It's a Failure!

[Falco]

Behold my latest abomination... the Scissorsandplanes A-5 Skyhawk. Notice all the build errors... the filth that accumulated on it from overhanding. The poor tree that this kit is printed on is turning in its grave as we speak. on the upside I did print two copies and I will try again but any advice about building this kit is welcomed.

[Kevin WS]

Ah well, you lose some and win some. Bin it and start the second - you will probably be surprised now at how well it goes the second time!

[rmks2000]

Looks good to me. You obviously haven't seen my builds. A quick tip is to lightly spray the pages with a lacquer or hair spray before you start the build to protect it from potential glue/water stains and hand grime.

[sgoti]

Points for trying and learning...

Having just finished replacing the rear shocks on my Subaru, let me assure you the second time will go better. Left side took me a half a day. Right side... An hour and a half (and most of that was trying to loosen the lower mounting bolt).

My (and I think others) point is: You learn the hard way the first time, and use that knowledge on the second (or third, or...) time.

[CMDRTED]

not too bad, save it for future reference as to where you think you failed. one bit of advice dry fit the parts before committing glue to them. trim/sand as necessary, ie the fin to fuselage. also preglue the areas to be mated with thinned glue, not too thin that the water content marrs the printer ink. this allows an almost instant hold of the parts when you glue them in thier final form. wash and dry your hands, alot when building. if you are married "volunteer" to do the dishes,pots and pans. this makes you a hero and scrubs some of the hand oils away. good luck, thats why we hit reprint often!

[airdave]

I too, failed terribly with my first SnP build.
Maybe I picked a difficult one?
I don't know.
What I do know is, its now in the trash bin under my worktable.

[C9B]

A NASA employee once told me, “We don’t call them failures; we call them experiments.”

[CMDRTED]

I see the body of the raf phantom in the dust bin, time to release the phantom build thread!

[Thumb Dog]

Hi All,

And hi, Falco. Your build actually looks pretty good to me. The fuselage is straight, the joints are tight, the wings look right...not bad at all. My advice is, if you plan to rebuild this model, you should first complete this one by adding the remaining parts. Build the horizontal stabilizers and the landing gear and finish your Skyhawk. You'll learn the pitfalls of the entire kit and you'll be fully prepared to tackle it again. I have done this type of prep work many times before, and it pays off in the end.

I think I see some glue used as fillet material on the wings and at the front of the fin. I've done this many times too, but while the glue is still wet, I'll drag a slightly moistened Q-Tip down the fillet and smooth it out to give it a concave profile. It also reduces the chance you'll transfer the wet glue to the rest of your model.

Cleanliness is important in all forms of modeling, but especially so in paper modeling. Start with clean, dry hands and remove any wet or dry glue that might get on them. Keep your bench clean, and be thoughtful as to how you handle the model.

Your Skyhawk looks like a promising start. Finish it, and keep it on your bench where you can see it as you try it again. It will help you to remember the things you did right and the things you want to improve.

Good Luck.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

[MichaelS]

It looks quite good to me overall. You just have to concentrate on some things. I prefer spray mine with Krylon Protect It either gloss or matte. This helps immensely to keep it clean. I also have a pack of baby wipes next to my desk to clean my hands and tools. Sometime I soak my tweezers, etc. In ammonia overnight.