...things you probably shouldn't do...

[drunken monkey]

lately, our little modelling corner at AF has gotten perhaps a bit too serious so here's a little thread to perhaps lighten the mood.

title says it all.
my own little confession.

now i've said that i'm a lazy painter when it comes to spraying bodies but my laziness extends to brush painting parts too.
you know when you've been painting metallic parts and only one or two spots of gloss or flat to paint but your jar of water is now cloudy with metallic flakes...
now imagine that you need to thin the gloss or flat paint a touch before brushing it on...

well, i probably shouldn't do it but at those times, i just lick my brush.
if i've dabbed the bristles into paint and it feels too thick and my water's too dirty, instead of changing my water, i just dab the brush (with paint) onto my tongue to add a little spit.
so yes, there really is a little of my dna on all of my models.


what are your own bad habits when it comes to this?

[ales]

LOL!

I have to say that I don't lick my brushes.

When I work with the Tamiya knife, however, I often remove the cap with my mouth and then I would often attempt to put the cap back on while holding it between the teeth. More than once I've missed. Same has happened with superglue...

[wolvyreen]

Uh....licking my brush :P no...I don't do that lol

That knife habit seems extremely dangerous though :P

I haven't been building long enough to get bad habits. so the jury i still out for me on this one.

[MPWR]

I haven't been building long enough to get any good habits.

[crisjr]

Well, i must confess that, yes i have some bad habits.. well i never licked my brush like Drunken did.. but i use to do the same as Ales... but the worse thing that i think i do is.. when i'm sanding or cutting, some small parts insist to fell on the floor.. well i always think.. hmm.. it's just a small part.. but when i look again.. a loot of small parts are on the floor.. and guess what.. i leave it all there.. i know.. shame on me..

[to-mek]

Sometimes when water is far from me I use my saliva for decals.

[rallymaster]

humm... men, you are pigs not modelers !!

Well my own worst habit...?
I don't clean my working board as often it should be...
I keep a ton of plastic card cuttings rests, thinking "they could be useful, Im sure even this small barely visible piece could be used...", sanding dust amounted in a small volcano in the middle of the working board, decal sheet paper once decal taken off, etc etc.
Another habit, bad or good don't really know, is that I can see an opened paint jar more than a few seconds, and I spend more time keeping opening and closing jars than painting !!
same with the knife... which cap should be put over between each use, so close shall they be...
Should I worry about that doctor ?

[malscar]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

my water's too dirty, instead of changing my water,

hmmm, I suggest you need to go see your doctor lol

bad habits, buying more models than I could ever build in two lifetimes is my worst,

Having more than one build at the same time is another. This is my desk at the moment

[ales]

malscar, I really like the kits I see on your desk!

One more thing came to mind - I tend to leave bits of sandpaper, used/broken toothpicks, decal backing, etc on the desk and just move them to the right out of the work area. When I eventually do get to cleaning up the desk there's usually quite a lot in that pile.

Immediately picking up every part that falls on the floor is something I have learned the hard way too.

[quadzero]

Very funny thread, but very real also in my modelling world.

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

well, i probably shouldn't do it but at those times, i just lick my brush.

I don't lick the brush to clean it but I usually put the brush in my mouth to form a nice sharp point for tiny detail painting.

Originally Posted by ales

.....More than once I've missed. Same has happened with superglue...

Despite spending hours carefully peeling away dried glue from my lips, I always seem to do this.

Originally Posted by rallymaster

I don't clean my working board as often it should be...
I keep a ton of plastic card cuttings rests, thinking "they could be useful, Im sure even this small barely visible piece could be used..."
Another habit, bad or good don't really know, is that I can see an opened paint jar more than a few seconds, and I spend more time keeping opening and closing jars than painting

I save all the scraps also, makes for an ineffective way to re-use scraps all jumbled up in a little container but I don't throw anything away until the model is done. I'm obsessed with closing the lids as soon as possible. Just drives me insane to see a jar of paint with the lid off, even knowing I will be using it in minutes.

Originally Posted by ales

I tend to leave bits of sandpaper, used/broken toothpicks, decal backing, etc on the desk and just move them to the right out of the work area. When I eventually do get to cleaning up the desk there's usually quite a lot in that pile.

Immediately picking up every part that falls on the floor is something I have learned the hard way too.

I have piles like that in my work area. It gets so bad I'm sometimes discouraged to spend an evening working on my model, somehow managing this mess while I work thru a project is beyond me. I drop pieces all the time, there's a small flashlight I keep handy nearby just for this reason. Of course just leaning over the table more would just take to much time to prevent the 30 minutes I crawl around on the floor looking for that elusive part.

One thing I do also is when I'm airbrushing I use my hand to test the spray pattern and to see if I have the airbrush cleaned for the next colour. Grabbing a piece of paper or cardboard is just soooooo time consuming in the heat of the moment.

All these habits of ours seems so silly and even unhealthy but I admit during the course of building, they seem completely natural to me.

[leafs004]

Even though I have a 2 year old who LOVES getting hold of model parts, I always manage to leave a bumper or a tire on my work table after cleaning up for the night. Fortunately I have about an 80% recovery rate. Still haven't found a Badger basic airbrush she moved though...

[ScratchBuilt]

Okay - I'll put my hand up to some of these too.

I haven't managed to stick my fingers or lips together (yet), but I had a fairly spectacular superglue spillage over an old mitre block a while back - the fumes from that made my eyes water...

I'm definitely a hoarder of scrap bits of plastic, etc - and bits of emery cloth...and cardboard...and bits of wire...

Fortunately I don't have to worry about bits dropping off the workbench and onto the floor as I do all my work sitting on the floor to start with. Gives me a much bigger work area! It might be a carry-over from spending hours on the floor with my Lego as a (smaller) kid - sitting at a table to work just seems...wrong!

Oh - and I really should try to keep my cutting mat as a cutting mat, rather than using it as somewhere to keep most of my tools, glues, tape, etc, and only leaving a few square inches for cutting!

SB

[cinqster]

I remember seeing a very shocking documentary on 'The Radium Girls' who used to point their brushes with their mouths when painting radium numbers onto clock & watch dials.

Needless to say, it didn't do them much good!

[brady_381need72c10]

Originally Posted by malscar

hmmm, I suggest you need to go see your doctor lol

bad habits, buying more models than I could ever build in two lifetimes is my worst,

Having more than one build at the same time is another. This is my desk at the moment

dont feel bad mines worse ill get a pic or two later!

[malscar]

Originally Posted by brady_381need72c10

dont feel bad mines worse ill get a pic or two later!

Oh lol, you want a photo of the WHOLE desk do you