‘First Pancake’ key takeaways

Thinking back to those halcyon days of yore -you know, like a week ago- when I thought I was going to make a museum quality showpiece on my first go, I can scarcely believe how utterly disappointed I am with my first attempt at this whole modeling thing. So many things went so wrong that I won’t bore you by listing them all. Having said that, I am quite pleased with a number of things that went right with project First Pancake. In an attempt to preserve what is left of my tattered self-esteem, I’m going to focus on those instead. First, I should mention that painting fine details is a problem for me. Ever since I quit drinking (to say I quit drinking is no longer accurate. After being a very serious alcoholic for over a decade, I quit cold turkey, as detailed here, and abstained from alcohol completely Continue reading ‘First Pancake’ key takeaways

Will the lessons never cease?

Purely from a ‘learn valuable lessons for the next project’ standpoint, project First Pancake has been an overwhelming success! The list of things I’ve irrevocably fucked up is rather impressive. Final assembly turned out to be something of a bitch. I won’t waste to much time detailing just how wrong it went, but suffice it to say that a number of pieces didn’t line up quite as well as the instructions would indicate. Yours truly then exacerbated the problem by assembling a couple of pieces in the wrong order. The next thing you know, I’ve got a broken fan under the hood (I put the broken blade facing down so it won’t be seen) and the rear bumper is separated from the body by a very noticeable amount. That is not even mentioning that I currently have some pieces of it shimmed up with scrap sprue while I reglue other Continue reading Will the lessons never cease?

Project ‘First Pancake’

In the past, I’ve seen where people have given names to their model cars. They are usually affectionate names like Purple Thunder or silly puns like Steven Squealberg. Following in that vein, I’ve dubbed the GTX, my first model car in thirty years, First Pancake. Despite all my research into painting techniques and various building tips and tricks, I keep fucking it up in ways I hadn’t previously considered. As mentioned in a previous post, this one is the first pancake: it just doesn’t look as good as the rest of them. I’m learning from each of the aforementioned fuck-ups, so hopefully project Second Pancake will come out a bit better. Nonetheless, work continues on the GTX, and the interior of the car continues to be the best feature. The dashboard in particular looks really good. With all the parts in place now, it is a pity I am going Continue reading Project ‘First Pancake’

Testing my patience

When I was young, I always liked building models. At least I enjoyed the idea of building models. In practice, I was far too impatient to do it with any sort of success. I would greet each new kit I would get (my aunt, Janice, would get each of us a kit every year for Christmas) with an enthusiasm that is hard to match in my adult life. It was the enthusiasm of a child, but always mixed with the ultimatum that this time, I’m going to do it right. Fast forward an hour and I have realized that the paint on the body has brush strokes all through it, I’ve managed to get a big fingerprint right in the center of the hood, and somehow there seems to be cat hair under the paint on the trunk (we didn’t have a cat). My disappointment would be almost as great Continue reading Testing my patience