What to do with a crunched model?

[bluecolt]

I just had a model destroyed before even finishing it. My Mustang was covered and assembled so I was adding control surface lines and decals when I had to step out to the garage for a few things. I returned to this:
[img /img]
My curious son got to it! He must have liked the way balsa crunches because the structure is pretty wrecked. What should I do with it? I might just let him finish destroying it and start a new one.

[Steve Blanchard]

First find a room in the house that no one, and I mean no one can enter except you. Especially no Snackasauruses! Put all of your modeling supplies and models into that room and lock the door. If that were mine and you had taken it from him before any more damage than was shown in the picture was done, I'd remove the wing and rebuild it. You may even be able to remove the tissue from the damaged side and "fix" the damage and recover. If he got to the fuselage, then burn it and get another kit.

Steve

[Angie332]

So sad he got you model. It was looking pretty good. I'd say he's enjoying your pretty plane. Let him have it and call it a lesson well learned

[rayd]

If you can build/store/tinker with hobby items in an isolated area, great, do so and especially if you have precious toddlers ( I see one in your photo bluecolt along with a binky in his mouth) or even preschool kids, and pets, cats, dogs. I've been around the block a bit, had several of these life experiences, which fortunately turned out ok. I mostly agree with Steve's comments, and partially with Angie. Owing to my background in testing and quality control, including toys, and past dealings with government agencies such as the CPSC, (and yeah, sometimes I become like paranoid about safety issues, so, I felt compelled to respond to this), I offer the following comments. I had my time with the kiddies decades ago, and trips to the ER, and I was careful! They can eventually get into just about anything, and often, things go right into their mouths, especially if colorful.

If you're into as we say "stick models"...they could be in various stages of construction, and when built and covered, maybe painted and sealed with dope, they are likely toxic. When broken, they can eventually fall into the category of small parts choking hazard if swallowed. Also, tasting parts/coverings etc possibly exposes the child to ingest toxic materials. These things are age labeled for a reason. I know, I sound like I'm preaching here, and perhaps overly cautious, but that little boy is the most precious item in the photo. Also, if a stick model is in some build phase, straight pins may be involved, and other potential nasties on the construction board. Hope I haven't offended anyone here. I sweated things out many times in the ER with my kids....now, it seems, they're sweating it out with their own.

[bluecolt]

I appreciate your concern and have already considered all that. I switched to white & wood glue years ago (CA & solvents bother my eyes & throat anyways), I cover with glue stick and use Krylon instead of dope, and we actively keep toxic things out of our house. All the building takes place in my garage shop, which is the reason I had to grab something from there. I thought It'd be a nice afternoon to watch TV and apply some decals in the AC; at least now I have an excuse to start a new model (and I won't even take it from his college fund, lol). As far as the Mustang in the picture, the fuselage is pretty mushy under that tissue from being kneaded by little hands so it's being written of as a goner.

[bluecolt]

I've been saving this one for awhile so I'm going to build it next, but I still plan on starting a new Mustang at some point.
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This is a quick shot of my bench in the shop where the builds happen
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You can see the battle-damaged Mustang, a Cessna 170 and a Piper covered in gift tissue I thought had a neat design (I use colored gift tissue for decorating the planes) . There is also an orange and white Javelin I'm trying to come up with a wing mount for (I don't want to just put rubber bands around the fuselage per the plans).

[davidchoate]

On My Javelin, Lancer, type wing mounts, I just tack on the wing withvery little Ca. It breaks away in event of bad landing . I just did my Lancer,and the rubber hold down put enough pressure on the fosr to wrinkle the tissue.

[bluecolt]

When the wing breaks away does it rip tissue? I hadn't considered just tacking it on, but your reply got my thinking that some Blu-Tac adhesive might work. It's a removable gum-type rubber adhesive, usually used to hang posters on the wall, etc.

[Angie332]

I really like the Piper with the gift paper on it. That's pretty.. I have a Piper. Can't wait to build it. I will have to go find me some pretty gift paper for it. I gotta ask... how do you have those hanging on your wall. Thats smart

[davidchoate]

I rarely get tissue damage due to the two piecec of 1/16" on Le that give you your wing incidence. double sided tape may work too. Oh, nice covering jobs on your models.