What BONE HEAD thing have you done in this hobby?

Well, here's a few from me:

1. Built the Monogram Me-109 back in the mid-70's as a kid. Our small house had the central air vents high on the wall (close to the ceiling), and the register on one of those had come off. So, a large rectangular hole was left in the wall. It was winter time, so the heat was running. I decided that after hand-brush painting my 109 (who could afford an air compressor back then?), I would just stick it in the vent for a few minutes to dry that paint really quick. I left the right wing sticking partially out so I could handle it when I retrieved it. Well, about 10 minutes later, I looked up, and the right wing was now bent/warped downward at a 90 degree angle, and the rest of the plane wasn't looking so great, either. Didn't realize the heat got that hot........

2. A few years ago, I was building the Hasegawa F-16D (two-seater) with the gloss white & high-visibility orange markings for Nellis AFB. I decided I was gonna be really smart, and fill the nose cone with Squadron putty for nose weight instead of my usual lead shot and 5-minute epoxy. After I got the nose cone filled with putty and glued to front of the plane, I put it aside until the next day to give the super glue time to cure, so that when handling it, the nose wouldn't fall off. Imagine my surprise to find that, when the putty cured, it heated up enough to make the nose cone look as though someone had taken a 1/48th sledge hammer to it and just beat the crap out of it. Won't be doing that one again.

3. On Mother's Day 2012, I was replacing the boards (they were all warped from age) on the back deck at our house in Georgia. I had just finished cutting the last board on the table saw, and turned the saw off. While the blade was still slowing down, I saw a piece of scrap wood on the upper right corner of the table surface. I reached with my right hand to get it, heard a very loud "TANG!", and said to myself, "What the heck was that?" I looked around, didn't se anything obvious, then looked at my right hand, and saw that I had just turned my index, middle, and third fingers on that hand into something akin to pulled pork BBQ. Saw the bone in all three, and all three fingernails were gone. Never felt a thing. Stupid me had forgotten to put the blade guard down when I shut the saw off. Luckily, the ER doc at the hospital was able to save everything, and my right hand is 100% usable again. The middle finger only has the right half of it's fingernail, though. The story of the hospital visit for this is even funnier, and involves Facebook and a bunch of curiosity seekers, but I'll have to tell that one later

I Retired end of May 2016 and after many decades away, have recently re-started my interest in the hobby.  I have built 6 kits so far and no real Bone-Head mistakes yet. And now, Thanks to Everyones "Insightfulness", I know what to watch out for.

Thanks for the honest, down-to-earth stories.

So,,, I need to Watch It with #11 Exacto Blades, don't "Squeeze" the Paint Jar, get more sleep, and always remember Super Glue really sticks...And the fumes cloud up glass bottles when you try to glue a ship inside. (OOPS, guess I did do one)

     Nino

jackball74

Not using primer for a ridiculously long time (I won't say what age I was).

On a light note, when I picked up my first box of soldiers as a kid (Esci's Zulu War British), I read the back and noted that it recomended I wash them in detergent if I was going to paint them. Not knowing that detergent was a British term for soap in general, I  went to the laundry room and sudsed up the figures with Tide.

 

Its not, probably a bad translation from the original Italian.

As for the primer, i only started useing it regulaly a couple of years ago, but personally i would not class that as a Bone Head msitake, more a choice.

That is probably what's gonna happen.   

plasticjunkie

A fresh one. Was getting ready to apply the kit decals to my 1/32 He162 that I'm doing in a wip and gb but they vanished. I remember having them several days before And looking them over. I have spent days looking for the freaking decal sheet and finally gave up, then contacted ROG for replacement ones. Now to wait for them to get here from Germany. 

 

And you will most certainly find the originals, as soon as the replacements arrive!

...and you'll think..."Oh yeah...I remember setting them here, so I wouldn't forget"!

A fresh one. Was getting ready to apply the kit decals to my 1/32 He162 that I'm doing in a wip and gb but they vanished. I remember having them several days before And looking them over. I have spent days looking for the freaking decal sheet and finally gave up, then contacted ROG for replacement ones. Now to wait for them to get here from Germany. 

I allowed my exacto knife to roll off the desk...I caught it though...with the top of my foot. Blade deep, right between the bones. That sucked...a LOT!

Not using primer for a ridiculously long time (I won't say what age I was).

On a light note, when I picked up my first box of soldiers as a kid (Esci's Zulu War British), I read the back and noted that it recomended I wash them in detergent if I was going to paint them. Not knowing that detergent was a British term for soap in general, I  went to the laundry room and sudsed up the figures with Tide.

How about dropping an open bottle of super glue in the lap?

Just did that while fiddling with the bottle. Boy I did dodge the bullet on this one, thought the sweat pants and what's underneath was going to be stuck good but I luck out and just ruin the pants.

Dash8

 

 

wolfhammer1

dash8, you remind me of a funny story.  I was cleaning the bowl the Beta lived in and had the fish in another container next to the sink.  As I watched, the fish leaped from the container and did a pefect, nothing but net, dive right down the drain and into the trap under the sink.  In hindsight, I should have given him a burial at sea, but decided to rescue the fish.  In my rush, I broke the plastic trap, but was able to rescue the dumb-ass fish.  Three hours later, after a trip to the store to buy a new trap and trying to assemble it back together without leaking, I went next door to my neighbor to see if he had any advice or could help.  He gave me some caulk which I used to make a flexible seal between the trap and the drain.  Problem solved, and not too much paint peeled from the cussing.  Seems when the piping was assembled, the *&^%^&* plumber built it in such a way that there was a side load on the trap.  Putting it together from the bottom up worked fine, but trying to reconnect everything I couldn't get the trap to line up right to make a seal.  My guess is that the trap will outlive the house, and I pity the poor fool who has to try to take it apart.

John

 

 

 

 

Great save on the fish John  We are big on catch and release fishing up here in Canada lol

 

Dash from Canada

 

OUCH! nuf said LOL.

mississippivol

Welllll, there was that time I thought flat white would make a good clear coat...

 

Ha.  Yikes.      I customize hot wheels so you need to drill out the rivet in the bottom of them to get them apart.  One turned on me one time as I was drilling it. The drill went in my finger, hit the bone and came out the other side...   It took about 2 years to get all the feeling back into my finger.

Bought a $12 mask set for a Italian bomber canopy, Cant Z Bis. Primed, painted and sealed. Realized I needed dynamite to remove the mask. Completely destroyed the canopy. Bought a squadron canopy and used a fine point sharpie free hand after my fail. Might be the last plane I ever try! Lol. Cost almost as much for the canopy fail as the Kit!

Wash sprues????? what ?  I tend to go for the paint problems later on, lot more language building practice that way.

LOL Dash, wheels are overrated, gotta give the mechanics something to do. I like the looks of a gear up aircraft, but I also gravitate towards the wierd gear, ie F-18s, Saabs and the mighty Soviet airwing, HOWEVER I will take your lesson and apply it to my next advunture over the sink.

wolfhammer1

dash8, you remind me of a funny story.  I was cleaning the bowl the Beta lived in and had the fish in another container next to the sink.  As I watched, the fish leaped from the container and did a pefect, nothing but net, dive right down the drain and into the trap under the sink.  In hindsight, I should have given him a burial at sea, but decided to rescue the fish.  In my rush, I broke the plastic trap, but was able to rescue the dumb-ass fish.  Three hours later, after a trip to the store to buy a new trap and trying to assemble it back together without leaking, I went next door to my neighbor to see if he had any advice or could help.  He gave me some caulk which I used to make a flexible seal between the trap and the drain.  Problem solved, and not too much paint peeled from the cussing.  Seems when the piping was assembled, the *&^%^&* plumber built it in such a way that there was a side load on the trap.  Putting it together from the bottom up worked fine, but trying to reconnect everything I couldn't get the trap to line up right to make a seal.  My guess is that the trap will outlive the house, and I pity the poor fool who has to try to take it apart.

John

 

Dash from Canada

So Dash, just how do you know about drain traps? LOL, sorry feeling froggy today. Along with Bish and many others starting this fools escapade to begin with. Also letting my stash out grow my projected lifespan.

I "fixed" the landing gear on a bf-109.  I couldn't believe that an airplane would have the front gears so close together. 

goldhammer

Worked on  that little problem.......

 

Yep, now there is 13, lol.  Still doing research for it.  I actually found a pic of a camo one from our base back in 1983. 

I'm sure there are many such examples of this for me, but the most recent I can think of was in completing Hasegawa's nifty little Nell bomber, I had masked all the glass just fine and removed the masks once painting was complete.  Then I proceded to spray of coat of flat clear over the entire thing, including the glass.

Funny thing was, I didn't even notice that I had fogged over the glass until after I had posted pictures of it here and someone asked me if that was intentional or not.

dash8, you remind me of a funny story.  I was cleaning the bowl the Beta lived in and had the fish in another container next to the sink.  As I watched, the fish leaped from the container and did a pefect, nothing but net, dive right down the drain and into the trap under the sink.  In hindsight, I should have given him a burial at sea, but decided to rescue the fish.  In my rush, I broke the plastic trap, but was able to rescue the dumb-ass fish.  Three hours later, after a trip to the store to buy a new trap and trying to assemble it back together without leaking, I went next door to my neighbor to see if he had any advice or could help.  He gave me some caulk which I used to make a flexible seal between the trap and the drain.  Problem solved, and not too much paint peeled from the cussing.  Seems when the piping was assembled, the *&^%^&* plumber built it in such a way that there was a side load on the trap.  Putting it together from the bottom up worked fine, but trying to reconnect everything I couldn't get the trap to line up right to make a seal.  My guess is that the trap will outlive the house, and I pity the poor fool who has to try to take it apart.

John

Make sure you use a sink drain strainer when washing the parts on the sprues. Don't ask me how I know this.

Dash from Canada

Worked on  that little problem.......

Keyda81

 

 

Mopar Madness

I told my wife my stash would not go beyond five kits.  

 

 

 

 

Lol.  Hubby keeps telling me no more.  There's only a dozen. 

 

A dozen? As Jackie Gleason used to say " a mere bag of shells".

Keyda you must increase that stash. 

Jim Barton

 

 

modelcrazy

Speaking about thumbs and xacto blades, when I was young my thumbs constantly received stitches. There for a while I didn't know if I would ever have a normal thumbprint.

 

My latest was trying to unscrew the lid of some MM aluminum enamel paint. I couldn't get it with my hand so I used channel locks for the lid. It still wouldn’t turn so I got another pair and used them on the lid and the other pair on the bottle. Still nothing so I tried harder. Then CRACK, the bottle broke and enamel aluminum went everywhere including my pants, shirt, chair, floor and building table. It's a good thing none splashed on my build at the time.

 

 

 

 

Well, that's one way to open a bottle of paint!

 

I keep a pair of pliers in my desk drawer just for opening stubborn jars of paint.  I've had to utilize hubby's vise that is in the basement a few times.  I was always super afraid of cracking the jar.  I snugged it just enough so it wouldn't move.  I've been lucky so far.  I have spilled my fair share of jars though.  Usually brand spanking new ones that I just bought too.  Go figure.

John ;

 Have to tell you . That's something I seem to do at least once every ten years or so . Should know better right ?  T.B.