Monday, February 9, 2009

My Sinanju, motivation, plamo addiction and my girlfriends advice.

Well... I've fallen off the wagon. Again. I bought another model kit today. Spur of the moment. RX-77D mass produced Guncannon for $6.50 US or 600 yen. For that price how could I not!? And it's one of my favourite MS! And it's rare! The thing is... I told myself I wouldn't buy another kit until PG Astray in March because I have enough stuff to work on but... when I saw it I just couldn't resist. It was too good an opportunity to pass up so I bought it. That puts my list of UNOPENED kits up to 6! 4 I bought last year (at the same time no less. Long time readers may remember when I bought HG 1/144 Aegis, Justice, Savior and Infinite Justice close to this time last year), 1 I got for my birthday (HG Zeong) and now this. My blog is appropriately named. I have a problem.

That brings me to my current project. MG MSN-06S Sinanju. Re-colour. I'm working on the legs and I'm doing a little bit each night. Each time I try to do something I notice something that's not quite right. Something that I want to fix... and I do. I have been fixing ALL the little things that have been bothering me about this project and it's taking time. And I'm getting tired. It just seems endless and to be honest... I'm kind of sick of looking at the same things over and over again. It's been about 6-7 weeks now. I think it's time for a change.

So now on to my girlfriend’s advice. I talk about this stuff a lot with her and she listens. She says that the only reason I push so hard is because of the blog and that's kind of true. If I wasn't doing this I probably wouldn't work on my models so often. I wonder. I'm OK with getting this model done eventually but... I just want to do a good job. A thorough one and I feel I'm getting jaded now. Jaded? Maybe just tired. I'm being disgustingly meticulous again. And I'm starting to take short cuts and I'm letting more things go as time goes on. Not a good sign.

She says, "Why don't you make a WIP (work in progress for the uninitiated) area? You can put all the models that are WIP there and just switch it up whenever you want and it doesn't have to be a big deal. You can just pick and choose as you like."

Good idea. She has a lot of those. So I do what she suggests. I re-organized my room. Put away all the kits and parts that I wasn't using. Cleared up space, organized things better. I assembled my Sinanju as it is and put it on another shelf instead of on my table where I can see it all the time. All the hobby magazines, manga, books, literature etc. are all in one spot now. All my sand papers, paints, extra parts, unfinished kits, they're all in another area. Really it makes sense, that’s how things should be, but it wasn't that way for me. It was all just scattered. I mean they were in general areas, but things are much better now. Take a look. This is just my table. But I have basically everything I need right there.


To those of you who have seem my work area before you may notice that the RITZ can with my tools in it looks a bit different now. I covered it up with some manga newspaper. The red crackers tin look just wasn't doing it for me.

To those of you who have never seen my work area before... the speakers are there so I can listen to music while I work (notice the IPod connected to it.) and the little blue storage bins have extra blades, tools, tooth picks, sand paper etc. in them.

In short, I'm retiring my Sinanju project. Well, it's more on hiatus. I'm definitely going to finish it. I'm just not sure when. But that's OK... It will all get done in time. But I'm working on a lot of different things. It's easy to get caught up in it all. Sometimes you have to take a step back and re-evaluate things. I did.

I'm going into the RX-77D project now. Bought new paint for it (Olive Drab. Going straight military on this one, weathering and battle damage included. A first for me.)

I also brought out and re-assembled my G04. Going to start working on that again too (sorry to those of you that have been following my WIP at the Plamo Out There forums. I get distracted easily apparently!) . Even bought some new hands for him. But those cost me almost the same price as the RX-77D itself! wtf. Also bought some extra weapons for this kit. Just because I can. Here's a pic of today's loot.



Need those XBOX points! A new R-Type game just came out! I must have it!

So I'm starting over. Need to start looking at things with new eyes again. Start something new. Or work on something I haven't seen in a while. When I come back to the Sinanju I'll be able to do a better job on it than if I continue the way I am now. Just not that type of a worker I guess! It's seems to be a re-occuring theme in my life.

Now... even though it's not finished yet... to those of you who have been waiting, here is what my re-colour looks like so far. You can get a basic idea of how it's going to look in the end.


I'm calling my Sinanju project "Ebon Enforcer".

That's it! Sorry to those of you who were hoping to see my finished Sinanju soon. You'll see it eventually but it just won't be this season. Probably in the Spring. I hope!

11 comments:

  1. Hi! great work on Shinanju, I think that your gf was right, I'm in similar situation I'm working on 1/144 Overflag, i have 1/144 NG providence lying in a box halfly done cause i just can't get motivated to done it, at the same time I'm designing mods for my MG Impulse AND wanna buy new model - MG Crossbone, I just love the design and can get it with not bad price but I still have doubts. Either way, it's good to take a break. :D

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  2. Every now and then you must take a break.. building and painting a gunpla can be tedious work. good thing your GF is there to back you up. About the sinanju... OMG!! Its fabulous really really love the color scheme! Ebon enforcer is perfect name for your sinanju.

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  3. DUDE DAT LOOKS SICK!!!!!!!!!love da black but i cant tell if its gloss or just flat???

    J-asian1skill

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  4. Oh snap!! It's looking BAD ASS! Sound advice from the GF mate. Don't rush it, take your time. We readers aren't going anywhere, and it's important to not have pangs of regret every time you look at the kit when it's done. Disgusting meticulousness is of merit. Just make sure you distribute your time evenly so that the GF gets her share too!

    Blog is looking great, glad to see you've ironed out the kinks. WIP section is a top idea. Make sure you keep us updated at the Gundam Australia Forum.

    Also, having a back log of kits is not a bad thing. I have over a dozen and it doesn't phase me. It actually gives me time to learn new skills. All in good time.

    A change is as good as a holiday, and organizing your work area is a great move.

    What music do you listen to when you're working on Gunpla? I like to throw some golden era hip hop or an old soul record on myself.

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  5. going through my past experience, I say your girlfriend gave you all the right advice, and you did right by following her.

    I share your thoughts & feeling on wanting to do the best & give your best while working on it. But sometimes pushing yourself too hard may well end up back-firing. To avoid these situations, I now project-hop on my kits; spending time to work on only 1 stage on each kit before swapping to work on another, to keep myself fresh & sharp. And the environment of your workspace places a huge psychological effect on your state of mine when you want to start your gunpla-building. A messy & unkempt workspace will turn you off when you just look at it even just about when you think of starting on something. (I experience this too occasionally) Just have to tidy it up, take a break before starting. And if you feel like working on something, don't hesitate and just do it, everything will go and flow naturally once you start & when you're feeling jaded, stop. That's the best way to prevent yourself from getting a burnt-out.

    hope it helps and good luck on your projects.

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  6. Ya it's always good to take breaks on long projects. In my case, school gets in the way, so I'm always looking forward to having time to do something. And yeah, rotating projects is a good way to get back to working on something you put off previously.

    BTW, what ever happened to those 1/144 HG Seed kits?

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  7. Nice job there!!! I like you color scheme. Man...get me a job in japan and I will build model with you all day & night. LOL.

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  8. Aulon - thanks. MG Crossbone is a good looking kit! I was thinking of getting that one too.

    Gr3 - yeah im lucky to have her for support. she doesnt give me a hard time about my hobby. much. haha btw I'm glad you like the colour scheme I chose!

    J-A1S - neither. It's metalic black. same paint i used on my Impulse. I'll show some better shots of the paint job later. it turned out pretty well for the most part. glad you like it tho!

    Tonzo - dont worry. i put more time into my gf than i do my gundams. safer that way. and less problems. thanks for the advice and i'll be sure to pop by your forums more often. as far as music goes... i think i'll answer that question in a totally seperate post. but i WILL say that our styles are similar :) Also glad you like the look of my Sinanju. When I first got it all together with the paint on I could tell that I had something good on my hands. Just got to work out the details and let my 'meticulousness' work on my side like you said.

    Jacques - I like your method. I'm thinking of doing something similar to you. You make some really good points about the psychological effects of the workspace. thanks for the advice

    Derringer - still in their boxes man! I've been meaning to start them but... haha not yet apparently. Eventually!

    GG - Glad you like it... but it sounds like a job in Japan might not be the healthiest thing for you. You'd definitely be happy tho!

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  9. lol of course it looks nice dats why!!!! =D but u noe if i get dis kit im probably gonna keep it red or paint on a different red if its to light lol

    J-asian1skill

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  10. bb, great post! a restructuring every now and then is always refreshing to oneself. I know how you feel about the Sinanju project and I'm not even putting half as much effort as you are! Still, the project just drags...Project hopping sounds really good right about now.Keep up the meticulous work man! Gunpla should be enjoyed and not work you to death ^^;

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  11. Haha RX-77D good choice there~

    Take your time on your projects - do something new or take a break if you start to feel tired of it. It gives you some new spaces to breath out. Afterall a hobby to me is like something to motivate me to get me going through the hard days, not the other way round. Take it easy and I'm sure you'll get it done beautifully eventually~

    And wow dark scheme with gold craving - that's Ngee Khiong's favourite colour scheme for MS~

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