Modelling mojo and state of mind

[sjp23480]

Social media is a curse - my kids showed me Instagram recently and I have lost count of the hours I have lost just scrolling through a lot of squit (is that allowed?).  

 

I now recognise its not good for my mental health, its full of perfect people living perfect lives.  The worst of it is that these people can earn a fortune producing this rubbish.

 

I for one am going to do myself a favour and do more modelling, now what's happening in WWs!

 

 

Edited February 13 by sjp23480
typo

[NBL]

46 minutes ago, westernviscount said:

I binned facebook some years ago. I never used it for work so it was fairly easy to do. 

 

I also found youtube to have a miserable effect on me but I am learning to use it more carefully.

I agree youtube can be just as bad, it's so easy to get sucked down the wrong rabbit hole.

 

I subscribe to a few channels, some modelling, some cars and some music, the rest I ignore.

[Ben B]

I agree with the point about feeling like I needed permission to do hobbies... when I was on 'stay at home foster-dad duty' for a few years, I had to really justify doing model-making... mainly to myself, I must add. My family is supportive, wife especially, but the voice of negativity in my head is a powerful enemy.  I found it hard to stop housework or DIY tasks, in favour of making things just for me. It helped, picking up a few bits printed in magazines, as I was able to justify time spent building a model or writing stuff, it had an appearance in print and some kind of financial reward at the end of it. Again, in hindsight it was more the voice in my head than my actual family holding the negative attitude, but it was hard to shift the feeling I was wasting time and money whilst everyone else was working hard and earning a proper crust.

 

Ironically, now I'm back in full time work and earning a decent wage, I feel more relaxed about model making. Of course the problem is that I work for the NHS and my 7.5 hours a day technician job has a knack for turning into 11 hour days with no time or energy for hobbies, but thats the price of stupidly joining a dying business that's on its knees after a pandemic, so my own fault ;)

 

Wierdly what's helped is that, whilst I've less time for making stuff outside the job, I've been able to use it as a way of shoe-horning creativity into the role instead. After explaining what I do, my boss let me improvise a workbench in the corner of the lab, and now when I get chance, I'm doing things like creating physical props, fake wounds and things for our training sessions, replacing the existing methods like print-outs and pictures. There's a surprising amount of carry-over of techniques! Who'd have thought the same methods of layered resin-casting we use for making ponds and rivers could be used for making bowls of bloody vomit, for example? :)

[33C]

Pre or post grouping vomit?!

[westernviscount]

4 hours ago, Ben B said:

Again, in hindsight it was more the voice in my head than my actual family holding the negative attitude,

Oh absolutely. I cannot think of a time when anyone has stopped me or frowned upon my hobby except me. 

The nature of one's work certainly does impact the enjoyment of a hobby. The more fulfilling, secure and well paid a job (allowing  for the provision of a normal life with a family) the more fulfilling time away from it will be (in my experience). 

Also, as you allude to, even if a role has value, but one gets the sense that you should be doing more or something different, then that is hard to shift. 

[MattR]

Now that the newly-widened viaduct is in place, which was a major roadblock to progress on the layout, there's no excuses not to get started again on the landscaping. The whole layout's only maybe 1/4 done and I haven't really done much work since August. Hopefully warmer weather on the way will inspire me to get started again. Also the demise of Hatton's will shift my attention away from acquiring stock to doing some real work.

 

Getting the 3D printer for Christmas was a big boost though. Things I had been putting off for dread of trying to scratchbuild accurate buildings are now coming to fruition by using Tinkercad to accurately design them from scratch and them print them as kits for assembly. So far I've done the signal box (finally started painting it last night), Chestwheel Bridge, an accurate version of the viaduct's center support, a condensed low-relief version of the Miller Street terrace and now working on a low-relief version of Brooksbottoms Mill/The Spinnings.  I'm also partly though making up some L&YR-style platform benches and possibly some signal box interior details. The big goods shed will still be built with my usual scratchbuilding method with basswood and embrossed stone sheets, but I can use the 3D printer to design up some accurate windows now.

[Ben B]

5 hours ago, 33C said:

Pre or post grouping vomit?!

Oh, pre-grouping. It's meant to be vomit for an upper-G.I bleed patient, so probably Midland Railway livery is the closest match ;)

 

It's a funny old job!

[33C]

46 minutes ago, Ben B said:

Oh, pre-grouping. It's meant to be vomit for an upper-G.I bleed patient, so probably Midland Railway livery is the closest match ;)

 

It's a funny old job!

Fully lined vom-ilion...?

[Coldgunner]

Posted February 17, 2022

Dad passed away yesterday. Mum went to see him in the morning and he was ok all things considered, he was tired and the nurses put him down for a sleep and he passed away. We're utterly lost. I saw him on Tuesday, and I think my last words were 'I'll see you later'.

 

Heartbroken

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

2 years today, hit me like a ton of bricks and can't think atm. I'll be fine, just sometimes emotions come at you like a John Barnes free kick.

Edited February 16 by Coldgunner

[Blandford1969]

Sorry for your loss

[sjrixon]

On 14/02/2024 at 08:04, Ben B said:

I agree with the point about feeling like I needed permission to do hobbies... when I was on 'stay at home foster-dad duty' for a few years, I had to really justify doing model-making... mainly to myself, I must add. My family is supportive, wife especially, but the voice of negativity in my head is a powerful enemy.  I found it hard to stop housework or DIY tasks, in favour of making things just for me. It helped, picking up a few bits printed in magazines, as I was able to justify time spent building a model or writing stuff, it had an appearance in print and some kind of financial reward at the end of it. Again, in hindsight it was more the voice in my head than my actual family holding the negative attitude, but it was hard to shift the feeling I was wasting time and money whilst everyone else was working hard and earning a proper crust.

 

This is me a lot of the time. I work full time, 2 youngish children, piles of DIY stacking up, so taking time for myself, away from a screen is really hard. 

 

I've started carving out small amounts of time. Rather than convincing myself that 20mins isn't enough time to finish, 20mins is more than enough time to get it started!

[Vistisen]

My snailpace modelling is about to become even slower. At the start of March, I am going to have a double bypass operation.  It looks like it will take a couple  of months before I can do anything strenuous. I am not good with hospitals. The doctors  say that 99% of these operations have no complications...but I can not stop thinking that people do win the lottery even though that is a million times less likely!

[Coldgunner]

I'm sure you'll be fine! Maybe set yourself up a little modelling kit with a tray you can sit on the sofa with :)

 

Also you'll get to binge watch all the railway content online!

[skipepsi]

11 hours ago, Vistisen said:

My snailpace modelling is about to become even slower. At the start of March, I am going to have a double bypass operation.  It looks like it will take a couple  of months before I can do anything strenuous. I am not good with hospitals. The doctors  say that 99% of these operations have no complications...but I can not stop thinking that people do win the lottery even though that is a million times less likely!

I was supposed to have a quadruple bypass in the end I only had a double the rest of my heart is FUBAR.I felt so much better after the cardiac rehab that I did too much heaving concrete blocks around that I had to stop. With help and support you will be surprised what you can achieve.

[Coldgunner]

Had an impulse purchase at Lidl yesterday, picked up the Airfix Spitfire Mk1a kit. Sat all evening building, painting and applying the transfers. I think it came out quite well for brush painting. The only stuff I used that didn't come with the kit were cutters and the micro set transfer setting stuff.

Also I managed to not cloud the canopy with glue.  Quite a satisfying build, does good for the mind.

 

[33C]

Isn't it great to get some modelling done in one evening.

No pressure and something to show for your efforts!

And, a Spitfire too. Still building morale wether watching, hearing or building!

[Phil Bullock]

Nice job. I remember when those came in a plastic bag from Woolworths…. 😀

[MrWolf]

28 minutes ago, Phil Bullock said:

Nice job. I remember when those came in a plastic bag from Woolworths…. 😀

 

Fifty pence for the bagged series one kits from our village newsagents as I recall. I think that they were old stock even then!

[Blandford1969]

How is everyone doing. My mojo has started to take a bit of a hit with my anxiety going up. My company is not in a good way and I am once again leading redundancies which includes sadly senior people as well. At the same time I keep looking for and applying for jobs. However most of the time it would be quicker to throw the email in the bin for the level of response.  My mother in law said I needed to pull my finger out which is great if I were not applying for jobs. I will be honest that I'm scared of the company going under, having no job and not being able to get another.  Ironiclly I've managed to do a bit of modelling, but most of my time seems to be staring into space and just wasting time. 

[Coldgunner]

Depending on what you do, get your name with some agencies, even if temping for a bit it'll bridge the gap until more meaningful employment arrives.

[Blandford1969]

35 minutes ago, Coldgunner said:

Depending on what you do, get your name with some agencies, even if temping for a bit it'll bridge the gap until more meaningful employment arrives.

Thanks I have, I'm Head of HR and some agencies are rubbish but am registered with lots. I had an interview 2 weeks ago and the General Manager turned round and said I had not talked enough about administration. Shows what he thinks. There are just not that many jobs, you apply for lower roles and you are over qualified, higher ones and you have not got the experience as you've not had the job title, you can't go to the public sector becuase they only want people from that sector. It feels like really they think I'm too old. Peeved does not cover it. In the meantime I'm just trying to do everything i can to make the redundancies as fair and human as possible and do things like helping people with cvs and keeping my eyes open for jobs that might suit them. If they weren't decent, nice people it would be easier. To see good people who work for me saying 'am I affected' and I can't answer because we dont yet know is really hard. 

 

But as they say I have to keep going, do my best for everyone and keep my fingers crossed for a breakthrough in a market which is vile. Sorry for the ramble. 

[cctransuk]

3 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

Fifty pence for the bagged series one kits from our village newsagents as I recall. I think that they were old stock even then!

 

Originally 2/- (10p).

 

CJI.

[33C]

1 hour ago, Blandford1969 said:

but most of my time seems to be staring into space and just wasting time. 

We do a lot of this. You have the right qualifications. Join the railway!

[Coldgunner]

Reminds me of the night shift I spent assembling a Roundhouse Billy chassis.

[john new]

On 22/02/2024 at 02:13, skipepsi said:

I was supposed to have a quadruple bypass in the end I only had a double the rest of my heart is FUBAR.I felt so much better after the cardiac rehab that I did too much heaving concrete blocks around that I had to stop. With help and support you will be surprised what you can achieve.

Had a quad back in 2007. Takes a while but you get there in the end.