56 Ford Arggghhhhh - ever dropped one? Of course you have.

[randyc]

So.... I've been working on a 56 Ford.  Found a great color scheme and been plugging away.  My wife always wants to see pics of my progress and I showed her the one attached on Saturday morning after my session.  She said she wanted to see the paint colors for real next time I worked on it. Sunday I went down and worked for a few hours and got ta point where it looked pretty good.  Glass and bumpers on, final body install, etc.  Just had to trim it up.   Only a few more hours til finishing.  So I was going back to house and in the process of opening the door, I jarred that car out of my hand.  I did all I could to catch it but missed and watched it explode on the deck.  ARGGGGHHHHHH.  I just went on in and left it there.  The other pic is the After shot.  My wife was very sympathetic.  She's a great supporter of my hobby. 

I wanted this car to turn out so nice and it had potential.  But I really screwed up the black on the windows.  The doors are wonky as usual for these.  And a few other things are working against me.  I did go back later and fix it back to the point I was at when dropped.  But had to glue the doors shut.  Went ahead and glued the hood down too - not all that great.  If I need the engine, I know where it is.  

I'll finish it next week, but it won't be as nice as I had hoped.  Even more of a day 2 car now.  Just don't check the carfax cause it will show a bad report.... lol

 

 

[Mercuryman54]

Sorry about that!! I'm sure you will make it right. Don't get discouraged. Just plastic it can be fixed!! Good luck!!

Dennis

[iamsuperdan]

Ugh. That sucks. 

I dropped a pickup box over the weekend that had just been sprayed. Luckily, nowhere near complete, so still an easy fix. Still, butter fingers are terrible! 

 

Your build looks good though. Time to resurrect it! 

[dublin boy]

Sorry to hear, looks fixable.

Haven't heard the expression butter fingers for a long, long time!

[randyc]

Thanks folks, it's back to appearing as it did.  I just adjusted my plan and will get it done.  Won't have opening doors and hood now.  And the broken leaf spring is a section of sprue just to hold the rear up.  Let's call it "curbside"...   No big deal - wife still things it looks good.  Can't tell it came aparat really other than the lack of opening doors and hood and no one sees that but me.  It will probably be "under glass" next week. 

The take away from all this when someone sees this thread 100 years from now is that things happen and we have to fix it or move on...  AND BE CAREFUL handling your models...  it's all good.

[1930fordpickup]

NIce redo, as it looks as good now after the fix. 

 

[Modlbldr]

Randy,

I didn't realize that model came with swivel seats!?!?  
Sorry, I hope that jab is not too early. I hope the scar has scabbed over by this point. 

I hate it when that happens. Years ago (2007) I was in the process of moving from Alaska to Washington state. I had just enough time to get a 2006 Mustang that I had highly customized painted in Tamiya Mica blue. It was the best paintjob I had done to that point. I let the paint gas out for a couple of days and then wired it down to the base of a plastic display case, put the top of the case on and securely strapped it to a steel plate for the drive down from Alaska. Once I got here I promptly put the entire thing on an upper, out of the way shelf in my garage until things from the move calmed down and I could get back to it. Four months later when I took it down the body was mangled. I'm still not sure if it was from the paint gassing out under a sealed cover or the heat of summer in an uninsulated garage. I was devastated. When I showed it to my wife she laughed and said that it looked as if miniature teenagers had stolen the car and run it into a telephone pole. Needless to say, I wasn't amused. I never did get back to that build.

Just thought I would share one of my stories of destruction of a model. Again, sorry for your loss.

Later-

Edited October 23, 2017 by Modlbldr

[Tom Geiger]

We've all done it to one degree or another!   So here I am with my prized '32 Ford, walking across my hobby room to put it back in the case holding it by the roof edges. Then I hear a "crack" and realize I'm holding a body and the rest of it has gone tumbling down onto the carpet.  

Being an older build that was before I got my first digital camera, I decided to make the best of it and took some photos.

And then I counted my blessings that it came apart fairly clean, and I reassembled it.  

 

I carefully glued the hinge back to the body, and lost one of the pins. Smart eyes will see a small length of red wire holding the top hinge together.

and back on the shelf again!

[randyc]

See?  As part of the title - we have probably ALL lost a car at some point.  Kids, butter fingers, whatever.  It's all good. Only took a couple hours to get it all back together.  I'll probably finish it this weekend.  Just got to trim it out.  I'm not all that upset about it now.  Was disappointed when I did it, but got it all back together and moving on.  It will be a nice enough shelf model.  My wife can't see anything wrong with it and she's my #1 fan.  She says this one needs a good place to display because it is so nice.  She doesn't see it like we do on here, where we see every little mistake we made.  

I'll be done with this soon and onto my "mainstreamer" 76 Torino tribute to my mom's torino from my childhood.  

[Tom Geiger]

There once was a guy in my club who must've destroyed every model he ever built.  You'd ask him about a model he had and he'd shake his head and tell you what happened to it.

+ Left it on the passenger seat in his van, his brother sat on it

+ Left the box on the roof of his car when loading up,  and drove off!

+ Dropped a box of recent builds all the way down the basement steps

+ Filled a wall mounted clear plastic display case with Franklin / Danbury Mint cars (heavy). Case was only on sheet rock with two small screws.... CRASH!  

 

[Lovefordgalaxie]

A little while back, I had just finished a black 1964 Impala SS, and was going to take pictures of her. She slipped from my hand, as I was opening the garage door to take pictures in the driveway. Not very smart trying to do both, holding the car, and opening the heavy wooden garage door at once, but I was over confident, as I had done the same before again and again. 

The Impala went straight to the ground, the front bumper hit the floor first, what kind of protected the paint, but the car exploded in what it seemed 1000 pieces. Found the engine among my mother's flowers, where it landed intact.

Front bumper was retouched with a Molotow pen, the body paint had a little scratch, that I was able to polish out, and only if one is really looking for signs of the accident, they are pretty well hidden now. 

 

[Mahogany Rush]

I snapped my 32 body while sanding! Argh. I fixed it, but I was pissed.

 

 

 

[cobramike]

Sorry to hear about all of your bad luck, I had a '66 fairlane just finished outside on the patio table getting ready to shoot some pics of it, went inside to get my tripod, a huge gust of wind came up with a thunderstorm that was forming, when I got outside the car was on the patio 15feet from the table, no need to get into the details but it was destroyed. Took it to the trash and gave it to the dump God's. Oh well!

[Mike999]

Thanks all. Threads like this always make me feel better.  Schadenfraude or something...a few of my epic goofs in the past few months...

--Subaru Sambar van: what could possibly go wrong?  It's a simple curbside.  Painted the body in a nice metallic ginger color, to match the boxtop.  Got the decals on.  Was mocking it up with the chassis and heard an ugly sound.  I flexed the body too much and it cracked all the way down the passenger side.

--AMT Opel GT: building it as a junker. What could possibly go wrong?  Got the paint looking nice and grungy. Rust, followed by exposed gray primer, followed by remnants of yellow.  Spent a lot of time drilling out the hood "nostrils," fully detailing the engine with freeze plugs, casting ribs, wiring, grease etc.  Then noticed that AMT got the back of the interior completely wrong.  Should have just left it alone, but didn't.  Oh well. Maybe I'll put that engine in a junkyard scene...

--Phantom of the Opera 1/8 figure: needed to strip paint from the head.  Thought I was dipping it in alcohol. Didn't pay attention and put the plastic head in a bottle of lacquer thinner... 

[randyc]

Awww you guys - see it does happen.  And hopefully others will see it happens and realize it is not usually the end of the world.   Just have to take a step back and fix it again.  I have several display cases that have fallen.  I collect the pieces and turn the case upside down to hold everything til I can get back to it.  Or put it all in a zip lock bag for later.   

My 64 Impala fell as well.  My 66 Fairlane was a victim too - during the build.  Never did get it finished.  Opel?  Got it but haven't ever done much with it  I have a 32 Ford sedan that fell as well.   Funny that I have a lot of the same kits you  guys have and have dropped or damaged the same kits.  Kindred spirits.  

The 56 is "under glass' now if you haven't seen it.

 

[JeroenM3]

Jup, i know how that goes... I was busy painting my E30 325i, the first car i was spraying on the tamiya stand i just got through the mail, and guess what. The top half of the Tamiya stand came off, i tried to catch it but i sadly only slammed the body harder to the ground, end result.... covered in garden ground...

I've now glued the stand together with model glue, and when ever i paint i keep one finger on the top part of the stand to push it into the other part (i paint outside in my hands, due to a lack of good place here in the house)

Edited October 31, 2017 by JeroenM3

[DrKerry]

I have a Beetle that I chopped the roof on, had the roof in 22 pieces to get the chop to look right. Car was in primer and had it at a show/contest one time and picking up after the show I dropped it... The air left the room as everyone in a 15 foot circle gasped.... Of course it blew all but two parts of the roof apart!!! A friend of mine Doug said what ya gonna do with it now? I told him I chopped the roof once, I can put it back together again!!!!! I did and now it's painted and has a zipper up the back of the body.... Painted back in the 90's and still looks good today!!!!!

[El Caballo]

I'm working on a '66 Galaxie right now, as I was gluing the interior to the body my finger bumped a seat that was glued in and that bumped the console and all came unglued, including me. If I had an M-80 it would be smithereens right now. I literally had to set the kit aside.

[gary westervelt]

At least yours was repairable. And ya done a fine job I'm sure just by looking at the before photo. I wasn't so lucky. A couple years back my grandson got into my built kits that I kept in a cabinet. He was about 2 yrs old and to him they were giant Hot Wheels. Wasn't upset at him cause he didn't know any better but his momma,my daughter,got a good butt eating when I found out. She didn't even tell me when he done it. I found out a couple weeks after the fact. A couple Tamiya cycles,a Tamiya wrc, an International semi,and a few Revell muscle cars destroyed beyond repair.

[randyc]

My first exposure to models were my uncles.  My grandma let me play with his and I was much too young to be doing such.  My uncle still remembers, but I have built a couple models for him.  One 57 chevy since he was bornin 57 and a 66 Impala like he owned.  I also have a Meyer Manx that I will probably give him if I ever finish it.   I have also had children knock things off of mine as well.   Part of the zip lock bagged kits mentioned above... That is sometimes a tough pill to swallow, especially when the parents don't "get it".  

I read the drops you guys share and can remember having the same things happen.   Have dropped wet fresh painted bodies on carpet, dirty floors, etc.  I have dropped and seen them 'splode.  My first top chop ended up as a convertible because I am too ham-handed.  Learned my limitation there.   

Have thrown at least one against the wall in anger.  Learned that when I get that frustrated to stop working and either do something else or work on another kit.  Ahh the memories.