What is your plan for getting better?

Modeling friend Jim Bates has been a boon to my modeling.  He pushes and challenges me, and I do the same to him.  We frequently (daily) talk modeling.  His recent discussion with his modeling friend Tim Nelson, whom I met in Chattanooga at the Nationals, has had a profound effect on me.

Many of us put off doing the projects we want to do until we “get better”  Tim challenged Jim with “so what is your plan to get better?”  It is a great question, and a profound one.  The answer can be, “well I plan to model more.”  That is ok, but it really doesn’t reach the core of the question.  What is you plan for getting better in those areas you want to improve so that you can build what you want to build.

Naturally this entails both risk and failure. The risk of doing things outside your comfort zone, and the inevitable result that you will fail.  This is something that we, as humans, are naturally adverse to.  We are risk adverse.  It is bred into us and is a very useful survival instinct.

However, because it is so deeply ingrained in us, it effects areas where its Darwinian usefulness is not applicable, such as in a hobby, such as modeling.  Thus in order to get better in modeling, we have to fight tens of thousands of years of instinct.

Thus, we have to do more than just “model more. We have to have a plan.  What do you want to build?  What skills do you want to develop.  What can you plan to build that will help you get there?  Are you willing to accept that your initial efforts may be subpar?

We are coming up on the new year.  I am sure every reader will be happy to see 2020 in the rear view mirror.  However, I challenge myself and each of you….what is your plan to get better?  Make a plan.  I am starting to.  More on that in the future.

AScaleCanadianTV Ep.21

Episode 21 is out.

This is my shocked face. No, really.

Canada has apparently decided that it still needs a navy.  The RCN is apparently going to buy 15 frigates.  I half expected that when reading the article I was going to find that they were buying ex-USN WWI 4 stackers. (Only Jim Bates will get that joke.)

Civilian pilots at Pearl Harbor

Anyone who has seen Tora! Tora! Tora! knows that there was a civilian aircraft flying at the time of the Peral Harbor attack. What I didn’t know, at least until I talked to Jim Bates recently, was that there were a number of civilian aircraft aloft, and not all survived.  A really good article here.

AScaleCanadianTV episode 19

The new episode is out.  It took Jim Bates to long to give us all an update, but it is here now.  Enjoy.

Modeling Website

Yoav Efreti is a modeler whose work has appeared in Scale Aircraft Modeling.  He concentrates on 72nd scale aircraft, mostly Israeli.  He has started a new website, Yoavation.  Go take a look. (h/t to Jim Bates for the pointer)

AScaleCanadianTV

Episode 17 is out.

Falling down the rabbit hole

Talking with Jim Bates the other day, we were discussing the latest Starfighter Decals sheet for the B-25.  This led into a discussion of the new Airfix B-25B kit and which Doolittle Raider each of us wished to model.  One of the crewmen on one of the planes was from Kentucky, and I’ve known this for years because there is a historical marker in Elizabethtown, KY near the courthouse.  I’ve passed that marker a number of times and always thought I’d want to build the aircraft that he crewed.

That crewman, George Larkin, Jr. was a member of crew #10, and flew on aircraft 40-2250.  While this aircraft isn’t one of the more colorful Doolittle Raiders, as it doesn’t have any unique nose art or unique markings, there are several good photos of the aircraft, showing its weathered appearance at the time of the raid.  There are several great websites regarding the Doolittle Raiders with lots of great photos.

Since the DK Decals sheet allows you to do most of the Doolittle Raiders, but not 40-2250, I think I can use the sheet and piece together the tail numbers I need.

Jim, I blame you for this post.

AScaleCanadianTV Ep. 16

The latest episode is out. Go check it out.

An interesting modeling blog

Militarymodelers.com.  They do something that the old MMP magazine used to do, which is builds of models out of the box with no paint or filler.  This will be a great resource for someone building a kit once the site gets more content up. (h/t to Jim Bates for the pointer)