machinehead | 15 Oct 2021 5:50 a.m. PST |
Building 2 Panthers today I knocked over the tray the parts were in and everything went flying. I managed to find everything but the ball hull machinegun. I used a brush and a dust pan all around my desk, cleared my desk and couldn't find it. I went through my spare parts box looking for anything spherical that I could cut in half to make a new one with no luck. I had some old Squadron putty so I tried to roll it into a ball but all it did was crumble. Then I realized that the answer was sitting on my desk. I use pins to apply superglue to put my models together and they have a round plastic head. I cut it in half, rubbed it against some sandpaper until it was close to the right size, glued it in place, cut the front flat, drilled a small hole with my Xacto knife, stretched some sprue and glued it in place. PITA but it worked :D
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deadhead | 15 Oct 2021 6:53 a.m. PST |
This raised a huge laugh, not just for me but also the Cute Little Blonde, who shares my study. The more precious the piece, the more time you have put into filing and prepping it, the more likely it is to leave one's forceps, follow a parabola and disappear for ever into the carpet. This is followed by a howl of anguish and much Anglo-Saxon. There must be enough parts for a complete Sherman model in mine. I tried the apron on one's lap trick, but it seemed to encourage the bit to just bounce further horizontally. You can have a piece of brass weighing only a few grams, yet it still bounces some distance, randomly determined. Chaos theory seems to determine where it will finally (dis)appear. |
jdpintex | 15 Oct 2021 7:35 a.m. PST |
My experience is that once one goes through the effort to devise a replacement, that you find the piece two days later. Usually while looking for something else. |
Mserafin | 15 Oct 2021 8:41 a.m. PST |
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Schogun | 15 Oct 2021 9:08 a.m. PST |
My rule is anything I drop will end up 10 ft away. |
Grelber | 15 Oct 2021 9:16 a.m. PST |
Acting on that wisdom, Schogun, several years ago I spent an hour looking for a part 10 feet from my desk. No luck. I invested several days in cleaning the room (OK, it really needed it). Again, no luck. Two years went by, and I cleaned off my desk, and found the missing part about a foot from where I had been holding it. Your statement needs a corollary that, if you look far away, it will have gone into hiding right under you. Grelber |
Murphy | 15 Oct 2021 9:42 a.m. PST |
Grelber….preach…I've done the same…. |
deadhead | 15 Oct 2021 9:53 a.m. PST |
This one must run. It has proved really entertaining and I so wish it was cross posted widely. It is that "ping" noise as the scalpel cuts through, down to the ceramic chopping board. Then a second "ping" as the piece hits something else in the study and changes direction. Newton's Laws of Motion? Pah, Isaac don't model. |
nnascati | 15 Oct 2021 11:32 a.m. PST |
The floor under my work desk is essentially a black hole. I've gone so far as to actually move the desk to find a missing bit. Sometimes successfully, other not. |
Chimpy | 15 Oct 2021 12:30 p.m. PST |
Next time you try getting your wife/partner to look for it. I once lost a Bismarck turret, spent half an hour looking for it and my wife found it in a couple of minutes. |
Toaster | 15 Oct 2021 10:56 p.m. PST |
Chimpy, the wife/partner only finds it in 10 minutes after you have spent hours looking for it, never before. Robert |
Hornswoggler | 17 Oct 2021 10:36 p.m. PST |
We've all been there. In my experience, the real damage is done in the first couple of minutes when your immediate reaction is to scrabble around desperately looking for the missing part, thereby trampling or otherwise squishing it so deeply into the pile of the carpet that it will never be found. I have retrieved a number of very small items by carefully retreating from the room along a path I am pretty sure the 'projectile' could not have flown, turning off the light and getting down on my hands and knees and shining a torch or lamp across the surface of the carpet. If the rogue part is still sitting on top of the carpet it will cast a shadow when caught in a beam of light making it easier to find, especially if the carpet is a dark colour. Obviously don't let anyone see you doing this as they'll assume you've been inhaling styrene cement fumes for too long… :o) |
BattlerBritain | 18 Oct 2021 1:19 a.m. PST |
I've got to the point now where I've placed a sheet of brown paper under my chair and the desk. It makes a better thwack sound when anything hits it, plus it's easier to spot 1/600 Italian decals than when they land on a cream coloured carpet 🙄 Also it helps protect said carpet from paint splashes so avoids the wrath of 'Management'. Old inserts from Christmas wrapping paper rolls also work well as they're quite thick and would go in the bin anyway 😊 Hope this helps, B |