What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made when building a model?
I once decided to try to cut out the parts from my F4U-ID CORSAIR using a Minicraft drill with a cutting disc attached.[:(]
BIG MISTAKE… The disc slipped and cut a groove through both the wings,this caused many hours of filling and sanding.
I can laugh now but the air was turned blue at the time.
So what’s your biggest foul up?
My worst moment came when I found out the hard way about overcoat compatibility. I had just finished an MPM FM-2 Wildcat with Gunze Sangyo paint, it was looking good, and I decided to gloss coat it with Badger Modelflex clear gloss, which crazed the paint, making it look like the bottom of a dry lake.
My worst moment to date in the hobby has involved a 1/72 CP-140 Aurora (Canadianized P-3C Orion) that I built when I was about 17.
It was obvious that some nose weight would be needed to get it to sit right on its nose gear. I kept trying to balance it out over and over again. It needed a lot of weight up front, unfortunately, over time I realized I had overdone it and the nose gear, and eventually the main gear started to give out under the weight.
I’m going to pull it apart and get some of the weight out of there, but I have to get together enough aftermarket decals to restore it before I try that sort of thing.
Sad, she was the pride of my collection when I built her 
mine was cutting out the bridge windows on the Tamiya 1/350 New Jersey Battleship! Had the PhotoEtch but cut them out waaaaaaay to big, had to do tons of modifying, plus not having the right stuff to make the glass look etc… you get the picture…
I’m not daring enough to do anything dramatically horrible. Let’s see, I had to pry apart a 1/144 B-29 once I realized the stabilizers had to be inserted before glueing the fuselage halves.
And then there was the time I sanded off detail on an F4U Corsair’s stabilizers that appeared to be ejector pin marks. Then I looked more closely at my copy of Detail & Scale and discovered those circles are part of the plane. Oops.
Fortunately, both my foul-ups were on inexpensive kits.
i glued individualtrack links together in one long strip . did not realize till after i can’t bend it around the tank’s wheels.
that was before i became THE GREATEST MODELER
I once tried to dril the hole for the prop with a dremel, I slipped and made a nasty schratch on a already painted p-38.
But my biggest foul up was using Tamiya Flat Base. I sprayed it on and my whole model became frosted… I later found out that you have to mix it with gloss coat. But the guy at the LHS didn’t tell me that when I asked him “Wil this dry clear?”
I know a guy who did the exact same thing based on the same bad advice from the LHS.
My biggest? I was going to say getting married until I saw you were talking about the hobby. I frosted a Sherman with Future and flat base once. I guess the biggest was putting the main gear on my 262 on backwards. I’m not going to break them off to fix it.
I tried to soak up some excess wash on a P-47 paint job with a Kleenex. It would have been no big deal…except I grabbed one of those Kleenex squares that is impregnated with lotion to keep your nose from getting sore. Yeah…it crazed the paint big-time. So, I think I’ll just paint over it with a quick shot from the airbrush. Yeah…when it dried, the fog bled through. Had to strip the whole wing. What a pain in the butt.
finding these forums,now i spend more time reading about people building models instead of shooting my airbrush at some sort of tracked (or half tracked)armor,or trying to smooth that pesky seam down the middle of my aircraft.good folks here and i appreceiate the help and comoradery.my biggest foul up seriously(long pause)there are so many.[:-^]
Biggest ooppsy, or biggest I’m going to admit to here[:-,]
Trying a new technique on a contest (I thought it was) almost finished kit. (I enter everything to contests - rarly get ‘pat on back’ award at best) So with a screwy paint job, no way to easily strip it without re detailing the interior parts (something always get’s stripped of paint in there) it’s relegated to the shelf of shame for now.
Did I learn my lesson - not likely[banghead]
[banghead]My biggest foul up has to be when I made a special trip to buy this model I thought I had to have. It was one of those big Camero’s that Monogram put out way back in the day (1986). I bought it and got it out to the car. Well somehow I got distracted with the little ones and we all got in the car and drove off! Little did I know that I left this big [censored] box sitting in the parking lot. About 20 miles later I realized what had happened! Well you all can figure out what all happened next. It was gone nobody took it back and I STILL hear about it from the wife!
Well there was that time I had the fuselage all glued up and realized that I had forgotten to install some minor parts… the cockpit.
Then there was that time I had the fuselage all glued up and realized that I had forgotten to install some minor parts… the cockpit. (No that is not a horrible cut and paste error… I did it twice[:-^])
Most recently (2 days ago) I couldn’t figure why the cockpit … yes I finally remember to put one in…. didn’t fit. The IP hit parts of the cockpit sidewall. I was ready, knife and saw in hand about to hack away some of the components when I figured out … left fuselage/left cockpit wall & right fuselage/right cockpit wall? Ah so THAT’S the way it’s supposed to be…
And why is it that the glue has really set when you finally figure it out? Oh sorry…. That’s for the “Murphy’s Law” thread…
I’ve been modeling long enough that there probably isn’t any thing in modeling that I haven’t screwed up at least once. Now I work real hard at not screwing up and if I do, try to figure out what I did so I don’t do it again. Besides, it’s only a hobby, not the end of the world.
I don’t think there’s enough bandwidth to handle my response …
not letting the future cure before a filter wash…created a huge mesh, so I stripped the paint and started over.
Wouldn’t have been so bad, except I did the exact same thing again [xx(] on the same kit! [#oops]
Probably cutting out the flaps and ailerons on my Spruce Goose project. I thought I could improve the kit in this respect, and while it probably WILL be an improvment, I now know it is NOT worth the effort.
Alas, I still have the one wing to finish, and the other wing to start… [banghead]
Had a 1:24 Bf109E with an engine cowling that wouldnt quite fit:
“i’ll just put it in some hot water” sez I, that will make it nice and supple.
Ever seen a woollen pullover that has been boiled ? SHRINK SHRINK SHRINK
needless to say, that model doesnt have an engine cowling anymore …[#oops]
Mispositioned my PE zimmerit for my Panther with CA glue instead of slower drying epoxy. When I tried to move it, it got all bent out of shape. It’s all I could do to just get the piece off. Of course it was off the glacis where it’s the most notable. Kit still sits in the box. May never finish it.
Similar to Hkshooter’s response, I was going to say “Saying those dreaded words ‘I do’ 18 years ago.” Stupid, stupid, stupid!
But since this is about modeling mistakes, my biggest screw-up was the last project I finished (P-51B) where my first attempt at power buffing went horribly awry (buffing wheel was too stiff), and I had to sand and re-paint before getting it right with a softer wheel. No biggie. Not like lacquer thinner in the eye, or anything.