Losing model parts

[OldTrucker]

There is a black hole in every model room and parts don't even have to fall on the floor to be sucked into the vortex!

[BeakDoc]

I had a shifter squirt out of some tweezers. Spent a good 20 minutes crawling around on the floor looking for it. Borrowed one from another kit. A good 4 hours later, as I was cleaning up for bed, I found it stuck in my beard.

[Bucky]

21 minutes ago, BeakDoc said:

I had a shifter squirt out of some tweezers. Spent a good 20 minutes crawling around on the floor looking for it. Borrowed one from another kit. A good 4 hours later, as I was cleaning up for bed, I found it stuck in my beard.

That's one of the best ones I've heard! I hope it didn't have any super glue on it!! LOL

[Goose1957]

I've found out over the years, the best way to launch a part into the stratosphere is to try to GENTLY grasp it in a pair of needle nose tweezers to paint it. Works every time.

Jeff 

[Pete J.]

I just had an amazing experience.  I knocked a tire and rim off my work bench.  I saw it roll under the bench and immediately bent down to retrieve it.  My initial inspection resulted in no site of it.  Then out of the corner of my eye, I caught something rolling out the garage door!  It was my tire and rim and was headed down the drive way(slopping down away from the garage) toward the street.  I managed to head it off just before it reached the storm drain!  I wonder how many other parts are in the storm drain??

[Bucky]

That's an adventure in modeling that some of us won't get to experience! LOL

[slusher]

What has me scratching my head is my motor cycle not built and taped to an 8x10 piece of card board..

[Roadrunner]

4 hours ago, OldTrucker said:

There is a black hole in every model room and parts don't even have to fall on the floor to be sucked into the vortex!

A gateway to the fourth dimension. I have one here too; I think it's where all of my ballpoint pens go.

[Wm David Green]

I have started to bulk buy three packs of small PE plastic food storage boxes with lids, sold in thrift stores (cheap shops like "Poundland" here in the UK).

The larger boxes, are approximately 19cm x 14cm x 6cm, and inside there are two progressively smaller sizes packed 'Russian doll' style. Just to illustrate, the middle size box will take approx six Mr Color / Tamiya size paint jars.

Nonetheless I still have loads of spare parts in bags, old kit boxes, and in other types containers. And in the carpet, or lost to eternity.

[Richard Bartrop]

Sometimes they're in the boxes themselves.  But a part in a box. Seal the box.  Put the box away.  Come back later, open the box, and the part is gone.

[Nazz]

 Thanks guys, I thought these things only happened to me. I feel much better now. I am presently looking for a P.E. set that has gone missing. Just add it to the list I guess. I'm surprised our dogs don't get the gremlin . They must be invisible, or maybe half way between dimensions? At any rate, thanks for the laugh!

[OldTrucker]

I've had parts pop out of clamps, tweezers, fingers and later found them in shirt pockets, in my shoe which I was wearing and stuck in the tread of my sneakers!

[Tom Geiger]

45 minutes ago, OldTrucker said:

I've had parts pop out of clamps, tweezers, fingers and later found them in shirt pockets, in my shoe which I was wearing and stuck in the tread of my sneakers!

I once lost a single letter from a photo etch script. Later found it securely glued to my shirt cuff.. it had even been through the wash!

[mchook]

On 2/18/2020 at 8:29 PM, BeakDoc said:

I found it stuck in my beard.

I've had this happen too. If I don't put my beard in a pony tail or tuck it in my shirt it ends up knocking things off the bench. Sometimes there's paint in it & parts. I think if I work on something too long I'll have my own personal junkyard on my face. Talk about losing something & finding it right under your nose!?

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I was looking all around for a driveshaft during final assembly, nowhere to be found... I finally realized it was in the dehydrator.... -RRR

[Tom Geiger]

This afternoon I spent a frustrating hour in the model room. I have two small springs I cut for front suspension. I found one on the bench and had to search for the second one. Sure enough it strayed across the bench and was under something.  I no sooner had the pair, then dropped one!  I did a floor sweep and was fortunate to find it. Now they are glued in place. Something that should have taken a few minutes became an hour! 

The good part? During the floor sweep I found the missing Trabbie rear hatch strut!

 

Edited February 28, 2020 by Tom Geiger

[Roadrunner]

On 2/20/2020 at 10:08 PM, Richard Bartrop said:

Sometimes they're in the boxes themselves.  But a part in a box. Seal the box.  Put the box away.  Come back later, open the box, and the part is gone.

Harry Houdini at work?

[tbill]

It is quite amazing how fast and far some of these bits travel. My model room has laminate flooring in it, and with all the stuff I have crammed in it, there isn’t much ‘bare’ floor area, but man, those parts find their way to some of the craziest places in that room.....

[Straightliner59]

Thankfully, I have never had this problem! ?

[robertw]

Model parts are minor. I lost a 4 inch ring binder full of reference material, photos, clippings, mag articles. I had it a couple of years ago when I moved, it went into my new home, it was a white binder and on the spine was written Reference Material but now its gone. If anyone slipped into my home and borrowed it, please let me know when you're going to be finished with it.

[disabled modeler]

I think there has to be little gremlins running off with parts that get dropped....seems its a 50/50 deal ever finding them again.   I cant count how many times I was in the middle of a build and dropped something and could not find it again.   My projects all get a box to store them in till its time comes which helps..do the same with extra parts.  

[oldnslow]

I've chased parts all over my modeling area at one time or another , found some ? , lost some ? , but now I have an apron , like they used to wear in the grocery store , tacked to my bench , along the bottom edge , and whenever I start a modeling session , I slip the top over my head and it catches 90% of the pieces that decide to leave the area . Saves me from having to crawl around on the floor looking for that one piece that puts a halt to the build . ?

[slusher]

Caught my cat picking through parts on the bench looking to steal one to play with. Found my missing red line in the living room with bit marks. Now I can’t turn my back on her.....

[Bills72sj]

On 2/28/2020 at 1:46 PM, slusher said:

Caught my cat picking through parts on the bench looking to steal one to play with. Found my missing red line in the living room with bit marks. Now I can’t turn my back on her.....

I have the same issue. My Gremlin is also in the shape of a cat. I left the front axle and tie rod to my Freightliner on my bench. They disappeared. I found the tie rod later under the dining room table when we moved it to bring in the Christmas tree. Still haven't seen the axle.