Who else has had a disaster build?

[clovis]

I'm surely not the only person to have had a build go bad.

A few years ago, my sister called me a little out of desperation, and asked me to help build a vintage Smithsonian Hellcat airplane kit with her newly adopted son.

He had started the kit, much to my chagrin, but we only had about 5 days to complete it for the 4-H fair, and it was the busiest week of the entire year for our family.

Let me tell you, that build was a D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R. If anything could go wrong with that build, it did.

First, I found that he and his bother had opened the sealed kit, several weeks prior, and lost part of the cockpit.

While that part was being found in the depths of a bedroom closet, I discovered that back in 1987, someone at Revell decided it would be okay to ship a sprue that hadn't completely filled during the injection process. Not a big deal, until I learned that the landing gear were two of the parts that were not completely formed.

I spent hours working on the landing gear, figured out how to construct it out of new material, had him glue it up, and I taped the assembly up on a glass sliding door at my sisters that was tripled locked and never opened. Well, that door does get opened, and we found that out when his brother saw two neighborhood kids and a dog in their backyard. You can guess that the assembly was smashed to smithereens, with little pieces scattered all over the dining room floor.

Of course, the paint didn't want to dry in this Indiana summer humidity, and when it did, I found a hair dried into the paint on the body.

And as you would expect, both of the wings fell completely off this model after I thought they were solidly glued, partly due to not enough glue on the right surface area and partly due to faulty design of the kit.

It wouldn't have been a fun build had the entire model not been dropped onto the floor, just before adding decals, and as you would suspect, the decals would not seem to come off the paper no matter how long we soaked them.

Now remember, at this time, I hadn't built a model in over 25 years, save one, for my own daughter's 4-H project. I felt like I was out of my element, and definitely out of my skill set trying to fix and build non-existing parts. I had nothing other than spare sprue and Testor's cement as resources.

The most annoying part was an adult baby-sitter, who was watching the boys that week, that had never built the first model in her entire life, decided that she should run her mouth with professional model building advice, and do so in a non-stop fashion, especially when we were at critical times during this build.

Out of all options, the day before the project was due, I hastily built some hard stands for the plane, and he displayed it as if it were in a repair shop.

As much as I hate to admit this, there were several times that I considered trashing the whole project, literally tossing it into the large Rubbermaid trash can that resides in my sister's garage. I simply didn't have the heart to do that, for this boy had three adults, promise in three prior years (while he was in foster care) "that I'll help you build a model", but dropped the ball completely. My nephew even asked in confidence during the build, "will you really help me finish this kit?"

He was able to eke out a Reserve Grand Champion (second best of all plane models) and a coveted spot on the winner's podium.

All in all, I was happy with the end results, and very happy for him...but what a COMPLETE DISASTER!!!!!!

Have you had kits that were disasters?

Please share your story!

.

Edited July 18, 2013 by clovis

[JunkPile]

Your story reminds me of the kit I just finished....and the one before that, and the one before that, and so on

[gwolf]

Great story, Jeff. It meant a lot to that boy for you to work with him. Doesn't sound like he thought it was a disaster at all.

Every MPC flip-nose kit I ever built was a disaster.

[Eshaver]

Greg, if ya think M P C " Flip Nose " kits were problematic , You obviously never saw a I M C racing Ford kit ............... At least the I M C / Linburg Dodge A-100 pick up could actually be built along with the Cougar II kit . For a Butter dish manufacturer, that really says something !

[Greg Myers]

Ed, I see your IMC kits, and raise you with the classic "everything opens and moves Revell Tri 5 Chevey kits. Although I must agree they are in the same league.

Edited July 18, 2013 by Greg Myers

[Greg Myers]

My "disaster build" was a plane too. And it did fly, into the wall with all my frustration. My Mom responded " I think you dropped something.". I did eventually restore my hard fought efforts and compleated the kit and it did everything but fly.

Edited July 18, 2013 by Greg Myers

[Modlbldr]

My disaster story is a bit different, but I still consider it a disaster. Shortly before I moved from Alaska to Washington I started a 06 Mustang kit. As always I did custom work on it. I had sectioned the body, made side window scoops, customized the stock mirrors and made a hood bulge for it. I got it to the stage of the chassis and exhaust completed. I had put aftermarket rotors and tires and wheels on it.

I spent a couple of days spraying it with Tamiya Mica blue and it was beautiful! My best paint job yet. Two days before we moved I carefully wired the body into a plastic display case and wired that onto a heavy steel plate so that it wouldn't move. I put it in the back window of my car, knowing the heat would not get high enough to affect it. I spent three days driving it down from Alaska and I checked on it almost every stop. It bride just fine. Once I arrived in Washington I placed the entire setup in my new hobby room in the back of my garage and left it for two months.

Once I finally got time to get back to it the body was completely warped. I was devestated! My wife jokingly said that it looked like a teenager had run it into a telephone pole. I don't know whether it got too hot in my new hobby room while sitting in there or the fumes from the super glue I used to do the custom work with got trapped in the display case or what. I never got back to finishing it with a new body. When I get home tonight I'll post a pic of the damaged body.

Later-

[Jantrix]

I really can't say I've had any disaster builds. I've had some that gave me enough issues that caused me to scrap that project before it got too stressfull. Thus avoiding the disaster. It's just plastic and the parts look just fine on another build. I've had a kit with a warped frame that I spent a lot of effort on to straighten, only to have it rewarp after a couple of months on the shelf. I enjoy this hobby. If the build is sucking all the fun out of building it, then it's scrap.

[slusher]

I really can't say I've had any disaster builds. I've had some that gave me enough issues that caused me to scrap that project before it got too stressfull.

l havev done the same thing and l have a mpc flipnose 50 done and in limbo right now..

[Joker]

Dick Tracy 5 window '36 Ferd.

One short nap later......

I opened the dehydrator.......

major warpage.....

grrrrrr...

LOL

[jerseyjunker1]

I'm surely not the only person to have had a build go bad.

A few years ago, my sister called me a little out of desperation, and asked me to help build a vintage Smithsonian Hellcat airplane kit with her newly adopted son.

He had started the kit, much to my chagrin, but we only had about 5 days to complete it for the 4-H fair, and it was the busiest week of the entire year for our family.

Let me tell you, that build was a D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R. If anything could go wrong with that build, it did.

First, I found that he and his bother had opened the sealed kit, several weeks prior, and lost part of the cockpit.

While that part was being found in the depths of a bedroom closet, I discovered that back in 1987, someone at Revell decided it would be okay to ship a sprue that hadn't completely filled during the injection process. Not a big deal, until I learned that the landing gear were two of the parts that were not completely formed.

I spent hours working on the landing gear, figured out how to construct it out of new material, had him glue it up, and I taped the assembly up on a glass sliding door at my sisters that was tripled locked and never opened. Well, that door does get opened, and we found that out when his brother saw two neighborhood kids and a dog in their backyard. You can guess that the assembly was smashed to smithereens, with little pieces scattered all over the dining room floor.

Of course, the paint didn't want to dry in this Indiana summer humidity, and when it did, I found a hair dried into the paint on the body.

And as you would expect, both of the wings fell completely off this model after I thought they were solidly glued, partly due to not enough glue on the right surface area and partly due to faulty design of the kit.

It wouldn't have been a fun build had the entire model not been dropped onto the floor, just before adding decals, and as you would suspect, the decals would not seem to come off the paper no matter how long we soaked them.

Now remember, at this time, I hadn't built a model in over 25 years, save one, for my own daughter's 4-H project. I felt like I was out of my element, and definitely out of my skill set trying to fix and build non-existing parts. I had nothing other than spare sprue and Testor's cement as resources.

The most annoying part was an adult baby-sitter, who was watching the boys that week, that had never built the first model in her entire life, decided that she should run her mouth with professional model building advice, and do so in a non-stop fashion, especially when we were at critical times during this build.

Out of all options, the day before the project was due, I hastily built some hard stands for the plane, and he displayed it as if it were in a repair shop.

As much as I hate to admit this, there were several times that I considered trashing the whole project, literally tossing it into the large Rubbermaid trash can that resides in my sister's garage. I simply didn't have the heart to do that, for this boy had three adults, promise in three prior years (while he was in foster care) "that I'll help you build a model", but dropped the ball completely. My nephew even asked in confidence during the build, "will you really help me finish this kit?"

He was able to eke out a Reserve Grand Champion (second best of all plane models) and a coveted spot on the winner's podium.

All in all, I was happy with the end results, and very happy for him...but what a COMPLETE DISASTER!!!!!!

Have you had kits that were disasters?

Please share your story!

.

everything i do

[clovis]

Thank you for the replies.

I've seen so many stunning models on this forum, built by such outstanding professional builders, that you get to wondering if anyone else has had a build go from bad to worse.

I don't think the airplane build would have been so horrid if we would have had more time before the 4-H entry was due. Where do you find a set of landing gear when you have no stash, and just 26 hours before the model is due? Decals are easy to find on ebay, but getting them within a 12 hour time frame is a different story!

At the time, I had exactly 5 bottles of paint in my building kit, and 2 cans of Testors rattle!!!

Again, thank you for the replies!!! At least I'm not alone!!!!

[Deathgoblin]

I haven't had one really fight me yet. I figure I'll probably have one before too long. Right now I've got a Jo-Han 1970 olds in the dip, that might be the one. I've noticed the plastic is awfully brittle.

[IHSS]

Ok after reading your post the way I see it. You made good on the promises that were broken by 3 others. You over came a number of dilema's. You helped a kid, who's had a tuff life so far ( that's just an assumption but most in the foster system do) win a second place. This is not a disaster build in my eye's but more of a victory build and you should be very proud and deserve one hell of a pat on the back and a big hug. Thank you very much for sharing this Jeff

[Mercman]

Ok after reading your post the way I see it. You made good on the promises that were broken by 3 others. You over came a number of dilema's. You helped a kid, who's had a tuff life so far ( that's just an assumption but most in the foster system do) win a second place. This is not a disaster build in my eye's but more of a victory build and you should be very proud and deserve one hell of a pat on the back and a big hug. Thank you very much for sharing this Jeff

Agreed. Here is what is left of the one that hit the wall literally. Boyd's Aluma Coupe. Used the wheels on this Riv.

[Tom Geiger]

The old Revell '57 Chevy Nomad! When I was a kid that beach scene on the box top got me every time. I'd buy the kit and try with all my might to build it and fail since it didn't wish to cooperate. Each year I'd reason that I was a year older and should be able to build it. Nope! Repeat of the past year's performance. I did this at least three times. I do have one I started as an adult maybe 25 years ago... nope never did get 'er together!

[mrknowetall]

The old IMC '48 Ford coupe kit. Tried one as a teenager and failed miserably. Me and multi-piece body kits don't play well, so we don't play together anymore.

[Danno]

I've had a few of those. I don't even like to remember . . .

{None of mine turned out as successfully as yours.}

[chevyfever2009]

Mine was a supra it meet a untimely death with a concrete wall and a m-1000

[Drake69]

Round 2 '69 Dodge Charger Daytona.

Nothing else left to say.

[zenrat]

There are no disasters. Just kit bashing opportunities...

[kitbash1]

There are no disasters. Just kit bashing opportunities...

Amen Brother !!!!!

[nutboltu]

Tamiya Skyline R32. I thought it had warped or got bent out of shape while being brought in the suitcase. WIndow wouldn't fit. Turns out the left side A pillar was coupla millimeters shorter than the other causing the roof to be weirdly slanted on one side. Cut, add plastic, resize, paint.

And an AMT (i think) DOdge DAytona. The BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH nose wouldn't fit no mattter what. Required much, much cutting and fitting.

[ZTony8]

The Meyers Manx that I just finished.After scraping the plating from the gluing surfaces of many of the parts they still wouldn't stay glued together,the metal pins for the front wheels were not included in the kit,the tie rods dont come close to the wheel backs,the exhaust system pieces wouldn't line up,I lost one of the carburetors,and the locating pin on the end of the trans case broke off so the engine/trans wouldn't line up until I pinned it.It's just one of those kits that fought me all the way.

But it's a good 4 footer!

[gtx6970]

What was supposed to be a simple weekend slump buster - busted my rump. I got so disgusted with this one I nearly dropped it in the trash can at midpoint. Painted and stripped TWICE. had fitment issues with the engine,,,,. had decal problems from the word go. so on so on so on .

Once it made a decent appearing car I slammed it together and put it in the case ,,probably never to come out again.