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Not while painting, but, during the passage between 40k 2nd edition and 3rd I cut all laser pistols from my painted Howling Banshee and I glued Shuriken Pistols on them; I wish I hadn't done this.

 Bookwrack wrote:
I was trying to finish up a Leman Russ for a tournament the next day, and was staying up way too late trying to get it done. I let the decals cure while I got some sleep, and stumbled out of bed in the morning to seal it and finish it off. I gave it the first spray, and woke up real fast as I realized I'd picked up a can of primer instead.

I did that exact thing today. Had just finished putting the final details on on some law bikes for Devils run this morning. I didn't sleep at all last night. I picked up what I though was a can of clear sealer, and spray half the bikes with bright yellow. So now I have to repaint the whole left side of two bikes.

 Bookwrack wrote:
I put a lot of work painting a chapter master's torso, and just as I was putting finishing touches on it, it popped out of my fingers, bounced on the desk, right into an open pot of paint.

This gave me a laugh. Had a similar experience (not painting thought). Picked up a antique lamp for someone I was seeing at the time. Spent an evening rewiring it. When I turned to plug lamp in, I had made the cord a little short, and pulled the whole thing on the floor. Crash.

I think every time I go to use a wash I debate black vs brown and worry about ruining work up to that point.

 Beta wrote:
Eyes. All goes well until I bugger up painting the eyes.

Every member of the Astra Militarum force in the Highgate Village GW's display case looks very surprised/shocked.

I've overdotted an eye or fudged a really fine highlight a number of times, which has led to what is probably a pretty hilarious image of me furiously attempting to lick the still-wet paint off the model. It actually works more often than not.

I'm not a proud man.

Most of the time my "what have I done" moments come from improper hobby knife usage. Either I cut more than just sprue off or I cut some finger off.

As for painting, it normally happens when my hand fumbles and I knocks over a painting pot or I paint black over white or yellow on accident.

A recent one for me is why did i get a 3rd lysander :/

I'm currently in that issue with my Solar Auxilia.

After dedicating half a dozen or so hours to converting a Leman Russ, Chimera and WW1 Mark I tank into a Malcador. I spent the next hour applying a base coat of Tallarn Sand. I had a moment when I just when "Oh god" and realised I hated the colour on the tank. But then realised it was so thickly on that I needed to strip the model and start over from scratch, and in the process, broke several parts off the model to get it back into a paintable situation again.

Worst one for me recently was, I was using GW ironbreaker spray and it wasnt the best of light outside, and i was spraying some necrons thinking "jeez this spray just wont cover the black" so i stop and pick up the models and realise it was covering he black just fine....and detail and..basing sand..

I've not been able to paint for a few months due to a combination of ill health and business. Just started painting again and I just can't paint well anymore. I'm not making huge mistakes but I can't do detail without shaking and I've been covering up all the detail despite trying to thin my paints. They done match the my previously painted stuff and is making me want to give up.

Reading the posts where people have picked up Primer instead of sealers.... man that would be devastating

For me personally, one incident that comes to mind was the Dark Elf Shadow assassin (unsure of exact name) model. The one dynamically jumping off a rock with his blades out.

For some reason I just ...Could...NOT....get that cloak to look natural and flowing. Anyone who has seen the model knows the cloak is arguably the largest part of the model and I just could not get it to look natural.

Layer after layer after layer....blend after blend after highlight....

Until eventually I slap on another layer and realize that in my frustration I hadn't been thinning out the paint enough as I was at the start, and now the cloak actually had a rough texture now. It was for a competition , and I was convinced it was screwed, and literally dropped the model on my desk and walked away after many hours at the table.

On the bright side though, when I finally came back to the model and painted the cloak grey, the texture actually made it look like it was made of heavy knitted wool. Hilariously since I was doing a winter theme it actually suited the model, like he was rugging up for the winter

It is always the same thing for me.
First off, I usually do all the "hard stuff" as I perceive it first. This would be freehands, but also: Yellows. Each and every time I do this, and am about halfway done, I think to myself:
"OH God, what have I done?!"
but alas it is too late to stop then.

Then comes the ugly phase ( somebody described it above ), where the miniature alltogether is about 60% painted, and I think: Man that looks horrible...

Finally, I usually mix all my colours: I use only a palette of black, white, blue, yellow, red, a metal, gloss and matt varnish.

So whenever I start on a larger surface, and I go from the darkest ( black ) into something lighter ( darkblue ) into the proper colour ( green ) towards the lighter areas ( green/yellow ) to the highlights ( yellow white ), I am essentially stuck:

I know that I won't be able to go back and fix it up. I know I won't be able to mix the colour again in the proper way. I know exactly, that after shading through 12 iterations of slightly different shade, no matter what colour I mix up at some later point: Either it aint gonna fit, or I aint gonna hit the right line and mess up the gradient.

So there's never any turning back. Before I paint "blue" on a Serpent or other Tank, I know in advance that I'll be spending the next four or five hours doing that.

And these four or five hours always entail all of the steps I just illustrated.

It's torture, really :-S

I was painting and IG sentinel which was the first kinda big thing I had painted, tried to go all out with camo and based it in rubble and what not. As I was finishing up the last few bushes on the base I realized that I had painted the whole thing the wrong color green. I just put it to the side and haven't touched it since.

Had a bad batch of GW Varnish. Completely fogged up one of my treeman. Still usable and not absolutely bad.... but no where near as nice as it could have been. Luckily GW mailed me a replacement as well as a voucher.

I was pretty PO'ed though at the time.

 Snoopdeville3 wrote:
Had a bad batch of GW Varnish. Completely fogged up one of my treeman. Still usable and not absolutely bad.... but no where near as nice as it could have been. Luckily GW mailed me a replacement as well as a voucher.

I was pretty PO'ed though at the time.

I decided to use a spray varnish on a small force of Raven Guard after finishing them. These took me ages because you know, black. I saw a friend of mine use one quite effectively so I decided to try it out myself. Read the instructions and went through the motions. Left them to dry.

Came back later in the day, and they looked more like White Scars.

Never again did I use a spray varnish, and never trusted cans. Always stuck to the airbrush.

I just did this a couple weeks ago...

Had a pile of bright red Tau sitting around drying and waiting for their next step. Had a gigantic 'Mech I needed to do some touch up priming on.

Grab my brush on primer and a tank brush and go to town!

Brush on primer has a tendency to splatter more than normal paint. Little white dots all over my Tau...