Modelling "mojo"

[andyram]

In a number of threads on this site I have heard talk of the return of, or lack of the modelling "mojo". It has got me thinking. Just what is it that inspires us to model - and therefore gets the creative juices (or mojo) flowing? How many of us on here are benefitting from it right now, and how many of us are sadly lacking some?

 Right now I definitely think I am falling into the latter category. Despite an empty baseboard and a basic idea in my head I have done no physical modelling for quite some time. My last, and only completed project, was "finished" nearly three years ago, and apart from basic additions to, and maintenance of, this layout I have done no new modelling.

 

 Just where does that desire to get started really come from?

[traction]

I know exactly what you mean there Andy!

 

In June's BRM you can see my Aqueduct layout, that has not been touched for months, although it's further on than in the following link!

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/54859-a-large-aqueduct/?p=662255

 

Where as in the last couple of months I've built the little N-gauge layout!

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/98047-so-youre-going-to-buy-a-train-set/?p=1847556

 

So I've lost my 'mojo' then it returned after buying a N-gauge train set with a clear idea of what I wanted to do.

I'm now doing some more work on the Aqueduct layout after progressing with the N-gauge one so well.

I suppose I'm lucky in that I know if I get a plan in my head I need to build it do it, finish it ASAP or it will be left and never finished.

Hence why I like the small type layouts and follow plans, from others.

The Aqueduct layout all started with building the huge Aqueduct, luckily Paul Lunn saw it and could instantly reference it to a real location with a bit of tweaking, otherwise that would have all been scrapped long ago!

 

Bonkers or what!

 

Cheers

 

Ian

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

....my modelling mojo is directly linked to what else is going on and being able to leave a workbench set up ready for action. Having an excellent reference shelf allows me to be continually researching/constantly motivated by that which attracts me to the hobby. Poor weather, which limits our outdoor activities usually means a boost for modelling activity too. Warm sunny weather means outings/trips etc and little or no modelling.

 

Dave

[airwimp075]

For me, as cheesy as it may sound, rmweb inspires me to do that next little project when i see someones inspiring work, and once im rolling, theres little to stop me... that was until monday when i went to play trains to admire my handy work with some trains pootling past when my DCC system decided not to turn on and still wont. So now ive thrown my toys out of the pram ... for now atleast anyway. Hopefully it wont be long until im inspired again so keep up the good work one and all

So, in summary, for me failures beyond my control seriously knock my mojo.

Jason

[ukpepsi]

Hi Andy,

 

What an interesting thread, and one not often discussed, even between friends.

 

For me, the things that cause me to lack the motivation & get in the way of actually modelling, are the day to day trivia of living.

 

Did I have a bad week at work, (when I finally do get back into work) how tired am I after my commute home.

 

Looking for a job and not finding anything even remotely suitable. Getting a rejection email from the only half decent job advert in over a month. Recruiters promising to call back and not bothering

 

The wife complaining that I’ve been home all day and haven’t done anything (that includes disappearing into the loft/man cave, to actually do some modelling when I do find the mojo to do any).

 

Have the neighbours’ dogs been barking all day or have their little brats, sorry little darlings, been screaming blue murder all afternoon.

 

Generally, everything and anything that can cause the black cloud of depression to loom overhead.

 

What inspires me is being amongst people who still have their modelling mojo. That is why I still go to exhibitions, read the postings of the people on RMWeb or any of the other blogs I visit. Essentially the folk out “there” modelling and then writing about it. Keep up the good work chaps and chapesses on the interweb, you keep those of us who have temporarily misplaced our modelling mojo going through the difficult times.

 

Pepsi

[andyram]

Have to agree there. Without doubt the demands of daily living and working can take time and energy away from modelling. After a long day at work I am often too tired to start any modelling. As a teacher I often have work to go in the evening anyway. In the holidays the duties of being a husband and father take precedent.

 

That all being said, my last real concerted spell of modelling came in 2012 when I planned, built and completed a 4ft x 1 ft micro layouts not just nine months. This was during my daughter's first year do it proves it can be done. Right now I probably have more spare time than then. I have plans in my head for an extension to the above layout and a new similar sized model. But nothing has been done because that mystical mojo is missing. Why I do not know!

[Mark Forrest]

I find my modelling mojo comes and goes. Sometimes it takes a deadline (more often than not an exhibition) to focus my attention. Sometimes I feel guilty for not modelling when I could, but then I remind myself, it's a hobby, I'm doing it for fun.

For me it is the sense of achievement on completing something better than I've previously been able to do that encourages me. Often coming back from an exhibition can encourage me to dust off a project from the back of the workbench, but equally a night down the pub with the rest of the BCB crew can have the same effect.

[Zomboid]

It affects everything for me, I'll go through a phase when only music will satisfy, or when only computer gaming will satisfy... No activity is safe from lack of motivation at various times. I don't think about it, I just do whichever thing it is that is shouting loudest at the time. I find looking at other people's achievements both inspiring and demoralising; some of what's on show here demonstrates what can be achieved, but on the other hand I'm very inexperienced and instead of hands I have 2 left feet, particularly when it comes to painting, so it can be a bit demoralising in an "I could never do that" kind of way. Try to focus on the positive, but how successful that is is rather mood based.

 

Then there's general lethargy of getting home after work and not really feeling like doing anything, which is easy to give in to but I try not to.

[bgman]

It affects everything for me, I'll go through a phase when only music will satisfy, or when only computer gaming will satisfy... No activity is safe from lack of motivation at various times. I don't think about it, I just do whichever thing it is that is shouting loudest at the time. I find looking at other people's achievements both inspiring and demoralising; some of what's on show here demonstrates what can be achieved, but on the other hand I'm very inexperienced and instead of hands I have 2 left feet, particularly when it comes to painting, so it can be a bit demoralising in an "I could never do that" kind of way. Try to focus on the positive, but how successful that is is rather mood based.

 

Then there's general lethargy of getting home after work and not really feeling like doing anything, which is easy to give in to but I try not to.

Right then.......

As you have probably realised....You Are Not Alone !

What are your best attributes?

What gives you the most pleasure?

We all have other interests I'm sure, and they can take over depending upon our moods or feelings and motivation.

I noticed in another thread you say you're a member of a club ?

Do you feel that you are able to approach another member who can offer advice or help dare suggest paint a model for or with you ?

I for one am extremely self critical and yet have others tell me what I produce is to a good standard ( I'm happy give them free specsaver vouchers if they want them! ).

Joking apart, you are in the right place in this excellent parish of RMWeb and I hope that others who read your thread will give you similar positive help advice.......after all, that's surely why we've joined !

 

Go for what you're happiest with and do your best eh?

 

As always ....... HAPPY MODELLING

[CKPR]

Try modelling something completely different once in a while  - I've maintained my teenage interest in military modelling  and building a Tamiya or Italeri AFV out of the box is often more straightforward than many modelling jobs in our field.

[Broadway Clive]

You know yourself better than anyone else does so you need to understand the "hooks" that really pull you in, and concentrate on those. For instance, I love fleet lists, so an Excel sheet  detailing stock, allocations and maintenance, always encourages me to get on with locos, and rolling stock, both road and rail. For big tasks I find it helps to write down a programme of works. Being able to record each step of progress is a good way to stop enthusiasm lagging over long time scales. But there's no obligation to always do the same hobby if other "hooks" beckon, and a temporary or permanent break is maybe what you need !

[New Haven Neil]

My mojo is dead.  Completely missing, has been for about three years really, but I have no idea why.  Even my beloved garden railway hasn't had a train for months. 

 

I have a half built US layout I have lost interest in, a collection of southern region stock I want to build a layout for, but no layout building energy!  It's not a no-train interest thing, I'm an active volunteer in safety critical roles at a local NG Railway, work 4 days (semi retirement|) at a dealer in OO and G scale, and.....when I come home I just can't get motivated.  I have a 3 day weekend every week, reasonable funds, and no modelling action.

 

I suppose it started when I had some rather gruesome hip surgery that took 6 months to get back to work (pre retirement) from, but it's not too bad now although I don't sleep well, perhaps that is the problem, after work or household duties my batteries are flat. Can I be 17 again please?  Or 30 would be OK.  I'd settle for 40......everything fell off after then!

[APOLLO]

I too have done next to nowt for the last few months - but I run trains for at least a few minutes most nights. I'm getting to like operating rather than building, having said that most of my major works are complete, the little outstanding jobs will last for ever - if and when I get round to starting them again.

 

Nothing new, happens most years. Perhaps it's a good thing for all of us to "give it a break" from time to time.

 

Brit15

[bridee]

my mojo is pretty constant a love of the real thing is the thing that drives mine even to the point of looking out of a carriage window and thinking s*it I need one of those !!!!!

[jukebox]

I think the other thing about "modelling mojo" is that is has inertia.

 

I stopped work overnight on my home layout for 18 months immediately post separation, as I was not sure I'd be able to retain the home that housed the layout.  I actually did not even enter the room the layout was in for over 12 months.

 

Once it became clearer I would be able to stay put, I started on a few small tasks off layout (wagon kit building), and eventually got into some small tasks on the layout itself. Once that routine was in place, the mojo started to come back, but it was a slow process.

 

So my advice is to not force yourself to return, but dabble in some things you can see through to the end.  Eventually, the desire to get back in to it will find you.

[Poggy1165]

My mojo vanishes for months at a time. Sometimes I reach the stage when I think (quite sincerely) that I should give up the hobby altogether. But eventually, given time, the mojo comes back. I suspect that if I did sell up, I should eventually find myself pining, and starting up all over again.

 

My latest plan is to take a leaf from the book of Larry Goddard and simplify, simplify and simplify. I will likely be headed back to the original conception of a simple branch terminus, with fewer engines and far fewer wagons. I have come to think that 'less is more.'

[richard brown]

I find at time my mojo goes for a walk but I find having many hobbys a good idea so when 1 thing lost my interest I find something else to keep my interested i also have many projects on the go. but I find when my modelling mojo has gone looking on here help and going to shows. I think the key is to have many things i can do available and being able to play trains helps as well 

 

Richard

[rob D2]

It doesn't go away often.

I have now achieved tight focus on what I want, and more appropriately what I need to have...

 

And a visit to Moorswater yesterday helped

[LizzieLean]

I often lose my mojo,then i read an article in the modelling press and it seems to return or go to my club and hear what other projects members are doing.Roger

[PaulRhB]

 I'm an active volunteer in safety critical roles at a local NG Railway, work 4 days (semi retirement|) at a dealer in OO and G scale, and.....when I come home I just can't get motivated. 

I found that when modelling was a job, I enjoyed it but just wanted to do something different in my time after doing it all day so I had no models to show for all the effort just a nice pay cheque. I have several railway interests, and a couple of other model RC interests, so I tend to flit between them and deadlines tend to get me back on the next thing due to be exhibited

I find the regular contact with friends having an evening at the pub, round playing trains or inspiration on here get me psyched up onto a project again.

I think sometimes our expectations are greater than we think we can achieve so our confidence takes a knock, I then just decide to blunder on in and improve it once the skills match the ambition

[Jongudmund]

There's something in the 'if it's your job then you stop loving it so much' posts that I can relate to. I used to write a lot for fun - mainly short stories - and then I got a job as a staff writer where I had to write about all kinds of stuff during the day. Last thing I want to do in an evening is sit down in front of a computer and write.I can imagine working in the model 'industry' would hamper your personal enjoyment of it.

 

I find I get distracted by other things and then re-find my enthusiasm. Of course then model railways are distracting me from other things I think it's normal.

[Captain Kernow]

I know exactly why my modelling mojo has sunk without trace for the last several months, almost the longest period ever for me, but it doesn't really help in terms of trying to rekindle it.

[47137]

Supposing railway modelling is a technical toy enhanced with some artistry, then mojo can come from getting the proportions of art and science "just right". I'd like to draw a parallel with driving a car, on the occasion when you reach an unfamiliar bend and get it perfect - call it art bounded by science.

 

In the early days in the hobby there is pleasure from setting out the train set and watching it work, and perhaps adding some temporary details like model buildings or cars. Later, you might move on to something more permanent, try flexi track, model a river or a road. Or you might upgrade the wheels on a train or make some track by hand or build an automatic control system.

 

But throughout your modelling career, there is always satisfaction in seeing a balance in your achievements. Today I set my Hornby class 153 on my new layout, and for the first time I watched a RTR model of a train I have actually travelled on traverse some track I made. A few weeks ago, I controlled the points on my layout from my mobile phone. Both things which individually will be of no consequence to many other modellers, but which were new to me, extended my experience, kept the balance - and fired me up.

 

- Richard.

[bgman]

I know exactly why my modelling mojo has sunk without trace for the last several months, almost the longest period ever for me, but it doesn't really help in terms of trying to rekindle it.

Have a pound of sausages!

It'll either do one thing or another ..........

[rob D2]

Relax, take it easy...it's not a race....

My plank looks like taking two years in total and that's abou the length of concentration I have.

 

I think it helps that it's not a vast project and I can stop building buildings and do some stock to ring the changes often