I've always heard horror stories about dropping a Kadee or Micro-Trains coupler spring on the floor... well, I have a new one now. Today, I was disassembling a N Scale IM FT set so I can do some detailing and painting. I got the shell off no problem and then made the mistake of taking out the tiny little side porthole glass... and I managed to drop one on a white linoleum floor under my workbench! I searched for it for a good hour before giving up...
One common fix is to make the room dark and then lay a light source on the floor and look for shadows. having the light sitting low, i mean lying on the floor, will givr you that afternoon shadow effect. Have also heard people use small vacums and just vacum everything. Make sure to pat yourself down before you leave because I have heard of people finding model parts in their hair while looking in the mirror. Those little pieces can fly! lol
At work, I sometimes end up with small flighty parts on the linoleum floor. I grab the broom and sweep to one spot. Lesson 1: keep the floor clean, if only for this reason. Geeky's method also works well. Len
I have half of a M-T coupler floating around in my keyboard. I saw it fall in, but I shook the keyboard for a good 15 minutes and nothing came out. I figure I'll take it apart at some point and fish it out, but it hasn't really been a priority. Also, I found a ladder for an MDC 50-foot coal gon on the sidewalk outside of my work one day. It managed to fly off the table, probably onto my shirt or dockers and made the trip all the way to work before jumping off. Didn't find it for a couple of days either. Crazy physics, man.
Never have carpet in a workshop area. Unfortunately my 2nd floor office workshop had carpet when I moved in. And even though it is a short tight weave it contains enough parts to start a parts warehouse. Even sweeping it with magnets has been to no avail.
Check much further away than you believe possible. When I was installing the stanchions on Kato Mikados on my kitchen table, I found one of them some 50 feet away in the living room, which is sorta open to that table. Little parts are also sticky in an electrostatic way. They can stick, due to their minimal mass, to almost anything, skin included.
I lost traction on a tight turn. I have lost false pride in my trackwork and am now humble. I also lost, but retrieved through the sweep method, two screws that affix to the gear box cover on a Consolidation.
"..the tiny little side porthole glass... and I managed to drop one on a white linoleum floor .." Easy solution to this one, put on heavy soled work boots and walk around the area until you hear the faint 'crunch'......... you'll have located the piece(s) I thought I had a good floor for this kind of stuff because it's all ceramic tile. Turns out N scale parts can snuggle down in the grout joints and hide real well. You have my sympathy, Ed
I used to have carpet under my work area but moved everything and slipped a sheet of plywood under it all. My new train room has light gray vinyl flooring that I filled and calked all the corners under my work desk. I keep the floor very clean and use the light and shadow method a lot. I still loose parts. I would say a very large percentage of my modeling time is spent on hands and knees wearing my optivisor and a flash light in hand bumping around under my desk. I have found parts in the laces of my shoes, pant cuffs and imbedded in the caster wheels of my chair.
You've Never Known Frustration Until... An absolutely beautiful, well built woman at a party gives you a come hither look, engages you in a somewhat risque conversation and hands you her card with her number on it with the home number circled and her very large, very young, gym rat jealous type of boyfriend comes over to introduce himself.
After a brief conversation, then you discover he's a fanatical, fantastically talented N scaler......... And toss the card....... Wimmen iz badd fer yer healthh! Boxcab E50
You've Never Known Frustration Until... you live in a state with 2 half decent N scale shops that none carry detailing parts.
Well, I am happy to report that I found the AWOL porthole glass last night. I used Geeky's flashlight method and broadened my search area. I found it maybe 6 feet away on the edge of a throw rug. Watch me loose it again when I put them back in!
John: I usually place what I'm working on in a box . The sides of the box usually will prevent anything from falling.
As with Bob, I work over a box....all the aprts in the box, and all the work directly over it...not too much gets away. Of course, small parts are REALLY good at hiding in amongst all the other parts in the box, and invariably manage to snuggle themselves under the flaps in the box ends..... and its always that critical part that holds the entire kit together. I used to have the problem where, if any part I dropped got the the floor, it was immediately inside my Bull terrier's stomach...irrespective of what it was or what it tasted like..... She might seem to be sleeping, but just drop something.... I soon figured out that was the best way to give her tablets.....just drop it and voooooom, gone. My problem now is, the cat sleeps under the desk....drop something and its batted across the room before it makes contact with the floor. All you hear is 'click' as it hit something somewhere. The cat knows EXACTLY where it went, but has lost interest at this point and no bribery will get him to show me where it is.
I have that problem with MT's, but am getting better!, but my biggest problem is detail parts. I had a GMM detail set I was cannabalizing for my GN slant-cupola caboose, and after successfully cutting the brakewheel off, trimming off all flash, and successfully dimpling it to give is a 3D look--as soon as I picked it up with the tweezers to paint it, it launched itself 8 feet across the room. I have carpet in the train room, and recently the workbench was moved into a tiled room.... Thanks to Geeky's side-lit method, I found it, but had a heckuvatime to get it to stick to my finger, cuz I already proved the worth of my tweezers...
