Who else has had a disaster build?

[Quick GMC]

Every build for me. I feel like I build very nice cars with very nice details bit I cannot paint bodies for some reason. I always get runs or a sandy texture or something goes wrong. I have to sand every body and end up going through the paint somewhere. If I paint it well, the clear coat gets jacked up. It's really ruining the hobby for me. I have cars that are complete with 50+ hours in them sitting in a box with a body that has been stripped 3 times.

Two days ago I painted my first - ever rouble free body and I'm scared to touch ot. It should be wet sanded and polished but I know something will go wrong.

[Tom Geiger]

  Quote

Two days ago I painted my first - ever rouble free body and I'm scared to touch ot. It should be wet sanded and polished but I know something will go wrong.

And that's the other end of "disaster builds". Those that are going so well that we're afraid to touch them!

[martinfan5]

All the time

[mnwildpunk]

I was a kid and bought AMT 57 corvette gasser. Nothing lined up or fit properly. 25 years later I still have some of the parts rattling around in my parts box

[mustang1989]

  On 7/24/2013 at 11:48 PM, zenrat said:

There are no disasters. Just kit bashing opportunities...

Another amen plus an opportunity for a challenge!

...........and yes I've had one. I built a 1/24 Bf109 K-4 Kit from Trumpeter that almost became a lawn dart a couple of times. Poor fit, TONS of ejector pin marks in all the wrong places and gaps out the ying yang!!! Pulled the build out of disaster status though!

Edited December 19, 2013 by mustang1989

[clovis]

  On 12/19/2013 at 8:36 PM, mustang1989 said:

Another amen plus an opportunity for a challenge!

...........and yes I've had one. I built a 1/24 Bf109 K-4 Kit from Trumpeter that almost became a lawn dart a couple of times. Poor fit, TONS of ejector pin marks in all the wrong places and gaps out the ying yang!!! Pulled the build out of disaster status though!

Is the Trump 109 kit that bad?

I almost bought one a few months ago. I'm glad that I didn't know!

[mustang1989]

It's not "terrible" but it's got its fair share of challenges. If you know what your'e getting into ahead of time,plan the build out and are decent with body work it yeilds a great build along with some aftermarket stuff. I don't know if all Trumpy kits have the ejector pin mark disease but this one did. Patience, alot of putty and some elbow grease hid alot of em. Here's a shot of the inside of a landing gear door just to show you:(and don't let this discourage you from buying one...this plane looks great under glass.)

Edited December 23, 2013 by mustang1989

[Mike 1017]

The Orange Crate. I was so exited when it got re released.The frame seem to be out of another kit none of the mounting points were right I re drilled all of them Even the engine would not mount where it was suppose to.When I went to install the belly pan nothing lined up. I just threw the whole mess into the garbage can .Latter when I calmed down I fished it out. Now it sits in the box.

[peekay]

All my finished models are the result of having overcome a series of disasters. Model-building, like art, seems to immitate life.

[Mike Kucaba]

I dropped the 1/16th X-sonic Corvette that has been kicking my butt....Front end broke in 3 pieces It's going back together okay and may look more accurate

[mustang1989]

  On 12/24/2013 at 8:16 PM, Mike Kucaba said:

I dropped the 1/16th X-sonic Corvette that has been kicking my butt....Front end broke in 3 pieces It's going back together okay and may look more accurate

eeewwww ..........yuk! It's been a while since I've dropped one and when I did all I could do was just cringe!!! Glad to hear it's working out for you though. Whew!!

[tbill]

no complete disasters yet, but several small ones on each kit I work on. was painting the seats for my pete 359 the other day, clipped on gator clips, and clips into slots on paint stand/table. so, as i'm painting, I pick the stand up to make sure I got the bottoms of the seats covered in paint.........wait for it.......top of the stand comes off, flops over, and one perfectly painted seat looks like it got dragged thru gravel.........

this is the kind of stupid stuff that happens to me. it's always little things.

[jbwelda]

building models is a series of challenges under the best circumstances especially if you are doing any kind of advanced modifications and often even if just building out of the box.

that paint stand: Tamiya? I taped the top to the bottom after doing just that at least a couple times.

jb

[Tom Geiger]

  On 12/24/2013 at 10:04 PM, mustang1989 said:

eeewwww ..........yuk! It's been a while since I've dropped one and when I did all I could do was just cringe!!! Glad to hear it's working out for you though. Whew!!

This year I did the 24 Hour build. I wasn't seeing straight by 3am and I was doing goofy things. I dropped the car body and quickly grabbed for it, trapping it against my chest... breaking both A pillars! Painted and finished body too! I did manage to piece them back in place around straight pins.

[mustang1989]

24 hr GB? Wow I've been involved in the Weekend Madness GB over at FSM but never a 24 hour GB! I'm usually just wrapping up washing the sprues in soap and water and starting engine build up basics at the 24 hour mark!!!!!!!

[Tom Geiger]

  On 12/25/2013 at 1:43 PM, mustang1989 said:

24 hr GB? Wow I've been involved in the Weekend Madness GB over at FSM but never a 24 hour GB! I'm usually just wrapping up washing the sprues in soap and water and starting engine build up basics at the 24 hour mark!!!!!!!

I found the key to the 24 Hour build was to abandon the OCD stuff we do when building. Find a fairly simple kit, build it fairly box stock, and make sure it's a kit that you have extras of so you can sacrifice one. Don't expect to build a trophy winner. Remember, this is just for fun. Sometimes we forget that in our quest for the perfect model.

This past build, I chose the Revell Miss Deal Funny Car. I always wanted to build one, and I had several in my stash. My plan was to build it right out of the box, maybe wire the engine (which I did with a prewired distributor) and distinguish it with decals and final finish.

The process is interesting because you learn a bit about yourself and building. The challenge runs Noon on Saturday to Noon on Sunday. I did it here in PA by myself, others get groups together in their homes. First I took all the parts off the trees and sanded the imperfections like sprue seams and ejector pin marks. Then I assembled things that would get painted once together like the roll cage and engine block. I was dismayed that by 6pm all I had were piles of primed parts. So I took a dinner break.

The evening got things into color. I used all Duplicolor sprays since they dry very quickly. I started assembling things as soon as they were ready. That led me into detailing assemblies and getting things glued together. By 3am I was very tired and seeing double. I fumbled my Studebaker body and caught it, trapping it against my chest... breaking both A pillars! I did recover by gluing them back around straight pin lengths for strength. I was lucky that these were parts that were brush painted silver so it didn't destroy my overall build.

Things went slowly after that, but magically a car appeared on my bench. I had it up on wheels and the body on it by 5am. There was still some stuff to do... the kit blower top was sunken in and needed replacing, and someone had prewarned me about the fiddly headers so I left those parts off. I also had some weathering and such to finish up later on. So I called it "done", took a bunch of pictures and posted it all on the build website by 6am and went to bed. I got up at 9am to see how others were doing, and then slept right through the noontime finish.

So what did we learn? First, I learned to build a bit more systematically. Instead of working on one thing at a time (along with multiple clean up and painting sessions for each set of parts), I did things all at once, like the clean up and priming, and everything that would be the same colors all got painted at the same time. I also learned not to sweat the small stuff. Too often we over prep things and worry about perfection in areas that won't be visible in the final build. I also learned that some of what I do on my builds is essential for me. I tried assembling parts like the roll cage with glue alone. I've customarily pinned these kind of things together. As things fell apart, I stepped back and pinned them! I've carried a lot of this over to my every day building today. I've sped up my process (and the fun factor!) quite a bit. My production this year is my best on record.

And here's the result of 24 crazy hours! Note that the blower, exhaust and some of the rust work was done later. The decals all came in the kit, and the Miss LED name is a jumble from the Miss DEAL decals. I had originally thought about doing custom decals. This was good enough for the quick build.

I didn't go crazy adding things, just the kit as Revell intended it to be. I thought about slowing down to add seat belts, but no, I kept on going. Truth be told, the decals on the firewall cover up imperfections, but add a lot to the overall look.

I also learned that I can crank out an acceptable model in a much shorter period of time. Note that we aren't entering this one in the GSL, but we have created a model that I'm not ashamed to show off on the boards, and at club meetings and NNLs.

I found that the guys who couldn't finish in 24 hours stuck too hard to the way they always built. Too much time doing the steps, and being too much of a perfectionist. Also, some chose complicated kits and wanted to add a bunch of after market parts and modifications. You can't do that here. This is just for fun, so go ahead and build like a sixth grader! The rules are that it has to be a full detail kit, so no snappers or curbsiders. But there are a lot of kits that aren't too complicated that would be great candidates.

And what am I doing this coming February? I don't know. I have so many options that I keep changing my mind. I probably won't decide until right before I have to start!

The Official Rules:

Start at noon on Sat and end at noon on Sun

New or unstarted kit. No quick build snap kits.

Allowed to glue up to 4 pieces to body ahead of time

Must paint build

Post pics as you go along

Most important thing is to have fun.

The Official Site:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/455951714469809/

[jbwelda]

no offense but I would just as soon throw a kit away as attempt to build in a time frame like that. maybe some see it as a "challenge" but I just see it as needless rushing through something that would be a lot better if some time were spent on it.

jb

[mustang1989]

  On 12/26/2013 at 1:22 AM, jbwelda said:

no offense but I would just as soon throw a kit away as attempt to build in a time frame like that. maybe some see it as a "challenge" but I just see it as needless rushing through something that would be a lot better if some time were spent on it.

jb

I dunno if I'd take it that far but I see your point as well as see Tom's there. I recently used the Weekend Madness GB (48 hrs) as an ice breaker for my son who's just getting started with Snap-Tite kits. He just got done building a Revell Star Wars V-19 Torrent kit in the WM GB over at FSM. For me it would be done in 20 minutes but for my 9 year old son to build it by himself AND do it in a GB was pretty cool for me and totally awesome to lil' Joe. I thought about joining another WM GB but it would be with a fairly simple kit like a vintage Monogram aircraft in 1/48 scale. Anything else would be almost impossible , i.e. Eduard, Trumpeter........you get the picture. Good points by Tom and you though.

[Mike Kucaba]

As I see it, it's your kit and do what you want with it. When kits were say no more than $10, building a kit in a rush doesn't seem so much. Now with kits well over (double) that I don't think I'd be inclined to do that.

[mustang1989]

................but if you find a great deal on an old kit at a model show or garage sale it's a perfect opportunity. LOL

[tbill]

  On 12/25/2013 at 1:06 AM, jbwelda said:

building models is a series of challenges under the best circumstances especially if you are doing any kind of advanced modifications and often even if just building out of the box.

that paint stand: Tamiya? I taped the top to the bottom after doing just that at least a couple times.

jb

yup that's the stand, will be taping it together shortly, lol.

[jaydar]

Every kit is a series of disasters! Some big but thankfully most small. Each one gets redone then and there. Most if the time they can be fixed. It is just time and money..... Time i got

Joe.

[lordairgtar]

Palmer kits when I was young. Even as a 9 year old, I knew they sucked. I think as an adult building, I think it would be the Linberg/Airfix Trans Am kammback Wagon. I was modding it to use an earlier 1970 nose and that in and of itself is not a problem. Somewhere I got the idea the rear bumper/tail light assembly could be improved upon. I cut the rear up and then decided what I wanted to do could not be done in the manner I wished. So it's sitting in the box waiting for me...watching me....calling my name...appearing in my nightmares at night....waiting....waiting....waiting....

[mustang1989]

  On 12/27/2013 at 12:00 AM, lordairgtar said:

. So it's sitting in the box waiting for me...watching me....calling my name...appearing in my nightmares at night....waiting....waiting....waiting....

You can't run! You can't hide!!!

[jbwelda]

>You can't run! You can't hide!!!

You can run but you can't hide!

jb