I was working on my project of the Sd. Kfz. 9 Famo from Tamiya.
And yet again I found as I was working on the project and everything that I just had not the time needed to do everything I needed/wanted to do.
How do you fit all your scale modeling in your schedule of the week?
Because I’m struggling a lot with finding time to spend on the hobby.
I’m dependent on the weather, because I can’t do a lot in this time when it is 25 degrees celsius or more.
Because of all the sweating that happens and not being able to open windows and things for good ventilation.
And when I finally think that I have managed to finally find reliable times to actually work on the modeling.
Something else gets in the way of that.
It really frustrates me.
Please share your experiences to maybe inspire me.
Im retired . I have plenty of time. I work in a semi finished basement, with heat and AC. A little dark but I have good l e d lamps.
You are so lucky to have AC and heating.
I have only heating.
I wish I had AC as well, that would be a huge help with everything.
Unfortunately that will not happen for many years.
I’m retired and I still don’t do as much as I like.My sessions are usually short, I try to grab 15-30 min sessions here and there between other things.Once in awhile I have 1-2 sessions, but those are rare.
Perhaps late night before bed, less TV, early morning wake up. I really don’t know your circumstances.
Well, I have to work for most of the time 5 days a week.
And on most of my days I have not enough time in my afternoons.
Just one and a half hour, that isn’t enough for starting a session.
Also my evenings are very tight with time, because I have to get up on time for my work.
To get on my work on time, that isn’t always easy either.
I’m also needing a lot of sleep.
Usually the only day I can find to really work on my projects is on Saturday.
But with summer here, it isn’t possible most of the time because the temperatures are to high for me.
And the time windows in the morning tend to be to short to work properly on my projects.
I also have a lot of other hobby’s that I want to do, which I also struggle for to find reliable blocks of time to do.
Hi Tony. Ill have alot of time on my hands . I scheduled for knee replacement in Sept so Ill have recovery time to work on some. but your right there is never enough time ! How are you doing ?
Do you have a window, Maybe a window AC ? Or concidered one of those portable AC units ? Ive even seen a small table top AC unit adverised on TV, I cant see how they work, but might be worth a look ? Finding the time is always hard . When my kids were younger I never had time or something in the house had to be repaired , or work ! good luck , it gets easier !
Yeah that’s tough,only so much time.Choices need to be made about other hobbies.
I have a aircooler that brings some cooling on those hot summer days.
But I’m finding tat it doesn’t work better when it gets hotter and hotter.
And with high humidity it doesn’t help much.
It would help to see that more scale modelers are having the same problems to deal with.
And how they are dealing with them.
I’m trying to systemize things, plan in advance, work things out and print them on paper to make things easier and faster a next time.
But I just keep struggling with finding the time needed for everything.
And I’m feeling that I at least need to do once a week on scale modeling, otherwise I get worse with it.
And I might even lose the skills and knowledge required.
That is my worst nightmare, that I lose the hobby and my skills and knowledge.
Because I love the hobby and I want to keep it going whatever the cost might be.
That might be it, tuff choices to make.
Stop other hobby’s to make room and create time for others that needs it more.
Look into a mini split ductless AC system. Little to no installation required. They come in a large variety of sizes.
I feel your pain. I am married, work full time 5 or 6 days a week and I have multiple interests and hobbies outside of modelling.
I tend to do most of my modelling on the weekend, either very early before the wife wakes up (so in the 0600 - 0830 range) and later in the evening once she has gone to bed or is catching up on her shows (2100 onwards). This also helps with the environmental stuff as those times of days are cooler.
The other thing I do is I factor in the lack of time into my project. I know that a capital ship will take me 1+ years, a tank will take me a month etc. With that in mind, the slow pace doesn’t effect me as much. I also plan my builds around what’s in the instructions. If I know something will have a ton of PE, or pre-assemblies then I wont start it until I know I have a window big enough to accomplish the task. That way it cuts down on frustration at leaving things half built.
That’s a big thing for me too. If I know I only have 30 mins I’ll work on a small sub-assembly and leave bigger stuff till I have a few hours. That way you can still make progress every every if you only get 15-30 mins.
I also find it helpful to use time you have maybe during a commute or something to plan the next stage in your head. That way when you do get some time you have a road map thought out and you don’t waste precious time getting supplies together or planning
Working at a golf course ( 7am-3pm) has been taking up a chunk of my modeling time (Dont get me wrong I love golf and I love working there) also having gotten my second Covie shot Ive been going out and hanging out with friends. (and the girlfriend)
But Ive still been able to find some modeling time! Amazingly its been raining here in T or C for three days so Ive had off work (Cant Golf when its raining 
) so I have had some quality bench time.
Back on topic I feel pretty lucky as I will usually wind up with 1-2 hours a day to do some modeling.
I’m so happy to read your reply.
Because I’m exactly recognizing my own situation in yours.
Most of the time Saturday is the only day in the week I manage to get enough time together to get into my model making hobby.
And most of the time, I’m spending my whole Saturday from the early morning until the end of the afternoon.
Scale modeling in the evening doesn’t work for me, since I’m an morning person.
Thanks for replying and I’m glad that you did. Now I know I’m not the only person having this problem.
Not possible since we are hiring a house from a housing corporation.
And my parents are saying things like airconditioning is to expensive to purchase and keep working.
When I’m having a own place to live, I’m planning to purchase airconditioning.
In fact that is probably the first thing I’m purchasing.
But that time hasn’t come yet, so what you are suggesting is still a beautifull dream that is not coming true anytime soon.
How or you suggesting to do these plannings?
Because I’m not that good at planning in advance.
What I’m trying is to work things out on my tablet, such as procedures for airbrushing and printing them out.
And then just take them with me everytime I’m doing something common.
To save me time.
And I’m planning on doing things in advance, such as premix my paints for use in the airbrush.
But everytime, there seems to get something into the way.
And those things are diverse.
Very curious to find your planning ideas out.
Thanks for your reply. I’m glad you did, I’m not the only one. 
That is still a lot more then I have on a daily basis.
You are lucky. 
I don’t really do it in a formal way. But I’ll think to myself, okay I might have 30 mins to build, what tasks do I have to do that I can get done in that time? What tools will I need for that job? Any paints? Etc. Then I’ll gather my supplies, and the Sprues I need and get to work.
I also find this gets faster then more you build as you’ll have a better idea of how long a task might take
Sounds similair to the approaches I’m trying to formalize.
But thanks for sharing anyways.