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[Terry]

Hi Mayhemmers.
I am a drummer in a rock band. I always say to my colleagues, if you make a small mistake don't worry. You will hear it, probably the rest of the band will hear it, but the audience, almost certainly not. I cannot apply this same philosophy to my model building. I know that nobody else will notice my small mistakes but they still bug me. Just curious what you all think about this.


Cheers, Terry

[Martin (Admin)]

 
... often we just don't learn from ( or remember ) our mistakes and improve!

[NFMike]

If you are doing something for the benefit of others (like performing) then the 'quality' needs to be at least good enough for the audience. You may work to a higher standard.

If you are doing something for yourself then you are the audience. Some people are happy with badly fitting parts and heavily brushed paint for example - I wouldn't be. So if a small mistake or blemish bugs you then you either have to learn to live with it or fix it.
Your model, your level of OCD 

[U-33]

I always try to do better with every boat I build...it doesn't always work, but it keeps me going upwards.


Rich

[sparkey]

   I don't think I have completely happy with any of the boats I have built, but I know I have improved my skills over the years and hope to have one that I can be utterly satisfied with before the grim reaper catches up with me,you never know strange things can happen,Ray.  

[gribeauval]

Never ever been completly happy with anything I have built over the last 50 years, the day I am totally happy with any build is the day I give up building models.

Mike

[Bob K]

I am reasonably happy with boats I have built, hopefully each improving as I learn.  However I know where the ‘warts’ are, bits I could have done better with more experience or things slightly out of scale. 

Looking at other peoples boats is totally different.  I don’t see or know where they have had used license or made something that is not exactly to original.  After all they have done the research. I can only see that on my own.

Few can attain perfection. The rest of us do the best we can and enjoy the journey.

[adamD98]

I'm happy with mine, because at the time I've built them it has been the best I could do. We all improve over time, no matter how much that may be.


 True enough  my first real boat build, to an "expert", would have been deemed good enough for target practice, but I was over the moon with it, because I'd achieved something I didn't think I could do previously. I still have that boat actually!


 If I had to pick something I need to improve on, it would be the construction of awkward shapes/corners etc on certain superstructures. My first Type 42 s/structure took about 5 attempts before I was happy with it. My current Portgarth tug build is a challenge, with a few strange angles to get around. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm relatively happy to live with it.


Oh...I'm a drummer too, self taught!

[Mark T]

This is why my build takes so long     I have to get things as best as I can.  I've just remade the lifeboat frames as the ones I made first were like spiders legs.  I have to do it I just can't let to go otherwise I would always think that I could have done better.

[Martin (Admin)]

Practice makes perfect!

[dougal99]

We are all probably our own worst critic, I definitely am. A mast with a 1mm list, no matter how hard you tried and took great care to get vertical, always looks wrong. Apparently no one else notices, or so I'm told.


Onward and upward!

[Colin Bishop]

Practice makes perfect!

Practice makes fiddling about indefinitely and you NEVER get it quite right!

Colin

[Martin (Admin)]

 
               


  ......... mind you, does explain several things!    

[Bowwave]

There is no such thing as an accurate model only degrees of representation .
Bowwave

[dougal99]

I think we're dealing with standard of work rather than accuracy compared to the prototype, if there is one.

[Bob K]

Complete accuracy is often impossible. Shipwrights plans frequently differ in significant details to the ship as commissioned, and steadily alter further during years of service.  Even photographs, where available, seem never to be from the most useful viewpoints.  We try to research to the limit of available info, but after that 'a best representation' is the most we can aim for.  As Dougal99 said, the standard of workmanship counts for much in giving a good impression.

[essex2visuvesi]

[Howard]

We are all different so to me it is not how good it is even if I think it's the best I've ever done to me its about the enjoyment I get from is great hobby of making model boats.
                   Regards Howard.

[irishcarguy]

How true Essex, but we can still start a screaming match or a war over what should be or should not be, we are a very strange animal. Anything I do or build has to be good enough for me. If it passes that test/inspection it has reached its goal. Then it is time to enjoy & hope others do too. Mick B.

[Colin Bishop]

I agree with Mick B. You only need to satisfy yourself. People build model boats for different reasons and have varying amounts of time available for a hobby. Some people prefer running models to building them and if it performs well and looks good on the pond then it doesn’t matter if there are a few rough edges when it is seen in close up – it is meeting the intention of the builder. Other people prefer the building process and give more attention to workmanship and finish. Of course there are also people who build fantastically detailed models which also perform well with lots of working features but this invariably entails spending huge amounts of time which the majority of people do not have available, either because of other commitments or simply because they don’t want to spend all that time on one activity.

I think it is often true that people do some of their best work when they are younger and have a greater degree of energy and dedication than when they are older. Alex McFadyen reckons his HMS Vanguard built in the early 1980s is of a better standard than his more recent Richelieu. I like to think of myself as a scratch builder and have a couple of unfinished projects in the workshop but all my recent models have been kits as I simply haven’t felt able to give the time that those earlier models need to complete them to a satisfactory standard. In the meantime the kits, although much simpler, plug the gap. So it’s literally whatever floats your boat really.

Colin

[dreadnought72]

Check out the graph! 

Whatever accuracy level you're satisfied with, if the time (cost) amount is on the line, you'll be happy. Unhappiness only stems from aiming for the unachievable given the amount of time (budget), or taking too long (costing too much) to hit the accuracy level you'd be satisfied with.

Finally, 100% accuracy is unachievable, so forget it.

Andy

[html]

I think I am happy with the model I have built until I use them, then I tend to notice little things that are not right and want to change them. My Mountfleet Sealight puffer is a perfect example, I have re-rigged it twice, repainted parts, rewired it once and looking at it a few weeks ago I now do not like where the boat sits on the hatch covers.
I think we all want our models to be the best they can be within our skill constraint, and we will be very critical if something does not look right

[essex2visuvesi]

You could try working to this principle