Does this happen to everyone?

skyraider0609

I masked off the cockpit with 3M blue painters tape before I sprayed the Hellcat with Tamiya rattle can sea blue. I am going to be holding my breath when the moment comes to remove that tape. I'm hoping my masking is effective and that the cockpit, which I have to say, came out really nicely IMHO, isn't ruined with bleed through. The tape looks okay, but until I see for sure....fingers crossed

 

One way to prevent bleed under on taped edges on canopies is to spray it with a clear glosscoat before color paint.  That way any leakage under tape edges onto clear panels will be a clear leakage.

As long as you burnish it down  and dont put on a real wet coat it should be fine.I use a double action airbrush and I take ito easy on the Zinc Chromate before laying down the main color coats,Paint flow control is key!

fermis

 

Another helpful tip to save some frustration....never set an item "right here, so I won't forget". You will surely remember the item/part...but you will definitely forget where right here was!

 

No truer words ever spoken! This very same thing hapenned to me this morning when I was looking for some VERY important documents and forgot where 'here' was!

I eventually found the documents a few minutes later

Yeah, on a couple of recent builds, I broke glue bonds.  In both cases, it was the seam along the upper fuselage of an airplane kit.  I had assembled the aircraft, painted it, and was applying the decals.  I applied a little too much pressure when dabbing the excess water away, and it was enough to split the seam.  It wasn't too bad, because I was able to touch up the seams again with paint to hide them.  I've had the same thing happen with wing root seams.  It made me realize I need to take better care when gluing things like that.

I don't recommend replacing your Tamiya styrene glue with CA glue, just because you knocked a piece loose.  The styrene glue is formulated to dissolve the plastic at the point of contact, creating a weld.  CA glue just encases the parts and there's no guarantee that the glue will withstand sheer forces.

Other, well, dumb stuff, let's call it-I try my best to pay attention to the instructions, not to miss something, but I get in a hurry and I do things like omit a part that needs to be there.  So I have more work afterward to fix the mistake.  For example, I'm building the Minicraft XF5F.  The engines consist of the front gear box, the ignition harness, the cylinders, and another piece at the back.  Well, I assembled the engines and left off the ignition harness.  And it's not simply a matter of slipping it over the gear box; the harness has a tab that runs along its circumference and fits between the gear box and the engine block.  I have to remove that tab, to use the part.  All because I didn't pay attention to what I was doing.

And gluing myself with CA glue?  Yes, done that, too.  I was attaching a limb to a small figure, holding it in my left hand between my thumb, and my forefinger and middle finger.  Well, it was very fluid glue, and it ran down the figure and into my fingers, and set.  Fortunately, I was able to open my can of acetone with my other hand and then run some over the glue and break the bond.

Spilled lacquer thinner on the bench, spilled paint.  Cracked a glass plate that I used for cutting things and working putty, a plate from an old copier, by setting it on a surface with a pencil under it, and pressing on it.  And I always tell myself, in the voice of William Demarest as Uncle Charley from "My Three Sons", "Holy cow!  You knew that was going to happen, but you did it, anyway.  What's wrong with you?"

Always take the decal sheet out of the kit and move it as far away as possible. Options include sticking it in a book of the same subject, moving it to where you look at things online, or taking it into the office to scan/ copy.

I use plastic advertising cards and dummy sample credit cards as palletes for applying CA glue. I forget exactly where the pallet is on the bench and set things down on it- tools, parts, even frequently my hand!  I end up with bits of CA on things, or the pallete glued to my hand!

Obviosly...you are not alone!

Another helpful tip to save some frustration....never set an item "right here, so I won't forget". You will surely remember the item/part...but you will definitely forget where right here was!

I couldn't tell you how many times I've had to replace (be it scratch build or other source) an item/part, because I forgot where right here was.....only to find it shortly after having the replacement in place on the model. When I first started building again (2009), I was working on a 1/32 A-10...I finished up the little pod that goes on the pylon on the right "cheek"....I set it right here....my guess it that right here moved...far, far away, as that piece has never reappeared...and that plane has an empty pylon to this day.

As you can see, the tales could go on forever and ever. I've been building for 71 of my 77 years and all my stories could fill up a couple of books. Those and other types of disasters are all a part of the learning curve. Don't let them get to you. Just sit back, take a deep breath, relax and have a sip or two of our favorite brew. Then, solve the problem.

My dad used to have a cure for any type of problem, no matter what it was. You find the center of what your working on, pick up a hammer and give it a good whack. One way or another it's fixed. You either have to throw it away or pay someone to fix it. Problem solved. That's one piece of advice I'm happy to say I never followed.

Jim   

That and a lot worse things can happen even to the most experienced builders. Everyone has a 'disater' story at some point now and then.

The thing about Tamiya extra thin is that it takes time to cure. It melts the plastic on both parts creating an excellent bond but if not enough is used or if not given enough time to cure, then things can go down south.

Here is a fairly recent personal horror story that happened when I dropped a 1/35 Eduard Hetzer with a full complete interior on ceramic tile floor as it was nearly completed!

After I recovered from the innitial shock I noticed no visible damage!  Then I heard something loose inside the tank........ The transmission assembly came off the front armor plate with NO way of reaching it and re attaching it!!........... 

After a few choice words and much thinkingI decided to carefully cut open the  bottom armor plate using a new #11 blade to score along the weld lines. This took a long time but was able to remove the plate and re attach the transmission housing. The plate was then re attached with Tenax leaving no gaps and later paint touch ups and weathering took care of the rest.

Here's the bottom front plate re attached, repainted and weathered

shamoo

Part of the joy?-of course. Does it happen to everyone?-it happens to me. I’ve come to love the tamiya extra thin but it did take some relearning my glue technique. However if I need more time to work with the join ll grab the testors liquid instead. I’m personally not a real fan of super glue for major joins. My $0.02 anyway. 

 

Personally, I have found the Tamiya stuff stronger than the Testors, but find CA, even the gel type, much stronger.  I generally use the gel CA- it takes longer to set up and gives me a longer working time, but not long enough for things like fuselage seams and wing top/bottom joins, which is the only place I use the solvent cements like Testors or Tamiya.

GMorrison

Oh sure. Stuff like clear window inserts. There's then the problem of keeping the loose part from rattling around.

 

I have solved the window insert problem with the new UV hardening glues.  It does not craze the clear plastic like CA, but gives a very hard bond, much harder than those window glues that are variants of white glue.

I have had the same problem broke the landing gear clear off a plane just as I finishing up this plane gave me fits right from the start .it crashed  into the wall problem sloved.

Yup, a similar thing happened to me just yesterday. While working on a 1/72 P-40 the tiny intake tubes I painstakingly scratch-built, positioned below the prop and inside the cowling ,came lose and fell down inside the fuselage. Took me an hour of shaking the thing back into position only to have it come lose again ARRRRG. I got it fixed with a hammer though.

Hey ;

 If it hadn't happened to me I wouldn't believe you . It is part of model building . T.B.

Yes it sure does happen. I equate scale modeling to like playing chess. You have to think several moves a head. If you don't, you'll find out where that demon lives. 

It happens all the time to all of us. like was said before sounds like the extra thin dried before a good bond was formed. My glue of choice is Tenax 7R put on with a touch-n-flow with both parts like that held in place just flow the glue around the two and it will give a strong bond. like Pawel said you can also reinforce it from above too.

skyraider0609

Thanks for the tips Pawel. Like I say, I'm learning as I go on this one. I do appreciate the knowledge you folks have to pass on. Is there a specific name for that solvent or just the generic?

You mentioned Tamiya cement in your opening post, this should be fine.

If you are using the extra thn cement (green cap), you may be making the mistake of applying the cement to one part and then presskng tbe pars together. This method often results in poor joints because the cement often evporates from the surface before the parts can be pressed together. 

With most thin liquid ceqments, the preferred method is to hold the parts together and apply the cement to the join or seam, allowing the cement to wick between tbe parts.

Hello!

You're looking for lacquer thinner, which is a mix of different organic solvents - the one I use for over a year now lists toluene and isobutanol as ingredients, but MEK and acetone would also work. It's best to just buy a bottle and make an experiment, like glueing two pieces of sprue together. If it doesn't work (that can happen), this stuff is still handy to have around the house for cleaning up glue stains and things like that.

Like I wrote it's best to put it in a nail lacquer bottle, with a brush, for ease of application - which reminds me that you also could use nail lacquer remover to glue your parts (then again, the pricing is less favourable here).

How about your nick? Reminds me of a model I've built some time ago:

Good luck with your modelling projects and have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

Like Forrest gump said - it happens!

I'm glad to hear you were able to save it.

I'd have two things I'd like to recommend:

1) switch to a solvent type glue - if you make a weld type joint between two large styrene parts, you'll never have to worry about them coming apart. Lacquer thinner is the cheapest option here, I use it for years. And the bond is stronger than CA/Super Glue, because it's elastic.

2) in doubt make a support part - in your example that would be a piece of plastic that would fit snugly between top of gear well and the part that is directly above (top wing skin?) - this way taking the tension off the glue joint. With something like this installed the forces from the strut are evenly distributed all around.

Hope it helps, thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

skyraider0609

There is always the opposite wheel well waiting for me....

That's the thing....

model kit's KNOW  our weakness's. And they "Exploit" them !!!

Oh sure. Stuff like clear window inserts. There's then the problem of keeping the loose part from rattling around.

Stuff like this happens all the time.

I once had a truck, that after finishing it the passenger seat came loose ( Idont know how or why )  Since i had already put in all the glass, there was no way to get back into the interior without "Breaking " a window. The passenger door had a small view window at the bottom, so I figured if I HAD to break one that was it.

Using a set of angled tweesers I managed to get the seat glued in...... sideways !

The glue had set before I had the seat into it's correct position.

So I proceded to "break " it free...... unfortunatly it had attached itself to the door panel...... so of course I broke that too !

Then I got mad and went ahead and "broke " out the passenger window.

But the two pieces were too big to fit through the window soooooo......

While "tugging" at the part's , in an effort to seperate them from one another I broke off the passenger side mirror !

After a few "WELL PLACED WORD'S" ........... I SHOT the truck with a motor shell I had left over from 4th of July!!!

But I'm all better now ! 

Yep. Earlier this year i was working on a 1.72nd Ju 87D-5. I had put an resin pieces for the D/F equipment in the rear fuselage with CA glue but left off the clear piece until after painting. When it came time to add the clear piece, i pushed the whoe resin part into the fuselage and there was nothing i could do, short of splitiing the painted, decaled and weathered fuselage, to retrieve it. Fourtunatly, the fully open canopy covers the hole.

You are not alone.