If you remain a perfectionist and don't do anything about it, you'll still have that kit lying on the shelf three years from now

Nowadays, sales channels have expanded through mail-order and other channels, and garage kit figures are easily and readily available to everyone. I think there are more than a few people who would like to try building/painting garage kits because of the quality of their modeling.

Think about it for a minute. If a garage kit of your favorite anime or video game character with a shape you like so much were to go on sale... whether or not you could assemble and paint it yourself, the price, and other such issues would be trivial, and you would buy it anyway.

When it actually arrives, you excitedly open the box, look at the blank, disparate parts, and think

"Huh? Can I really do this myself?"

Is it really safe for someone who has no experience with even plastic models to start working on a kit that costs several tens of thousands of yen each? It is not strange for someone who has no experience in plastic modeling to feel "Is it really safe? It is quite normal.

Some time ago I was asked for advice like this.

'I'm afraid to start working on my kit because I'm afraid I'll mess it up, so you'll have to coach me.'

This is not the only time we have had this type of consultation. It has happened several times in the past. I certainly understand the feeling.

And to those people, I have given the best advice I can. Those were people who had already done some of the work themselves.

However, those who have not yet assembled and painted a garage kit by themselves at all do not understand the following points.

• What is the difference from plastic models?

• What kind of equipment, paints and materials are needed?

• How much does it cost to prepare the equipment?

• How do you remove the paint if you make a mistake?

• Is it necessary to completely glue the parts together when completing the model?

• Is temporary assembly done with masking tape?

People often make irrational choices to avoid anxiety, fear, or loss for things they cannot do or have never done. This is the psychology known as prospect theory.

It is not rational to choose to put something on the shelf and not touch it at all because you don't want to ruin the kit you bought, even though you have acquired the knowledge and the tools.

Think back to what you bought the kit and prepared it for. It's for your own enjoyment, right? Then wouldn't it be a waste if you don't work with your hands?

It is true that if you ruin a kit that costs several tens of thousands of yen per piece, it will be a big shock to you, and it is very likely that you will not do garage kits any more! and there is a great possibility that you will have a hard trauma. You have probably already bought an airbrush and a paint booth.

But think about it. Did the painters who seem to be making very good work for everyone to see now, have they been good at assembling and painting from the beginning?

Of course it can't be. Everyone paints skin tone too dark by mistake at first, paints clothes in the wrong color, spends too much time masking, sprays surfacers on the wrong places, spends tens of hours eye painting but the focus is not right or the lines are wobbly, breaks parts during dry fit.... broke parts, put too much Cyanon and parts didn't fit, cut what them thought was a hot water outlet and it turned out to be a necessary dowel....

Through their many failures, they have identified their weak points, and in the process of trying out new kits, they have further refined their strong points and overcome their weak points.

It doesn't matter if you give up, just get started.

┃If you don't start anything, tomorrow, the next day, next year, the year after that, years from now, your kit will still be sitting on the shelf

The fact that we have to tell perfectionists here is that no one can make something perfect from the beginning without any experience. Inputting knowledge alone does not mean that the kit will be assembled and painted on its own. It is only by working with your own hands that the kit can become your own unique finished product.

People who are good at painting today did not start out as good as they are today; they have acquired their current skills and techniques through long experience. How could you possibly get that tomorrow?

I think everyone understands that it is impossible for a young employee who has just joined a company as a new graduate and has no idea what is right and left to try to hit the same level of sales as a veteran employee who has been with the company for 20 years and understands everything that he or she can cover.

So, all you have to do is learn the procedures and actually do the work, even if it is a little at a time. If you don't do it, you will stay where you are.

A person who starts working with the mindset that it doesn't have to be perfect from the beginning will learn more and more work procedures and become better and better at painting.

After a year, that person may have improved enough to be able to do the job. What about you, then, who did not touch anything?

┃If you work at it as practice, you'll see that perfectionism doesn't make sense.

Are you afraid of ruining the kit you wanted the best? Well, of course, I understand that feeling.

Then, you might want to practice with the second or third best kit.

It may sound insistent, but even if you understand the assembly procedure and painting method, nothing will start without actually moving your hands. There are too many things you cannot understand without actually doing it.

Nowadays, methods can be found in all kinds of media, such as videos, blogs, and reference books, but they still do not cover all working information. If it is a video, they cut out the parts that are not necessary, and if it is a magazine, they only focus on the parts where everyone will surely stumble.

What do you do when you stumble in areas where those predecessors did not have a guide? Do you give up and throw it away there, or do you keep going without giving up? Many senior painters have hit such a wall many times. This is in an era when there are no such careful guides available today.

The necessary process for problem solving is to use your imagination or ask others. But if you cannot ask others, you have to use your imagination to the fullest to find similar cases or repeat verification. But I believe that the problem-solving skills you gain through this process will be very useful for your later modeling hobby.

If there is no one else you can ask, you can ask me. If it helps, buy me a cup of coffee or something haha

https://ko-fi.com/sukimasangyo

There has never been an easier time to complete a garage kit on your own than there is today. There are many reference materials available, and many of them are free. However, conversely, if things don't go according to those materials, they stop working...and I think there are many such people.

As I wrote at the beginning of this article, people tend to fear or hesitate about what they don't know. But you can't even complete a single garage kit if you don't realize you're not doing anything.

Others can only offer advice. You are the one who actually does the work.

We can think about it later, let's aim to complete one unit first.

┃Is it perfectionism that's keeping your hands from moving? Maybe it's a lack of dopamine?

A little digression here.

As I wrote in a recent article, today we have an unusually large amount of information and can easily obtain the information we want. There is a reason why I wrote “getting away from social media,” and that is because these are things that easily secrete dopamine and are also extremely addictive and addictive.

Dopamine is one of the brain chemicals involved in motivation and concentration, and when properly secreted, it leads to increased motivation and positive thinking. But the trouble is that this dopamine is secreted no matter what makes you feel good, so you end up looking at X post endlessly and losing time.

Just looking at your phone is enough to make you feel good, so you stop producing dopamine in the tasks and work that should be releasing dopamine, and you end up not doing them because they are a pain in the ass, or maybe another time....

Put your hand on your heart and think about it. How many times have you been in a situation like this, where the work you needed to do never got done and you lingered and looked at your phone, especially X...?

When you think of addiction, the first thing that comes to mind might be alcohol. But social media and looking at your phone also release dopamine, and these things keep you on your toes and prevent you from focusing on other tasks and work that needs to be done.

That is why I wrote that people who want to concentrate on their work should throw their phones in another room or put them on airplane mode. This kind of dependence on smartphones and social media is easy to happen because we don't have a goal in mind, but it seems that people who have a goal from the beginning and who are busy are less likely to fall into this trap.

If this is the case, then consciously setting goals and keeping busy is better for your health and brain, and may even lead to an improvement in your life.

┃First, complete one unit, and then identify areas for improvement in the next session.

So much for digressions.

If you are truly a perfectionist and can't get a handle on it, you have to lower the bar and practice with kits that are lower on your list of priorities first. I'll say it again and again, no matter how many videos, texts, and references you watch, if you don't move your hands, there are so many things you will never know.

So, the first goal should be to complete one of them. Once that is done, identify points for improvement in this finished product.

• Is the surface treatment (removal of dividing lines) done well, and are there any leftovers or overshavings?

• Which tools would be useful for the next making?

• Was the mold release agent removed properly?

• Was the paint density and color scheme appropriate?

• How well did we bring out the charm of the character and modeling?

• How many views did we get by posting on social media such as X?

• Did I take good photos?

• etc...

If you have read this far, you already know what I am going to say.

Let your hands do the work, you can think about it later.

This is what I mean.