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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2019 15:01:59 GMT
We've all made them, and sometimes, in my case, sometimes twice or more  . I was painting a part last night and completely forgot to wash it in dish soap to remove the plastic release agent used during the molding process. For those of you who don't know, paint doesn't stick to release agent. At. All. I've only been modeling for 40 years +... Dang I'm a slow learner!!!! What mistakes have YOU made more than once?  |
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Post by harborbelt70 on Oct 21, 2019 15:14:01 GMT
Much more mundane - fixing items I have built/painted in place before I have properly measured to test whether they will fit without causing an obstruction. This has often happened with passenger car interiors, especially passengers put in places where they interfere with re-assembling the car - too close to the sides in particular.
More generally, I have taken to building passenger car features like compartments in modules so that they can be test fitted before final re-assembly. One problem is lining them up properly with the car windows so you don't get partitions visible in windows where they should not be. In Lionel's 21" ABS passenger cars, the stock interiors often have partitions lined up in the windows for no good reason. Annoying.
Fixing things in place purely lined up by sight is a result of impatience to make progress. Measure/test fit twice (at least), fix down once.
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Post by ptc on Oct 21, 2019 15:31:51 GMT
Interesting subject, Trey. Yes, we have all made them.
When I built a new layout some time ago when I lived in the Chicago area, I renovated the attic into a finished train room. This was a huge project by itself. Because of the slanted walls and tryong to get as much benchwpork as possible, I made a compromise to go with a lower heigth of the benchwork. That was fine, but I had a contractor build the benchwork and there were all kinds of cross members he used in the construction. What a bear to work with do to the wiring as it was almost impoossible to get under the benchwork. Never made that mistake again!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since then I have built my own benchwork with wide open spaces underneath. I can use a creeper with no interference. This is one of my biggest objections to commercial benchwork systems as many have a core design that severely limits working space under the layout for wiring purposes, never mind also eliminating the use of a creeper. And the cost compared to a do it yourself project, no comparison.
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Post by Country Joe on Oct 21, 2019 17:01:28 GMT
I can't think of any specific examples but when building something, whether it be a kit or a repair, I often leave something out or put a part in backwards or oriented incorrectly and have to disassemble it to correct my mistake. I've done this so many times over the years you'd think I would have learned my lesson by now. A couple weeks ago I built a 4 shelf shoe rack for my wife. I was so busy identifying the right parts that I assembled the first 2 shelves upside down and had to take it apart and do it again. DUH!
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Post by laz57 on Oct 21, 2019 17:11:37 GMT
One thing I constantly have done is putting smoke fluid in the stack of an engine while it is running and missing the stack and getting fluid all over the engine. Makes me mad but I keep doing it knowing my average will get better one of these days?  
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Post by bfi66 on Oct 21, 2019 20:31:09 GMT
Lol......me too!
-Pete
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Post by JDaddy on Oct 21, 2019 23:16:22 GMT
Cutting benchwork and making big ones into little ones... and ones I should have measured twice.  |
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Post by Joe Saggese on Oct 21, 2019 23:34:52 GMT
“Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.” I plan on having a lot of experience............  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 1:51:13 GMT
Buying cars that are too high for my overpass or that can’t be run on the layout.
I made my second level about 6” above my first, but I used an underslung Scenic Express girder as the apparent support on one bridge. I don’t remember the first car that wouldn’t clear. I shimmed up the overpass about 1/8´so it would just make it. Some time later I got an MTH flat car with pup trailers. That wouldn’t fit so I had to shim it up again. Last fall at York I got an MTH firefighting car. The hose nozzle won’t clear the overpass so I have never run it. I may modify the nozzle so it clears, but haven’t gotten around to it.
I put a missile model load on a Menards Flat car. That wouldn’t clear another part of the second level so had to cut away some of the structure.
I got an MTH Premier crane car that I can’t run. If I raise the boom, it’s too high. If I lower the boom, it won’t clear the sides.
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Post by josef on Oct 22, 2019 10:04:03 GMT
Mistake! There was one time were I took apart one of my K-Line scale Hudson's (have 2), to change out the wick and lube. After putting back together and putting engine on track, I noticed that the front handrail was missing one of the stanchions that it slips through. They are tiny. Going back to kitchen table, looking all over on the towel I had work on, chair, floor, could not find it. Got the wife's vacuum cleaner out and vacuum the floor, towel, everything. Mistake was not cleaning vacuum bag first. Spent over 2 hours finger and feeling all those dust balls, fibers, etc. Finally found it just as the wife came home and seen the mess I had on the floor. Try explaining that.
Mistake was not checking all the parts before assemble and afterwards.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2019 16:52:07 GMT
I'm sure I have made quite a few.
The one that I always make is not prepping for what I'm doing. Working at the table without a drop cloth or something similar on the floor. Painting and not covering areas that need to be masked off. Forgetting to cover tracks before spreading ground cover.
Most of the times it is because I'm to anxious and just want it done.
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Post by 4dogsinjersey on Oct 22, 2019 18:51:34 GMT
I was connecting a three unit MTH set of Milwaukee Road electric locomotives. There was a tether connection that I managed to plug in upside down. When I powered up the engine, a little puff of smoke came out but nothing else happened. I killed the power and looked very closely at the plug. It was then I saw the tiny word “top” molded in the plug. Luckily, the engine ran fine after that, but I always check the tethers for the correct orientation.... Tom  |
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