (I’ve come too far for it not to be) I just can’t tell you when that will be. So as you are reading this, I’ll be working on the first of the models, the Vampire, and its subassemblies, whilst at the same time thinking about my A-10 and its consequential relegation once more, wondering, if only a little while, when it will ever be finished. Multitasking? Who needs it?!
See you next time.
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sorry the last comment was me Andrew wright but it came up as anonymous
hi Spencer, not sure if I had one reserved but can I get one please money has just been transfered…
Hi Spencer could you put me down for a copy of the phantom printed book please. I have emailed you…
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Yeah, whatever Spencer. Petty gripes over not a lot methinks.
SPENCER POLLARD'S KIT BOX 
Hi Spencer,
My preference, like you, is to finish models in a serial fashion rather than in parallel.
However, sometimes I just need to step away to something else, especially after doing something time intensive like sanding road wheels or assembling individual track links on an armor piece.
I keep models under construction in a closeable plastic tub as leaving everything out on the bench invites chaos, which I hate.
I always enjoy seeing/hearing your thoughts on modeling.
Cheers,
George
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Multitasking is, reportedly, a red herring. No one, not women nor men, are able to actually multitask according to the definition of the word. Instead, our brains break down multiple tasks into consecutive, individual tasks, executed in rapid sequence. This gives an illusion of multitasking. Your, now, inability to focus on more than one build is not a flaw. I see it as boon, to keep information in your brain organised. I don’t think it should matter if the A-10 is sidelined for a while, as you focus on other activities. As long as it doesn’t sit on the shelf of doom for too long. Looking forward to further progress on your A-10.
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I admire your ability to focus, it’s something that I struggle with now.
I’m in the same camp as a lot of people where multitasking is concerned, it can easily degrade to doing loads of things badly, yet I find myself with too many things “on the go”.
When I was working for a living, clear focus was never a problem. In fact it led to a great deal of success.
Now that I’m retired that ability is MiA and I have no idea where it’s gone.
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Me too! And now a littler of good intentions and shelf queens behind me.
Now I start the next project as the present one is running to conclusion, so as not to waste too much (!) time at the bench.
Christian
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Hi Spencer,
I would prefer to work on a single project to completion but unfortunately I’m just not wired that way. Try as I might, I fail at about the paint or decal stage and start something new, or more typically attempt to finish an older stalled project. I don’t fear paint or decals but believe it’s the long road to that point that exhausts me.
Nothing inherently wrong with this behavior, but I do sometimes feel I should just bin my shelves of doom and start over. Maybe I should focus more on easier-to-build kits?
Thank you for your blog. Always a good read.
Tim Holland
Greenshirt Modeler
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