Little tips you have learnt the hard way!

[krebs128]

this thread's kinda old, but i did something along time ago that was pretty dumb. i was building a model on my friend's bed, for lack of room in his room. so i forgot about the open paint bottle that i sat on his bed and fell over and spilled all over his bed and all over my leg. we burned the sheets to keep his mom from finding out and freaking. the next day, we went to a lake to swim and we convinced everyone that i had a rare form of leg cancer. took a week for the paint to wash off. pretty stupid but pretty funny.

[DSMDude]

ALWAYS PUT THE LID ON YOU PAINTS... YOU CAN NOT SAY THAT ENOUGH!!! I left my Chevy Engine Red paint open and i come back and it is all in the green carpet in my room!!!

Never use a razor blade to cut soft plastic!

Never cut towards yourself......

Paint parts while the are in the web/skeleton Finger print in the paintjob is not good!

Take your time.... if you rush threw a kit it only fudges it up!!! Patience is the key word!

Always wash your brushes right after using them..... you may think it will help to let them sit in the paint thinner or nail polish remover but it doesnt! It just gets thickend on the brush and is harder to get off!!!

PeAcE!!!

[weaponCIVIC]

NEVER paint anything outside when its pitch black outside lol, i was really exited to clear my silverado, so i went outside painted it, went into the light and noticed that it was dripping in clear!

[SonyMobile]

never spray paint in your NEIGHBORS grass they werent to happy with that

I dont no about the rest of you but i have a little margarin container on my model table full of water to wash out my brushes, and the water is normaly pretty filthy, and well... thirsty kittens drink anything... and kitten barf isnt the nicest thing to clean up... especially when it has coated all the parts still on tree's (he puked in the cardboard box with all the parts for my kit in it, but i didnt notice it until 3 days later...so it had sort of... Encrusted many of the parts animals eh

[bergerac54]

Dont let your knife roll onto the floor when you've got no shoes on, it allways manages to land blade down......in your foot. Dont ask me how I managed to do this more than once...

Dont try to cut really fine photo etched emblems out with blunt scissors.... all it does is twist them and they get all mangled. How do you cut photo etched parts off the tree anyways?

DONT TOUCH PAINT UNTILL ITS DRY.. no matter how dry it looks..

If you want to model, learn to be patient or youll end up frustrated like me

[krebs128]

Originally Posted by bergerac54

Dont let your knife roll onto the floor when you've got no shoes on, it allways manages to land blade down......in your foot. Dont ask me how I managed to do this more than once...

i've done this too, seems kinda rare but it happens more than u think...

[CamaroSSBoy346]

Um.. never place a body in front a fan at full power after painting it and not securing it properly.

Make sure you pull the blade of a pocket the opposite way it fold in (getting finger pinched between Leatherman blade and its casing isnt pretty

Never leave a knife hang over your work bench.. it could fall on your foot.

Make your your work bench/area DOE NOT have glue on the surface.

[Zcaithaca]

dont super glue your fingers together

[CamaroSSBoy346]

Oh, and BTW never leave your water for cleaning your acrylic brushes on the corner of your work bench. Especially when you have a light colored rug/floor.

[Zcaithaca]

dont paint on your moms craft bench

[CamaroSSBoy346]

Oh, and another tip: Dont stand in front of an open door so the wind can blow the door shut and hit your elbow.. hitting your beautiful marina blue 1971 GTX out of your hand and smashing on the kitchen tiles. Yeahup.

[JBarry]

I just read this thread. Great tips (and tricks). Funny thing is about half way through my first project, I posted a thread on another board called, "Things NOT to do when building a model".

Here is what I wrote:

"Things NOT to do when building a model".

Don't spray paint it anywhere there is dust! This cost me 1d drying time and another coat of paint plus drying time.

Do not let it dry anywhere there is dust. This cost me TWICE! I 'thought' I had it covered well enough in a dust free enviorment

DO NOT show it to anyone. It took 1s for a 4th year UMASS student to put a finger on it. "OH, it's wet." It is better to keep it locked up away from everyone until you are ready to display it in a glass case. This cost me 1d drying time, 40m sanding and 1 more day drying time. And I hit my favorite nephew in the head with a tire iron. I figure UMASS wasn't teaching him squat, so I would.

Do not EVER think that the same name paint is the same color. Just because it looks the same, just because it has the same name, just because it comes from the same batch. DO NOT ASSUME THAT IT IS THE SAME COLOR. It may not be. It may not even be close. Cost me 1d drying time, 1h to repaint, and 1 more day drying time.

Do not use tape. For some reason, model paint seaps under the tape. I could have done better by hand and did. Cost me 1d drying time, 40m sanding, 1d drying time.

Do not use your dining room table during the holiday season. I had to pack everything up. Cost me 1h packing time and the project is at a halt for 2 more days.

J. Barry

[Zlaja_]

NEVER EVER EVER EVER use nail varnish on your not-painted/primered model. I found a R34 Skyline GT-R at my hobby store from fujimi, expensive like hell and the skyline is my fav. car, and at that time i wasnt into the modelling thing so i only had glue and that model, and when i had glued it together i thought wow i shud use mums nailvarnish to make it bling, but hell no, it started to melt :'(

[chacal]

If you are just waiting for your father / mother / wife / housband / kid / whatever to be ready to go out, DON'T try to do some quick modelling... especially if you have put a good shirt on...

Also, try to wear old clothes before you clean a bad painting... or when you are painting... in general, when you are doing ANYTHING model related! Yes, even when you are just looking at a model. You know: "I'm just going to take a look... oh, the mirror is falling, it needs some glue... look, mum, I've got a sticky pair of throusers!"

[Jay!]

Even at 3+ years old, this is still one of the best threads in this forum.

I'll bet that everyone that reads this thread starts out thinking "Well, duh. That's a pretty stupid mistake," and moments later goes, "Oh, crap. Yeah, I did that, too..."



Read this whole thread. Learn from each other's mistakes, everyone! Save yourself the heartache!!

Even if you just want a chuckle, and a few gasps of horror, read it again anyway.