What do you see as the most common problems or errors in our model builds?

[Terry Sumner]

Without naming anyone in particular's build(s), what are the most common errors or maybe problems with kits that go unfixed?

For me, one of the things that I see frequently is an ill fitting hood. Why is it that so many models seem to have the hood all messed up?

Other things that I notice are mold/seam lines not removed, all 4 tires not on the ground, tires that look like they're falling off the wheel, the list could go on and on I guess.

So what do you see that are easily corrected items?

I hope that maybe simply discussing these problems in a generic manner could help some guys with their builds...you know...kinda like a list of things to watch out for when building?

[XJ6]

Interesting...well the first thing that comes to my mind...ha after looking at my models would be the window trim, or even the masking of the windows..

[Rob Z]

My biggest pet peeve is, you see a beautifully assembled and detailed kit and look at the headlights and they aren't straight... The lines are running vertical or diagonal but not horizontal like they should be...

[Alyn]

I'm with you Terry. It's amazing how many models have hoods that don't line up, or have a corner sticking up. Sometime it appears there's too much motor in there and the hood can no longer close .

[Pete J.]

The single most frequent problem I see as a contest judge is a failure to polish out paint. Orange peel, boogers in the paint, uneven gloss. All things that would be easily solved with some sand paper, polishing compound and a little time.

[Mooneyzs]

I would have to agree with the others that have said something about the mold/seam lines. Also have to agree with the hood thing too. I can think of one of my builds thats like that. I don't think I ever caught it since i didn't test fit all of it with the air cleaners on. I know now I find that I try not to rush anything like I did when I first started buiding when I was younger.

[Kodiak Island Modeler]

Models not sitting straight, often due to not cleaning the mold nubs off of the tire tread.

[diymirage]

what about directional tires that are mounted backwards ?

[MrObsessive]

The single most frequent problem I see as a contest judge is a failure to polish out paint. Orange peel, boogers in the paint, uneven gloss. All things that would be easily solved with some sand paper, polishing compound and a little time.

Amen to that Pete! I've been a judge at a number of shows, and have raised the ire of certain contestants because their model didn't place when they "think" it should've.

I try to politely tell them that their paint needs to be rubbed out and polished a bit more to be really attention getting--------also fingerprints on obvious surfaces don't lend themselves well to having a decent flawless finish.

Pssssst................here's a tip for you future contestants! If you want to really catch the people and judges attention, make sure your roof, hood, tops of fenders and trunk are as flawless and as glass like as possible! As a former judge, that's the FIRST thing I notice when coming upon a model. Nothing will disqualify a model faster than a substandard paint job, no matter how many bells and whistles it has.

[Guest]

Oversized parts in the engine bay. Especially ignition wires. They should not be the same size as coolant lines. Followed closely by the mold line running across the radiator of an otherwise well detailed engine compartment. Another one is hoods that are lighter or darker than the body or a pickup that has a darker or lighter bed.

[crazyjim]

I think I'm guilty of all the above - especially the tires, Eelco.

[whale392]

Honestly, lack of basic prep is what kills even the 'best' builds. Added brake lines, brackets, calipers, rotors, and the like only to still have mold separation lines down the axle tubes. Now, I can see how some of these can be left, as I have had to do some extensive research to figure out where the real manufacturer separated a part (so that I don't file off a line that needs to be there or fill in a separation groove on the real part). I think that 1:1 product knowledge/familiarity is paramount to building an accurate scale rendition.

But these are just the ramblings of a non-finishing talent-less hack.

[Terry Sumner]

One more thing that I notice and is kind of a pet peeve with me is when someone calls their model a "Gasser" when clearly it's not. It seems like any drag car with a high front end is automatically a gasser! And if I'm judging a contest in a drag or competition car class, putting incorrect class designations on the models is a points deduction.

[Harry P.]

Besides the obvious as mentioned (bad paint, visible mold seams, hoods that don't fit, etc.) there are three things that I see over and over again that I notice right away:

The magic "floating alternator" that somehow miraculously floats in space, supported by nothing, yet still manages to keep the belts tight...

On street or factory stock cars, Inner fenders that come nowhere close to meeting up with the outer "sheet metal," or that are missing completely... which means the fenders would be bolted onto air...

and the giant wheel/tire setup that allows for exactly zero suspension travel or steering movement. I guess those are models of cars that will only be driven in a straight line over a perfectly smooth surface!

[spkgibson]

BMF that is sloppy , Uneven lines and not burnished down properly, With hairs and such, Also uneven paint , And markerlights painted on sloppy ,And in the wrong color, Most of the automobiles out there used the proper color Tamiya Clear Orange, Sone use the Testors Turn Signal Amber.Both are different in the shades, And to solve the clear headlight issue, Thin out some of the clear Testors cement, And flow it into the headlights, It makes them look more realistic, Also if the headlight background needs to be blacked out, Example being, The 69 Nova,Paint the entire area with black, Then back your Clear Headlight with BMF, Then glue it in with the clear cement mentioned above. It makes it look more relistic , I see so many models ruined by headlights being painted white,Or silver, I have never see either color headlights on real cars. Also if there is no bezels for the taillights, Example a 68 Firebird, And other subjects, Back those also with BMF, That way it will brighting the lenses up. I use those methods all the time. And make sure you reserch your projects before adding the final details. I have seen so many projects, That look nice,But most of the details are totally wrong, Factory overspray is another issue I have seen. For Mopars, Everything underneith is body color, Chassis wise, The only thing that is black is the "K" Frame, and the rear axle, The rest is gray with body color overspray, The unibody Fords,And GM cars were the same,Except. The subframes were Semigloss Black. The rest was Bodycolor overspray. for Ford, They used Red Oxide Primer Most of the time, GM used Gray. Full frame cars were painted the same, The only difference was the entire frame was Semigloss black. The only way you would have and entire black chassis would be if the car was Undercoated,And that wasn't uniform from the factory . And even sometimes they used different colors for it. But for a factory stock model, The best way to start is to research the subject from top to bottom, and front to back. And one of the most common problems I see is mid to late 60's Chrysler Products engine colors, They only used Orange on the 426 Wedge and HEMI's up untill 1968, In 1969, That is when all the Hiproformance Engines were orange, The 68 and earlier 383'and 440s were Turquoise . 1969 was the first year for the Orange engines. Unless they weren't the Hiproformance versions , Those were the same colors as the 68 and earlier years, All of your Smallblock Chrysler engines were red up untill 1969 or 1970. Just do alot of research on the next project. Take your time and you should be good. But the chassis details I mentioned are correct. As I have been building and researching this stuff for years.

Edited June 30, 2011 by spkgibson

[David G.]

Oversized parts in the engine bay. Especially ignition wires. They should not be the same size as coolant lines. Followed closely by the mold line running across the radiator of an otherwise well detailed engine compartment. Another one is hoods that are lighter or darker than the body or a pickup that has a darker or lighter bed.

In some cases, that could merely be accurate modeling. I've seen more than a few new cars with mis-matched panel paint density.

David G.

[SuperStockAndy]

Common errors, eh?

I'm guilty of quite a few.

Touching wet paint, getting glue on the windows, One or more wheels in the air, floating alternator, fisheyes in paint, I could go on all day...

[Harold]

I think a lack of basic research on the subject (if its a stock vehicle). Wrong engine colors (not all Ford engines are blue, for example), not all turn signal lenses are amber (my 1:1 Pontiac has white- ish lenses with amber bulbs). But I'll have to say paint jobs and foil application is the biggest thing (guilty party here ).

[Terry Sumner]

A little tip for those headlight lenses...Don't use glue at all...use Future floor finish! It will glue them right in place and dries perfectly clear. I also dip my window glass in Future and then mount the glass to the body either with more Future or with Super Glue. The Future on the glass prevents the dreaded "fogging" by the super glue.

[SuperStockAndy]

A little tip for those headlight lenses...Don't use glue at all...use Future floor finish! It will glue them right in place and dries perfectly clear. I also dip my window glass in Future and then mount the glass to the body either with more Future or with Super Glue. The Future on the glass prevents the dreaded "fogging" by the super glue.

I prefer Tacky Glue for clear parts.

[Guest Johnny]

Oversized parts in the engine bay. Especially ignition wires. They should not be the same size as coolant lines. Followed closely by the mold line running across the radiator of an otherwise well detailed engine compartment. Another one is hoods that are lighter or darker than the body or a pickup that has a darker or lighter bed.

You mean they don't make 19mm spark plug wires???

[MrObsessive]

Factory overspray is another issue I have seen. For Mopars, Everything underneith is body color, Chassis wise, The only thing that is black is the "K" Frame, and the rear axle, The rest is gray with body color overspray, The unibody Fords,And GM cars were the same,Except. The subframes were Semigloss Black. The rest was Bodycolor overspray. for Ford, They used Red Oxide Primer Most of the time, GM used Gray. Full frame cars were painted the same, The only difference was the entire frame was Semigloss black.

Steve, I've seen late '50's early '60's (through '64) GM cars use red oxide primer underneath. It all depended on what was going on at the factory on any given day.

GM's not going to shut down a line due to being out of gray paint! They'll use whatever's on hand to get the job done.

[jsimmons]

Besides the obvious as mentioned (bad paint, visible mold seams, hoods that don't fit, etc.) there are three things that I see over and over again that I notice right away:

The magic "floating alternator" that somehow miraculously floats in space, supported by nothing, yet still manages to keep the belts tight...

On street or factory stock cars, Inner fenders that come nowhere close to meeting up with the outer "sheet metal," or that are missing completely... which means the fenders would be bolted onto air...

and the giant wheel/tire setup that allows for exactly zero suspension travel or steering movement. I guess those are models of cars that will only be driven in a straight line over a perfectly smooth surface!

Floating alternator - I agree that it looks weird, but the solution to it is expensive when you compare it to the cost of the kit. I don't mind that kind of stuff as long as heroic attempts weren't made to super-detail the engine compartment.

Free-floating fenders - I'm guilty of that, but only on cars that I've kit-bashed into pro-stock versions. Granted, it would be better to make a flip front-end, but anything more involved than simply cutting out the engine compartment (back when I did it 20 years ago) was kinda a) beyond my level of comfort, and would have taken too long given my level of patience.

Giant wheels/tires - I assume you mean the 23-inchers that everyone seems to like to use nowadays. Again, I don't really mind that kind of thing if they look right on the car or give it a better stance than stock (and gluing the suspension to popsicle sticks would give most OOB models a better stance). I don't think there's a single car in my queue that won't be modified in some way with regards to the suspension or wheels/tires.

In the end, I think we all build the best we can, and simply try to do better and/or try something new on the next model. I think the most important aspect is the quality of the paint and detail on the body. If it's not that well done, no aspect of the model will be nearly as impressive - regardless of what that aspect might be. there've been many times when I've thought to myself, "Interesting, but too bad about the paint."

[Harry P.]

Floating alternator - I agree that it looks weird, but the solution to it is expensive when you compare it to the cost of the kit. I don't mind that kind of stuff as long as heroic attempts weren't made to super-detail the engine compartment

Expensive solution???

You can make an alternator bracket out of a small piece of scrap sheet styrene, a short length of thin brass strip, heck, even a strip of thin cardboard or card stock. Paint it semi-gloss black and glue it in place.

Expensive? No, free! All it takes is a few minutes and a little ingenuity.

Whenever I see a "detailed" engine with ignition wires, battery cables, heater hoses, etc., and that "magic floating alternator" I always think... why??? Why go to such trouble to add all the details, then leave off that one obviously missing detail?

[spkgibson]

Steve, I've seen late '50's early '60's (through '64) GM cars use red oxide primer underneath. It all depended on what was going on at the factory on any given day.

GM's not going to shut down a line due to being out of gray paint! They'll use whatever's on hand to get the job done.

Very true, I guess it depends on the years, Where the car was made, Ect, So I guess any color could have been used, I'm pretty sure though Chrysler used Gray in the 60's and 70's. The 79 Nova that my brother and I are restoring has the Red Oxide under the White Paint. I remember touring the Fisher Body Plant in the 1980's on a school field trip, And they used to take the entire body shell and drip them, I can't remember if it was to rust proof the cars, Of if it was the primer bath, That was along time ago, 1984 or 85 I think, Then When my father worked at The Buick Engine Plant 36-4 I was able to go see how they made the Buick V-6, That was really cool. He started working there in September of 1965, He worked on the transmissions for the Then new 1966 Toronado. If I need to ask anything about Building a Buick model, I have him to ask, that pretty cool. Most of my family worked for GM , All divisions.