The Little World

I mean the faffing about that you do in between builds.

The tidying up of the workshop and the sharpening of tools. The filling of thinner bottles and the tossing out of dried-up paint. The time when you blow down the air compressor tank and then have to wash the floor. When you vacuum up the styrene dust.

I find it necessary to clean more than the workbench – I need to clear my mind of one project before starting fairly on the next. And the previous build has to be entirely done or it saps concentration.

I used to do parallel builds with three on the go, and it was eventually a nightmare. Even though things did get finished and spun out the door, the job always seemed to be going on and on. It is much better now I take things one at a time. Sure, there may be periods waiting for items to set or dry, but the mind is much more concentrated on the project.

Perhaps the most productive pottering is the research on the net for the next build. Even if your kit will be build straight out of the box, the original of the model wasn’t. There were variations everywhere and you can personalise something that thousands of others have built.

Note you can spend days stirring and refreshing paint pots.