A project’s premature end.

Building things is a hobby of mine, as you’ll know if you’ve read this blog or accidentally bought one of my ebooks on the subject. I’ve been building props (mostly helmets) since we arrived here in Canada and I got room to have a little workshop. Each time I’ve tried to build something, I’ve run into some kind of problem, and every time there’s a point where I almost quit. That “almost” is important. I suffer from the unfunded fear that if I fail to complete one project, I’ll never finish another ever again. This fear was the only reason I completed the disastrous Death Trooper Helmet.

I took the lego model pictured above and set out on the biggest build since Derek the dalek: I wanted to make a life-size version of the model. That would have been huge, so I reconsidered, and based the final size on a couple of tubes I already had. I figured if the tubes would stand for the steering vanes, the lego man would be about three feet tall. That made the whole thing half life size, but it quickly became apparent that that was quite big enough.

I enjoyed building the speeder bike, but it was a very different process from the helmets. I couldn’t just grab five minutes here and there to do a little piece. Each work session had to be carefully thought out and done with attention to detail. None of those are my strong suit.

So I’ve struggled with measuring and finding time to do the job right, but I’ve had to admit that the remaining sections – the landing skids, mainly – would take an enormous effort. Having seen the project stall for weeks, I thought it was time to say I had achieved all I intended.

So I’m going to stop, and disassemble the bike (but keep the lego man, I think). I’m glad I built it, and Mrs Dim s glad it’s not going to be cluttering up the basement any longer. I’m looking forward to taking on a smaller project next (though Derek is still being reassembled and is planning to make an appearance at the next Fan Expo).

Is this me learning?