Friends,
It’s been a while since I posted a JOE’S CORNER. I’ve been meaning to do so for quite some time, but I keep finding excuses not to do it. Well, it’s past time I did so.
I wonder, is the following just me, or has anyone else been feeling anything similar to what follows?
I will confess that I have been struggling for a while. Truth be told, I don’t think I have fully recovered from that COVID debacle. I had just gotten TMD and my personal world both in a good place (for the umpteenth time) when COVID hit and set me back to square one — again. Others may have been able to recover from that, and I suppose I have, too — to a degree. But, as a one-man show, I can tell you that it gets harder and harder to get back up and get going again. So this is what I’ve been struggling with since 2020. I know you’ve probably sensed it, and some have told me to quit ‘naval gazing’ and get back to work, but the struggle is real (at least for me).
That said, I have not given up on TMD. I have gotten over my waffling around with 3D printing. I posted my thoughts on that a short while ago. I have also decided that I will continue to update my current product line. I want to re-tree many of the masters to make my products a bit more ‘standard’ in their presentation, but also to make it easier to use sub-sets across the wider line. I also want to add an additional piece here and there when they are small or fragile and likely to get damaged or lost. The idea is to keep my resin line as competitive with 3D as possible but a better value where the product you receive is concerned. Plus, I have always been concerned with the service I provide, so I am trying to make sure I do not slip there, either.
Another problem I have is that I yearn to build again — for Joe. I still have that El Alamein M4A1 on my building bench, and I have updated all the masters I need to complete the lower hull. I want to build it, but, every time I make time to sit down and build it, it just feels like work. The problem is simple: I have too much going on in my world and I need to cut back on some things. This way, when I sit down to build, I won’t be too tired to build.
On a bright note, however, I am still plugging away on the M-18 driver’s compartment. Here, too, I have encountered delays, but they are mostly due to my efforts to stop rushing and do things right the first time (a big change for me). So, I took time to make runners to cast the bolts I needed for the master. I am re-working the fire extinguishers, flash lights and canteens, as well as making a brand new periscope and storage box set(s). These are all things I need for the M-18, but which will have wider applications as I re-work the product line. I also scrapped the original way I was going to make the M-18 driver’s compartment. I figured out a better, easier way to cast it which will also be much more user-friendly. All-in-all, I am happy. I just need to cover the bills through April and I should be OK going forward.
My M4A1 and the M-18 projects will be yielding new and updated products by next week (I hope). Until then, this brings you current with me and my world and the state of TMD in my heart and mind. Hope it wasn’t too much of a waste of your time. OH! And if you have been experiencing similar feelings in your world, I get it. Hang in there and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Eventually, we’ll all make it through to the other side — TOGETHER!
–Joe
Hello Joe. I think I know your problem. Work is work and if you make your hobby you work the things you used to do as a hobby become your work and to seperate them is very difficult. I had the same ptoblem. I work in the auto industry as a model maker and build model cars as a hobby now I build tanks. the name of the game is change the subject you make as a hobby. hope this helps.
Ian.
I’ve considered your point for a long time now, and I know there is a great deal of merit in it. I guess I’m just too stubborn for my own good.