How Long Did It take You???

[Andym]

In another thread on this site, the conversation turned to how long it takes some of us to finish a model. So let's have a contest...

[B]WHAT'S THE LONGEST YOU'VE GONE BETWEEN THE TIME YOU STARTED A MODEL AND THE TIME YOU FINISHED IT?[/B]

Here are the rules...

(1) You can define "finished" however you want. The end date was when you decided the model looked the way you wanted it to look and you didn't need or want to do anything else to it

(2) The start date is the date when you opened the box

(3) If the piece still isn't done, but you are still working on it how long has it been since you started... ("working on it" means it's still on your bench and/or you've spent at least one hour on it in the last six months).

Scoring will be as follows...

0 points earned - Started and completed in the same month of the same year. [I](You aren't bulding models, you are manufacturing them!)[/I]

10 points earned - Started and completed in the same calendar year. [I](You either don't have a job, don't have a spouse or you aren't building a Pocher.)[/I]

50 points earned - You or your significant other had a baby between the time you started and the time you finished [I](500 bonus points if you were working on the model WHILE you or your significant other had a baby. 5,000 bonus point if you were working on the model while you CONCEIVED the baby)[/I]

100 points earned - Your youngest child was in diapers when you started and was potty trained when you finished [I](1,000 bonus points if you never changed a signle diaper during the time you worked on the model)[/I]

500 points earned - The person who was President of the United States when you finished the piece is not the same person who was President when you started. (1,000,000 bonus points if at any time during the build YOU were President of the United States. 5,000,000 bonus points if the guy who was POTUS when you started also signed the Constitution.)

1000 points earned - The person who was President of the United States when you finished is not the same person who was POTUS when you started and first guy served two full terms.

2500 points earned - When you started the model you changed your kid's diapers and by the time you finished, your kids were changing YOUR diapers.

OK... So who's got the highest score???? I'll start.

Both my 1931 Rolls-Royce and my 1932 Alfa Romeo required 19 months.

Andym currently in the lead with 10 points.

[ScaleMotorcars]

Dont know... Still have several unfinished.... So far 5 years and counting... P';,[p

I know, not good. Ill go back to the corner and start building again.

Just note as the owner of SMC Im not eligible for the contest.

[jarrow]

I have a radio control tug that I started in 1987 and is sitting 70% complete but I will never finish it. I have a Dumas 1930 24' Chris-Craft Runabout kit that I started in 1991 and only has a few detail parts left to be put on. As much as I like to model, life always gets in the way.

[Andym]

SMC - I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assumed that at some point in your life you have completed at least one model. How long did that one take. And since I'm in charge of all of this and make all the rules, I declare you eligible.

Jarrow - I think I see your problem there buddy. That comment at the end about "life getting in the way" That is no excuse. We all make choices in our lives. I chose to have no life. All of this yammering on about "raising children" and "earning a living" is nothing more than a weak excuse AND DON'T THINK I DON'T SEE RIGHT THROUGH IT MISTER!

Look at me... I have no life and no friends and i've completed four models in this decade alone! Now tell your boss to shove it, give your kids a kiss, get that Mountain Dew IV in one arm and that catheter plugged in and GET BUSY!

(Geeze... Being the moral conscience around here is exhausting!)

By the way... First prize is $5000.00 cash.

(Hey XKEN, can I borrow $5000.00 cash)

[ScaleMotorcars]

As for the ones I still have. The Pocher Alfa took about 6 months. Its in dire need of repair since the move and I havent gotten back to it.

[Andym]

OK - it's getting really exciting folks. SMC and Andym are in a tie for the lead at 10 points each.

[ScaleMotorcars]

$5000.00 cash, that will keep the lights on for years. I cant wait... Im sure to win...

By the way, how long is this contest running?

[Andym]

Until XKEN comes up with the $5,000 I guess.

[Don Garrett]

Okay Andy,
I'll bite.
I have more unfinished projects than I care to remember.
Some I still have on the bench....some got cannibalized for parts, some I gave to folks that wanted them, some wound up in the trash can and others I just flat lost interest in.
I rationalize (in my mind) that they were just practice to develop my skills, yeah, sounds like B.S. I know.

Anyhow, 63 now, retired and time is still my gremlin.
TDR , honey do lists, grand-babies and full size stuff take a priority over my personal models.

I have a few that will get finished eventually but the worst one is my ultimate goal.....
when I was in my teens (have trouble remembering back that far) I had a major brain fart.

I wanted to totally scratch build a 1/6th scale dual cowl, boat tailed Duesenberg type car of my own design that would have been a car suitable for Clark Gable, Mae West etc.
Everything (within reason) functional right down to the grease fittings and valve stem caps.
Hand hammered brass body, real leather upholstery, scale mohair headliner...well it just goes on and on from there.
How far did it get you ask? Bought sheet brass, and gathered up stuff over the years. Even got some hard wood to shape the hammering bucks from.

All that junk is in drawers, closets and even a couple of parts on the bench....does it qualify as an entry?
If by some twist of fate I happen to win the 5k.......divide it equally between all the SMC members.

[Andym]

Don - Build it! You know what they say... Believing is seeing!

I look at the work of folks like the late, great Auggie Hiscano and Gerald Wingrove and think how wonderful it would be to be able to build those kinds of pieces. Then I realize that these are mere mortals using the same kinds of tools that I use and there's no good reason i couldn't do that too. You're never too young so get out that brass, smooth out those bucks and make something that Mae West would have been proud to ride in.

Now my builds don't look nearly as nice as Auggie's or Gerald's, but I have to figure that they built stuff that looked like mine at some point in their career and I ain't dead yet so I've still got a chance. So give me one good reason why you couldn't design and build that Duesenberg?

Well you ain't dead yet so get building.

Andy.

P.S. If you ARE in fact dead the, first - my condolences on your passing and, second - somebody stole your password and logged onto this site posing as you. Just thought you'd like to know.

[Nortley]

I have a pile of kits from the last decade of the last century that are in the swiss army knife stage. When I was travelling to work and essentially living out of a sea bag, I'd take a model and cement, an xacto knife, some sandpaper, and my swiss army knife. The object was to produce paintable subassemblies with minimum baggage. Most of those paintable subassemblies remain so.

[hot ford coupe]

I've still got my first Deuce kit undone. I guess I've been in experimentation too long. I'm still totalling up points.

[strevo]

My second deuce kit was intended to be finished as a 'Boydster II' style rod. I started it when I was 14 and it's not done yet. Although I have to admit I haven't done anything on it in the last 5-10 years. I've been working on my 1/8 Testarossa engine for a few years now getting in an hour here or there to work on it every so often. I've got an entire closet full of the requisite half-started kits abandoned for a new project with all intentions to return to them eventually. With the speed that I work, at this point I'm going to have to live for a loooooong time to get them all done.
-Steve

[Andym]

OK... so here's what we need to do folks. All of you that have half-finished kits need to get together and combine efforts. I figure two half-finished kits glued together makes for a finished piece.

Except if two people with kits that are each 3/4's done get together then we're still going to have half a kit left over. Good Lord this may never end.

OK - new contest... Who has spent the most time getting their kit half finished. Same rules as before, point totals are now cut in half..

Get it??? Cut in HALF!!!! Thank you... Thank you very much. I'm here all week.

[Rick]

I'm in.........

**Pocher RR, engine assembly started two years ago, probably got a month into it. Put it back in the box when I got a Pocher Mercedes.

**Pocher Mercedes, engine assembled and painted (about two months work so far)sixteen months ago but still needs to be detailed. Haven't made any more progress.

** Riva Aqua Marine 1970 Italian Runabout. Frames assembled one year ago. Currently sitting on the shelf. One month work so far.

** Willys Coupe. In progress build for over three years.

** Willys Woody. Same as above.

** Deuce roadster. Same as above.

** Turtle Deck T. Just a fun build for the contest. Built with an MF body and parts box stuff. Less than twenty hours so far.

** Autograph 1/12 Ferrari GTO engine kit, several Pocher engine kits and several Scale Details accessory kits sitting on the shelf for eight years.