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Hi, All!

Having been thinking a fair bit to myself about how I can Motivate myself, or otherwise Encourage or Help myself, to get things completed rather than leaving them in a half-finished state. I decided that the problem, and therein the reason that things are left half-finished, is because I often tackle too many things at once, or tackle too big a problem. Obviously, this can be quite off-putting and intimidating, and so it only slows things further.

I wondered, then, how you Motivate yourself to get things done? Do you have a specific Method, or a Rule? I'm considering multiple options, but with a little Trial-and-Error, I've hit upon one which I think I like.

So, whenever I order-in a Boxed Set, I would take it out, remove the parts and clean them up, get together the parts for a Single Miniature, and put them in a Money Bag, the ones you deposit Coins in at a Bank. I'd do this for all of the Miniatures in the Boxed Set, until there were only Bits left, and those would be added to my Bits Box. This way, I can lift one Money Bag, and focus solely on that Miniature alone, with the rest stored out of sight and out of reach.

What do you think? Do you like my suggestion, do you have an addition or change to suggest yourself, or do you have something completely different to help with Completion of Models?

Thanks,

Martin
A.k.a. Popsicle

That's almost exactly what I do when I have a squad to assemble and paint.

It still takes a bit of self discipline to stop yourself wandering off to another project though, hence why I've got 8 or 9 things on the go at present.

It's a nice idea, I just arrange myself into I'll mix between minor projects to stop myself getting bored.

Painting too many of the same miniature can drive a man insane ! And that is Why I mix things up.

Your method sounds good, I like it. When painting Ork Trukks i start with the bottom and work up to the more excting parts above so i carry on painting and don't get bored.


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Same with tanks.

I tend to switch between periods of great enthusiasm and interest and periods where I don't feel like doing anything. For me, splitting up the models of a unit would not work, since I generally work on at least five models at once. I play skaven, so my units are big. ^^
That means that I prime all my models at once, then paint all of one colour, working up into details on all at once. This also makes things interesting as you notice the subtle differences between the models that you might otherwise miss.
I'd say I motivate myself by being strict. I have to finish this project before I can do any of the other things I want to do. I also feel really guilty if I've bought models that aren't assembled, so that again pushes me to finish my current project.

Hi Popsicle,
That's a good idea, I do something a little like that. See, I get excited when the model is visibly nearing completion, so doing 20 at a time bores me to tears. Listening to podcasts I enjoy on my computer helps a lot. But anyways, yes, doing 1 at a time from time to time re-energizes me, as I get the quicker gratification of watching it progress. I'm guessing you are talking 40K? I think boring or not you almost have to paint 20 at a time when you do Fantasy Battles:(

Be well, be blessed!
--- Frankie

Yeah, at the moment, I'm talking solely about Warhammer 40,000. I might find my way into Fantasy when, if the rumours are true, O&G get an Update. I wish Skull Pass was still around; all those Goblins, gone into the land of OOP, unreachable, lost forever to the Warp and the Immaterium. (Oh, wait, that's 40k, isn't it? )

Anyway, back on point; thanks for the Replies so far. I'm actually trying out the good ol' Production Line System right now, as you can see on my blog (link in signature, shameless self promotion, bla bla bla)

I tend to pick up one 'project' a month and look to get that finished to a standard I'm happy with before I buy something else. With the best of intentions, there always seems to be some overlap, though.

I started a blog to help keep me on track. Update later today!

Link: http://thewarpainter.blogspot.com/

I generally go by units, though none of my units are bigger than 10 models, and the more intricate the figures, the fewer models are in that unit, generally. (Chaos Daemons ftw)

I use the "I've bought something new!" rush to push me into the assembling of a model, and then my dislike of plastic sitting around on my desk will make me prime it. This is where it gets difficult, and is why I have an entire legal 1500 army, with about 4 models painted, but everything primed.

So, in an effort to make my in-depth fluff on my "Daemons of Shadow" army not sound like an excuse to leave my army primed black , I've been focusing on one of my favourite units, the old Seeker models, and concentrating on painting them, though I'm somewhat stuck on finding a cold skintone that doesn't look dead (to the testers!). I print out tutorials on effects I want to try and blu-tac them up on the wall behind my painting desk, as a sort of incentive to get to the point where I can do so, and I keep the Seekers on the table and everything else off it. This is so I feel vaguely guilty everytime I look at the desk and I haven't done anything . I paint them all with one colour on my wet palette, then neaten them all up, next colour, etc.

However, I don't know if I can recommend these techniques, as currently I've managed to basecoat the skin Codex Grey and neaten up the lines with Chaos Black.. and they've been sitting on my desk for six months. And I just recently stripped two of them who were painted in last year's go at painting them so they would match my changed colour scheme.

It really would be nice to play with a painted army though.

I buy em, assemble em prime em, paint em. Buy em, assemble em prime em p... you get the picture. Its hard man tho, it helps to have a girlfriend who likes computer games. she plays you paint, after a few weeks you get them done.

just do this:

Put one together, paint it.

Don't move onto another squad until your done.

that is, don't paint or even try to do another one.

that way, your forced to paint them so that they are fieldable.

It worked for me at first, but then I started having fun with it with conversions and drybrushing as such.

I suck at painting. My results are perfectly acceptable tabletop quality, I mean I suck at doing it. I do models of the same type in batches of half a dozen or so. I assumed it to be the best middle-ground between the speed of batch painting and the individualization and expedited gratification of painting a single model.

I have no problem assembling models. I clip all pieces of one type (arms in one pile, heads in another, tiny bits over there, etc.), clean them, and set them aside. This process takes a while, but I seem more inclined to clean and build than I am to paint. If I have the bits for a full model, they seem to find themselves glued together rather quickly.

I have managed to convince myself not to buy any more models until I've painted everything up. Doesn't hurt that I can't afford them, either...

More responses, more methods! I guess everybody has their own, individual way that works for them. A little trial and error ought to find the best for me. As it stands, the Assembly Line is working quite well. I've just got to be careful to limit how many I lay out at a time, because otherwise - as I've said - it's hard to focus, and hard to dedicate time to Modelling.

Thanks for the Replies, guys. It's helped me, quite a bit, to realise that everybody has their unique way of coping with Piles of Plastic, Metal and Resin.

You could always try the Somethingawful Oath Thread over on SA: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3257636 (of course you need an account there to post, but SA is huge and an account is worth every penny)

Every month people oath to paint units based on that month's requirement - this month it's troops, next month is elites, etc. When you have a couple dozen other people posting their oaths and updates it can really motivate you to paint - that's how I've basically painted 1500 points of Guard in 6 months!

If you do go over, just let them know that SRM sent ya