The little Woodie from H#@%*
This is a study of what not to ever do and I did it. I almost took a trip to the GG Bridge, not for me, but to thrown this POS over the side and into the Bay.
I got a call to build a model of a 1929 Ford woodie. It is an AMT 1/24th scale kit. I agreed to look at it and I did. It turns out that the guy that wanted it done actually owns a 29' woodie, however much modified. He wanted the kit made OOB in the customized mode. His 29' is very much customized from its original form. Had he wanted to have the kit look like his I would not have even considered it. The kit he had had been started by him. The box contained a lot of the parts either off the trees in a jumble or glued together by gobs of tube glue. All of the parts were painted with thick gloss black enamel straight out of the bottle. It looked like the basic can of worms with a sack of nuts thrown in. Did I tell him that I would not do it? NOOOO! I said OK but it may take a while. I didn't want to tell him that he FUBARed this POS and it may turn out to be impossible to do over. Did I suggest that perhaps he start out with a brand new kit NOOOO! With the understanding it would take a while to do it we parted. Three days later he called me to ask if it was finished or how it was coming along. After again explaining that there was a lot to be undone and done over and it would take time, we hung up. I had to go into this thing by removing the heavy paint, try to undue and save what had been gobbed glued, and try to repair things that got broken. It was progressing slowly. Two more weeks passed and he called again to see how I was doing. We had our little conversation again and I told him I would call him don't call me. He obviously had no idea what is entailed in putting a model together. I must admit here that I was losing interest in this thing and kicking myself for ever taking on the job. Finally it was almost done except for the door handles and a few other things when he called again. He wanted the model back NOW regardless of whether it was finished or not. Fine I got it back to him. After he got it he called again and very nicely asked if I could put the door handles etc on. I got it back, put them on, and today got it back to him.
The moral of this story is DON'T ever agree to do a model for someone if they have already started it and make sure you impress upon the unlearned the fact that building a model takes more than a day or two. Have them go away until you call them with the finished model. Unless of course, you promise to do it within a definite time period. Then charge extra for it.
With the completion of this I am now the undisputed President of my “IKWTMABINT” club. I am recovering from my funk and am in the process of looking back and commenting on all the posts I have missed.
I think I am better now and have a new commission to build a series of USN aircraft in 1/72. I am looking forward to these.
I will now go take a nap.
I second the nap motion!
Nice car too!
Hello Frank...A very nice job to salvage that kit. Thanks to your skills, it turned out quite well. As for the problems with the constant calls, I commend you for keeping your cool. Many of us might not have handled it that well. I have built a few models for other folks over the years but never had someone bugging me to finish it. 'Ya done good !
Welll done, Al, I can only imagine the difficulties you encountered having agreed to take on this commission, let alone having an impatient customer to boot.
Sorry, guys, I meant to say 'well done, Frank'!
That came out beautifully. Glad it didn't go over the bridge. Sounds like the biggest PIA was the buildee. I would have told him to "Go Scratch" or something along those lines.
Now- please to enlighten us as to what IKWMABMINT means. You knew somebody was going to ask...
Bill,
It's my private club that I recommend modelers join, in thought only, to not beat themselves up over mistakes or goofs they have made on their models. It is. " I Know where The Mistakes Are But I'm Not Telling"
Oh I been a member of that club for years...
Frank whatever he paid you, it wasn't enough for turning that pile of c@=p into the work of art you handed back to him.
2 naps might be in order 😉
well done on the salvage, and good job on the customer relations! as good as it would have felt to tell him to p**s up a rope, you are the better man for keeping your cool. and you built an awesome woody! great work - might i suggest a nice cold beverage as well as a nap! 🙂
Romon,
Already done. Copious amounts of scotch
Well you got yours done before I got mine done. No surprise on this end. Looks like we have basically the same kit except mine is the stock version. Gotta ask, why didn't you buy another kit & not tell him?
Was the driveshaft & exhaust pipe long enough in yours?
After all your trials & tribulations it came out very well but that is to be expected with your work.
Someday I'll finish my "Wrecker from H**l" commission. The good news is my client doesn't pester me.
Once again, very nice.
I just awoke from my nap and with another scotch in hand I thank all of you for your very nice compliments.
just awesome sir
Now that looks great Frank. I think you should have titled this...
A nice person does some nice work.
California Steve
CA Steve,
Thank you
A nice save there, Frank...(and more scotch begets more naps). 🙁
Well done, i guess you could fix everything !
BTW, would be a nice ride in this 🙂
Hey Frank, glad to see that your round trip to Hell paid off! Scotch therapy seems appropriate for your troubles. Have fun with your 1:72nd AC builds.
Top marks for the build Frank, and also for the tenacity and customer handling skills.
I would of probably told him to shove it where the sun don`t shine.
Well done Frank.
Hi Frank, so there is something in the saying you can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear looks like your Mojo's back
great build Mate, Can't wait to see your 1/72 builds.
Mark 😉
Good looking, Woody, Frank! You had more patience on that one than I would have.
I think I picked the wrong time of my life to quit drinking... 🙂
Teeth-grinding aside, Frank, it looks the business.
Frank,
Bravo, you finished it! It does look better with the door handles, somehow makes those weird wheels not look so bad. Great story to go with the great photos. I think you should get an award for your perseverance and hard work, and keeping your cool. At the very least two fingers. Maybe two bottles! And four naps. Well done.
Nice work, can this be made in wood?