This morning I had a tiny piece flee my forceps – it squirted out to find a hiding spot somewhere in the garage. I looked for a while and of course no luck. I’m curious what experienced modelers do when you lose a small piece that’s not essential to the build. Order a replacement? Ignore it and figure it’s not noticeable anyway? Try to fashion a replacement? I’m trying to whittle a replacement down from a scrap piece. It’s just a small part that glues to the back of engine and doesn’t connect anything, but I’d like to try for a complete build.
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“Ignore it and figure it’s not noticeable anyway”
Sometimes the scrap box might yield something.
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Tojo just listed my main processes in this situation. If it supports another part or will be seen (noticed) I will try to cobble something together from spare parts / styrene. However, sometimes I even just bypass a visible part, most people who see my models wouldn’t even notice a missing control column in a cockpit or a small piece of an aircraft engine….
We are our own worst critics, recover to the level that you need to in order to be happy with your build.
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Yeah, I’d either ignore it or scratchbuild a suitable replacement. Of course, this is when you’ll find the part! 
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Walk around barefoot - that’s how I always find my lost parts! 
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Had an early Festivus miracle! After whittling and sanding a scrap piece to make a passable replacement, I found the missing part wedged under a jar. It’s now glued in place with no chance of escaping again. (Alas, no one is going to notice it anyway.)
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Most of the time I will look for a bit, if I don’t find it I move on. Once I lost a landing gear strut to a C-47 that I was building in in-flight mode. Even in that build mode, the struts are visible. I dug throughout my work area (third bay of an attached garage). I even removed the surface on the lower level of my custom-built workbench, thinking maybe the part had slipped through a small crack between sheets of plywood down there. Nope, all I found down there was a big spider and a bunch of dust. I still have never found that strut. I ended up sticking a piece of sprue of similar size in that gear bay and calling it good.
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in my experience those parts hit the ground and bounce to the darkest back corner under the bench, So you have to lay down on the ground and feel around because your glasses are too smudged to see anything. They usually are either back in the corner or on the work bench right in front of your stupid face but you are too blind to see it. Hope this helps ha ha
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I’ll search for a while and usually am successful in finding the little devil. The parts I lose have a pattern to where they land so. that’s where I start looking. If it’s a critical part, I’ll search for days until I make one or order a replacement. Non-critical I’ll look until my knees ache and my swearing reaches the neighbor’s ears, then give up and move on.
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I once had a part fall, but never heard it hit the floor. I searched all the usual spots : lap, pockets, socks, floor, garbage can, everywhere. No joy.
Even put it off for a couple weeks, then looked all over again. Still nothing. Eventually the project was completed without the part.
Fast forward a couple months later, while moving a bed out of that room, lo and behold, the part was found between the mattress and box spring. Almost directly in the dead center of a queen sized bed. Go figure.
I’m still of the opinion that there is a critical distance from the floor, that if a dropped part hits the correct speed (88 MPH maybe) at that exact distance, then a small, inter dimensional portal flashes open for a mere moment, transporting the part through not only distance, but time as well. This is why you can find parts in places that you’ve already searched, long after initial loss.
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I make a new part when possible. But sometimes like others I find the missing bit afterwards. That’s so annoying!
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My wife is pretty good at finding pieces for me,she looks at it as a challenge
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Glad you found it, I’ve lost a few just like the rest of us, and just like everyone stated, I look until I’m overly frustrated, try to make things work or try to make one or look in the parts bin. It happens to all of us.
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If I lose a small model part, I’ll try to scratch build a new one or I’ll look through all my model kits till I find something similar and modify a part from a different kit.
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When I lose a part I begin a CSI investigation. First the area is secured from general traffic. Second investigating detectve work plots out trajectory course and any potential obstacles. Third a quick look over the crime scene to determine if a more detailed look is warranted followed by the flashlight at a 30 degree angle while on the floor and if it yields no positive conclusion it’s off to scratched building.
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I do recall a few mysterious disappearances.
Once upon a time I made a Cessna-type main landing gear from a curved piece of stainless steel. It was a bear to cut and shape, and while wrestling with it, it pinged off into space. Years later when I recarpeted my room, I removed everything but never found the errant part.
More recently while working on a conduit for a model, it sprang out of my hands while I was trying to sand it. I think it went to the same alternate universe as the landing gear. Despite it being a decent sized part, it has yet to reappear.
And I think the carpet monster has a cousin living outside in the patio. While cleaning my airbrush, the little nut that secures the needle rolled off the table. It did not make a sound, so I assumed it went into the garbage can. I emptied the can and went through every single piece of garbage three times but never found the nut. I also cleared out everything under the table and scoured every inch of floor to no avail.
The funniest disappearance was not a part, but a decal. I had applied a large decal to a tank model, using copious amounts of setting solution. When I blew at the excess solution, the decal lifted off and flew up like a magic carpet. I searched high and low but could not find where it went.
I ended up using different markings for the model, but a friend of mine came over the next day, and after hearing the story went to my room and immediately said “there it is.” He pointed at my hanging light fixture, and sure enough, there was the missing decal, firmly adhered to the lamp shade!
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I have been able to retrieve from the carpet monster two 1/700 scale 20 mm AA guns and a 1/72 P40 machine gun fairing by vacuuming the carpet and carefully going through the vacuum’s canister. Of course, several other times this did not work.
I am convinced that my tweezers have the capability to propel small parts to orbital escape velocity.
A trick I found someplace is to cut small parts from sprue while in a plastic bag. Of course, that does not prevent the carpet monster from getting them when I remove it from the bag and it bounces off the work bench.
Part of the hobby I guess.
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Take a very powerful light and put it up floor level and create shadows. Everything shows up in shadows.
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Next time try covering the end of the vacuum hose with some nylons stretched over it. The vacuum will still collect the pieces, but you won’t have to sort through the bag. I’ve done this a few times and it’s found the piece and saved time while being much cleaner.
PS - Fishnet stockings are no good, have to use the basic ones. 
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Bare feet jokes aside, I have five furry sleuths that can find anything. Never met a cat that wouldn’t try to eat something I really don’t want them to eat! Usually, I see them investigating and can grab it before they ingest said piece, but I’ve also gotten a lot better about holding bits when cutting so they can’t go flying…
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