# What Are Your Abandoned Unfinished Builds?



## Dave in RI (Jun 28, 2009)

Do you have a model build that you never finished? It could be for any reason like you lost interest, or perhaps you got another kit you wanted badly and put aside the half-built kit, thinking you'll get back to it after and you never did. Maybe you got bogged down in hyper-detailing, or perhaps too many things went wrong and the model got beyond saving. 

I have an abandoned movie Enterprise from Star Trek VI. Back around 1993 I got it for a steal ($2.95!) and had plans to make a lit TMP-smoothie style Enterprise out of it. I purchased the Starfleet Assembly Manual which details exactly how to accurize and light the kit. I bought fiber optic and other lighting materials along with frisket paper and made my own aztek templates for painting. I even made a custom base to house the electronics for all the lighting circuitry.

I guess for me I got bogged down dealing with creating the electronics for the lighting. I got so far as smoothing out the exterior of the kit and getting the saucer section finished. The problem was I would put the project away for a while when it became too tedious and when I got back to it, it just seemed like an insurmountable task to complete. I would take it out less and less, meanwhile other kits (re: simpler to build) started to take prescedent. The last time I worked on it was 1995. Since then it has stayed on the top shelf of a utility closet. I don't know why I held onto it as I'm sure I'll never finish it.


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## GordonMitchell (Feb 12, 2009)

funnily enough I have the same model and its in the same way with part assembled sub assemblies,I bought a detail set from Lunar Models with all sorts of correction pieces and extra details like the observation lounge,and yes my box is full of electronics to light it up,I also have a light and sound Enterprise with the stand and secondary hull only built,Excelsior,Enterprise B,C and D in sub assembly stages also,mis placed the decals for Excelsior and B will buy them at some stage in the near future(if I get round to it:loland a future Enterprise conversion set with a D to go with it unstarted,and those are for starters,the real space stuff and figure kits,and yes I am like you all still buying and starting and not finishing most of them,I keep going back to them but for some reason the Star Trek kits have been left behind,having said that I am extremely keen to get started on the Original series Enterprise which I will finish as this ship was always the one for me to quote a famous engineer "no bloody A,B or C"
cheers,Gordon:thumbsup:


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## drmcoy (Nov 18, 2004)

i'm still plugging away at the Black Pearl pirate ship model -- got the primary hull and deck detail done, but doing all the string rigging has been torture...but it is not abandoned, simply taking a lot longer than normal. i can complete about one bit of rigging and then i have to move on to something else.

my goal is to get it done within the next 2 years, which, at the pace i'm going, is reasonable.


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## WOI (Jun 28, 2012)

I am still working on my kits and you don't hear me crying about
not getting them finished,an artiste takes the right amount of
time to bring their creations to life.

Anyone who says that they can't finish their abandoned unfinished
kits are just a bunch of quitters!And nobody likes a quitter.


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## GKvfx (May 30, 2008)

Umm.... most of them? Even the finished ones.....

Seriously, I have some models that took several years to finish completely. But I also have some that I set a goal of 30 days to finish (for a screening) and made it. I also heavily modified a 1/16th Tamiya Tiger into a Sturmtiger (pretty much a total do-over) in 10 weeks for a show. Technically it wasn't done, but it still won.

Then there are the ones that get launched across the garage.......

Gene


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## Richard Baker (Aug 8, 2006)

I have an old Lunar Models Aries 1b (about 7" Diameter) that I eventually abandoned. The casting was blurry, the resin was greasy and after spending a summer trying I finally just put in back in the box and relegated it to the deep storage closet.
I am waiting the Atomic City 15" Aries I bought to ship sometime this or next year (finally in production but going slow with a big waiting list of pre-pays) so I will still get my grail subject, but that Lunar Models kit was not to be it.
I hate to abandon a build, but I also have a lot of other things waiting and sometiems you just need to cut your losses and move on.


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## Dave in RI (Jun 28, 2009)

WOI said:


> I am still working on my kits and you don't hear me crying about
> not getting them finished,an artiste takes the right amount of
> time to bring their creations to life.
> 
> ...


Whoa there, WOI, I hope you were being sarcastic otherwise I really need to reply. 
First off, I wasn't "crying" about my unfinished kit, I was merely sharing my experience and wondered if anyone else had a similar one. Second, I don't consider myself an "artiste"; I'm just a dude who likes to build models in my spare time. Lastly, I never said I couldn't finish it, but rather I didn't want to. I build strictly FOR THE FUN OF IT. Like anything else I do for fun, if it is no longer fun, I stop. 

Besides, this is the only kit I never finished.


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## kekker (Mar 20, 2011)

Let's see...

Excelsior - wholly abandoned
Dropship - a few things to do (but it's been years {like, closing on 20!})
F-15E - needs painting and final assembly
Corsair - cockpit done, that's it
F-22 - decaling and final details
PL Enterprise - just need to paint & install the deflector dish
B-36 - maybe 20% done
B-29 - decaling and final details
'75 Pinto - almost done 
Scratchbuilt 1/48 F-108 Rapier and erector/launcher (like the old ITC kit, not the real plane


Hmmm... seems to be a pattern here.

I really do have finished models! I swear! Lots of them!


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## Fozzie (May 25, 2009)

_USS Enterprise _Command Bridge - waiting on the new release to finish
1:1000 NX-01 - Needs decals, which just arrived from CultTVMan
1:2500 1701-A, B, K'Tinga, Reliant - barely started
_Buck Rogers_ Starfighter (resin) - middle of painting
Revell _Voyager_ & drydock - went on back burner to work on my current project...

...1:350 NX-01 my current project 

That's actually not as bad as I thought!


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## Rainfollower (Oct 6, 2006)

Tamiya 1/16 Tiger I and Sherman RC tanks. Both purchased around 2000-2001. Hoping to 'un-abandon' them... soon? Hey, it's only been twelve years! Oh, and the Tamiya 1/16 King Tiger that's never been started. Both Tigers with aftermarket metal tracks.


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## NTRPRZ (Feb 23, 1999)

Too many to mention!!


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## MLCrisis32 (Oct 11, 2011)

Sadly my 1/1400 Enterprise C, with finished saucer and nacelles, sits in a box along with a sealed Jjprise and 1/537 AMT refit. Hoping I recover so I can get back to them sooner rather than later. Staying positive


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## robiwon (Oct 20, 2006)

Nothing abandoned, just on indefinite hold, LoL. 

Monogram Galactica w/lights/resin detail/arm mods.
Aoshima Knightrider season 2 
Bladerunner Spinner
Anigrand Stardestoyer


With the stepdaughter and two grandkids living with us I don't have a lot of free time right now to build. I have to be social with the family, or so the wife tells me, LoL!

A lot of other kits got put in storage when we cleaned out the model room for them. I did spend a good solid four months working on the ALIENS Pulse Rifle. Now that that is finished I can get back into building kits. But of course the 3D printed parts for the Auto 9 gun will be finished soon, so.......


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## DCH10664 (Jul 16, 2012)

While I don't consider any of my projects "abandoned", I do have a few "unfinished" ones. 
Not wanting to take any chances of ruining the kit, I put my Masudaya YM- 3 Robot on hold until I can figure out exactly how I want to proceed with it.
I also have an X-Wing Fighter that needs weathering before I consider it finished. And a Robby the Robot, R2D2, PL Jupiter 2, and Clooney Batmobile half built.
And a Trendmasters Jupiter 2 toy, that I tore out the interior. So that I can replace it with a scratch built interior that is still toy-like, but closer to being accurate. I have everything needed to complete it. But put it on hold to do my current project. A kit-bash merging a Red October Submarine with a Leif Ericson spaceship. To make one large space craft.

I have good intentions of finishing all my models (If I live long enough). But then again, you know what they say about "Good Intentions".


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Too many to count. Or even remember. Every once in a while I'll pull a box off the pile to build, and discover a half-built model inside.


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## feek61 (Aug 26, 2006)

Most of my partially built but never finished kits are scratch builds. I eventually will hopefully finish them . . . I hope, lol


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

The spider giant insect. Terrible fit. Gaveup and tossed it in the trash.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

I have far too many partially built kits to list here.

However, there is one specific partially built kit in my...ahem, _collection_...that I might truly abandon--an AMT "Klingon Cruiser" (from _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_, I think). I've built poorly engineered kits before, but this one is _really_ awful. None of the mating parts matched up, the primary hull parts were badly warped, the superstructure on top of the primary hull doesn't seem to fit _anywhere_, one half of the "boom" is shorter than the other, and so on, and so on. I think I got about half of it assembled before I gave up on it, and I may never go back.


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## WarpCore Breach (Apr 27, 2005)

Far too many to count.

And they're not "abandoned"; they're.... "long-term". 

Usually something comes up with the build that for whatever reason.. I can't solve right away; like the Coronado Through Deck Cruiser refit model I started from an AMT Refit and another secondary hull almost 20 years ago.

The issue for me at the time was to get the slope of the secondary hull under the forward dorsal correct. It's a unique shape that you can't make from the pieces of the AMT Refit that I was unable to figure out at the time. 

Now, of course, using something like sculpting putty is a more obvious solution; however, I don't have any real access to that kind of stuff locally. I've gone this far without it; I figure I'll find a way to solve the matter in due course. It's really the secondary hull holding the completion of the model up and it's a model I really should go back to before too much longer.

Of course, I've been saying that for some years now... so who knows! 

Funny that Zombie 61 is having so much trouble with his TMP Klingon. I built one from that original release; it came out fine and I still have it - needing some repairs and additional detailing. The darned boom won't stay glued to the rear hull now so I'm puzzling that one out.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I think I have a Hasegawa Stuka that's 95% finished, but I didn't feel like painting the canopy frame, so I put it on my "hold" shelf... about 15 years ago. :lol:


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Not abandoned, but taking my (LOOOOOONG) time on it...


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## Jafo (Apr 22, 2005)

A 1/200th Colonial one rotocast kit. they only made like 10 of them. Been sitting on my bench 80% done for 6(?) years


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## SteveR (Aug 7, 2005)

I have hopes for all my unfinished kits ... but as for the little Lunar Models 2001 Pod, once Captain Cardboard's 1/32 pod came out, I saw little reason to continue with the nasty LM version. The same goes for Wilco's (much better) 2001 Orion, but since I spent so much time sanding the bloody detail off that one, stubbornness may lead me to finish it.
There's also a Keaton Batmobile that's 95% done, but I lost one of the machine gun doors and may never get around to casting one.

But yes, most my kits are in mid-build, and the oldest is probably the 1/16 Petty Charger or the 1/20 Mclaren M8B. Gotta finish them of these days ...


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## robiwon (Oct 20, 2006)

Steve, I have several of those doors. If you want one, just drop me a PM and I will throw it in the mail for you.


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## PixelMagic (Aug 25, 2004)

I got Optimus Prime to 95% finished, and now he just sits on storage an not on display. A shame really, but the last piece that needed to go on him broke, so I was too angry to fix it at the time, and never got back to it.


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## Carson Dyle (May 7, 2003)

Got off to a pretty good start on the Moebius Chariot only to set it aside... but I shall return!

The biggest project I ever "abandoned" would have to be my Rick Teskey/ Dave Merriman Flying Sub. I was working on it when the Moebius model came out, and after that rather demanding build-up the wind had been taken out of my sails as far as the FS-1 was concerned.

But once again... I shall return! Eventually...


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

WarpCore Breach said:


> ...Funny that Zombie 61 is having so much trouble with his TMP Klingon. I built one from that original release; it came out fine and I still have it - needing some repairs and additional detailing. The darned boom won't stay glued to the rear hull now so I'm puzzling that one out.


I've mentioned my difficulties with the kit on this and other forums before, and almost all of the responses were similar to yours. It appears I'm the only person who got a lemon. :lol:


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## Dyonisis (Nov 11, 2009)

GKvfx said:


> Umm.... most of them? Even the finished ones.....
> 
> Seriously, I have some models that took several years to finish completely. But I also have some that I set a goal of 30 days to finish (for a screening) and made it. I also heavily modified a 1/16th Tamiya Tiger into a Sturmtiger (pretty much a total do-over) in 10 weeks for a show. Technically it wasn't done, but it still won.
> 
> ...


I have a few of those!!! :lol:

I have a '57 Chevy (1/12th) scale that has been waiting for 14 years now, and a '55 Chevy in 1/25th scale that has been waiting for 27 years. I also have a '57 Chevy, and VW beetle, and a '59 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz convertable that have been waiting forever for me to get to them. I also have an R2-D2 kit that is half-way mastered along with a half scale endo arm (Terminator) that I also mastered at the same time. I have two X-wing kits that I started mastering, but hope to have done before the end of the year. I have nowhere to work at the moment, and I am therefore waiting to get a new place to live where there is a lot of room for me to work, and display all my achievements. 

~ Chris ​


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## Moderbuilderzero (Mar 29, 2013)

DCH10664 said:


> While I don't consider any of my projects "abandoned", I do have a few "unfinished" ones.
> Not wanting to take any chances of ruining the kit, I put my Masudaya YM- 3 Robot on hold until I can figure out exactly how I want to proceed with it.
> I also have an X-Wing Fighter that needs weathering before I consider it finished. And a Robby the Robot, R2D2, PL Jupiter 2, and Clooney Batmobile half built.
> And a Trendmasters Jupiter 2 toy, that I tore out the interior. So that I can replace it with a scratch built interior that is still toy-like, but closer to being accurate. I have everything needed to complete it. But put it on hold to do my current project. A kit-bash merging a Red October Submarine with a Leif Ericson spaceship. To make one large space craft.
> ...


Where is the Red October/Leif mash up? I was sooo looking forward to seeing how that was progressing!


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## ClubTepes (Jul 31, 2002)

Jafo said:


> A 1/200th Colonial one rotocast kit. they only made like 10 of them. Been sitting on my bench 80% done for 6(?) years


Or longer.


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

I have a cutaway Enterprise that I ordered extra DLM parts for - it's basically put together, but I just don't care any more. In fact, if some one wanted it for free, I'd sent it to them for nothing - all they'd have to do is pay for the shipping. i just know I'll never finish it and I don't care. There are other kits I'd rather spend my time on. It's okay - I learned some things, so it's not a complete loss!


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## DCH10664 (Jul 16, 2012)

Chrisisall said:


> Not abandoned, but taking my (LOOOOOONG) time on it...


Hey, I was watching that build faithfully !!! Then all of the sudden "POOF" it was gone. I felt like a kid when Mom used to turn off the television in the middle of my favorite program ! I wasn't real happy with you,....But then I forgave you when you started the Masudaya Robot build. Which gave me something else to watch !


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

DCH10664 said:


> Hey, I was watching that build faithfully !!! Then all of the sudden "POOF" it was gone. I felt like a kid when Mom used to turn off the television in the middle of my favorite program !


Hey, at least it's not cancelled!:lol:


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

I have a Revelle "Hunt for Red October" sub model that's been unbuilt in my attic for years. And a Batmobile from the first Keaton movie that's partially built and painted from about 5 years ago sitting in a cabinet at work. 

And a Horizon's vinyl T-Rex kit that is still in the box on a shelf that I bought probably 20 years ago:


t-rex1a by trekriffic, on Flickr


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## Chrisisall (May 12, 2011)

Trekkriffic said:


> And a Batmobile from the first Keaton movie that's partially built and painted from about 5 years ago sitting in a cabinet at work.


I have one fully built from 1989, but the window has some cement smears, I intend to replace the windows & paint it up some time. I also have a vinyl Batman that was sitting in a box for years, I took it out last month on a whim & assembled it with ball bearing weights in the feet- took an hour. I don't know why it took so long to get to it. Painting it won't be hard; the eyes & mouth are the only parts that require any real attention...


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