Gremlins in model building (not AMC type).

[ranma]

Oh those Gremlins of building a model, Either parts come up missing, glue gets on clear parts, paint ect. Those Darn critters got me on two different kit's recently, First a 67 Impala that all the clear parts in their plastic bag still goes awol. Then today glue out of nowhere ends up on a windshield, I used a glue tip and had no glue on any of my fingers. Alas though glue smudged on the passenger side on the inside of the windshield. Other Mishaps I've been hit with is parts falling and disappearing  never to be found again or after the part has been replaced it shows back up. Anyone else have these Gremlins in their house????

[AC Norton]

........very small part's getting lost at time's is a problem that most builder's deal with at one time or another. the key is to organize your work area, and when I either custom make, or remove a tiny part from the tree, I put  it in a small tube container, like the one's number 11 blade's come in. I also sometime's  take a strip of masking tape, sticky side up, and place part's on it until they are used. As for glue mark's, glass can be tricky to install in some car's, and I usually do that using 5 minute epoxy, because if a peck get's on the glass, it generally wipe's off  with a bit of warm water before it dries. I also use clear Scotch tape, cut to the specific need's of that particular glass piece, and also when I cut side window's from clear sheet for installing in certain car's. that way you can remove it if your piece isn't positioned the way you like, and then simply start again.... save's damage of any glue stain's.....hope this help's...the Ace...

[gtx6970]

Had this happen just a few days ago. Carpet monster decided it needed my windshield for my Munsters Koach kit.

I found it,,,,, about a half hour later.

I heard the 'crack'  I knew instantly what it was. That was a sickening feeling.

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Trying to install the rear window of any Revell '48 Ford kit, without any glue showing, is not for the faint of heart. 

[disabled modeler]

Model Gremlins...?....Yep there here too Rick.  Drop one small part and its gone like its found time warp never to be seen again...?

Painting Gremlins...Spend weeks work on a body and once you are ready to spray it the can spits paint.

[Foxer]

The very tiny drill into a very tiny hole for a very tiny pin has attracted the Gremlins to the shop. They stole the last brass pin, probably because they arrived too late to make the hole blow out the sides

[BigTallDad]

Tip for finding lost parts: take a sock and tape the opening to the hose on a shop-vac. When you turn on the vac, stuff the sock down inside the hose, thus creating a filter that will catch the part when the vac sucks it up,

[Dodge Driver]

The fish-eye gremlins came to town this weekend. My first paint job in years, and there they were! Not very noticeable, but frustrating nonetheless.

[ranma]

They visited me again while working on the AMT 57 Chevrolet (Coca-Cola Issue) I removed the driver side wiper from the tree just fine, Then the Gremlin's hit with a one -two punch as both the passenger side wiper broke then the radio antenna followed suit. I have built almost 20 of these 57 Chevrolet's (retooled) and only one other had the passenger wiper break on me. And of all of the ones I've built this is the first to have gotten glue on the windshield.

[Mike999]

I thought I had killed the Carpet Gremlins by getting a house with a concrete floor in the basement.  Warning: the Gremlins always adapt to a new environment. Resistance is futile.

Now parts hit the concrete floor and bounce into the darkest, most inaccessible corner under the workbench.  Where I STILL have to crawl around looking for them, after sweeping everything out with a broom. 

That happened yesterday while I was applying oil paint to the head of a 1/16 scale figure. Had drilled a hole in the neck and firmly super-glued the head to a large bent paper-clip. Well, not that firmly, I guess. Since the head popped right off the paper clip and rolled into some other dimension for about 20 minutes, until I finally found it. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Remarkably, I have found over many years that lost parts, broken parts, glue smears, paint problems and whatever else might be blamed on "gremlins" are invariably the result of my own ineptitude, poor organization, carelessness or getting in a needless hurry.

Saying "the part broke" or "glue got on the windshield" to me is the equivalent of saying "the car wrecked".

In my OWN case, it's ALWAYS "I broke a part" or "I got glue on the windshield". 

For ME, accepting responsibility for things that go wrong takes some of the frustration and mystery out of life, and makes it somewhat possible to avoid similar things happening in the future. 

Any of you may choose to view life differently, and that's OK.  

 

Edited February 26, 2017 by Ace-Garageguy

[restoman]

Around here, there are few Gremlins in the work area.

There are, however, several cats that like to lay on the bench occasionally, and a Great Dane who will bench surf whenever possible... makes life interesting.

 

[Draggon]

Everything fits until after the last coat of paint. Even if I've mocked up continually until applying a final gloss coat, I'm probably going to need files and sandpaper to get things together. 

[carrucha]

Last year I painted Monogram's 1958 T-Bird and I thought I had laid down a good paint job when the following day I found that a small insect landed on the car body and got stuck in the clear coat.  Fortunately I was able to remove the little bug with minimal damage to the paint job.

[BIGTRUCK]

" Other Mishaps I've been hit with is parts falling and disappearing  never to be found again or after the part has been replaced it shows back up. Anyone else have these Gremlins in their house????"

All these parts that fall and go missing never to be seen again are tied in with with tools , such as sockets, if you drop a socket on the garage floor it rolls to a secret spot someplace on the property where it hit the ground. Thats as close as I can pinpoint those " floor lost objects".

[Snake45]

Lost parts? Feh. My gremlin is stealing/hiding/cloaking whole kits. I'll go to build or even just look at a kit I know I have, and it's gone! Disappeared! Vanished! And I KNOW I saw it RIGHT OVER THERE just THE OTHER YEAR. Where is it?  Latest victim is a Monogram '66 Chevelle I've had since the '70s. And now it's GONE!

Oh well, I'm sure it'll turn up when I'm looking for something else and have lost all interest in it. Sigh.

[Junkman]

There is a parallel universe where kit parts vanish to.
One headlight cover of my Italeri 250 GTO is over there for 24 years now.

Doors, hoods and trunklids that fit perfectly each time they were trial fitted
suddenly don't fit for love nor money when you want to finally mount them.

[Ace-Garageguy]

  On 2/27/2017 at 10:07 PM, Junkman said:

There is a parallel universe where kit parts vanish to...

In all honesty, I guess I have to admit I've thought the same thing on occasion. Every now and then, a part will disappear from the bench and I'll spend several minutes looking for it...under tools, other parts, everywhere I can think of. I get up, go get a cup of coffee, come back, and the part is lying right there in plain sight.

Same thing happens with my keys sometimes too. 

It MUST be a slight drift between lines of alternate probability, because I couldn't possibly be THAT doofy...could I?