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"Unbuildable"


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As mentioned "unbuildable" is in the eyes of the beholder, and the from the viewpoint of their current skill set. What they may deem unbuildable today may become an easy build later when they've developed those skills to the point of building that model.

Many years ago one of my clubs had a guy in his 50s who was all thumbs. The model he screamed as unbuildable was a diecast Hummer, one of those marked for "Ten And Under". The glass was one piece and was supposed to be snapped onto a peg that stuck out of the headliner area. Well, our boy just pressed, pounded and fumbled until he broke the glass. Oh was he steamed! He was going to go back to that hobby shop and tell them good! How dare they sell this unbuildable thing!

I'd expect that everyone reading this would have put the glass shot over the peg, realized it was a bit tight, and we would've made the appropriate adjustment to the receiving hole in the glass with an exacto knife. Rookie fix, but to this one character it was indeed "unbuildable". At least he couldn't figure it out!

You would think that as one ages, one develops a more serene demeanor- at least, I think I have. Yesterday, I swept one of those teeny-tiny little drill bits (#75?) of my bench and onto the floor with other debris, thinking it was just a brush bristle or something. As soon as I did that, I said a bad word because I realized what I had done. The search to recover said drill was futile. Years ago, that might have been the start of a bad day, but now... hey, I have more bits and I can always go buy more.

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You would think that as one ages, one develops a more serene demeanor- at least, I think I have. Yesterday, I swept one of those teeny-tiny little drill bits (#75?) of my bench and onto the floor with other debris, thinking it was just a brush bristle or something. As soon as I did that, I said a bad word because I realized what I had done. The search to recover said drill was futile. Years ago, that might have been the start of a bad day, but now... hey, I have more bits and I can always go buy more.

Now when you sink that same drill bit deep into a finger, you can still resort back to a childish response! :blink:

Yea, a recent experience.. drill bit on my battery power drill, went in fast and good!

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Now when you sink that same drill bit deep into a finger, you can still resort back to a childish response! :blink:

Yea, a recent experience.. drill bit on my battery power drill, went in fast and good!

OUCH...! been there done that...a few years ago I almost cut my thumb of with a razor knife tool. Any kit can be built...one just might not like it or it might not be a good one but they all can be built...there are times where id build anything just to kill being bored.

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You would think that as one ages, one develops a more serene demeanor- at least, I think I have. Yesterday, I swept one of those teeny-tiny little drill bits (#75?) of my bench and onto the floor with other debris, thinking it was just a brush bristle or something. As soon as I did that, I said a bad word because I realized what I had done. The search to recover said drill was futile. Years ago, that might have been the start of a bad day, but now... hey, I have more bits and I can always go buy more.

I agree, this is what seperates the boys from the men - keeping your cool & having plenty of patience is the key, my thing is paint.... I love & live for it. Without things going wrong with a paint job, you'll never learn how to do it right the next time, same goes with building a tricky model, like some of the revell kits; you have to test fit everything ahead of time & take your time with each sub-assembly; and most important - if you feel frustration coming on; walk away & come back to it later..... I find the more challenging the kit, the more rewarding in the end. :)

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Won't say unbuildable, but a real pain on the as: The Testors 1948 Ford.

I'm building one on and off for about three months. Just can't "engage a gear and make the tires spin" because every single part has a ton of flash, and just won't fit right. Not to mention the multiple parts body that make the old Revell kits look like a breeze to put together.

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Building Model Cars 101:

STEP ONE: Determine whether or not you're smarter than an inanimate collection of plastic bits.

STEP TWO: If the answer is "yes, I'm smarter than plastic", build the model, doing what's necessary to put it together, fitting and correcting things as you go if required

If the answer is "no, I'm not smarter than plastic", give up, declare the model unbuildable, and complain about it.

:D

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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For a 12 year old with nothing but tube glue at their disposal a kit might be declared unbuildable. But as an adult with all the various tools and adhesives available the only real obstacle to completing a kit is desire.

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Though I've yet to see an unbuildable kit, I have had a few that were so frustratingly bad, that they ended up either having a high speed collision with my basement wall, or were stomped to death on the floor.

Okay then I think they would qualify as unbuildable.

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Aoshima's old Suzuki GSX250E kit from the '70s can NOT be built OOB- the lower mounting points for the rear shocks simply will not work

It's like nobody at Aoshima ever built this kit to check fitment once it was produced :wacko:

Not that anyone is ever likely to run into this kit :D

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Aoshima's old Suzuki GSX250E kit from the '70s can NOT be built OOB- the lower mounting points for the rear shocks simply will not work

I've run into a couple like that - Gunze's simplified Lotus Elan couldn't be built without modification because part of the front suspension and chassis tried to occupy the same space, and one of Fujimi's Celicas had to have the inner front fenders relieved before the spindles could be installed.

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post-3071-1279622362.jpg In frustration I flew one of these into the wall. I must admit, the only time I ve ever done that. My Mom said" I think you dropped something." :D

I did finish the build, working landing gear, dive flaps opened when you pulled the arresting hook out (" Pull my finger.. :lol: ) folding wings, I got everything to work, a proud accomplishment.

Edited by Greg Myers
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post-3071-1279622362.jpg In frustration I flew one of these into the wall. I must admit, the only time I ve ever done that. My Mom said" I think you dropped something." :D

I did finish the build, working landing gear, dive flaps opened when you pulled the arresting hook out (" Pull my finger.. :lol: ) folding wings, I got everything to work, a proud accomplishment.

Yeah, that kit is 40 miles of bad road. I started one in 1972. I might get around to finishing it someday.

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Yes, multi panels 7bd85560faf32c45your27e1513d96-vi.jpg9a3c06f0faf32c45your27e1513d96-vi.jpg and opening doors :o

The only way to build something half decent is to completely ignore the instructions and assemble the body as a unit before installing it to the fenders/floors. The model also needs some sheet styrene glued to the sides and fenders as there is zero 3D trim molded to the body. The kit comes with a "chrome" trim, that is in fact some kind of "mylar" looking like tape cut to represent the missing trim. Won't be using that. Also the tires on mine kind of "schunk" and became soft to the point of almost being melted. Will use some AMT Firestones instead of that unusable blobs of melted vinyl.

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Unbuildable? Never. Undesirable? More likely.

I'm not sure I know the joys of a crisp new high end kit because I'm such a fan of the cruddy old ones that it's all I know. Making lemonade out of lemons or even making apples out of lemons is modeling.

IMG_2538-vi.jpg

Yup, I have some 2000 kits and great resin pieces and I decide to build what? Yea, the busted up body behind the purple pickup! It's what was left after building the pickup and spent years as a paint stand. Then one day I held it up to the light and thought, "ya know..."

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