A Project Years in the Making

[Tony S]

So, as I mentioned in another thread, I managed to finish WW1 Russian army.

The interesting (or embarrassing bit) that I didn’t mention is that I started the army about ten years ago.  Painted up about four units and then for reasons long lost in the mists of time, abandoned it and went on to something shinier.

However, I made a Resolution this New Year to actually to finish one old project before starting a new one.  So I dug out the Russians and actually finished them!  Huzzah for me!

I’m just curious on how others handle old, abandoned projects.  Leave them in boxes (like me) in a closet of shame?  Sell them at a bring & buy?  Eventually finish them?  Give them to friends?

[OB]

Well done Tony.

The last two options for me.  I’m suprised at how many of my dormant projects suddenly make there way to the front of the painting queue.

OB
http://withob.blogspot.co.uk/

[Olaf Meys]

I’m one (leave them in boxes in a closet of shame) until I, at long last, reach three (eventually finish them). During this process, they’ll often travel from workbench to closet and back several times!

http://mainly28s.com
wargames review site...

[Andrew Beasley]

Only 10 years – you young whipersnapper!

Bet it feels good.

As for my old pile – eldest entry is a micro game from around 1977 going by the date in the rules (maybe at most a couple of years after that and memory) but I may have a figure or two in the unpainted pile from before that but I’m still scared to look that far back in the roof (the raw meat offering last week was rejected by whatever is in the corner).

Much has been given away, a fair bit to eBay, some kept and some binned. I now avoid ‘bring and buy’ as my take home pile was often larger than my drop off!

Very few seem to get finished (hopes and dreams shattered on the rocks of ‘Oh new shiny’) but it’s been better this year in a large part due to this website!

[Mike Headden]

I think the oldest minis in my collection are Minifigs 5mm scale Napoleonic blocks, bought in the early 1970’s and mostly still unpainted. I discovered them in a box recently and they predate the still unpainted Space Marines bought from GWs Dalling Road shop the day after it opened which I had believed for some years to be my oldest figures, painted or unpainted.

I may have old projects but none that are abandoned, merely resting! 🙂

There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

[Ruarigh]

Crikey, finishing a project in 10 years! That’s lightning speed!

I recognise myself in many of the answers here. The oldest figures I have are a Laserburn Imperial Assault Group bought from TTG in the days when small orders came lovingly packaged in an old fag packet (mid-80s ish). I finished those in 2016.

I have many projects that are just resting in boxes in various places round the house so that my wife does not swoon when overwhelmed by the true horror of my unpainted lead pile. Some of these will be completed eventually, or they will be passed on to friends in the hope that they get better use of the figures than I have.

I rarely sell on eBay because it is just too much hassle for too little reward these days, and I don’t get to shows any more so bring and buy is not an option.

Never argue with an idiot. They'll only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

https://roderickdale.co.uk/
https://emidsvikings.ac.uk/

[Shaun Travers]

I leave them but it is not a closet of shame, more a wardrobe of potential.  Over the last five years I think there are three projects that had not seen the light of day for over 20 years that I got back to.  I have a few from 10 years ago bubbling away in the background awaiting a rise in motivation and hence priority.

[Paint it Pink]

As always, it depends. The only certainty is that the majority of my projects are SF; not all, but most.

I’ve recently started work on some 15mm Martian Metals K’Kree that have languished in my to do pile since circa 1984, when I acquired them on a trip to Toronto from a store on Yonge  Street.

It took me four years from noticing that they needed to be cleaned (white lead corrosion), a year until I managed to prime after being cleaned, before reaching my paint table this year.

Slow is steady, I guess?

One is good, more is better
http://panther6actual.blogspot.co.uk/
http://ashleyrpollard.blogspot.co.uk/

[Darkest Star Games]

Oh yes, all of the above.  I will be moving in a few years from a huge metroplex to a forested locale that is relatively isolated.  My wife asked how much of my stash will I be getting rid of.  My answer was none, of course, as I’ll finally have time to finish it all, to which she replied “but with whom will you play?  The squirrels?  The pine trees?”

She may have a point that there won’t be many people around, but that does not mean she is right!

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

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