Missing parts, missing instructions, paint problems, kit disintergrating, broken parts, vague instructions, loads of filler, forgotten steps…these and many more all happen to us…I am curious to read about your’s and most importantly how you overcame these issues…
Ah. My current project, the Ju 290 Zwilling. Yep, yep, umhm, all of the above happened. Some stuff is still broken or mangled beyond repair from a failed vac-forming attempt, and I have yet to send in for new parts. Unfortunatly they have to come from Germany, and I hear shipping them to the states takes forever. All I can say is a lot of mail-order tag and a whole lot of waiting. I guarentee, though, that it will be finished this spring!
I cant say that I have ever had a demanding project abyding what you have stated , since most of the kits I build I choose to make the parts myself, (Huge monogram fanatic[:D]) and I have learned to interpret the instructions that come with some of there kits. The most challenging project that I ever did was probably my 1/48 Lady Be Good, 4 months to get enough pics of her Thats four months of very hard research[xx(]
The skies the limit,
V.A.
Wow, thats a tough one, what with kits being so good these days. But I would have to say that I have experienced all of the above at one time or another [although not all on the same kit] and have learned to handle each one by tips from FSM and sheer contemplation. My most difficult kit(s)…
Early Monogram kits, [the 1/48 F-14 with the fit problems around the cockpit comes to mind]
Any Testors Kit I’ve ever built [Me and that company don’t seem to get along]
And some of Horizon’s Figure kits.
I haven´t done any huge projects, but my current project, the Italeri 1/72 F-22 Raptor got som serious fit problems. I´m painting it sometime next week. The two top parts (front and rear) caused some major sanding, and I´m not going to rescribe the lines. In fact, I filled most of them because you can´t see them on the roll-out photo. The real reason however is that I just want to get rid of it!!![}:)]
Best /Johan
I would have to say correcting and rigging the old LInberg 1/48 SE 5a kit (the only one I could find at the time) It came down to patients and perseverance. HA, YA RIGHT! [banghead]
Monogram SB2C Helldiver. Tried to make the Classics kit look like the Promodeler version of the kit. Iterior went just fine. Then came the exterior. Wingfolds didn’t really look right, decals disintigrated, and paint scheme wasn’t right. Too bad, like I said the interior went real well. Maybe one day I’ll strip the kit and overhaul it from the outside and do it some justice. Too many other planes and interesting subjects to tackle though until then. The SB2C will sit in the back. Kinda fitting for plane the flyboys didn’t really favor.
Most recently I a started a kit that the molds where created about 40 years ago. The Testors run of the kit was boxed in the early 1990’s. All four wing panels were badly warped and I didn’t think I would be able to use them. One actually warped down at the tip, had a twist about the mid-section and a bulge in the trailing edge. Figuring I had nothing to loose I decided to fix the problem. I cut four pieces of nice flat wood just slightly bigger the panels. I then used quite a few rubber bands to hold the wings to the boards. I placed the panel/boards upside down in the sink. I then poured water heated to about 160-180 degrees over the panels. After the water cooled I checked the panels expecting the wings now to be unrecognizable blobs. They were not blobs, still warped but better. I repositioned the rubber bands and repeated the process several times. After removing the panels from the warm water the last time I ran cold water over them and removed them from the board. Viola, nice flat wing panels.
This might not have been much of a problem for most, but for my limited modeling skills it was a challenge. In the past the kit would have gone on my never to be built heap.