I’ve been working on a P-47 Razorback for quite some time. I took a little time off of it here and there, but finally got close to being though last night. I have built many models, but almost all have been just quick throw togethers for my son to play with and tear up. This was my first time to airbrush, decal and detail a model that I would be proud of to put in my office.
I had just finished adding some chipped paint here and there and was about to put on some exhaust and gun stains. Then all that would be needed would be the flat finish. I’m working on our nice wood kitchen table when I somehow spill the small cup of laquer thinner I was using to rinse my brush. For some stupid reason I didn’t have it on the newspaper. I freaked out and yelled for my wife to come help. She freaks out and shoves the newspaper out of the way to see how big the spill is. As she shoves the newpaper off the table, so goes my P-47. It lands on the floor with a crack. [:(] It broke the antenna on the wing, broke one wing almost off, but at least to where the seam was ruined, and nearly broke one of the tail wings off, again ruining the seam.
The table has big dull spot from the laquer thinner. We tried to fix it with different stuff and got it close to looking like it was, but you can still tell if you look close.
I was able to fit enough super glue in the seams of the wing and tail wing to get it to hold together without totally taking the wings off. It saved parts of the seam, but there are some spots I just won’t be able to fix without redoing it from scratch using putty. Luckily the worst of the seem is on the bottom of the wing. The antenna went back into place with a little super glue.
Anyway, just a little rant. I’m sure all of you here have many, many horror stories. Just wish it wasn’t on my first full endevor. I hope the next one turns out better.
I recently had my wifes 15 year old cat decide my AM IL-2 looked fun to play with. She jumped up on my old rocky, ricketty bookshelf which promply fell over sending my IL-2 on its maiden flight. It flew out at a steep angle to the floor where the heavy (its an old oak shelving unit) bookcase fell on it…squarly. Nothing short of god coulda saved it. So now I am starting my AM build over with the P-51a. [:(!]
We all probably know just how you feel. I have on at least two occasions got a little lazy and didn’t secure my bottle of liquid cement, dumping it over on the entire model, or, in one case, in the box, which contained all the work I’d done plus the model. I used to be completely dependent on Dio-sol for everything. Then I saw what it does in large amounts. Now I use acrylics more and more. Haven’t used Dio-sol or laquers (other than clear coats) in five years. I’ve found that the faster you grab the disaster by the horns and fix it, the less time you have to be depressed about it. Good luck.
Be thankful that your P-47 was the only thing banged up after dumping lacquer thinner on your wife’s kitchen table and putting a dull spot in it. And no, it won’t go away, ever. Trust me on that one.
Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Hope the P-47 and the table return to their “pre-incident” states. Be thankful they can be saved. Sometimes, the worst horror stories can provide the strongest lessons learned (sounds like an experience or two I’ve had, huh?)
Good luck with the repairs.
How in the world many times do I have to tell you to not do your plastic worthless models on our kitchen table? Go to the garage, use the cats room, how about the laundry room. I can have nothing nice, you always screw it up. What would you think if I built a model on your guitar? Hey how about that, I spill this stuff all over your guitar? I’m callin my Mother.
My story starts with one large cat and my a/m goup build P51a. Im gone for the weekend and when I come back I notice that my 90% completed bird is missing landing gear. My wife tells me the cat did a spit s with the 51 off the table. Now I have a P51 with no landing gear! How can it just disappear into thin air??? I think the cat ate it.
Sorry about your table and the Razorback…that sucks.
This is one of the reasons I work in the garage…I have my space all to myself, no distractions, my cat doesn’t come down to the garage, and if I spill something on my formica-topped drafting table (where I work) or the floor (concrete) who cares? I live in an apartment, so there’s no way I could work in our dining room anyway…with my luck, I would spill something on the carpet. Bye-bye security deposit. [:)]
Well, I finished it. I have some pictures, although my camera is not very good. Could someone help me out on posting them? I’m guessing I need to upload them to a website and then link them. Is there another way? The model is nothing like what I see posted here, but it’s my first so I would like to share it.
I have a nice area in the garage to work. I use an old large dresser that I don’t have to worry about messing up. But I’m in Texas and it’s hotter than hell in there. There is no place to put an air conditioner either. It works great the rest of the year though. I need to buy a storage barn, put in an air conditioner unit and turn it into my hobby room.
Nasty!!
Sorry to hear of the damage to the P-47…hope you can fix it to your satisfaction.
We’ve all been there…and we all hate it as much as you did. It’s disappointing to trash weeks or months of hard work - very frustrating.
But as Pix says, it’s usually those evil and wicked hard lessons that make us learn the fastest…steep bloody learning curve, though…
Well, my digital camera sucks and I haven’t cropped the pics, but let’s see if this works.
I learned many lessons doing this model asside from the above mentioned mishaps. For one, don’t buy $9 Revell/Monogram crap from Walmart! I think I could have made life easier on my first full build by purchasing a quality model. This model was done straight out of the box, raised panel lines and all.
I realized that it is VERY easy to over do things like weathering. I was ok until I got carried away with the chipped paint. It’s probably hard to tell in these photos, but I think it’s a little excessive in areas.
Ever put a decal on upside-down? Good thing you can’t see the insignia on the bottom wing. [:D]
There are many other things I learned. Maybe ya’ll can point out a thing or two if the photos are good enough.
When my Grandpa taught me how to build models at age 6, he always taught me that if something goes wrong - STOP! Put it down and take a break, come back to it in a day or two. I realize this chain of events couldn’t be stopped, that’s to bad. It could turn out to be a very expensive model though. Pay to have the table re-finished for your wife to cover your a$$ while you hit the Hobby Shop and get a Tamiya P-47, you know, treat yourself. Tell your wife you’ve been traumatized and needed to put it all behind you;)
Hmmm, can anyone see the pictures? They sometimes come up for me and sometimes they don’t. But I can right click on the little box and hit view image and it comes up. I’m experimenting with posting pictures, so any help would be appreciated.
You all realize, of course, that we could make this string go on forever. Which wouldn’t bother me, understand, because if you’re like me, you like hearing somebody who’s had a worse disaster than you have. Takes the sting out. Not much. But a little. I remembered after posting my other OOPSes, time I was doing the very last step on a three-month build of my first model with CR and PE parts (Verlinden) and nothing would be good enough but a $55 (1987 dollars) Hasegawa F-15A in that series they had where in addition to my Verlinden stuff, they provided thick, steel photoetched parts including turkey feathers (which nobody ever used), and some nice cast metal wheels and legs, etc. As I was adding the last giant blue star to the left vertical tail, cat jumped in my lap, knocked it out of my hand, ripping the big decal eight ways and folding it triplicate in one move. The model augured in on the hardwood floor, flattening the nose, ripping the forward fuselage off an inch behind the intakes…just damage upon damage. Oh, the horror. The carnage. But I fixed it, by golly. I had to strip off all the decals because they depended on the big blue star for that one paint scheme, had to fix the nose with sandpaper and expoxy putty, and reattach the forward fuselage. Try sanding, filling and repainting a circular butt joint with 1/48 F-15 intakes in the way! I still haven’t gotten over the fear of a repeat. But I was sure proud of that model as it sat on my shelf for the next 10 years. Only I noticed the imperfect seams. And only I knew what we had been through to get it on that shelf!
I’ve read some tearjerkers above, but someone out there got the ultimate horror story?
Your pics show a very nice oob built P-47 to me[:D] I have several of these kits in the to do pile myself, hope they turn out as good as yours does![;)] (minus the accident of course[|)]Thanks for posting them.
