RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

Janet,
Sometimes projects get ignored or put aside because of other things in your life that come up that are more important. Right now I've got a vacation trip coming up and a very busy week at work when I get back, so my current project will sit for 3-4 weeks until I can get back to it.
Motivation to finish a project for me comes with having the "next" one ready at hand. My shop is too small for multiple projects, so I have to finish one before I can start another. Right now I have the box with my next project sitting where I can see it. Having it there is motivation to finish what's on the bench. Good luck.

papermache

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

Thanks Fubar. I found a place that sells pre-cut rings, in just about every size and material available, even neoprene rings!! www.theringlord.com

Aluminum is sweet, easy to work with, light, and comes in many [anodized]colours.

I'm currently making a hauberk, 3/8" ID 14awg Stainless steel rings..

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

OK -- whats the status after all the good words from the guys? your lucky-- my habit, model building took a vacation for a few years as I started restoring antique automobiles. made lots of new friends and a couple of $$. now back into the model airplanes and having fun again- design my own plans of antique aircraft, build giant planes, try to fly them, what more could a 80 year old man do ?. its all a matter of mind. latest project attached. dick

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

Here's my 2 cents worth....

First, though, let me set the stage. I work, I commute, I'm married, I have 4 kids, I mountainbike and I build and fly R/C. So I don't exactly have a lot of time.

I have to find ways (whenever possible) to do things in 10-15 minute "bits". Well, the only time I get to build is when the kids are in bed so I'm pretty tired. I make a point of putting 1 part on or completing one task each evening. I might be something as small as a couple of wing ribs or laminating a firewall. The point is, though, the project bit-by-bit gets done, and the unpleasant jobs are broken down into digestable parts.

For example, I have a GP Ultimate Bipe I'm building. I've been working on it for 7 months now, and it's (finally) at the covering stage. Well, I hate covering. So last night my 1 task was putting a piece of covering on the bottom of the lower wing. Tonight I'll do the other side and over the weekend the top of the wing. The top wing is done, so by Monday the wings'll be covered. Eventually, I'm going to finish. The point is just to keep taking steps forward even if they are small.

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

Thanks for the link! Got that puppy fav'd. I Haven't worked in anything but galvanized steel but that aluminum sounds interesting.

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

So Janet, are 'ya building that plane again, or what? Did you go and get something to fly in the meantime? Janet............ Janet, are you out there?

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

Hey.... I didnt realize we all get this sometimes, Thank You ALL for responding.. Seriously I think cleaning the table is a way to begin..and yes, i do have too many kits, i should probably hide them... Now, who wants to clean?..lol

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

Clean? No thanks! I can't keep my OWN shop clean. ;)
Dennis-

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

Janet:
I replied earlier and here is the link to what I have been stuck on for over a year. My answer in this post was based on this.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/Fina...1914644/tm.htm

I am not sure how to quote another thread, so this might not be working.

Now I guess I better go clean up the shop and go get stuck on something else. (No pun intended)

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

janet, i read this thread and this is exactly what i'm going through.

the aircraft i am building from plans is so labor intensive , that i just
get boged down and lose interest .

I WILL NEVER!! build a plane from plans again. its kits all the way
for me.

this will be a two year project, easy

HAWKER TYPHOON CRAZY

its supposed to be fun!!!!!!


dan

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

sorry about your minor problem. treat it like one. go to the other project that was on hold-- like a nice trip to Florida or Quebec. hobbies are like a work-- after awhile its a pain in the --- . difference, your paying for the hobby. dick

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

Thanks, I have FLA on the schedule . I think what happens to me is well..its kind of weird..in a way as you said its intensive ya know?..and then I get stuck because I dont want to go through the hard parts..and then the dust begins, and its like...I wish I had a magic wand... its a terrible cycle sometimes. And this is only a guillows kit BTW....a fairchild..and its build by number so yes maybe it bores me. ... I think in part because I dont have a flight system in mind and I have been back and forth so many times with conversion to rc on such a small plane and it all seems so difficult.. I dont want it rubber power, and I dont want to make it and crash it either because i did that with some bad advice...NOT HERE Mind you...and overloaded a Guillows Lancer with a heavy Motor and watched it dive first time free flight w/ a homemade battery pack and motor that was way too heavy. I guess I dont get it all. Probably never will...Gosh.. I sometimes feel i need an engineeering course. I am fond of the small planes though and I am reluctant to go larger . Heelp!!! ;)re: building from plans... too much for me, never will try..to each his own, i just wouldnt have the patience.

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

so whats NEW? we all have been thru that routine-- in fact i"m in one right now, myself. got too shut off the computor get get back to the REAL world. lately its 6 hours of RCU, per day, and zero drawing plans and building, have forgotten what flying is. Just have to shake off the Blahs and get with it-- can't make mistakes when your not doing anything-- dick

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

Janet;
Build it as a lovely idsplay model, then.....
Since you have already experimented with the Lancer (great little rubber powered plane BTW) try "just whipping something up" like a foam glider with a home-made battery, and bigger electric motor, ect. I know it sounds a little silly, but make it crappy on purpose, and then just go try to fly it, you won't be heart broken if it crashes, or doesn't fly too well. Then take that experience, and look at what worked and what didn't, and go from there. Make it a challenge, but a fun challenge. You can do it!
Also remember, there is no time limit, no deadlines here.

Jetts

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

Janet, your last post told the tale... There is another post here that I answered so I'll keep it short. A lot of people will procrastinate when they are not sure of what they are doing or if they are afraid of making a mistake. Iv'e done it myself. Some kind of sub-consious thing I think.
The Gullows kits are neat. I built a little P-51 but it ended up being a table model. I have some suggestions for you. I have built 3 .40 Midwest kits and all are pretty good kits, good plans, instructions and are easy to build. (The instructions are wrong about the balance point though, balance it on the front edge of the wing spar).
The smaller the plane the harder it will be to see and fly. Here is a combo I fly and love it... Midwest Aerostar .40, Fox .40 engine, Futaba PCM 6 channel radio. ( about $500 for everything)Take out most of the dihedral, be sure to twist some washout into the wing when you are covering it, make the elevator wider cord-wise, scrap the wire mains and install hardwood rails inside the fuse and use the aluminum gear with larger wheels if you plan to fly off grass. Use a spinner that reaches across the engine compartment and shape the nose to it, Put as big a tank in it as will fit. make the tank cover removeable, also install a cover under the engine and shape it to the spinner as well, to reduce drag. My .40 will out run a .46 on a plane with a shorter wing. I believe its because of the aerodynamic shaping I did to the nose. Also, I made my wing a bolt on wing because Iv'e had problems with rubber bands. I did all this on my second one, the first one flew great after changing the CG but I wanted something a little hotter.
If you really want to fly a little plane, there are mini reciver/servo/motor/speed controller/battery combos at the hobby shops for less than $200. Check out www.towerhobbies.com. There are little planes there and suggested equipment for them.
If you have never flown R/C before, join a club and get an instructor to help you on a buddy box. Good luck and welcome to the hobby. James

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

That solution is one of the best. And it dont work just for kit building, but any kind of work. Especially me, as a student, when i have hard time motivating myself to study and get some late homework done, i just tidy up abit. Silly things like throwing away notes i dont need, categorizing the onces i have, getting a brand new unused notebook or a new pen. Silly as it might seems, there is nothing like a clean desk, a brand new tube of CA, etc.

Must be a strange thing in our brains that, once clean and tidy, makes us wanna get to work and make it all a mess again :).

RE: Ever Get Stuck?
 

JanetC,

Don't think too much over building the little planes as a lot of us like them too. I build them from time to time for the fun of it and to hang. Our club president got to talking about building them one day, and now 3 of us are going to build one and bring them out to the field to test fly, etc. It looks like we will probably have fun tinkering with them and learning from the prez, as he is a real oldtimer with rubber powered planes.

I looked on ebay last week, and there are a lot of Comet rubber powered kits for pretty good prices. Those were the best. They always looked great, and the plans had a lot of help printed on them. Simple designs that worked well. Comets were much better and more fun to build than Guillows.

Rubber powered planes can fly well and for long periods if you trim them right and fly them in the right conditions. They are small enough to sit anywhere when you want to look at them.

Motivation? I don't know what works with me. I think maybe it is thinking over the 'chore' of building them, then realizing it really isn't that big of a chore if I attack the project and see it to the end. I think about flying the planes a lot and that sometimes gets me over the hump.