Does anyone get to a point with a build and decide that they don’t like how it looks and toss it and buy another kit and start over?
I am almost done building the Russian K-4386 Typhoon-VDV Armored Vehicle from Meng and just don’t like how the windows turned out. I forgot to paint the edges of the glass. I am strongly considering just tossing it or maybe I can just use it as a test bed for weathering. As a last ditch effort I might paint the windows with a clear green to simulate the armored glass.
I would try to cut new windows from old CD-cases (they are made of styrene, same plastic as in the models we build, clear styrene sheet a.k.a plasticard is also available).
The clear plastic parts from Meng could also be polished to be smoother than before.
Takes many hours to do it so cutting new windows is probably easier.
Edit: The only kits I have tossed was a BlueTank / Nitto LVT and an old Tamiya M10/M36.
Both were awful with clumsy details and horrible tracks. When I realised they were not in 1/35th scale I couldn’t find anything worth keeping them for so they went in the bin.
As for bailing on a kit, I seldom do that. I’ve gotten flustered and put a few on the Shelf of Shame and came back to them in time to finish. The ones I tossed in the trash usually had something catastrophic happen like having a bottle of liquid cement spilled on them, mold shift by a sloppy manufacturer, massive numbers of sink marks due to poor quality control etc.
I agree with all the above. I would replace the windows if they are too far gone. I don’t think I have ever tossed a kit. I always plug along and figure out a way to fix it/make it work, one way or another.
Ray, I have tossed half finished Alan kits to cut my losses. But only once have I tossed a good kit mid-build and bought a new one to start over. I was building the Meng Rolls Royce armored car while recovering from a car accident back injury. I felt fine but was taking muscle relaxants and ibuprophen. When I had finished the model, and the muscle relaxants, I inspected the car prior to painting. The body was firmly cemented all along it’s length about 20 degrees left of the frame. I started on a new same kit immediately. Drugs and models don’t mix. I would agree with the guys above though, you have several options to save the kit. Or, if you love it that much, just buy a new one and start over.
Ok, so I have tossed my first built of the Fuchs from Revell (3038) because not satisfied at all with it. The kit is wrong for the depicted version and I didn’t pay attention to that.
I have rebuilt it in the right way with extra work, spare parts and resin update sets from MR Modellbau.
A few others which made me angry simply went to the bin and I did not try another built of them. Modelling is supposed to be fun !
Take a 3 week breather. You would be surprised at how problems can be overcome with a few weeks break. Worst case, you have a vehicle to practice painting and weathering effects.
Paint mules are very handy that’s why I have a god awful Revell 1/32 P-51 B and Revells 1/48th Superhornet still around (though I forget they are sitting around sometimes. See a theme though? When you spend the money on these nicer kits my view is work them forever and a day or set it aside for a bit, too much money for this guy to toss it out. I’ve learned my lesson on cheap kits so I keep them around for experiments so I can “stretch” my dollars.
Yep. “Tossed” = “Binned”. In one piece or many, the latter after having been violently disassembled in a manner most efficacious in soothing any negative emotions generated by it’s construction, such as after interfacing with a hard vertical surface. Or placed on a hard horizontal surface and jumped up and down on. Or have a pyrotechnic/explosive device inserted. Or subject to target practice with suitable projectiles. Or if appropriate made the object of a SINKEX. Or any combination of the last three…
While occasionally resorted to in my youth (after stripping of potentially reusable parts), I now adopt a “bin nothing” policy as I like to scratch build Sci-fi/Fantasy subjects. In the case of a vehicle, a post-apocalyptic future is a likely fate, either on it’s wheels/tracks or incorporated into the scenery of vignette/diorama.
When I get a kit that I’m not happy with the build it migrates to the “Shelf of Shame” much like Armor Buff does.
I do dust one off every now and then and use it for practicing new techniques and products on a kit.
Or cannibalizing’s parts off of it.
Uncle Heavy’s Blue Tank kit and SSG Toms Alan experiences brought a painful smile to my face.
