An old story about the Revell '54 Sedan Delivery, and a Hot Jack Knife...

[KeithJackson]

The comic strip I stole my signature block from sums up my childhood experience in building models:

 

[Snake45]

The comic strip I stole my signature block from sums up my childhood experience in building models:

 

I only ever had one model that came close to reducing me to tears in frustration--the Monogram 1/48 TBF Avenger. When I built it decades later as an adult, it was no sweat at all.

[Tom Geiger]

I too got suckered in by the ad!  I was a US military dependant living in Germany so the only way I could get American models was through that AutoWorld catalog.  It took like double US delivery time for my shipment to arrive in Germany via USPS and seapost.  I would place an order maybe once a month or so, whenever my meager income from washing cars and mowing lawns raised enough.  I had several orders in transit at a time, and kept track of them all on school loose leaf pages inside my AutoWorld catalog!

Anyway... I don't even remember what I initially tried the cutter on. It had to be horrible since I've blocked it from my memory entirely!  And I forgot all about it until I was cleaning out my parents' house and found it among my father's tools in the garage.  Of course I thought time would heal all wounds and my adult model savvy and skills may just be up to taming the Auto Cutter... um no!

No decent models were harmed in this experiment... I used an AMT 71 Duster body from a half built kit I bought for the chassis.  I had several of this body already in better condition.  

and here was my best effort.  Auto Cutter went back in the box!

[Deathgoblin]

I wondered about those when I was a kid.  Now I'm glad I never got one.  What about using a rheostat to turn down the heat?

[ChrisBcritter]

And using a piece of thin stainless steel photoetch fret instead of the blade?