Well, I did it again. But, it is another Lesson Learned. When you have figured things out and there are steps to take, write down the steps to avoid a "redo" before you start. I wanted to make a 6' long by 6" high backdrop just to hide my control panel when taking shots from the other side of the table. My chosen material was a 2'x4' sheet of styrene used for drop ceiling flourescent light panels. They are quite inexpensive easy to paint. Mistake No. 1 early last Saturday or Sunday. Do not use a paint brush previously loaned to a son in law that now has dried paint glops on the tip. The painting surface will be streaked, especally when color blending is needed and will be unusable. Now the LLL. In my head, cut the two sheets needed to be put together, use Zap a Gap or something similar (since factory cut, use two factory cut edges, it should hold togehter without a visible seam since the glue will "melt" the styrene and bond it. Then paint, then attach to layout with screws. I should have written it down in Magic Marker and kept it on my painting table. I forgot to glue the two strips togethe before painting. I painstakingly matched the two parts paint texture and color wise . It was beautiful. Unfortunately, I skipped the crucial step. I then tried it anyway. I ran a bead of Zap a Gap down the butted together edges and put another thin strip of styrene along the back of the seam to make sure it stayed together. It did, but there was a heck of a seam showing out the front. I tried to cover it. No good. I then bit the bullet, flipped it to the painted side and used Squadron Green putty with a finger along the seam to fill in the gap and then used #400 sandpaper to smooth out the puttied surface. I tried to touch up and cover the now almost invisible seam, but wound up painting the entire sky and a good portion of the hills again. Double work, double time, double frustration, all for lack of something as small as an index card to write down the order in which to do things. The seam runs top to botton right over the coupler of the A and B units.
I don't see the seam. Nice recovery. But I empathize about time. Double the time. It is lost forever. I could have been doing something else. Nice job, though.
Seam? We don't see no steeenking seam! The best way to evaluate when someone says they did something wrong is to stop reading or listening and look at the evidence. Once you know of an error and it's location you see nothing else. Human nature. The evidence doesn't show an error from here.
Mark, The finished product looks great, but it sounds like the real "Lesson Learned" should be "Do not loan paint brush to son in-law"
Mark, I can't see a seam. I do things in the wrong order all the time. On my latest ship I wrote out the order before I started. It took me about one-fourth of the time of the previous ship. Of course, when I was about 75% done, I ignored the order anyway. And I've lost the sheet in the mess of my workshop!
I could also add to that, "do not let wife touch your modeling tools." I bought some for her own exclusive use. That way, everything stays where I need it, in the working condition I'd last left it.... Boxcab E50
