This is a thread for stupid modeling or painting you did.
This was back about 3 years ago when i started
I got the deffkoptas from AOBR..... the stands broke. i tired fixing thme with glue, didnt work. took a lighter and tried to melt them together.
I used varnish to seal paint
I tried to remove paint by putting models in hot water(bad idea) and the microwave(worse idea)
I tried to seal paint with hairspray and a hair drier(warped a model)
And stripping i used oven cleaner alot, i am never doing that again. i lost my fingerprints for awhile.

Those are hilarious. I'm fairly new to the hobby so I'm probably doing things i'll regret later on right now. One thing I do remember though is that when I first primed one of my models I coated it so much the model looked like it was just a big stick of paint. There was no more detail on the model and it was effectively ruined. Good thing it was a 'practice' model and I quickly learnt my lesson!

I try to salvage models i know damn bloody right and proper well are ruined. Part of the salvage process entails causing even more damage to the model. My success rate is poor. I continue doing this notwithstanding the lack of a success rate.

I stripped metal models with acetone without using a gas mask.

Sometimes, when I construct my tanks mostly, I forget to make the area I work in well ventilated... Yay getting high off of super glue x__x

Was gluing lictors together, glued fingers together (3, 2 on 1 hand). Nobody around to save me, and for some unknown reason had nothing to fix the issue...so screwed...

primed a load of marines with walmart glossy black spray paint becauce I thought the glossy would look cool.


Man that stuff goes on thick...

I tried to open up a hole on a 40mm square GW base with an exacto knife and instead opened up my pinky down to the bone.

And I sold off my 6th edition Empire soldiers which I'm now going to great pains to replace.

I suck on the end of my brush handle while I paint, got it mixed around and got a mouthful of Badab Black

The good ol' Hobby Knife as well for me. Even moreso thinking, "Pft Ill be fine" as the blade is inwards instead of out. Then in about 5 seconds I had the blade into the tip of my thumb.

I put a Space Marine in turpentine to strip it.

I tried to unclog a superglue tube by squeezing it hard - took two weeks before the protective and airtight coating on my fingers was gone... ;-)

Once, back in the bad old days when I used testors paint because I didn't know what acrylic paint was, I was trying to remove the metal lid from the glass bottle with a screwdriver and before I knew it, I'd sliced my hand five ways to hell and back with shards of the shattered bottle. Fortunately, I have a really high pain tolerance. Not high enough at that moment, but high enough that instead of fainting and bleeding to death, I howled so loud that my cat was afraid of me for weeks.

Samus_aran115 wrote:I stripped metal models with acetone without using a gas mask.

Did worse than that, used Methyl Ethyl Ketone or MEK to strip some metal figures is a closed room. Last time I was that high I was in the Navy painting a compartment with red lead primer, and yes back then it had lead in it.

Second worse thing was airbrushing a wash thinned with alcohol over a Landraider sealed with Dullcote. Fogged a bunch of places on the thing, only good side was that the fogging looked like a real oxidized paint job. Actually had guys ask me how did I do that?

Cutting small, rounded objects with an x-acto knife.
.

warpcrafter wrote:Once, back in the bad old days when I used testors paint because I didn't know what acrylic paint was, I was trying to remove the metal lid from the glass bottle with a screwdriver and before I knew it, I'd sliced my hand five ways to hell and back with shards of the shattered bottle. Fortunately, I have a really high pain tolerance. Not high enough at that moment, but high enough that instead of fainting and bleeding to death, I howled so loud that my cat was afraid of me for weeks.

Long story short, I recently found out that my testers metalics had seperated completely in the 3 months I was away at university and there was no way to remix them (I tried).

Rather miffed about it...

At least I will no longer be useing cancer causeing paints on my plastic dudes.

Back when I first started to play fantasy I tried to use plastic glue to fill the gaps in my High Elf horses, then tried to wipe the excess off with a tissue, then tried to file it smooth while the glue was still wet.

That poor horse was a complete disaster. I made it worse by gobbing judicious amounts to testors paint over it to hide the the flaw... and the details.

I was chopping the hands off of marine arms to reposition them by pushing down really hard on the blade of my scalpel and bracing them with my other hand. As i did, the blade snapped from the pressure and a piece flicked back and cut me on the nose...

I sat there for about a minute, thanking god that it didn't go in my eye, and then added safety glasses to my list of things to buy...

hotsauceman1 wrote:This is a thread for stupid modeling or painting you did.
This was back about 3 years ago when i started
I got the deffkoptas from AOBR..... the stands broke. i tired fixing thme with glue, didnt work. took a lighter and tried to melt them together.
I used varnish to seal paint
I tried to remove paint by putting models in hot water(bad idea) and the microwave(worse idea)
I tried to seal paint with hairspray and a hair drier(warped a model)
And stripping i used oven cleaner alot, i am never doing that again. i lost my fingerprints for awhile.

The last one ... I don't know. The instructions on the can TELL YOU TO WEAR GLOVES FOR A REASON.

Common sense is no longer common, I fear (nor is RTFM).

I started gaming after childhood had already left, so my stupid things were confined to burning myself with my soldering iron, and scratching myself on circuitboards and then getting alcohol in them while cleaning them (I was an electronics geek at 12, gamer at 18).


Not so much a stupid thing I did, but a mate asked me where my stripping jar was - so I pointed it out and he dumped his FW Elysians into the ACETONE JAR.

Let's just say he didn't do that again.
No, I didn't offer to replace them. I ONLY used that jar for metals. Now I use Brake fluid - which won't turn resin into goo - it will soften it though.

hotsauceman1 wrote:I tried to remove paint by putting models in hot water(bad idea) and the microwave(worse idea)
i lost my fingerprints for awhile.

As I cannot at the moment afford to lose another mini trying this myself, what happened when you put it in the microwave?

n0t_u wrote:I put a Space Marine in turpentine to strip it.

I see your space marine and raise you a broadside batlesuit.

n0t_u wrote:I put a Space Marine in turpentine to strip it.

I did the exact same thing with about 30 space marines...

When i first started the hobby for some reason i thought it would be a brilliant idea to paint my kroot models in a completely random rainbow color scheme, i have no idea what possessed me to glob on every bright color i had but at the time i thought they were the greatest.

10 years later and I've stashed them away in my shame box along with my first dark angels that were coated in so much enamel paint that i severely doubt any man could strip them.

I knew it would dissolve it, I was just curious how fast it would.

I got some spray paint to base my lovelly new army...i had the bright idea that it would not be good to do it inside so i took them outside on a table...n i blew them all away off the table with the spray paint, .

Glueing bits togeher is always fun i once glued my fingers to the modle ... glued them hard, skin came off so i could remove the modle. yet another time i got glue on my fingers and i thought it would be a good idea to wipe it off with paper...yeah i glued paper to myself willingly lol.

thank god i havn't been into the hobby too long, god knows whatmay happen next

When I was a kid, I 'converted' (I use the term very loosely) a mint condition Robotech Factory model kit into 40k terrain. That kit is now regularly fetching £300 on eBay, and I'd love to build it now I have the skills to do it justice.

Samus_aran115 wrote:I stripped metal models with acetone without using a gas mask.

Beg pardon?

You are supposed to use a mask?

Sonophos wrote:

Samus_aran115 wrote:I stripped metal models with acetone without using a gas mask.

Beg pardon?

You are supposed to use a mask?

Its probably wise unless youre in a well ventilated area.

Prolonged exposure, ie longer than it takes a woman to clean her nails off, isnt good for your health.

Although, fortunately, i dont think it has long term health effects, being unable to breath isnt pleasant.

That said, it might not always have the same effect on everyone.

As for mistakes, I once tried to unblock a super glue nozzle by removing it from the bottle and blowing down it...it didnt stick too much though, thankfully.

I also used to regularly end up with super glue on my fingers, which i usually removed by rubbing them together, and if they were then stuck, pulling them apart and slicing through the skin very carefully with a knife.

Ok Not so bad then.

I have got superglue on my fingers so many times it is almost normal. I used to just nibble it off.

I've cut my fingers so many times the tips are pretty much scar tissue. On the bright side they are now quite hard to cut and I have chef's fingers.

Kustomizing Orks, I put an exacto blade into my finger. A bus ride and a roll of paper towel later, I had four new stitches.

Making my Tater Titan, I decided to heat the plastic with a lighter to mold it to the form of Mr Potatohead better. This was fine, when I had a working respirator. Couldn't find it one day, went "Meh, I'll be five minutes. What's the harm?" I wound up in one of my typical working comas, and half an hour into some serious model building I was high off plastic fumes and sick for an hour afterword.

On a tamer note, I built my deffrolla with some layers of duct tape over a toiler paper roll. After all the work that went into crafting it, it looked awesome. Then I primed and painted it... Both have been flaking off the duct tape's surface since..

Tired pushing on a new scalpel blade with a pair of pliers (so I wouldn't slice my fingers).
Pliers slipped, blade hammered into my finger, permenantly severed the nerve running down the side of my finger.

Used really runny superglue for some resin scenery.
Got burning sensation in leg - the glue had run off the model & dripped.
In blind, pain-filled panic, placed model on the arm of my leather sofa.
Had to paint part of the sofa to cover up the tear when I ripped the model off some time later.

I work in environmental health and safety so I have to deal with chemical safety every day.

breathing acetone for a day isn't going to have long term health effects for you. It's the short term health effects you have to worry about, ie. passing out. The long term health effects you have to worry about are when you breath it for long periods of time day in and day out. I am not recomending you work with acetone without protection, I am just saying stinking up your house one time while you strip your mini's is a pretty minimal chance of giving yourself cancer. it's like smoking one cigarrette in your life and saying you will get cancer.

MEK is a lot nastier, again a time time off thing is pretty unlikely to give you long term health issues, however MEK is a lot more toxic than acetone so your short term exposure risk is much greater. Also, if for some bizarre reason you would ingest either of these it would be really bad, especially MEK. Don't use these with children around. Out of curiosity how fast did the MEK strip the paint?

like I said I work around these chemicals all the time and I have always had this morbid curiosity to take some of the various solvents I have access to and see which will strip mini's the best. I have a respirator so that's not an issue. I am just worried b/c the only thing i need to strip is plastic and I don't want them turning into a pile of goo.

Oh I forgot the numerous times I have accidentally glued my clothing to myself when a drip of super glue has fallen on my trousers [US = pants] and soaked through before drying.

A nice wake up call when getting ready for bed.

I am beginning to think I may be accident prone.

Aerethan wrote:And I sold off my 6th edition Empire soldiers which I'm now going to great pains to replace.

Yeah ... me too, I feel your pain.

I haven't done it yet, but have seen other people cut open their fingers with modelling knives, always seems to be the thumb for some reason...

The only "Why did I let this happen?" moments that happen to me are small cuts to my fingertips with the occasional straight stab into the skin that is shallow. Beyond that, when I get superglue on my fingers, I don't pull them away from each other, but rather use a shearing motion then spend the next 10 minutes continuously washing my hands to get the residue off.

I'm very cautious when working on my models and it shows.

Near misses would include:

Scratching the end of my nose whilst holding a scalpel in the same hand.
Knocking spare blades on the floor whilst barefoot and not noticing until returning with a cuppa.
Leaving my knives and blades out and open where my toddlers could get to them.

I NOW HAVE A PACK AWAY CHECK LIST AND SWEEP THE FLOOR WITH A MAGNET.

Bounty wrote:

hotsauceman1 wrote:I tried to remove paint by putting models in hot water(bad idea) and the microwave(worse idea)
i lost my fingerprints for awhile.

As I cannot at the moment afford to lose another mini trying this myself, what happened when you put it in the microwave?

Warped, warped to holy warp.

Two stupid things.
1) Ok sign me up for the group of guys who have cut themselves with an exacto. I was trying to cut the door out of one of the GW terrain pieces...I wanted to make it look open. Well I was young and dumb so I'm using the exacto to saw through the the plastic and I've done a decent job until the very end when I'm using a lot of force and as it gets free of the plastic I can't stop using the force (reaction time and all). Well in that split second I proceeded to slice off the pad of my left pointer finger and get blood all over myself, my model, and my buddies room as I went running for the bathroom.
Now I have a nice scar on said finger.

2) I love using superglue on models. Not crazy love but I like it since it lets me break them apart later. Well several times I'm wearing a shirt I like while building a model only to have the super glue get on the shirt. I don't notice and it dries forming an annoying hard spot on the shirt which I constantly would pick at. Then the super glue would come out along with the part of the shirt where it had been dried at. I've lost several shirts like that.

My first conversion was making a chaos spawn by gluing the head on backwards on a Bretonnian horse and covering it in leftover human arms. Like, right into the barding.

We wrote:like I said I work around these chemicals all the time and I have always had this morbid curiosity to take some of the various solvents I have access to and see which will strip mini's the best. I have a respirator so that's not an issue. I am just worried b/c the only thing i need to strip is plastic and I don't want them turning into a pile of goo.

I share this trait, but thankfully I have no access to chemicals. Regular plug for Purple Power, but since you're a chemist of sorts this may get you thinking. Degreasers seem to have better results, and don't seem to harm plastics. What do you have along those lines?

hotsauceman1 wrote:

Bounty wrote:

hotsauceman1 wrote:I tried to remove paint by putting models in hot water(bad idea) and the microwave(worse idea) i lost my fingerprints for awhile.

As I cannot at the moment afford to lose another mini trying this myself, what happened when you put it in the microwave?

Warped, warped to holy warp.

Damn, didn't cure it. Now I want to microwave a Rhino and use the left-overs for scenery...


I"d like to take this moment to Thank my Father, Mr. Tucker, and Mr. Glick for teaching the 10 year old me the proper use of cutting equipment and sharp blades. It never stopped Mr. Glick from being medivaced from summer camp every year after cutting himself with his exacto sets, but hey *WE* all learned better. Also, if we have any EMT/Suvivalists around, can I get a verification that SuperGlue makes a nice emergancy stitch in a pinch. EDIT: See below, apparently it's toxic! Nothing would be cooler than cutting yourself with your blade, then sealing it close with the open glue next to you...

No it doesn't. It was originally designed for that purpose and is implemented as such as a medical grade glue. The common one you use on models can potentially be toxic, or at least not all that good for you.

It can hold well though, just there's a risk behind it.

Firehawkordy wrote:Did worse than that, used Methyl Ethyl Ketone or MEK to strip some metal figures in a closed room

I still do that. Haha.

I think it's about time I invested in a fume mask.

Rusty Robot wrote:

Firehawkordy wrote:Did worse than that, used Methyl Ethyl Ketone or MEK to strip some metal figures in a closed room

I still do that. Haha.

I think it's about time I invested in a fume mask.

Or a fume cabinet

I itched my ear with a hobby knife once, bled for 3 hours.

Sonophos wrote:

Rusty Robot wrote:

Firehawkordy wrote:Did worse than that, used Methyl Ethyl Ketone or MEK to strip some metal figures in a closed room

I still do that. Haha.

I think it's about time I invested in a fume mask.

Or a fume cabinet

Yes. Where can one acquire such cabinet?

I cut the tip of my finger off trying to take apart a model of the NCC-1701D when I was about 10. Blood shot everywhere, I found the little black piece of finger about 3 weeks later. It looked a lot worse than it was though.

(Done this Numerous times)
Just done some sculpting work, really chuffed with the results. Time to work on the next bit! looks good!

Then i realize while sculpting the next bit i have turned the previous work into an, incredibly accurate, relief map of my fingerprint! :RAEG:

Tried to fix a bent brush with my sisters old Hair Straighteners. Epic fail. At least i now have a good drybrush.

I tried to strip a Forgeworld Chaos Sorcerer in acetone.

When I get interrupted while painting, I often don't want to put the paintbrush down, so I'll hold it between my teeth, sticking straight out like a toothpick. So, once I was painting and someone rang the doorbell. I put the brush between my teeth and went to answer it. Somehow, I forgot about it and got my head too close to the door as I opened it. The door swung open, slammed into the bristle end of the brush and shoved the brush down my throat, which made me GAG bigtime. I was a hair away from throwing up. Thankfully, I managed to keep my lunch down, but I did have a nice Green paint splotch on the door that I had to clean up later. The person at the door, who I think was selling magazine subscriptions, looked at me like I was a lunatic when I opened the door gagging, heaving and cursing. Now, you'd think that this experience would have taught me to stop carrying my wet paintbrush around between my teeth, right? NOPE.

carving out a hill with a freshly sharpeed knife (horribly sharp)

not cutting away, but TOWARDS me

suddenly, there was a LOT of blood. Cut my thumb paralell to the nail. When put a paper towel on it, the red stain soaked more than half the paper in a few seconds.

And THEN it started to hurt. hard.

dont want to think about that.....

Rusty Robot wrote:

Sonophos wrote:

Rusty Robot wrote:

Firehawkordy wrote:Did worse than that, used Methyl Ethyl Ketone or MEK to strip some metal figures in a closed room

I still do that. Haha.

I think it's about time I invested in a fume mask.

Or a fume cabinet

Yes. Where can one acquire such cabinet?

self build one. It's a desk with an enclosed extractor unit so all you need is some wood perspex and an extractor fan.

Sonophos wrote:

Rusty Robot wrote:

Sonophos wrote:

Rusty Robot wrote:I think it's about time I invested in a fume mask.

Or a fume cabinet

Yes. Where can one acquire such cabinet?

self build one. It's a desk with an enclosed extractor unit so all you need is some wood perspex and an extractor fan.

That made sense in British right?

Fume cabinets are boxes with one open side, and a powerful fan at the top that points OUTSIDE. Sometimes the open side has a closable door, for professional setups this is often roll-up, like on a warehouse loading dock, but smaller.

Note it only does you any good if the fan isn't blowing into the room you're sitting in. Since most houses have a similar, weaker unit over the stove, you can build a portable one that sits on your stovetop, and vents out the hole. You can also use A/C vent tubes and run to a window if you want, just make sure it's venting OUT. Fan placement is typically best on top, or at the top in the rear, as these things tend to float up in the air.

I think I'll just do my MEK work outside.

This cabinet business seems a bit... overkill.

Akroma06 wrote:2) I love using superglue on models. Not crazy love but I like it since it lets me break them apart later. Well several times I'm wearing a shirt I like while building a model only to have the super glue get on the shirt. I don't notice and it dries forming an annoying hard spot on the shirt which I constantly would pick at. Then the super glue would come out along with the part of the shirt where it had been dried at. I've lost several shirts like that.

Same here, a shirt of mine ended up with a crack in it.

I've stuck my fingers together (or had them stick to bits of model) so often that I think I'd be better off handling the parts with tweezers when using superglue.

I've gone to work not once, not twice but three times with bits glued to me....I have no idea how but it has happened. the last time it wasnt a bit, I had just put together a AoBR Marine (the missle launcher guy) and sat the base on my leg while I put together a few more marines, I used supper glue to put him on the slotted base since I was running low on Plastic glue, I used far to much, enough for it to run down the base onto my pants and get stuck there, didn't see it when I rushed to work and walked in to my prep cook (I'm a cook) staring at my leg asking "what the hell is that?"

Still get made fun of by my coworkers to this day.....

We wrote:I work in environmental health and safety so I have to deal with chemical safety every day.

breathing acetone for a day isn't going to have long term health effects for you. It's the short term health effects you have to worry about, ie. passing out. The long term health effects you have to worry about are when you breath it for long periods of time day in and day out. I am not recomending you work with acetone without protection, I am just saying stinking up your house one time while you strip your mini's is a pretty minimal chance of giving yourself cancer. it's like smoking one cigarrette in your life and saying you will get cancer.

MEK is a lot nastier, again a time time off thing is pretty unlikely to give you long term health issues, however MEK is a lot more toxic than acetone so your short term exposure risk is much greater. Also, if for some bizarre reason you would ingest either of these it would be really bad, especially MEK. Don't use these with children around. Out of curiosity how fast did the MEK strip the paint?

like I said I work around these chemicals all the time and I have always had this morbid curiosity to take some of the various solvents I have access to and see which will strip mini's the best. I have a respirator so that's not an issue. I am just worried b/c the only thing i need to strip is plastic and I don't want them turning into a pile of goo.

EHS? Out of curiousity, you wouldn't work in aviation perhaps? Or, more pointedly, you don't happen to work for Boeing do you? They seem to call their safety organization EHS (Environmental Health and Safety) and/or SHEA (Safety, Health & Environmental Affairs) depending on the context.. Also, your knowledge of Acetone and MEK both hint at aviation experience, because both are used in the industry. Although, MEK is frowned on now in manufacturing due to it being death in a bottle.

MEK is death in a bottle.

I've heard it can cause brain damage, which is quite something. I can say that when you are using it, especially without a mask, you can literally feel brain cells dying.

However, when used sparingly and carefully it can be incredibly helpful stuff.

It stripped the pewter mini in a few seconds - and I'm not exaggerating. The paint literally flaked off. Do not use it on plastic or resin though, it's eat it for breakfast.

Rusty Robot wrote: I can say that when you are using it, especially without a mask, you can literally feel brain cells dying.
It stripped the pewter mini in a few seconds - and I'm not exaggerating.

This is my primary problem with "Power" Stripping, I have few brain cells to spare, I have have several seconds to spare, and using these sorts of things may cost me the seconds it saves.

My industrial degreaser may take 18 hours, but it won't melt my brain, and it's not like I'm not about to spend 2-3 hours painting him anyways.

FYI- NEVER, and I mean NEVER use this stuff barehanded. Hell, even latex gloves only offer you seconds of protection against it. Aviation manufacturing used to love the stuff because it could cut through sealant like magic, but it can eat anything and absorbs through your skin. Nitrile gloves offer you enough protection for short periods of use (i.e a few minutes of exposure only). Beyond that, you should probably reevaluate if it's use is really warranted or make sure you have some badassed thick rubber gloves. Also, aprons and faceshields are a good idea, but the typical person using it to strip models won't likely have those laying around..

Bounty wrote:

Rusty Robot wrote: I can say that when you are using it, especially without a mask, you can literally feel brain cells dying.
It stripped the pewter mini in a few seconds - and I'm not exaggerating.

This is my primary problem with "Power" Stripping, I have few brain cells to spare, I have have several seconds to spare, and using these sorts of things may cost me the seconds it saves.

My industrial degreaser may take 18 hours, but it won't melt my brain, and it's not like I'm not about to spend 2-3 hours painting him anyways.

I hear 'ya, but I was saying that for dramatic effect. When used properly (with the correct precautions) there will be no harm done.

Oh, and the note about using it barehanded is a good one. I've done that before, never again!

PLEASE NOTE: For anyone considering using MEK and are worried about it's "side effects" or long/short term health effects please give this a read. It may put it into perspective for you or, more likely, dispel some concerns. http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/chem_profiles/mek/health_mek.html

Bounty wrote:

Sonophos wrote:

Rusty Robot wrote:

Sonophos wrote:

Rusty Robot wrote:I think it's about time I invested in a fume mask.

Or a fume cabinet

Yes. Where can one acquire such cabinet?

self build one. It's a desk with an enclosed extractor unit so all you need is some wood perspex and an extractor fan.

That made sense in British right?

Fume cabinets are boxes with one open side, and a powerful fan at the top that points OUTSIDE. Sometimes the open side has a closable door, for professional setups this is often roll-up, like on a warehouse loading dock, but smaller.

Note it only does you any good if the fan isn't blowing into the room you're sitting in. Since most houses have a similar, weaker unit over the stove, you can build a portable one that sits on your stovetop, and vents out the hole. You can also use A/C vent tubes and run to a window if you want, just make sure it's venting OUT. Fan placement is typically best on top, or at the top in the rear, as these things tend to float up in the air.

Yup. That's what I would have said if the kids weren't running wild.

I just have the usual hobby related incidents:

Lots of cuts in my fingers from hobby knives.
Stabbing myself with drill bits.
Gluing fingers together.
Ruining clothes with superglue drops.
Showing up to work with paint on myself.

My main hobby related problem (not including injuries) is a combination of shaggy carpet and butterfingers. I always end up having small pieces jump out of my fingers and end up in the carpet. Probably got half an army hidden in those fibers.

We wrote:I work in environmental health and safety so I have to deal with chemical safety every day.


MEK is a lot nastier, again a time time off thing is pretty unlikely to give you long term health issues, however MEK is a lot more toxic than acetone so your short term exposure risk is much greater. Also, if for some bizarre reason you would ingest either of these it would be really bad, especially MEK. Don't use these with children around. Out of curiosity how fast did the MEK strip the paint?

like I said I work around these chemicals all the time and I have always had this morbid curiosity to take some of the various solvents I have access to and see which will strip mini's the best. I have a respirator so that's not an issue. I am just worried b/c the only thing i need to strip is plastic and I don't want them turning into a pile of goo.

I agree, MEK is nasty stuff, I had some leftover from a project I worked on in the mid 80's, as I am a cheap bastid, I figuredit was worth the risk. Not a good thing to do,especially if you are the Safety Petty Officer for your work center. My daughter ratted me out. To answer your question about how fast did it strip the paint, about two minutes, one minute dunk followed by minute of scrubbing with lacquer thinner and an old "tooth" brush that we used to use on M60 GPMGs.

As I once worked both in the Aviation Fuels and Ordnance field while in the Navy MEK is probably not the worst thing I was ever exposed to, willingly or otherwise but it's one of the ones that scared the hell out of me.

No I don't work for Boeing. EH&S is a common term for environmental health and safety many companies use. I started out in the field as hazardous waste disposal so for years I had access to any type of chemical I wanted (granted it was slightly illegal for me to take anything however not saying it didn't happen....)


The thing that would worry me about people using these chemicals at home is no so much the exposure issues is that people may leave them lying around and their small children gets a hold of them and seriously harms themselves. Plus these chmicals should not be thrown down the drain when you are finished with them.

Hobby wise the worst thing I did was super glue a model and while holding the parts together with my fingers I sprayed some Zip kicker (which insta-bonds super glue). Apparantly I had some super glue on my fingers and it insta-bonded the glue to my fingers, which apparantly causes a chemical burn. On top of it the burn is now encased in a hardened glue shell that can't be washed off. My finger was burning and I was frantically trying to peel the glue off my finger so on top of the chemical burn I ripped the glue off a burn which didn't feel very nice.

Actually of all the crazy things that I have had happen to me working with chemical waste, this was probably the worst, definitely the most painful, and it happened wth household chemicals. I guess because at work I was prepared for the nasty chemicals while household chemicals I let me guard down. That's why I have *ahem* aquired various PPE over the years such as nitrile gloves, respirator, haz mat suits etc.

I worked in DG for several years.
PPE is not something I have to think about - it's just something I do out of habit.

MEK is nasty stuff - but it strips paint like nothing else (QANTAS used to use it in their Engineering section for stripping paint of airframe panels - when they actually still had an engineering section worth a damn). You can get chem-resistant gloves, but they aren't known for allowing much in the way of dexterity enhancement.

It's also a catalyst in acrylic resins (which is where my experience comes from - SFX casting workshop). Apart from the health risks, it readily vapourises at room temperature and the vapour is explosive (the liquid is flammable - but requires a naked flame or spark - the lit end of a cigarette won't do it - not that most of the apprentices were aware of that little detail).

Landlord has his crew over mowing the yard in the morning.

In the afternoon I went outside to prime models, and hit them pretty decent with spray primer. Tripped turning around and models went spinning off into the grass with trimmings..

Grabbed all the models that I could, and dunked them into a bucket of water that was on the back porch.

Wasn't pure water though.. wife had put some Scott's Miracle Gro plant food thing in there to slosh over flower garden and I didn't realize for as long as it took my hands to start "rash"ing up..

-P

warp spiders,
+
Montana Gold,
=
epic fail.....
horrible turn out.

I changed my mind about modeling my Kabalite Warriors. I had put together a few with helmets and two without. After I painted one without a helmet and one with a helmet, I discovered I loved the helmeted look. I chose to keep the helmetless, painted one as a future proxy or to put on my desk because it is the first one I painted and did not look bad. Plus one of my troops would only have 9 warriors, so it would not be missed. So I tried to use a hobby knife to pry the head off. When that didn't work I used plyers, ripping off the head and half the neck. I had take a new head and file it down to no neck and use a piece of finecast frame from my Archon's packing to build the rest of the missing neck. It didn't turn out too bad, but it took forever.

Jihadnik wrote:I was chopping the hands off of marine arms to reposition them by pushing down really hard on the blade of my scalpel and bracing them with my other hand. As i did, the blade snapped from the pressure and a piece flicked back and cut me on the nose...

I sat there for about a minute, thanking god that it didn't go in my eye, and then added safety glasses to my list of things to buy...

This is why I am grateful that I don't use contacts.

I got some Poly cement in my ear, think it's still in there.

(Not quite the same type of story here but still stupid and thought I'd mention it...)

So last night in fact, I was GS sculpting an arm back on to a big mutant character...though to myself "Hmmm I better try and get the muscle groups right here or it'll look crappy"...

Typed into google images "Big Muscles" for some source images...

Hours later and Girlfriend comes into find me at my desk, hunched over, busying away with half-naked muscle men photos up on my PC monitor...She exclaims "OMG what are you doing?!"

Haha! It looked bad but as soon as I started talking about minis and GS she just glazed over and left me to it

wash-away wrote:warp spiders,
+
Montana Gold,
=
epic fail.....
horrible turn out.

i feel your pain. 40 termagants turned to piles of goop!

Ghostflame wrote:(Not quite the same type of story here but still stupid and thought I'd mention it...)

So last night in fact, I was GS sculpting an arm back on to a big mutant character...though to myself "Hmmm I better try and get the muscle groups right here or it'll look crappy"...

Typed into google images "Big Muscles" for some source images...

Hours later and Girlfriend comes into find me at my desk, hunched over, busying away with half-naked muscle men photos up on my PC monitor...She exclaims "OMG what are you doing?!"

Haha! It looked bad but as soon as I started talking about minis and GS she just glazed over and left me to it

Did you have you back to her as she came in?

First time I was trying out green stuff, I was wondering why there was two different colours.
So, I went for the blue one, as it felt harder and I supposed it would be better to use than the yellow. Finished off the model, and it looked good.

So I set it aside to harden, but the odd thing was that after a day, it still was the same. Then it struck me why it is called "green stuff".. Major facepalm-moment.

Sonophos wrote:Did you have you back to her as she came in?

Yeah...haha

oveku wrote:First time I was trying out green stuff, I was wondering why there was two different colours.
So, I went for the blue one, as it felt harder and I supposed it would be better to use than the yellow. Finished off the model, and it looked good.

So I set it aside to harden, but the odd thing was that after a day, it still was the same. Then it struck me why it is called "green stuff".. Major facepalm-moment.

Haha, amazing.

Once I was using old and slightly thickening superglue not realising how much stronger the fumes get and feeling 'buzzed' It was like an enormous pressure trying to force my eyeballs out of their sockets. Felt awful for about 6 hours.
I've shaken an open jar of yellow paint. I've dropped a tin of matt olive enamel (open at the time) on my duvet. Dropped a mini I was painting into my tea(which I stopped drinking). While scrubbing paint off a mini the paint stripper speckled on my face(numerous curses and mad dash to the bathroom)
Not much later I dropped superglue on a brush with dried varnish on it which promptly caught fire.
Opening Revell's paintacleaner not realising how strong the smell of this stuff is, it stinks! What made it worse was that it was galeforce winds outside so I couldn't open the window. After about half an hour the whole house smelt. I was really popular that day.
Painting today I tried to clean my brush by completely missing the water jar and using the unprotected surface of the table. It didn't work.

I was trying to force an exacto knife through the ball joint from a Tau battlesuit leg. It made it through but took the tip of my thumb off lol...

Using black spray primer while holding the model, so I could get full coverage only to realize I had notihing to wash the paint off of my now black hands. After scrubbing my hands damned near raw, I got it off of everything but my nails nd had to put up with all my co-workers inquiring about my nail polish....

themandudeperson wrote:Using black spray primer while holding the model, so I could get full coverage only to realize I had notihing to wash the paint off of my now black hands. After scrubbing my hands damned near raw, I got it off of everything but my nails nd had to put up with all my co-workers inquiring about my nail polish....

is this still facepalm or already headdesk? lol

you could have used a nail file to clean your nails. also, a mix of sand and soap gets rid of everyting

MrMerlin wrote:is this still facepalm or already headdesk? lol

Better to facepalm than headdesk, especially given how accident prone you people seem to be with the glue...

Glueed both hands together. Don't ask how

glued Archaon the everchossen to his base at the wrong angle.

Went back with our good friend the hobby knife to remove him, had just enough of my other hands thumb sticking up on the opposite side of the model to lop off a decent chunk when the blade slipped.

My friend lets me take 5 points off his cost now as i have paid my homage to chaos in blood.....

One of my paint pots slipped from my hand, and the paint landed on the ceiling.

one of the dumbest things I do:
post in contentious threads (usually OT forum)

MrMerlin wrote:
is this still facepalm or already headdesk? lol
you could have used a nail file to clean your nails. also, a mix of sand and soap gets rid of everything

Yeah, I have since learned the error of my ways...

08ak1 wrote:glued Archaon the everchossen to his base at the wrong angle.

Went back with our good friend the hobby knife to remove him, had just enough of my other hands thumb sticking up on the opposite side of the model to lop off a decent chunk when the blade slipped.

My friend lets me take 5 points off his cost now as i have paid my homage to chaos in blood.....

Hyeeeeh! Sounds painful!

Bounty wrote:That made sense in British right?

Sigged


I think the worst one I've done is glued myself to a model...not realised...and glued myself to a second model...then glued my other hand to the model while pulling it off me...that was 15 minutes of hilarity

Close calls are normally cutting through sprue or new model to get it off the sprue...apply force...apply excessive force...cut through 5 pieces of sprue and merely *touch* my finger with a very sharp blade...a millimetre more and I'd have ended up with stitches...

Dheneb wrote:One of my paint pots slipped from my hand, and the paint landed on the ceiling.

You just broke the Earth.

Honestly, I'm pretty good about modeling. Using plastic cement generally means that if I completely derp when I'm putting something together, I can usually fix it before the glue dries completely. I do have one big battle scar, though - when I was shaving off some excess sprue from a Broadside, the knife slipped out of my hand and cut into my pinky about half an inch. I wound up getting a few stitches in there, though it was a pretty lame story to tell when I had them.

I've got one big modeling derp that I did, and it wound up being three different things in one. It was my first ever Land Raider - I had bought the Redeemer/Crusader kit and planned to make up a Redeemer for my Wolf Guard Terminators to roll around in. Cue derp number one - a model with giant flamethrowers on it that is also a troop transport, and I glued the doors for the guys to get out in front of the guns themselves (though to be fair, it's exactly what the stupid directions tell you to do). #1.

After that screw up, I opted to try and magnetize the sponsons as I'd seen my friend do, so that I could pull 'em off if they got blown apart in battle. I did this by cutting out a big hunk of sprue and trying to get it inside, so that it would form a sort of harness for a magnet to sit on top of. Well, it turns out that the sponsons go a lot further into the doors than I thought, so my neat little sprue spider web is cemented in place, and the doors sort of hang off of the side of the Raider itself. #2.

The third one came when I was gluing in the magnets for one of the doors. As I did with the other, I dabbed a drop of superglue onto the magnet, set the Raider down sideways with the 'web' facing upwards, and gently set the magnet down on top of it. Or at least, I tried to do that. I don't know what happened, but the glue on the web wound up slipping, and the magnet slid right off into the bowels of the Land Raider itself. Just my luck - the one time I want superglue to not dry instantly, it does, and I've got a magnet that's permanently stuck somewhere inside. Now why can't the glue insta-bond when I'm doing metal or Finecast models.

Eventually, when I started my Ork army, I decided that since I hadn't ever gone back to finish it (I bought the model and wound up never using it due to bad luck with it, always getting blown to smithereens on turn one or two) I was going to loot the heck out of it. I haven't gone over it yet, but I have plans for it to become one of the centerpieces of my army as a looted battlewagon.

I used to store cans of spray paint and bitz boxes on a shelf over my work table, once pulled off a bitz box without looking and brought a spray paint can down onto a finished (and painted) 10 man squad of the new plastic immortals who were chilling under the shelf now i dont put stuff under that shelf anymore.

My finger now has like 7 vertical gashes in it where I won't learn to not cut towards my thumb

Was Putting togeather a Ork stompa almost 3/4 done and my brother was bitting me with little rocks then I lost and ended up throwing the Stompa at him thus hitting his face and the Stompa hit the floor and I ran to him and literally said "Oh S**** is the Stompa ok I meant to throw the Lamp" he had some cuts and brusises on his face where the pionty sticks hit him but hey now whenevr I working on WH40K hes no where in sight

I remember once painting a Blood angel rhino and I wanted to play a game with it straight away, baring in mind I was around 14 at the time and had some friends, so instead of waiting for it to dry as most painters would, I "borrowed" my mum's hair dryer, set it to max and left it going for 10-15 mins, needless to say said rhino doors which I had glue open, had melted and twisted and me swearing like trooper and my mates coming in and LOL at what I had done, needless to say I had never tried that again!

Painting a huge chaos marine army in the cheapest and quickest scheme I could think of just to have them done.
Black spray and silver trim.

I'm not too sure, I haven't really done anything you could class as 'stupid' over simply 'careless'; i've stuck my fingers together a few times with super glue, but it was only small parts of skin, but since I don't paint much, and i'm pretty careful whilst modelling, the most 'stupid' thing i've probably done is sticking one set of my Predator Destructor's tracks on back to front, simply because I was already annoyed with building it. It's probably salvageable, but I honestly can't bothered.

My fingers also seem strangely resistant to my hobby knife, but that's probably because it isn't an x-acto (which I am going to use with supreme caution when I obtain one, i'll handle it with the same care and outright terror that I would handle a nuclear fuel rod with).

poda_t wrote:one of the dumbest things I do:
post in contentious threads (usually OT forum)

Yup, I believe I have learned this lesson.

I had an exacto knife cut pretty deep into my thumb. I didn't have any band-aids at the time because I had just transferred stations. So I did what any southern guy would do, and applied super glue around and over the cut. However it wasn't drying fast enough so I zapped it with accelerate. And then I found out that accelerate works by super heating the glue lol

I can't even count the amount of times I've drank my brush water or cleaned a brush in my tea!!

I think the worst thing that's ever happened to me was when I was using tooth picks to make spears. Of course I was doing this on the floor and came back later and stabbed myself in the middle of my foot with a tooth pick. It didn't go in too far, but when I stepped up I had to pull the damn thing out.

Aside from that, I've stuck my hands together a few times, but it's never been a major issue for me at all.

Knocked a model knife of my table and out of reaction tried to catch it cutting the palm of my hand, but here is the real kicker as the pain set in and I realised what I had done I moved my hand away from the knife dropping it again for it to only stick into my thigh this time. Painful day all in all

I used to spray paint indoors...

Needless to say, i turned mum's iron and the counter black.

...She wasn't happy

-Spray model with Purity Seal.
-Oh god its frosted.
-Panic
-Find 'gloss' spraypaint, thinking it's gloss varnish.
-Nope, its gloss white. Whoops.
-Sell on ebay with a sob story in the description.

heard that urine was a good way to strip paint with no adverse effects.




I still wonder if my minis are going to seek vengeance one day and I'l awake with a tiny lasbolt to the eye.

Bewareofthephil wrote:-Spray model with Purity Seal.
-Oh god its frosted.
-Panic
-Find 'gloss' spraypaint, thinking it's gloss varnish.
-Nope, its gloss white. Whoops.
-Sell on ebay with a sob story in the description.

lol, I've followed that story in your blog.....

last stupid thing i did.... assemble a killa kan before painting it.

now i cant reach some bits because there are arms and legs in the way.... rats!

Spaced wrote:I can't even count the amount of times I've drank my brush water or cleaned a brush in my tea!!

This is like the third time I've seen a nice Union Flag next to someone dipping thier brush in tea. On one hand I marvel at the tea sterotype playing true, on the other I wonder at all the people using drinking mugs (or whatever you take your tea in) for washing brushs.

Bought two razorbacks and a dread with some magnets to magnetize it all.
I took it out of the box, cleaned it up ready for assembly.
Then had a joint, then glued it all together, then i remembered the magnets.

I once had to strip my my sponson on my land raider. I used L.A.s Totally awesome Lavender. it causes your mins to smell like cleaner for ever.

I was showing my friend who had next to no experience how to put space marines together and clean mold lines. I made a specific point to use the new blade I had just put onto one of my knives and give him the older one so he didn't hurt himself. I sliced my finger open immediately. Then I was acting all non-chalant about it and picked up my super glue to seal the cut since that's why it was invented blah blah blah. That super glue feels REALLY creepy and warm on an unsealed cut. I proceeded to slump to the floor and almost pass out because I can't stand the sight of blood and the creepy warm feeling pushed it over the edge. So I went from putting together space marines to an inch away from unconsciousness in a matter of minutes.

Bounty wrote:

Spaced wrote:I can't even count the amount of times I've drank my brush water or cleaned a brush in my tea!!

This is like the third time I've seen a nice Union Flag next to someone dipping thier brush in tea. On one hand I marvel at the tea sterotype playing true, on the other I wonder at all the people using drinking mugs (or whatever you take your tea in) for washing brushs.

It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.

I now drink tea with my left hand and put the water pots on the right. Yes we do drink a lot of tea, yes that cliche is right. Even when I spent a week in the company of two very friendly and accomodating young ladies we still had a tea rota.

Thanks for getting it right on the union flag even most brits call it the union jack. It's only a jack when flown on a ship.

Lol, while I am sure there are plenty, just recently cut the everliving crap out of my finger with an exacto... Probably like an inch and half gash on my pointer. It bled like a stuck pig.

Bounty wrote:

Spaced wrote:I can't even count the amount of times I've drank my brush water or cleaned a brush in my tea!!

This is like the third time I've seen a nice Union Flag next to someone dipping thier brush in tea. On one hand I marvel at the tea sterotype playing true, on the other I wonder at all the people using drinking mugs (or whatever you take your tea in) for washing brushs.

I think we've all probably done it (us Brits, I mean). I don't use a tea mug for my paint water (an old Branston Pickle jar fills that role) but the two being near to each other does tend to result in the odd brush dunking. I normally realise before I shake the brush about and happily keep drinking the tea.

The stereotype about tea is true in some respects. We're not all posh about it (most of us anyway) but it's rare to find a Brit who doesn't drink tea.

The first time I used glue accelerator I didn't bother to wipe the glue off my fingers. Learning chemical reactions the hard way is fun.

By the way Fox, I just checked out those Gringo and Red Army Orks, I died laughing.

Sonophos wrote:

Bounty wrote:

Spaced wrote:I can't even count the amount of times I've drank my brush water or cleaned a brush in my tea!!

This is like the third time I've seen a nice Union Flag next to someone dipping thier brush in tea.

Thanks for getting it right on the union flag even most brits call it the union jack. It's only a jack when flown on a ship.

I got called on it earlier when commenting on some 'American' space marines. Also learned that the St. Patrick isn't centered over the St. Andrew's, which was a little shocking.

Fox Box wrote:I think we've all probably done it (us Brits, I mean). I don't use a tea mug for my paint water (an old Branston Pickle jar fills that role) but the two being near to each other does tend to result in the odd brush dunking. I normally realise before I shake the brush about and happily keep drinking the tea.

The stereotype about tea is true in some respects. We're not all posh about it (most of us anyway) but it's rare to find a Brit who doesn't drink tea.

I use a wierd wedding gift for my wash water, it's a lavender fingerbowl the size and shape of an egg. it get's filthy a bit faster than if I used a proper jar, but I never confuse it for my mug or my stien.

I actually used to drink a lot of tea, even took my earl grey with cream on occasion, before I married a heavy coffee drinker. Now I just drink the 'hard stuff' out of expedience. Still shocks people when I break out the tea box though, and i've got 6-7 flavors of tea,plus 3 kinds of loose leaf.

Although I've definitely done worse, most recent mistake was painting while listening to deadmau5... it looked alright while my head was moving to the music, not so much afterwards.

I was gluing rocks to a base using super glue, It wouldn't dry so i used accelerate to make the glue dry. I didn't know it ran all the way down my arm, so i ended up with burns on my fore arms, a shirt glued to me and skin stick to a base. Not to mention i used a cordless drill to make holes for pinning an avatar together, i held its torso in one hand, and the drill with my other... ended up missing my finger and hitting my foot with a drill. spray painting in a wind storm... paint all over my face and what not, O and this one year, I bought painted and Played TAU, now that is a mistake that i can't live down. Physical pain and mental scars. Thank you for your time.

Let's see, I was trying to make a Stompa out of wood for warhammer fantasy. I was cutting towards my other hand when I sliced my finger. Here is a picture of the knife and the cut:



Then there was a time where I was stripping a bunch of orks with some simply green. I was stripping a bucketful of like 90 orks. I kept reaching in and grabbing one to brush the paint off with a toothbrush. After doing this like a hour without gloves I ended up getting chemical burns all over my hands.

My wife showed interest in painting minis with me, so I let her paint some. Most of them were quite atrocious, but I remained supportive, hoping it would develop into a genuine hobby for her. Only to have her go "I don't know why you keep pressuring me to paint your army for you!" and now I have a dozen or so space marines to strip that look like the ultramarines got in a fight with Hive Fleet Pixie Glitter....

Just a couple hours ago I found out how awesome baking soda + superglue is. I had a flipper instead of a hand for a bit. Xacto, scalding hot water, soap, and a lot of cussing to fix it.

First time using superglue.
I was new to it, so asked for a ittle assistance with how to use it without completely fethign up
First thing the helper says is "Be careful not to glue your hands together"
I then say: "Yeah about that..."
Got them seperated 15 minutes later.
Fun times

I've never managed to superglue my hands/fingers together in a way that's problematic. Rotate and the glue breaks - it's not a flexible glue.

I did just remember another spot of clumsiness that involved the arm of an Orc catapult, a small drill bit, a dremel, a pair of pliers, and the resulting permanent scar on my left index finger. It didn't really hurt though and I'm rather surprised it scarred, to be frank.

tme0003 wrote:By the way Fox, I just checked out those Gringo and Red Army Orks, I died laughing.

They're awesome, aren't they?

When i aply to much superglue in a model, specially when some big detail is around, i have the habit of gently blow some air over it, to make the glue "hide" into some recess as a very thin layer. One time i got the mini so close to my lips, that the glue gone to them, and i ended up with my lips glued... scary moments...

I once sold an entire space marines army, to start a dark eldar one... BIG mistake.

First time i was undercoating with spray, i just sprayed to much, and the models lose all detail, an entire converted army lost. The damned paint was so thick that i never got anything that could strip it...

And obviuos i a got a 1,5 inch scar on the left tumb, courtesy off an accident including an old computer i was trying to tranform into terrain, and a small blade. I still got the blade, and it is all soaked in my coagulated blood, as a grim trophy of my hobby experiments...

Yeah, i think im slowly turning into a hobbyst (2 years now), maybe in 5 years i can call myself a veteran... If i survive for it

my last mistake was basecoating/priming 5 GK termies and 5 GKSS with army painters white primer....didn't check temprature, but it was around -8 degrees celcius....they all came out looking like snowmen. i knew it was damn cold, but the thought didn't cross my mind...and i also got some better lighting where i go to basecoat stuff so that i don't have to do the same mistake on 10 models before i see there is a problem.

actually i didn't see the mistake until the day after, but a good bath in isopropanol made it all better.

"I know I should always face the blade away from me but I'm not that clumsy".

3 seconds later my hobby knife has embedded itself into my left index finger.

1 in every 2 kits results in bloodshed yet I still won't learn my lesson

Haven't done many stupid things (or so I hope), but:
-painting models too thick
-squeezing super glue tube = lovely protective layer over most of my right hand
-not spraying in a well-ventilated area

though my old manager has done worse:
-stabbing himself with clippers after a particularly large piece of plastic needed cutting off
-drinking his paint water (luckily it hadn't got anything in it, just tap water)
-dipping his paintbrush in the redshirt's tea by accident (he made him a replacement)

I have brushed plastics with varnish only to find that I had in fact been applying poly cement.
I didnt notice that the lid I took off had an integral brush nor the large letters proclaiming the products nature.

I wondered why they dried the way they did.

I still slice my fingers open - It never hurts until you see the blood everywhere - And as a protein its a bitch to clean off stuff you want to paint.

Well on top of the usual "Ow I cut myself" moments I have gotten bored and decided to remove a planters wart with my xacto knife and my hand drill (no more wart!) and things like glued my fingers together etc. My sister had her craft stuff laying out when she was modelling. She accidentally left her chapstick next to a gluestick..... Yeahhhhh you can guess what happened, Good thing for her(not for me) was that she didn't actually glue her lips shut. She caught her mistake after it got really sticky!

I've done most of the stuff others have posted thus far (hacking hands up, sticking bits of myself to bits of myself, drilling through things into my hand etc).

Top highlight of the standard injuries has been a 2 inch gash in my cheek ending just below my eye as a result of scratching my face with the hand holding the knife.

I do have one thats not appeared yet though, and coincidentally occurred last night. Its hot here at the minute and I don't have aircon in my place, so I was doing some modeling shirtless.

Uppon getting ready for bed I discovered a rock hard ball of greenstuff matted into my chest hair. Could have cut it out but decided to pull it off. Can't personally recommend using green stuff as a waxing agent, but its efficacy is unquestionable.

I'm going to keep the resulting green ball of fur as a pet.