Gordon J Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Has the frustration with a model ever got so bad for anyone that you've actually smashed your latest creation to pieces? I have. 😐 Did it with my almost complete Kinetic F/A-18C yesterday. I was probably at the point where my interest in this kit had started to wane and I was dreaming of my next model but the sorry demise of this model began when the Ultimate Panel line wash reacted with my Johnson's Klear coat and stained the surface of my model (see port wing below). I tried cold water, hot water, soapy water, Tamiya X-20a thinners, Humbrol enamel thinners, buffers and even magic eraser sponges and nothing took it off. After much swearing, repainting and re-glossing I got it back to the final stages of attaching missiles and undercarriage but it was on my third day of the main gear refusing to stick and me having to repeatedly walk away from it that I broke. I therefore wish to confess my sins for trashing about £100 worth of model kit and present to you all my first ever RFI on Britmodeller. 3 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil.C Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Quite understandable. I've smashed up a couple part way through. That said, even if they come out OK they only stay a while until something else is built then into the recycle they go! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Timmy Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Build a base for it, and make a "crash landing" diorama out of it. ( thus saving an expensive model ) It should turn out pretty good. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psdavidson Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Never done it myself, but I think sometimes it's the only way to move on All of mine succumb to entropy in the end and wind up looking like that anyway 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Yup did it with a couple of models in one go when i got fed up with models. A trumpeter 1/24 hurricane and a trumpeter tbm. I did feel better after! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stef N. Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Yep, done the same with a Meng Cougar. Loads of things kept going wrong and in the end I got fed up with my mistakes and the time it took to fix them that it went whoosh.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinnerboy Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Yep, been there & got the T-shirt. I now find getting the air rifle out is far more satisfying, also when setting the 'target' up gives the said kit time to think of what its done to you and repent in the error of its ways before the coup de grace😟 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 I've only ever broken a model due to an accident. That includes dropping them in the final stages, and splashing thinners or something similarly aggressive on the current kit I'm building. I'm surprisingly calm when this happens, immediately turning to solutions, rather than getting annoyed with myself, the model or the world in general. I caught myself thinking of ways to restore your kit, although that canopy has done a decent job of becoming a jigsaw Even if it's a review kit, I still don't like chucking 'em away That might sound a bit pious, but it's just my take on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan B Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 It's a shame as it looks like you had been doing a good job on it before the mishap. I've certainly come very close but I don't think I've ever actually 'test flown' any. The question is do you know what caused the reaction so you can avoid it happening again? Duncan B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil.C Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 18 hours ago, sinnerboy said: Yep, been there & got the T-shirt. I now find getting the air rifle out is far more satisfying, also when setting the 'target' up gives the said kit time to think of what its done to you and repent in the error of its ways before the coup de grace😟 As a lad many of my aircraft models ended up hanging from the washing line and being shot up with an air rifle. Very satisfying! 😋 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomBigStu Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 (edited) I'm famous for my disasters, either long drawn out frustration and loss of interest that results in a cull of in progress models or a quick sharp act of angry destruction of the thing it front of me that's displeased me. Am trying to make it more of rarity and I think I am succeeding Edited January 23 by PhantomBigStu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodadriver Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I have never smashed up a model but I have thrown a few in the bin, most recently a fully decalled 1/144 Boeing 787. It was, of course, a complicated livery involving expensive decals from a seller in Mexico. The disaster was entirely my own fault. It mainly came about because I departed from my normal SOP which is to attach the undercarriage before applying the decals. I have just reminded myself the hard way why I adopted that practice twenty-odd years ago and why I should stick to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spruecutter96 Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 A KP 1/48th Su-25. A dreadful, horrible, nasty kit. After about three hours of struggling to build it, it made its maiden-flight.... straight into my wheelie-bin. Life's just WAY too short for dealing with such poorly-made rubbish. Chris. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 No, I never have. As a child, model kits (and indeed toys in general) were too few and far between for me to be casual enough about their possession that I would be ok in treating them in that way, and now that I'm an (alleged) adult, I work too damn hard to waste my money on throwing away something just because it's annoyed me. It may go on a shelf for a while, but I've never smashed a model - I come back to it when I've grown up a little. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Harmsworth Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 I was interested in the problem so I had a look at the Ultimate website. There was a question and answer which may go some way towards explaining what happened: Hi, I had a bit of a spill with the dark dirt, on an un-glossed surface, as much as I tried to remove it as fast as possible, there is still some excessive excess, which won't go with a damp cloth/tissue. Can I try artistic turpentine ? thanks Ultimate Modelling Products Oct 7, 2019 Hi Christopher - I'm pretty sure turpentine will eat the paint, but because of the nature of the wash I'm afraid it will have entered the paint itself by now, sorry... I've highlighted that last bit. I take that to mean, if you leave it long enough, it will somehow merge with the underlying paint. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karearea Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 My four and seven year olds would never forgive me if I did that! They inherit all my messed-up aircraft, and have a great time flying them around without worrying about Dad being precious. It’s a great way to spark joy from a kit that didn’t go the way I’d planned. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon J Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 @Duncan B, @Mark Harmsworth I used an old tub of Johnsons Klear for the clear coat and according to Ultimate Modelling Products, and as Mark points out above, that can and will cause the reaction that I experienced with my model. In only a few minutes it became infused with the paint or gloss cote or maybe a bit of both. Strangely enough it was ok on some parts of the model but not on others. I am sure Ultimate Panel wash is a great product, just make sure you use it with X22 or a lacquer gloss coat and NOT Johnsons Klear. I should point out that I own some Ultimate Modelling Products sanders and use their airbrush cleaner and both of these products are brilliant. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pajarito Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Well, the economics in Argieland has always been the best preventer not to do that (or at least avoid it). Kits you are not going to be able to get locally in any given local hobby shop. Paints you are not going to be able to get in any given local hobby shop. Glue you are not going to be able to get in any given local hobby shop. Aftermarket decals you are not going to be able to get in any given local hobby shop. Aftermarket sets you are not going to be able to get in any given local hobby shop. Hobby tools you are not going to be able to get in any given local hobby shop. Hobby materials you are not going to be able to get in any given local hobby shop. (LHS) 😄 If a kit I'm building fights me, I just go away, lock up the room and forget about it until mood changes. In the mean time, perhaps I'll think of a solution to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 7 hours ago, Gordon J said: I used an old tub of Johnsons Klear for the clear coat and according to Ultimate Modelling Products, and as Mark points out above, that can and will cause the reaction that I experienced with my model. In only a few minutes it became infused with the paint or gloss cote or maybe a bit of both. Strangely enough it was ok on some parts of the model but not on others. I am sure Ultimate Panel wash is a great product, just make sure you use it with X22 or a lacquer gloss coat and NOT Johnsons Klear. Kleer and the like are acrylic type varnish, bear in mind most acrylics while touch dry very fast, actually take days to actually fully cure, UMP is a clay* non toxic wash, The general rule seems to be to not mix wash solvents, and not to use a 'hotter' solvent in the wash. I've said many times on here, for washes I use artist oil paint thinned with lighter fuel, which is incredibly volatile, and flashes off in seconds, You can move it about/remove excess with a brush wetted in it, and it 'seeks' like nothing else, any water based wash is 'thick' in comparison because of waters molecular structure, visible in surface tension. (water is really odd stuff chemically) I've never had a flammabilty issue with LF as you only use a tiny amount as well, a few ml at most, so just open a window. The sheer volatility means it's just not on the surface long enough to really react with it. I have used it over Kleer, and on plain Vallejo Model Color, if you really scrub it it can wear through. I also use for pastel chalks, use very fine abrasive, add chalk dust to a palette, add a little lighter fuel and brush on, again, though be careful as this does stick and not easily come off. As with everything, do it on a mule first.... *Clay is interesting stuff chemically, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_chemistry "The unique properties of clay minerals including: nanometric scale layered construction, presence of fixed and interchangeable charges, possibility of adsorbing and hosting (intercalating) molecules, ability of forming stable colloidal dispersions, possibility of tailored surface and interlayer chemical modification and others, make the study of clay chemistry a very important and extremely varied field of research." the bit in bold is what a clay wash is, a stable colloid, I can't recall the full details, it's a charged molecule, but there is some interesting things at a molecular level. In simple terms, It's not just mud. 11 hours ago, Mark Harmsworth said: if you leave it long enough, it will somehow merge with the underlying paint. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_mineral#Properties "Because the individual particles in clay are less than 4 micrometers (0.00016 in) in size, " I suspect that on a matt surface, which a micro level is pretty rough, very fine particles will become stuck. HTH 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan B Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 I moved away from using Kleer and the likes a long time ago, there are so many good modelling specific products out there now that can do the job better. I did try the clay based washes but didn't like them and after trying out the various enamel washes, pastels, acrylic sludges, artist oil paints etc I have ended up using MiG's Oil Brushers for most of my weathering and PLW now. Very similar to Artists oil paints but thinner I further thin them and use them on top of a gloss coat (usually Mr Color's GX100). Very easy to work with and they dry more quickly than genuine artist oil paints but still slowly enough to have a decent working time. If I don't like the result they can be removed easily with a brush dampened with thinners. I haven't had any disasters since I started using them for the above reasons. Duncan B 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 On 1/22/2024 at 1:06 PM, Gordon J said: I therefore wish to confess my sins for trashing about £100 worth of model kit While I confess that some models might have been abandoned and ditched in frustration, I get round this specific problem by not spending a small fortune in the first place and certainly never dreaming of spending £100 (or anything close) on a model kit!! Mind you, I'm a Yorkshireman... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon J Posted January 24 Author Share Posted January 24 20 minutes ago, Jonners said: While I confess that some models might have been abandoned and ditched in frustration, I get round this specific problem by not spending a small fortune in the first place and certainly never dreaming of spending £100 (or anything close) on a model kit!! Mind you, I'm a Yorkshireman... The £100 price came about because the kit was £60, the Quinta 3D cockpit set was £16, the aftermarket decals were £13, the canopy mask was £9, the Reskit wheels and GBU bombs were £6.....😓 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomBigStu Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 (edited) On 1/23/2024 at 1:05 PM, PhantomBigStu said: I'm famous for my disasters, either long drawn out frustration and loss of interest that results in a cull of in progress models or a quick sharp act of angry destruction of the thing it front of me that's displeased me. Am trying to make it more of rarity and I think I am succeeding Talking of which I resisted the urge today, wing walkway line decals disintegrated and an attempt to mask and paint them went horribly wrong, so glad I did as it’s a large bugs that took a lot of work, though I don’t what I’m going to do about them Edited January 24 by PhantomBigStu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now