started the 262 but.....

[windymiller]

almost immediately cut a part from the spru and it pinged onto my jumper then ??? looked all over cant find it bit gutted it is a floor piece of the cockpit guess it wont be too noticeable but i was chuffed with how i was getting on wiht my first attempt then

 

[Dave Ward]

Alan,
the carpet monster is always lurking! I bet I could put together several models from bits lost to this beast! Some surprisingly big bits as well........................
Always check your pockets/shoes, as I have found lost parts in odd places
Dave

 

[windymiller]

my jeans have turn ups and i even un rolled them but cudnt find it it was prob only 4mm by 2.5mm and im fairly short sighted as it is !!!!

 

[Ian M]

I found a tiny stub from the exhaust on my Valentine IN my slipper!
I tend to listen when things ping off. Helps a lot in guessing where it went.
Hope you find it

 

[windymiller]

i had the radio on !!!! i spent a lovely hour lost in the first stages of my first build then an hour on the floor looking for this bit !!! not to be beaten i cut a small rectangular piece of flat spru off rounded the edges off and used that as the small floor pan instead so ive kinda stopped as i reckon i should prime and paint bits that ive glued before i assemble them further, bit of a question the kit shows a decal for the instrument panel which adheres too a section with knobs and dials raised on it so is one better to try and paint these in oneself or go with a decal over an uneven surface ??

 

[Jim R]

Hi Alan
If the surface of the instrument panel is not too raised then the decal will conform with the use of a decal softening solution such as Micro-Sol. You just put the decal in place and then paint over the Micro-Sol and leave it to dry. The decal will snuggle down into the raised detail. You may need to repeat the application a few times. There are a few different decal softening solutions on the market but I have only used Micro-Sol. You could always sand off the knobs and dials and then simply apply the decal.
As for the carpet monster Some will try to tell you it is a mythical beast but after a while in this hobby you will soon realise it is only too real. Some people try to placate him with unwanted bits of sprue but that has never worked for me. If you spent time scratching a replacement for the missing part or spend money on a new part the CM will often return the lost part.
I once held a piece of kit in my tweezers, applied a tiny blob of glue, went to position it onto the model and -PING!! I spent half an hour on my hands and knees but with no luck. That evening I was sitting watching TV, the dog on the settee with me. I casually stroked her head and the "lump" on her ear was the part. At that time she liked to sit under my bench when I modelled.
Jim

 

[dave]

The carpet monster is bad, but there is also his trickier cousins the solid wood floor monster and the Lino monster

 

[Deleted member 4539]

The dreaded carpet monster just keeps on taking .

 

[windymiller]

me man cave has stramit board on the floor was like looking for a needle in a haystack !!

 

[scottie3158]

one thing you can try that has worked for me in the past is to nick a pair of the wifes tights then put them over the hose of the hover then hoover up the area, it will be sucked up off the floor but not get eaten.

 

[windymiller]

did think of that but then realised i was wearing them at the time !!!

 

[PaulTRose]

ahhhh...the carpet monster

best thing i did was to put down wood floor..............and buy a head torch!........whenever i drop something i get all CSI looking for it

 

[Jakko]

buy a head torch!

I use a normal, small, hand-held torch. Shining it almost horizontally along the ground can help spot lost parts by the moving shadows they cause if you do that.

 

[Robo]

I've got a good tip for finding tiny bits on a smooth floor like wood or lino, if you've got a powerful torch like one of those million candle power things get down on your hands and knees and shine the torch along the floor and the beam will pick up all the little imperfections including your missing part. I've used this trick successfully several times.

 

[windymiller]

that would be assuming the floor of my shed is clean in the first place lol !!!! note to self get hoover out !!!

 

[Jakko]

that would be assuming the floor of my shed is clean in the first place lol !!!! note to self get hoover out !!!

I do have exactly that problem too, yes The area immediately around my seat is clear, but there are so many boxes and things, not to mention small bits of waste plastic, around the periphery that I sometimes need to spend ages trying to find that one bit that flew away. I have had to move all kinds of stuff out of the way in the hope that it’s under or behind there. That’s the price to pay for having a very large collection of spares in boxes, I suppose

 

[windymiller]

so any more thoughts on the instrument panel dilemma guys ?? (assuming i dont loose that also)

 

[Jakko]

It really depends on how uneven the instrument panel surface is, and also how much detail the decal has, and whether it will even be in visible. To be honest, on a 1/72 scale aircraft the instrument panel will probably be almost entirely out of sight, especially with the canopy closed, that painting it will work just as well.

This is an Me 262 cockpit:

If you just paint it medium grey and apply black to the dials, you’ve probably painted them as well as the need to be for how visible everything will be at the end.

 

[windymiller]

thanks for the picy thats v interesting and useful !!!

 

[windymiller]

so ive just had my first go with the airbrush and didnt get on too bad but rlm66 was stated for the interior inc the instrument panel, looking at the pic rlm66 seems to be all the footwell and lower down parts with a lighter grey up top