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Lots of unwanted things happen to me and my models during construction.

I'm sure the members here have lots of examples, but here are two of mine to get the ball rolling:

1) When scribing a panel line with the back of a No 11 blade, several passes are needed to make an impression. However, the first time the blade jumps out of the groove, a deeper gash is created in one single pass :angry:

2) Why is it that a small part prefers to stick to my greasy, oily fingers, rather than the piece it is being superglued to? :huh:

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7)When cutting an intricate piece from a sprue, the knife will take the path of MOST resistance- directly through the piece, and right into your thumb.

8)On the topic of knives and split fingers- The knife will miss your fingers 90% of the time when you've got a full box of bandages, but when you lose that box your fingers' mortality rate goes up about 50%!

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11) When detail painting an item that is not seen very often, the detail painting will be perfect and look amazing. When detail painting an emblem or logo that is on the outside of the car or a visible part of the interior, you will always slip right at the very end in a manner that is impossible to clean up without massive stripping and repainting.

12) Your glue application will always be perfect and clean throughout the entire course of the build process. The SECOND you need to glue clear plastic any place, your accuracy will slip and the glass will fog up.

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I Must be Perfect....Just kidding....my faults always seem to be on the display side (driver side)...always...Dust on paint...Smudge...Glue...Scratch...Nick...Lost badge....Decal.....Window....BMF...Wheel....Missing part...Alway's on the Display Side...Always!!!!!!! :blink:

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1) The most important part is always the one missing

2) A seam is never on any known panel line.

3) Within a year of your major conversion or scratch build project, it will be released as an injection molded kit (in your scale).

4) The part with the most mold flash will be the most delicate.

5) The odds of finding the part you just dropped under your bench are directly proportional to how important the part is to finishing the kit.

6) A decal will only silver where it is most visible.

7) Gloss paint will always run.

8) The latest kit of a model in your stash will always be better than the one you own.

9) Tank treads are always too long, or too short, but never just right.

10) A seam will always be in the worst location to fill and sand.

11) The worst fitting joint will always be where the most surface detail can be destroyed by sanding.

12a) If a manufacturer should mold a part in one piece, they'll mold in six pieces.

B) If they should mold it in several pieces, they'll mold it as one piece.

13) An out-of-production kit will always be re-released, but only AFTER you've paid a collector 3 times its worth for one.

14) A model build that you like will always do worse in a contest than your builds that you don't like as well.

15) There will always be decals on a Microscale decal sheet with no reference drawings as to their location. (This one shows how old this is!)

16) The markings you hand painted will be released on a decal sheet the following month.

17) The decal that shatters into a thousand pieces is the one you need most.

18) Kit decals are always off register.

19) The guy who writes the article always makes it sound so easy.

20) There's no such thing as an easy vacuform kit.

21) Matchbox kit plastic colors will never match any known FS color spec.

22) Paint or glue will only spill where it can do the most damage.

23a) When you need a lot of glue, you'll get a little.

B) When you need a little glue, you'll get a lot.

24) Anything advertised as "fast drying", won't.

25) You'll only find out about the new kit at the local hobby shop after it's sold out.

26) The kit you saw somewhere last week will never be there when you return to purchase it the next week.

27) The kid eating the greasy french fries will always choose YOUR model to pick up.

28) You will not see the flaw in your model until you have published some close-up photos of it on the web.

:lol: :lol: :lol:
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When you try to get the perfect paint job,it will ALWAYS go south. When you don't care what it looks like, it will turn out perfect every time.

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Funny. All this talk about somehow cutting yourself, and I have been happy to say that has not happened............. until just now. I was cutting the pulleys and gears off of the overly thick molded setup on the '88 Vette model I'm building. Trying to smooth out the pulleys/gears, I was using my new, sharp x-acto blade. It seemed to be getting caught up, so the idiot in me decided to just push it a bit harder. The blade went right through the plastic and a good chunk of my right thumb. Realizing I had done this, I waited the requisite 2 seconds before the burning pain set in and the blood started to ooze out. I got some kleenex and soaked up the blood, and more came out. A pretty good amount of my own red life liquid was coming out. Thankfully, I didn't panic and just waited to make sure that no arteries were sliced. The blood that oozed out was not pouring/streaming out and not in tune with my heartbeat, so it's a simple cut. I had been using my spray setup to put the semi-gloss coat on items so I had some 90% isopropyl alcohol that I used for cleanup. I soaked up a q-tip in that and, although quite painful, I disinfected the cut. I then soaked up more of the blood and since I had some cyanoacrylate glue right near me, I applied some to the slice to keep it shut. Once the glue polymerized and hardened, the bleeding stopped. I then added more alcohol to the wound to ensure it was clean and wrapped it up in a bandage and put it in a band-aid.

Doctors use cyanoacrylates to seal together small wounds that really don't call for sutures, but which need to be kept shut. So what I did was right in line with what a doctor would do. The disinfecting is the important part. As the wound heals, the CA glue will crumble away and come off, and everything will be back to normal. Right now, I'm just laughing a bit and realizing that the pain is still there from the cut. lol.

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Justin, that sounds like a great tips fro small cuts. I think they started using the stuff in the Viet Nam war, although I could be wrong about that.

We all have to learn to live with Murphy at the bench, but if you feed him Scrapple Sandwiches, he will often leave you alone. Now, seriously, you learn over time how to keep Murphy at bay as best as possible.

But then again, just when you think he's gone for good, he comes back to remind you. The other day I had primered a part with acrylic primer, then forgot about it and shot some HOK paint over it, and just sat there watching the plastic craze. That had not happened to me in years, but so it goes. When you model, you have to be alert, and you have to be concentrated on the task at hand.

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Don't laugh, Justin. It just makes the pain worse.

Heh. Well, the superglue has kept the wound shut (and with sharp razor cuts, that's the most difficult thing since there is no "jagged edges" to the wound for the new flesh to grow off of) so that has kept the bleeding away. The lidocaine gel I have in my first aid kit has helped keep the pain away, and the lack of swelling or foul odor or redness at the site of the wound means no infection. So now I can laugh and since my right thumb is wrapped up in a bandage, I've been forced to learn better, and safer, ways to cut parts. So a positive from a negative. :D

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...when you put a VIP (VERY Important Part) away in a special place ( box, drawer, etc) so you won't lose it, then, later, you spend 2 hours trying to find it......Or that VERY SPECIAL one of a kind set of wheels/ tires you can only locate '3' of....Or you spend an hour super detailing out a set of rims, only to find out your handling has worn through the chrome( and DON'T tell me to cover it with barefoil; maybe YOU can't see it....but I can...)

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You will stab yourself.

DSCF2282.jpg

G,

What's that funky lookin' growth on your thumb ? Never saw that before ! Lol !

It is a given ... When using Microbrush applicators with super glue , it will at some point become attached to your forearm and it will hurt when pulled from said appendage !

Medical .. A deep cut , inflicted by Mr Xacto blade , can be instantly cauterized by dipping the offended appendage in clean laquer thinner ! Please be aware , while the cut will stop bleeding , the burning from said application is going to hurt like....... Insert your adjective now !

Screaming at the top of your lungs will help to dispel the pain and is not considered unmanly , swear at your own risk !

G

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When I'm cursing my wife says she has to listen carefully as I will use several different languages. She then starts laughing which really sets me off. My wife also has the ability to diffuse my rantings and start the laughter. It involves threats of physical force applied with a spatula. Very effective, if I may say so. ;)

You could hear me down the block after that one. :o

G

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Several of my friends and I learned long ago how to mimic voices , this included cartoon characters ! Working together used to be hysterical for the casual observer !

These days , when I occasionally go off , Kathie will step into the doorway of the booth and say , " Hey Sybil , you and the other personalities need to quiet down " The neighbors are getting restless " ! Then she just walks away laughing !

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I've only cut myself a couple of times, nothing major, but you really have to watch out with those scalpel blades.

Very, VERY true. The bad thing is, the sharper the scalpel blade is (and we all try and use the sharpest possible), the more dangerous the cut is. This is because the sharp blades will readily cut right through the flesh and not "tear" the flesh at a cellular level like a duller blade will. The result of this is that the collagen fibers needed to help get the new flesh to grow has nothing to really bind to. So those sharp scalpel blade cuts can take a long time to heal and will be easily "disturbed" which can then open things up again. The sharp blade cuts also result in more of a burning sensation to the wound which can hurt like crazy. A paper cut is an example of a sharp cut in the skin with little tearing. Everybody knows how much those hurt.

The best thing to do when you have cut yourself is to first make sure you disinfect the heck out of it. You do NOT want to get an infection, and I highly doubt that all of us store our blades in an autoclave when we're not using them. So go and get some soap and water, or some 90%+ isopropyl alcohol to clean the wound. Or you can use that ethyl alcohol hand cleaner to clean it up. Yes, this will burn and hurt for a while, but it also means that the bacteria which could cause an infection will be killed.

Next is to asses the cut. If you cut deep enough to have an artery damaged, every time your heart beats there will be a spurt of blood that comes out. If this is the case, go to the ER. You cannot treat those cuts at home. If it's just oozing out blood on you, like my cut yesterday was doing, keep everything sterile and clean up the blood. If you have some cyanoacrylate glue, you can use that and apply a little bead of the CA Glue over the wound and the reaction with the moisture in your skin and with your blood will cause it to set up VERY quickly and seal the wound shut. As time goes on, the glue will slowly crumble away as flesh replaces the gap, and before you know it you'll be back to normal. CA Glue is also called "Liquid Stitches" in the medical industry as it can be used to seal larger wounds without the need for using stitches.

Over the next few days, be certain to pay attention to the wound. Check and see if it's getting warm, or swelling up a bit, causing additional pain, or starting to emit a foul odor. Also pay attention to the area in and around the wound and not exactly right where the wound is. E.G. if you cut your thumb, check out the area around the knuckles and in the lymph nodes in your arm. If they start to swell up or feel "off", go see a doctor as those are signs of an infection. If you treat an infection quickly, you can avoid the really nasty consequences. E.G. amputation, sepsis (infection spreading across your entire body), loss of sensation in the area, and other nasty things.

The best way to prevent a cut is to be careful. Don't force things, and think about the consequences of all the actions you are doing. No need to lose a finger because you didn't pay attention to what you were doing. Difficult to build a model kit if you don't have all five fingers on both hands. :P

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