Really hits home for me. I think what drives procrastination is mostly the fear of making a mistake(s) and ruining a kit (in this day and age it means wasting money that's getting scarcer, especially on a hobby). It also goes beyond kits to building a layout in the first place. Practice, practice, practice. Learning and overcoming failure is one of life's greatest lessons and gifts. And it kind of goes with your refurbishing video. You can always go back and try to correct mistakes on something you might otherwise relegate to a box or the trash can. Thanks for the great advice and encouragement.

Doug, what great advice. I have found that I am improving with each kit I build. The videos of Jason Jensen are a real inspiration for techniques, methods, andtips. I have gone back to my earlier constructions, and used tips from Jason, and the result is vastly improved. Thank you for the inspiration, and keep modelling. Cheers, and keep safe, Michael

Excellent advice and so true. Out of curiosity, the beautiful Emporium Seafood "built up" that you show, who built it?

Zero kits on my workbench. Train show this weekend. Hope to find a bunch of kits. Great advice. Thanks for sharing.

Great video Doug, I still have my first kit I built as a reminder where it all started. Now that I am building the massive layout, I will have room for some of those unbuilt kits. Thanks again for such a great video!

Kits that aren’t very good make great background buildings. Some of my plastic kits were hacked into pieces and became one-of-a-kind background flats.

My first stick kit was the Q&TL water tank by.... Evergreen, I think. It might have well been one of George's big yellow box kits. It was rather daunting & yes, it had a serious case of gaposis. It took another 3 before I got it right. It turned out great! Then the cat laid on it. Built up the Campbell models produce shed. He left that one alone.😁

Great video and great advice! I've recently ventured into scale plastic modeling (planes) and have been taking the approach you recommended...building kits to learn modeling techniques. In this case, I have about 10 ancient plastic kits that are 'junk' by today's production standards, but I'm building them one at a time in an effort to learn new modeling techniques with each kit built. I'm trying to build them to high standards but not worried that they are not competition standard builds because I'm learning from them. I just finished a 1969 Revell P-51 Mustang kit tonight. Looks like crap but I learned several new techniques in the process, thus it was a successful build.

What great advice. I still buy cheap rolling stock and building kits just to working on ideas. I've learn more from making the mistakes than from building models. Being in a train store I will say building kits is a dying art and that is too bad. I personally enjoy it, but so many entering the hobby now a days want instant gratification. We can't keep the build kits in stock while some great kits sit on the shelves. I've always said building a layout is a journey not a job so enjoy it. I've watched so many great builders on KZfaq that I get inspired all the time. I just wish more would get inspired and understand it is all in the details and building kits is a great way to truly understand the hobby. Thank you for another great inspiration video. Now lets go build those kits everyone.

I greatly appreciate the advice, I last worked on HO structure kits a year ago on the payroll of a family acquaintance and I wouldn't trade the experiance for the world but with those months of experience I've found that I've gotten to a point of petrification with that higher standard after practice. I desperately want to get back in the swing of things yet have so many avenues to improve on being more knowledgeable and doing extensive research, yet I come to that same conclusion that no progress can be made without simply doing and likewise I now feel reassured with this candid video, thank you kindly!

Thank you so much for this video. Even though I've screwed up many kits and my own diy custom builds, I still get that "I'm going to mess this up". Not even when it comes to just this, but also my other hobbies like watercolor. I design/draw a beautiful scene...but then I put off painting it because I don't want to mess up. I've been doing all of this, plus painting and making custom wood furniture and home decor...I STILL THINK I'M GOING TO RUIN SOMETHING and it makes me stall and it takes me forever just to get started. My husband, family and customers are always saying they love my projects and their purchases... of course I am my own worst enemy and I think everything I make sucks because I can see the flaws... apparently no one else can 😤😮‍💨 so thank you for the confidence and push to get all my unfinished stuff finished and the new stuff STARTED. Don't think about how you're going to mess something up. I did realize over the years that thinking I'm going to mess up while building a kit or painting a beautiful picture, I will mess up somehow. If I don't think about that and just have fun. It comes out so much better. I usually just try to tell myself, "this is for fun. If you mess up, you mess up. Just restart it. Your painting doesn't have to be gallery worthy." I do all this for fun, or at least that's why I started it. Lately it's been stressing me out more and more because of my thoughts. So aggravating. Going to take out my stuff today (once my husband wakes up and can take care of our child) and do a project! 😊

I'm worried about Doug. How he's going to top Axle Road and Flat Iron - I have no idea! I got to the point where I'm doing them both at the same time which gives you a way to partion out paint time, assemble time, detail time, etc.on the parts your in the mood for. Trust me on this: rent a movie you know well enough, so you dont' have to watch every second, then casually watch it while you do the kit. THIS IS NATURAL PROZAC!

You are so right on how much time wasted online. I have been weathering locos and rolling stock. Improving with each one. I only watch model RR videos, like yours, and pass over all the other vids. I now have so much more time for the hobby. Get on Facebook, wish those a happy birthday that day and get the hell off. I also built a craftsman kit with the extra time. I’m old and remember life before the net. I miss it but also love how the net has brought us together. We just have to find that balance of time management. Thanks for the video Doug and always waiting for your next appearance on a podcast. 😉

If it's money, start with an old Tyco plastic building. You'll find out they can even be built into something interesting. Next, watch You Tube. Jason Jenson Trains is one of the best and you can learn a ton from him. I started doing better, much better watching the Wiley's. They even for awhile had those that wanted to. Buy the same kit and built them together. That's where I learned the most. One of my projects from 2020, when you were supposed to stay home. Picked up someone else's build, glue everywhere it wasn't supposed to be, gaps, crooked walls. I took it apart and rebuilt it. That was FUN.

Very good video. Thank you for sharing. I have told Jason after some of his builds, I wish your kits were produced in N scale.

Perfect explanation for all of us that procrastinate on that kit(s) that I (we) don’t build because we let the cost get in the way of building it(so we don’t screw it up)…thanks for the K.I.S.S. kick in the ass…

Great vid Doug, you’re absolutely right on point. Indeed the worst kit is an unbuilt one. If only for the foregone practice. Definitely will get to the ones I’ve put in the closet. Even though my forte is scratch building. To exercise I prefer to use discarded material, household stuff, by taking a glance, second look, often a third inspiration comes along, which I take to be my prompt for either a glueing, building or painting experiment. Will be interesting to approach kit building in the very same manner. Cheerio

Great video and advice Doug! Now that I'm retired.... I can make mistakes full time. Getting quite a few of my stash built but new kits keep catching my eye! Oh well.

When I got back into model railroading and model building from the 1980s as a kid... it took me a few models of today before my archive memory of tips and trick kicked back in. Great Video advice.

Thanks Doug, It did hit home for me I need to get started 🐾🚂.

I am currently working on a craftsman kit and already repaired my first mistake the floor didn’t line up properly with the beams so I slowly split it apart and put it back together correctly.

Your advice about not being afraid to make mistakes and screw up is so vary encouraging. It's too easy to think that the modelers featured in videos and magazines just routinely build flawless models that dazzle (and overwhelm) novices like myself. OK, no more beating myself up over a paint flub-up or a glue smudge.

Sage advice, Doug. What's kept many unbuilts on my shelves was starting to build for clients. I feel guilty sticking one of mine in when someone is waiting for me to get to their next one. But I do it anyway.

Gotta say another thing here. I very well remember the first time I bought one of your kits to take advantage of the free kit promotion. AAAGGHH! No instructions! You actually saw my root beer stand (I sent you a picture). Took me a week to figure it out. Then I built some more of your kits, and some other ones too. What I learned from all that building is how to take a pile of basswood and turn it into the intended product. I got an old Campbell kit at the West Springfield train show for a big fat $25, and it's a pile of wood in a box. There are excellent instructions and elevations included, but it won't be hard. I'll send you a picture when I get it built.

I’ve been using my feet this whole time! What was I thinking! Seriously though, thanks for this, I need to just get back to building and not worrying about mistakes. 🚂🤘🏼

Just build it, sure have learned by doing.

I make my own ho scale utility poles i take photos of real poles,they really make a railroad layouts come alive ,i don't know the particular wires do but it helps makes a better model, start off with a few poles that hadn't come out that good,then in time because poles made of wood and metal cross arm brackets fine strings for wire,tubes too make tranformers,the complexity is key ,i even made special kinds of poles you can't buy as a kit.You make a a great point, keep at it,and they call you the renaissance man LOL great video. 👍

GREAT advice Doug! I’m building my unbuilt kits as fast as I can, LOL.

I’ve been building RR Modrls since I was about 10 years old. My dad loved model building. His thing was square rigger ships… but he knew enough to teach me a few things. I am now 61. I’ll admit more time has been spent collecting kits than building… my excuse 15 moves in 51 years. That said I did keep building, and thanks to dad a lot of my early kits were saved. Covid was a God send for my modeling. I also suffered a leg injury at same time kept me planted in one spot building models for 2 years😂. Needless to say I got better. And whike dad did save a tone of my early models, 50 years in storage and things start to fall apart. Model airplane glue of 1970’s vintage seems to have about a 30 year life expectancy. It spawned a new idea. I had a brewery I built with my dad when I was 10, it got misplaced in highschool so I rebuilt it then. And I found it again in 2020 both versions. And there was still about 1/3 missing. Thank you eBay. Apparently no one collects old tyco kits. Becouse there it was in opened on eBay for $20.00 I grabbed it. Stripped both of the old kits down and rebuilt it a little of dads work, a little of highschool med work and today work to blend all the pieces together and to make it look like one build. It’s cool. Yah I can build wood craftsman kits, but there is something about taking a 40-50 year old piece of fragile dusty kit breaking apart at the seems and rebuilding it. Sometimes redoing it to the building you had in mind as a 10 year old, other times to make it look new and different. It’s litterally a life time if memories

After much cussing and swearing I completed a Tichy Train Group flatcar. I followed the directions to the tee and wished I hadn't. After installing the stirrups in a previous step I ended up breaking every one of them off while trying to install the extra added bronze phosphor grab irons. If you ever build this kit make sure to install the stirrups as the very LAST step. I did make some stirrups out of staples from a desktop stapler that were the correct size for the HO flatcar. I ended up spending as much time chasing small parts across the floor as I did assembling the model, LOL! After I completed the assembly I painted the whole underside rail brown and hand painted each board on the deck a different shade of brown to grey brown mixing the acrylic paint in a little plastic communion cup as I went along. It came out looking very realistic. I wanted to build this kit as I'd seen another video of a modeler building this kit and it had great brake detail under the car (which no one will ever see). Cheers from eastern TN

Doug, first of all you can’t watch too many funny cat videos. Ever. Second, this was the best model railroad or model building tip put out on KZfaq!

Great advice for many of us whom have such “ worst kit”.. practice builds of just fifteen minutes usually turns into an hour.. yep, get building..

Thank You for the inspiration Doug!

Your premise doesn't go far enough. Building by scratch requires more thought and imagination than following the instruction page from a kit. It's satisfying to turn blank sheets of basswood, balsa or plastic, or castoff food containers, to create miniature versions of reality. My first encounter with scratch-building was a coal bunker from the November 1964 issue of Model Railroader. It was an inspiration. Soon after that, I was building structures that I saw along railroad tracks in my hometown. These novel buildings had sentiments that no kit-made structure can ever replicate. A good example is a large backyard barn that became a playhouse for me and my buddies when we were kids. Try producing memories from a kit. Sure, I had setbacks. An open-air sawmill by Jack Work in Model Railroader in 1968 was beyond my skills. But his techniques taught me how to build projects in the future. One kit I bought was very disappointing: a Suydam grain elevator made of actual corrugated metal. It turned out to be horrible. For the money I spent on that kit, I could have built two or three grain elevators, each with a distinct style. If scratch-building is daunting, try kit-bashing. I once turned an Athearn blue-box boxcar into a transfer caboose. Kit-bashing inexpensive discards is a lot more fun than kit-building. One point worth underscoring: Kits are exorbitantly expensive. Can you populate an entire city at these costs? A scratch-builder can. Jobs and family needs kept me away from the hobby. Now that I'm retired, it's time to get off my armchair. I can afford scratch-building.

No space for my unbuilt kits. I bought too many of them.

What an inspirational video. Thank you. (Wish you produced S scale kits!)

Hi Doug, I am Pastor Randy Bourque and I just watched this video and I would like you to know that out of the hundreds of videos that I have watch on all the various KZfaq channels THIS HANDS DOWN IS THE BEST MOST INFORMATIVE VIDEO EVER PRODUCED ON KZfaq. Blessing for putting it out. I live in Canada and would love to buy your models for my diorama's and would love to join your club I hope that some time you will give us Canadian's the same opportunity that you give the people who live in the USA. Again thank you for this video. Blessing Pastor Randy Bourque Calgary, Alberta Canada

You screwed up some kits? Hard to believe looking at the current stuff. After doing lots of Walthers and DPM kits I built a few JL Innovative kits followed by a few of your small kits. The KOM subscription is a great idea because they are easier "craftsman" kits that require the same weathering and painting techniques as the big kits. You have my gratitude for my skill level. There's this pile of LaBelle wood kits and Funaro and Camerlengo resin kits that visit my dreams at night.....

Sage advice, great video!

Great advice, but I’d rather make my rookie mistakes on a $9 Life-Like than a $500 FSM. 😂

I live in an apartment.....no more room for model's.... I do all my modeling in Blender now .....takes up a lot less space....just need a USB memory stick to store them....

Great video Doug! Man you got that right!

👍👍Great advice, totally 100% agree, the more you build the less crappy they get! Thanks for reminding me, as well of that🚂🚂.

If you want a great model building, buy two of them. The second one will always be better.

Thanks Doug for share the video , very helpful and motivate for start building the structures. Cesar

Great Video - could not agree more. Just build it!!! Thanks for posting this

My 'excuse' is I hate painting LOL. Not so much the walls and such, but all the detail painting, and having to spray paint (rattle can and air brush) primer and such. I get walls braced, painted, maybe get signs put on, but then slag off at any detail painting stage.

I Haven’t Bought Any to Build yet and Haven’t found The Right one yet.

Well, Im stuck at painting. Like, I do enjoy building ( I have more unpainted scale models, than painted at this point). And reason is - I expect something that I just cant make at my skill level. I want to make the tank or truck as good as "seen in magazine/youtube/instagram". But I understand that It will come later on. Still, I have not yet overcame this obsticle. But I will, as there is some considerable stash already In my closet. Anyhow - thanks 😌

I, literally, just ordered my very first kit..

Amen! Preach it brother!

Great video!

Im a otr truck driver, well 21 years as a freight train conductor....I'm still building locomotives, freight cars in my truck...well I'm a Brasilian modeler so I don't own anything factory painted....I have lots of Walther's grain elevators and products from Brasil but they are to big to build in a semi truck....

You played around with some of those Russian kits SHEESH that’s top of my list. Kirbi is always enjoyable auhagen noch faller bush and yes even walthers have been a reasonable digestion by yes there are real dooseys but scale model scenery does run a sharp Operation but fair warning you may need a sharper blade. Hope you get a chance to take a peep at some of my content and see you in the next one.

My procrastination is about space and travel. Don’t want to do buildings because I am very afraid of the destruction a cross country move will have on them, and I don’t have anyone to give them too if I just build them fun.

And if it’s a kit you really like but really mess it up, if it’s still in production you learn from it and that’s your trial run. You can then buy another and do it again better for the keeper

bingo.

That background noise takes away from your presentation.

CLICKBAIT - while this is an informative video about the progression of modeling skills - it does NOTHING to identify the "worst scale model" or direct the viewer away from poor products. Your channel is generally very helpful. Please - stick to accurate video titles.