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When is time to just throw the model away?

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  • Member since
    June 2009
When is time to just throw the model away?
Posted by Falcon10275 on Thursday, November 3, 2011 10:26 AM

I was recently building a Toyota GT-One.  Right from the start, this was a doomed model.  Seemed like every major step I made a mistake.  Much more so than most models I build.  Last night I was working on the engine, by this point the model was only 50% complete.  It just wasn't looking right.  I accidentally broke the tail pipe while trying to assemble.   I had never had so many mistakes in one model.   This got me thinking,  I had five or six new kits sitting in my closet,  and the model I did prior came out almost perfect,  was it time to just throw the Toyota in the trash?   I always thought you should finish a model no matter what or else you may never finish any models,  but sometimes do you think its better to just throw away one that doesn't seem to be going in the right direction and start a new one to avoid burnout or possibly quitting the hobby over frustration.  

What do you guys think?  

I ended up putting the model in the box and throwing it in the trash.  This weekend I am starting fresh with a new Ferrari.   Sure i threw away about $40, but I think the mental health aspect will more than make up for it.

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Thursday, November 3, 2011 10:42 AM

Nothing wrong with throwing the occasional dog out Bang Head  I certainly have,but an alternative is to box it up,put it away,clear your mind and start another one,and save the problem kit for another day when you might have a better attitude.

  • Member since
    April 2010
  • From: Somewhere in MN
Posted by El Taino on Thursday, November 3, 2011 10:45 AM

...and what would happen if the Ferrari doesn't go as planned either? There's nothing wrong with putting a model back in the box and into the closet. We all hit bumps along the road, challenge is part of this hobby. Personally, I wouldn't throw it in the trash. My $60 1/48 Hasegawa F-14A is in a corner waiting for some TLC. I've built over half a dozen models more but the Hassy is still with me.

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Fort Worth, TX
Posted by RESlusher on Thursday, November 3, 2011 10:47 AM

Ditto  Yeah!  What he said! 

You can always sell it or trade it too.  Another option is watch forums and other online resources.  Maybe someone else has found a solution to that which has become the bane of your existence. 

Richard S.

On the bench:  AFV Club M730A1 Chaparral

On deck:  Tamiya Marder 1A2

In the hole:  Who knows what's next!

 

  • Member since
    June 2009
Posted by Falcon10275 on Thursday, November 3, 2011 11:23 AM

Yep, I agree with all of the above.  I think in this specific case the amount of unfixable errors got to the point, that even if I came back to it in 6 months, it just wouldn't look right finished.   I have no idea why this kit was so cursed for me, but I ruined the tire decals, broke the tail pipe,  messed up the body paint job, cracked the windshield, ruined a decal on the fin with softening solution, bent the roll bar, messed up the seatbelt decal,   the list goes on!  I have never made this many mistakes in one model!    Its kind of like what separates the really good project managers at work.  I think the best project managers are the ones that can recognize a doomed project and have the guts to get management to cancel the project and stop throwing good money after bad.

  • Member since
    July 2009
  • From: lafayette la
Posted by 40.mm on Thursday, November 3, 2011 12:49 PM

I never throw any model out , i will use the parts for  something other like a dio or paint mule or a what if ....Some years ago i was given a glue bomb in the form of a large scale 57 chevy  and had a B24 that had found out what gravity was all about now the two are in the process of becoming a What if helo some thing along the lines of a KA 27 . why? just for the fun of it and try out new skill in the scratchbuilding realm ..

 

 

                                                                                    The Original

                                                                             Mike Oscar Juno Oscar

                                                                                   Outcast !

 

                                                                     End Transmission--Semper Fi

http://www.vairhead.net/forum/dhg.jpg

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: San Antonio
Posted by paintsniffer on Thursday, November 3, 2011 12:53 PM

When the same kit becomes so insanely cheap and the fixes to make the kit satisfactory get so ridiculous. That is when I trash it.

I once started a Testors 1/48 F-4G. It is probably the first model I never finished. Nothing fit, the cockpit was a joke, the shape of the whole thing was iffy, the molding was soft. I don't think I even stripped any parts off of it, because most of the stuff worth stealing was so lousy it wasn't worth salvaging.

I picked up a Hasegawa F-4G for $40. Not exactly a steal, but I saved myself a lot of headaches on fixing big problems.

Excuse me.. Is that an Uzi?

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, November 3, 2011 12:56 PM

Burn it...

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Thursday, November 3, 2011 1:07 PM

I am with those who say put it aside for another day. I have a few kits sidelined for just those reasons. I have thrown away one in progress kit in the past 30 years. That was for two reasons: 1) it was a very ambitious conversion of a very old kit beyond my skill level at that time and I did not have the patience to ride it out; 2) somebody came out with a kit of the subject of which I was making the conversion- there went the reason of doing the conversion in the first place. Yeah I could have rode it out, but I did not have the passion for that project anymore.

All that aside, most of your "errors" do not sound too bad. They sound recoverable. Tamiya's customer service is first class, and  most likely you could have obtained new decals, roll bar and windshield from them. The paint job could have been stripped and a new one applied. Or you can just buy a the same kit again and start over armed with the experience of the last build and its errors. Then its' loss will not have been in vain...Wink

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Thursday, November 3, 2011 1:08 PM

I never throw any model out , i will use the parts for  something other like a dio or paint mule or a what if ....

Roger that.. That's how one gets a well-stocked parts bin.  Never know wnen a fuel tank is gonna be a perfect battery-box, a 1/24th scale 8-cylinder 350 Chevy engine block from a '68 Nova will become a 1/35th Maybach Diesel in a Panzer,  or when the Corvette's bucket seats will become the crew-seats in a Rebel Snow-speeder...  Wire-wheels can become the front of an ion-rocket engine... 

If you throw out detailed parts, chances are pretty good that you'll find out that this part would have worked perfect for that assembly, 'cept you threw it out six weeks ago..

 

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Thursday, November 3, 2011 1:15 PM

Yes I agree with Hans and 40mm,i dont mean that you have to throw the whole kit out,I mean don't finish it,trash it and save the details for the spare parts box for sure.

but dont bang your head against a kit when its not fun anymore,the more expensive the kit the more likely I am to persevere longer though.

  • Member since
    March 2006
Posted by TD4438 on Thursday, November 3, 2011 1:19 PM

I usually save a kit for later or at least spare parts.The only kit I can recall just trashing was an MPC X-Wing.The fuselage halves just wouldn't fit.I finally tossed 15 years later after a second attempt with the same result.

You could also use it for practicing new weathering techniques.

Dre
  • Member since
    June 2007
  • From: here, not over there
Posted by Dre on Thursday, November 3, 2011 1:41 PM

If that kit has bedeviled you this much, then take it all the way and model it wrecked....

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Thursday, November 3, 2011 1:57 PM

Falcon: I have to agree with the guys- I tend to shove it back in the box and put it back in the stash or at least strip it of parts.

Still, it's your model and if it makes you feel better trash it, shoot at it, set it on fire, blow it up or whatever makes you feel better Devil

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    October 2011
Posted by crosshead on Thursday, November 3, 2011 5:18 PM

Manstein's revenge

Burn it...

........always with the Stalingrad solution..................

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: hamburg michigan
Posted by fermis on Thursday, November 3, 2011 7:00 PM

I've had one kit do me in. It was a 1/72 F-82 twin Mustang that I picked up for a buck. This thing was TERRIBLE, worse than Modelcrafts 1/48 F-82. It was useless as far as spare parts go. I knew just placing it in the trashcan would do nothing for me. Throwing it against the wall would only result in a mess that I'd have to clean up. I got my picaxe to break through the frozen ground in my back yard, layed the model, top side down in the hole, and burried that suminabich. I felt good after that! I burried my old airbrush too, just last year.

  • Member since
    February 2010
  • From: Ontario, Canada
Posted by Bockscar on Thursday, November 3, 2011 9:08 PM

Just because I messed up doesn't mean the kit did.

I never intentionally destroy inventory or destroy capital.

Move on, but keep the parts.

 

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Carmel, CA
Posted by bondoman on Friday, November 4, 2011 12:01 AM

When you finish it.

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Friday, November 4, 2011 9:27 AM

fermis

I've had one kit do me in. It was a 1/72 F-82 twin Mustang that I picked up for a buck. This thing was TERRIBLE, worse than Modelcrafts 1/48 F-82. It was useless as far as spare parts go. I knew just placing it in the trashcan would do nothing for me. Throwing it against the wall would only result in a mess that I'd have to clean up. I got my picaxe to break through the frozen ground in my back yard, layed the model, top side down in the hole, and burried that suminabich. I felt good after that! I burried my old airbrush too, just last year.

I'm calling the EPA,it will take 4 centuries for that plastic to break down Big Smile

  • Member since
    January 2007
Posted by the doog on Friday, November 4, 2011 2:21 PM

Unless the model has already been already completed and painted, NEVER actually throw a model away without stripping it down for every possible spare part you can pry from it.

I have trashed only a rare few models in over 25 years of modeling, I always try to scavenge what I can for possible spare parts---wheels, seats, guns, tools, tracks, engines, shocks, etc. for whatever the genre.

  • Member since
    August 2008
Posted by tankerbuilder on Friday, November 4, 2011 5:39 PM

Oh,GOODY ! Another modeler suffering from (^%&%%$&model just won,t go together syndrome ) I am trying to keep it clean here . I have had a few of those . If nothing is salvageable because of poor molding or other reasons ,then It hits the round file with very high velocity ! There were a few a while back . Because of the cost , I even cut the front cap off the car and the rear quarters for salvage there, and then The ship I was trying to build just wouldn,t let the deck fit on the hull . It was the OLD U.S.S. FORREST SHERMAN by REVELL . Well I cut it up for all the little fiddly details and used the hull and screws for a "what if " There comes a time that you have to do what feels right , BUT , don,t do antthing that will have you regretting it later .That kit ,if it,s the old MPC kit ,was NOT one of their better kits .It did look great when done , BUT , it took the better part of six months to get it right . This type of kit I used to put together in probably a week . Because of painting and all . I also had a F-4-U-4 that had a mind of it,s own .It went in a crash diorama .!! Do NOT DISPAIR you are NOT ALONE . At todays prices I will try to salvage a kit,  even if it goes into a phantasy model. Good luck on your next model !          tankerbuilder

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Hobart, Tasmania
Posted by Konigwolf13 on Friday, November 4, 2011 6:01 PM

I'm lucky I have an outlet for my "problems" or test subjects, 9 and 10 y/o kids who are only to happy to receive a donation.

 

Andrew

  • Member since
    November 2008
  • From: Central Florida
Posted by plasticjunkie on Saturday, November 5, 2011 11:28 AM

40.mm

I never throw any model out , i will use the parts for  something other like a dio or paint mule or a what if .... 

 

                                                                

 

Ditto   Great for spare parts, scratch building, trying new stuff, experimentation........Wink

 GIFMaker.org_jy_Ayj_O

 

 

Too many models to build, not enough time in a lifetime!!

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