2 years ago, I was building a P-47. The tail wheel strut assembly suddenly went missing. I looked everywhere, even in the trash, for at least an hour. Finally, I gave up and got in touch with Hasegawa who very kindly sent me a new part.
Well, the other day I looked on the carpet and there it was. No idea how it got there or where it went for 2 years. Maybe it got stuck in the wheel track of my chair? Baffling.
Anyone else have similar stories, luck, etc…?
I lost the gunsight glass for my Zvezda La-5 twice. I trimmed larger chunks of sprue off than that piece was! I also found it twice!
One night the cat got into several 1/700 scale seaplanes I was working on. Scattered them all over the kitchen floor. I found all of them but one. And that one showed up–months later; in the living room; with noticeable cat teeth marks in it.
Years ago, while still a bachelor, I built up a Tamiya King Tiger in a completely barren room that contained only a drafting table and a chair. I got the tank built up, but left the roadwheels loose for painting. One night, I carefully lifted up the model to check over my work and a single wheel fell off. I watched it fall to the top of the table where it bounced once and simply vanished. No matter where I looked, I just could not find that bloody wheel! After all these years, it still bothers me because I just cannot explain where it went. There was no carpet, nor any spaces it could have rolled into, nor any animals to snatch it up. I searched for weeks before giving up and ordering a replacement sprue from Tamiya. My best guess is that roadwheel took a bounce straight into some parallel universe where Rod Serling was narrarating about a model builder losing his mind because a part just appeared out of nowhere…
Hello!
Once I was building a M-48 tank, and at one point I also noticed that I don’t have one road wheel. I don’t know any more if I lost it (didn’t find it for like 13 years now, even after renovating the room), or if it just wasn’t there at all (doubt it). That’s when I made my first resin casting to replace it. See if you can spot it on the photo:
The other day I was building a resin 1:72 M110 howitzer. I was just working on the drive sprocket, when something distracted me - door bell or something like that. As I wanted to go on with my work, I couldn’t find that sprocket anywhere. I looked around for about a month, then just scratchbuilt another one:
Like a half a year after finishing it I was showing a fellow modeller my paints and stuff, and that drive sprocket fell out of the cap of a bottle of Mr. Mark Softer - it’s shaped like a pipe and the sprocket was inside. Go figure!
Apart of that I’m usually able to locate the parts I lose - with a help form a flashlight and trying to watch the part as it flies off and listening for bounces [:D]. It’s also good to try to minimize the chances - always keep the part close to the table and well over it, don’t squeeze the tweezers to hard to avoid catapulting the part, watch while cutting, don’t breathe to hard and stuff like that - dozens of lost details create reflexes [:D]
Anyhow, thanks for reading and have a nice day
Paweł
Incredibly I lost this piece to the Carpet Monster.Still haven’t found it.Good thing I had a duplicate kit to raid.
It ain’t the carpet I tell you! Somewhere between the desktop and the floor there is a gateway into another dimension (socks disappear from the wash thru the same gateway). Based upon my experience, if the part reappears, it will happen minutes (even seconds) after you either get an new part and install it, or (the most common occurance) after you have spent several hours scratch building and installing a new part. (I personally find it weird to find the missing part right in the middle of the desk top I just used to make the new part - and this behavior does not seem to apply to socks- they rarely get returned which leads to my theory the socks are being used by the inhabitants of that dimension are using them for insulation of their habitats.
I usually find those lost parts the next time I do a thorough cleaning of my shop. By then I have usually done some sort of work-around for the lost part.
I have a lap apron attached to my workbench, but I just cannot get into the habit of draping it over my lap! At least I only lose one part per working session, because the dropping of a part on the floor reminds me to deploy the apron 
I like qmiester’s theory.
i dropped the port stern lower hull half for my EMDEN on a concrete floor. couldn’t find it and sent off to revell for another. a week after the part came in i looked down on the floor and there it was.
another time i was in the laundry room (ground floor) when i was building an LAV-III (in the basement bunker) and found the left headlight assy guard. didn’t even know i lost it.
i have had parts fall in my shoe, stick to other parts, stick to my fingers. i used to get really upset bbut now A) i put a towel in my lap which catches a bunch of stuff and B) i find my brain going to how to replace the part as i start looking for it.
The dreaded carpet monster has eaten my metal barrel from the revel panzer haube ( I think thats how you spell it!) 2000 yesterday and I spent 15 miutes looking for it.I wouldn’t mind so much but the things about 6" long. I know my eye sight is getting bad but NOT that bad!
I have had my cars keys IN MY HANDS while looking for them; I’ve had my glasses on my face while looking for them; these keep my wife very amused, for some reason. The worse part is, I keep repeating them, and it seems that lately they happen more often.
So far, the only carpet monster issues I’ve had is that some very small parts (like the sway bars on a MER-TER, or a gunsight lens) have been eaten by it, which, I guess, is expected in this hobby. Can’t say that I’ve ever lost a big part to it.
I just lost a canopy handle for a 1/48 Hasegawa Apache the other night when it popped out of the tweezers. No luck finding it yet, but I just quickly bent a tiny brass rod to make a replacement.
Groot
To try and stem the Carpet Monster’s power, i put down one of those office plastic carpet savers. Although it allows the chair to roll without marking the carpet, it’s only marginally effective at making parts retrievable. If they fall straight, i can find them.
nbaarchitects.com/…/Plastic-floor-mats-for-office-chairs-129.jpg
Even if they fall straight, I am amazed at how far small model parts bounce and roll. They cover considerable distances! Of course, parts snipped with scissors or dikes can REALLY travel- I usually don’t even bother to look for most of those! Small PE parts that snap away seem to travel at faster than light speed! Even tweezers seem to be able to really launch small parts of you accidently apply any “english” to the blades!
Does a wood floor monster count? I dropped a part of my ME262 not a small one either and can not find it anywhere. Heck I’ve dropped tiny PE parts and have been able to find them but this is just odd lol
It counts.
I lost the main gear for a 1/48 Bf-109. The part was 2" long. It was never found. There must be a portal to the 4th dimension in every build room.
I dropped a 1/4 inch length of 1/350 PE railing about an hour ago.No serious attempt was made to find it.
I had read a long time ago that putting the part you’re about to snip from the sprue in a plastic bag, then snipping it from the sprue inside the bag, will keep it from being devoured by the carpet monster. This should work with X-Acto knives or diagonal cutters.
Also, putting masking tape, or even scotch tape, on the sprue and part being snipped will retain the part.
I never seem to remember these tips when I snip parts…
