42 replies to this topic

[maltsr]

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

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?

[diymirage]

3) superglue will never fall onto a part of the body that is NOT painted

4) a knife that is not sharp enough to remove a little bit flash from a part will be just sharp enough to slice through the skin of a finger untill it hits bone

[Lownslow]

5) even after you clean the airbrush a chunk of stuff always fires out the end at super sonic speed.
6) exploding sub assemblies when trying to relocate it

[ZombieHunter26]

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%!

[diymirage]

9) if you drop a part of which you have multiple duplicates in the parts box you will find it right away but if you drop a part of which you have only ONE the carpet monster will eat it up and it will be gone forever

[martinfan5]

10) You have a almost perfect paint job( for me anyways), and during final assembly, you get glue on a part of the body , but the area the glue lands is nowhere near where you were gluing

[Jdurg]

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.

[XJ6]

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!!!!!!!

[XJ6]

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.
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.
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.

[moparmagiclives]

... Finally having the time to sit down and get some good bench time In, is the same time I realize my glue has gone south and my paint has run out...or is it the other way around.,?
I'll let you know when I can get back too it.

[plowboy]

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.

[Jdurg]

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.

[ZombieHunter26]

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.

Amen to THAT, brother. Case in point, all my PAZH CBP builds... turn out amazing. My seriously SERIOUS builds? Not so much.

[Dr. Cranky]

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.

[trogdor]

Flaws in fit and finish never show to the naked eye. It's only after taking pictures that you find the things that should have been apparent.

[crazyjim]

Funny. All this talk about somehow cutting yourself, and I have been happy to say that has not happened............. until just now.

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

[Jdurg]

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.

[Steven Zimmerman]

...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...)

[Rob McKee]

The force of gravity becomes extremely strong during the painting of glossy bodies ripping it from the paint stand and hurling it into the largest pile of dirt that can be found.

[Agent G]

You will stab yourself.



G