As most of you know, I'm a dio freak.... While I build a lot of scenes to sell, many I keep for myself in a special collection... lots of rare pieces that are irreplaceable... favorite subjects... my first diorama (laughable quality by my standards now, but sentimentally important), pieces given to me by friends as gift, etc. Overall, I had about 20 completed, and mostly elaborate scenes in my office upstairs..... I'd estimate the value of the materials alone to be in the $4,000 range... not including about 2,000 hours of labor over the years.....

I also have a two year old son.... see where this is going?

Today, I took several friends to see a football game... a "father-son" sort of thing. My oldest son Ryan (5) went with me, and my wife stayed home with the young one. While she was on the phone downstairs, just minutes after I left... Eric pushed a chair across the room, climbed up on the shelves (with a cousin) where my dios are ....and methodically and utterly, smashed all but one that he couldn't reach on the top shelf!

I'm not just talking about your run of the mill "broke off the soldiers rifle "or "knocked a wheel loose"... this was genuine CRUSHING destruction... it must have taken them both 5 minutes..... walls, wiring, signage, custome-built and welded brass pieces, hand-painted glass shop windows - and about 60 figures in total... all just strewn about the office. You can't even tell which piece came from what scene....

When I got home - my wife met me in the garage and made me promise "not to get too upset - you may be able to fix a few....." Well, my heart sank before she even told me the story - I knew what was coming - but I was unprepared for what I was about to see.

I am at an utter loss. Yes - I could fix a few and get them back to "passable" shape, but they will never be the same... many are now simply heading for the garbage pail. I'm a 45-year old man, and I feel like bawling like a child that just lost his candy. I don't know where to begin, and I can't bear to look at the bookcase again, knowing all my fondest collectibles are in hundreds of pieces.

Sorry to vent - nothing to be done or gained by whining I guess, but my wife doesn't understand my sense of loss... I tried to tell her it would be like someone stealing all of her wedding photos and then finding them charred to dust in the fireplace. I know my fellow modellers here on the board will understand... re-doing a piece you loved is just not something I can think about right now. I may be off for a few days while I try to sort out what I'm going to do next...

And yes - Eric is still alive - although I may use my CA Glue to stick him to the ceiling sometime this week!

Sigh... Anyone else have a similar story to share?

LMAO-Im sorry KF I was just laughing at your last thing about gluing your son to the ceiling.That would be a one of a kind dio.Seriously though I know how you feel man.I have had some of my most beautiful a/c models destroyed while moving because of the stupidty of a moving company.Im sorry about your loss amigo.

Keith,
What a horrible turn of events. I know how hard it must be to see all that work and craftsmanship get destroyed. Having a two year (almost 3) old myself I know it's not their fault of course. They just see our work as toys to be played with. And you know how destructive kids are with their toys.

I hope you can take a small bit of satisfaction that some of these pieces have been photographed and you have something to remember them by. Think of those you lost a bit like the ones you sell off. That may make the pain give way a bit sooner.

Best wishes,
Jim

Jim - actually I am thankful that a few of the pieces have been "archived" on ARMORAMA.... that is now the only place in the world they exist.

Actually, i understand completely about the "kids see it as a toy" thing... Eric is actually a sweet little tyke (also almost three - if he lives till May!)... He was also quite truthful about owning up to this "Pearl Harbor" surprise attack when I asked him. He did seem genuinely sorry when he saw how sad I was...

But he still got a "good one" with the belt (possibly a permanent lifetime tatoo on his butt!) for climbing up on the shelves - he's been warned about that before, as it could be quite dangerous if a shelf tumbled on him. The fact I was also a little berzerk may have added a little extra "wrist english" to the belt as it made contact with his bottom... but I could just be imagining that part.... anyway, three minutes later he was smiling and laughing on the floor again, playing with the box of double-edged razor blades and the live .45 cal ammo I gave him to show there were no hard feelings.

Keith:

Believe it or not, I actually almost shed a tear when I read your story. I feel your pain man! Having your pride and joy dios destroyed is probably the closest thing to castration as you can get :-)

I have a three year old son and a one year old son. The three year old loves to come down to my workshop and look at my "cool guys". I've warned him numerous times that they are only to look at and not to be played with. So far he seems to get the message. I'll have to make sure to reiterate that again after hearing your story. Just don't look back. Move ahead and create some more wonderful dios. Oh yeah, and also get to work on building that titanium vault to keep them in.

John

Oh man....I feel your pain!!!
Once when I was dating a girl with a 5 year old son......I had taken a long time to hollow out an Airfix German officer's cap so he could be holding it in his hand and I had detailed it very carefully with some old Historex parts.....woke up the next morning and the hat was firmly placed on his head with a ton of Zap a Gap...after the initial shock...I was just glad he wasn't also glued to anything.
Then there was the time more simular to yours but no kids involved....when I had some items in a store for sale..the owner of the store called and told me there was a man in there right now who wanted to buy all of it and anything else I had...and to hurry down with anything.....I loaded a bunch of stuff into a box.....small dioramas......single tanks and vehicles.......figures on bases......I lived in an apartment building and as I put my butt against the door to get to the parking lot.....someone opened it from the outside.....there went me flying out the door one way....and the box flying the other way....I fell with such force that my jeans ripped from arsehole to cowboyboot.....knee bleeding and back aching....I crawled over to the box....picking up parts that I didn't even have an idea what they were from....not even sure if they were parts of my models or not....put them all in the box......limped back to my apartment put the box in my model room.....went to the phone and called my Mom...her advice was to not even look at it....maybe build a model to get my mind off of it......I thought...good idea....took down a rare (at the time) 1/32nd scale Folke Wulf...sat down on the couch and started working on it and feeling better...now the phone rings.....it's on the other side of the room......my sore leg has been crossed for a while now and had time to stiffen up......as I go to uncross my legs......I kick the box top...you know...the one I put the open bottle of liquid glue in......the top goes flying through the air.....the bottle goes flying too.....right into the open bottom of the box...you know...the one with all the sprues of untouched plastic.......well....what I was left with was a molten mass of plastic no longer resembleing a Folke Wulf....Oh yeah...who called you might be wondering......my Mom...to ask how I was feeling!!!!
Now for the worst thing that involved a child.....I went on the trip of a lifetime for me.....Camp Borden in Ontario..this is where my Dad trained in tanks before going overseas for WWII.....and they have a huge collection of real 1:1 scale tanks and vehicles and guns....I was sooooo excited to see all of the stuff there....I bought a camcorder to take with me....and also took my camera...when I got there....the General from my Dad's WWII Reg't (Three Rivers Reg't) had arranged for me to be guided through all the displays and given total access to anywhere I wanted to go....this included inside the tanks and vehicles!!! I had video of me inside tanks I had only dreamed about ever seeing....even got to fire up the engine of a Sexton and 3" mortor carrier....man I was in modellers reference heaven!!! I even crawled under the Pz IV AA tank they had there to video tape the bottom of it for a friend who wanted to know what the Pz IV's bottom looked like......I was so busy video taping I took very few pictures with my camera and if you've ever video taped before....you kind of don't look at what you're taping at the time....because you can look at it in more detail after....right? Well I got home.....my daughter who's now almost 8 years old ( so you know she lived ) was just learning how to walk...at the stage where she'd pull herself up on any piece of furniture and use it to steady herself and walk around it....I was rewinding my tape so I could watch it in the living room.....the phone....in the kitchen....rang....ok you guessed it....my Mom....asking how my trip went....after talking to her for about a 1/2 hour I went into play mode with my daughter....chasing her around on hands and knees....this went on for a while until we went past where I had left the camcorder rewinding my tape....funny I thought....that looks like it's recording....OMG....it IS recording!!!! I hit rewind again....my hands shaking slightly....in disbelief of what could have happened.....sure enough.....my whole trip had been recorded over....just black screen now.....my whole conversation was recorded with my Mom....and a lot of squeeling from my daughter......my eye twitched for about a year after that everytime someone said anything about my video "incident"
So you see....it does and will happen to any model builder who has kids and even when they don't.....we all feel your pain....we all laugh after a few years....even if there are a few tears thown in to the mix #:-)

I'm very sorry about your dios end I can 100% (or even 200%) understand how devastated you are.
I'm not involved in dioramas, I just add a bit of basic stuff on the bases where my models will stand, but something like happened to me when my two years old son decided to "help" daddy building up one of his models.
I spent something like a month (not full time of course) to transform an Italery M113 into a VCC2 that is an Italian modification M113 with a re-designed roof top, extra armor plates on the sides, repositioning of the .50 in a new shielded turret, etc. One day coming back from a few days out for work, when the rest of the family was fast asleep, I went downstairs in my "bunker" (the place where I've got all of my modeling stuff, also known as "daddy's kingdom") and I found a devastating surprise: my son decided to help me putting the kit together!!! He got some pieces from the kit, lots of other pieces from the scrap box and with a generous amount of superglue (the thick one, the one setting in 20 seconds) he piled them up on all of the scratchbuilt structure. The first thought was to put my son on a barbecue stick (of course big enough tho suit) and slowly roast him, the second one was that was a kind of miracle not to find my son and the model melting together in a whole piece due to the quantity of superglue involved. The day after it was a saturday, and usually on saturday I sleep a bit more in the morning, he came to wake me up with a kiss and with a "32 teeth smile" (as we use to say in Italy), after giving me a kiss and before I could tell him off he told me in a very proud way: "Alex scale model!". It's useless to say that my proposition to set him to death in the slowest and most painful way vanished in a second. From that day onwards when I get out of my "cave" I lock it and put the key in a location known only to me and the Managing Director (that's my wife), and I also started a plan to move all of my completed models in bookshelves with windows that can be locked too.
Ciao

Boy, that hurts.

The cleaning lady once dusted a few of my models and dios... but the damage doesn't even come near what you just described.

This is a shared family tragedy. Your son shouldn't have done this. Your wife shouldn't have left him alone while she was on the phone. You shouldn't have have left your wife alone with a phone

This won't help you, but things could have been worse. A modeling friend of mine's two year old got hold of a bottle of alcohol (etyl or methyl... the dangerous type) from his modeling cabinet and drank a solid dose of that. The hospital could save her, but only after a few very tough days. Imagine the household conversations during those few days when the topic of modeling was discussed...

There's not much you can do. You could make a picture showing your son's modeling techiques, frame it and post it over your modeling table as a reminder... Make sure you keep pictures of the lost dios for reference and to remind you... and then try to forget what happened.
Don't let anger consume you. I'm sure your wie understands how hard this is for you. Now show her that you're willing to forget what happened and start anew. It's not an easy thing to do, but it's the only decent thing to do.

Most of all : don't give up on modeling because of this.



Now what if all Armorama members send you a postcard with condolences ? Just e-mail me your address...

I look forward to your next dio. Let's start the dio campaign now. There'll be lots of fun in that.

Jan

never give up modelling for that.i had the same problems a few times before having 2 sons.models can be repaired easily but not that easy for our kids.best regards

Keith --

Man, what a devastating story. I am so lucky my daughters never did anything to my models -- though they did manage to destroy about every other nice thing we ever owned!

However, I, too, have a model destruction story. Back in the mid-80s, I did a dio with a M4A3 stuck deep in a pond with an M32 TRV and a jeep, dozens of converted figures --lots of scratch-built and converted stuff in this one -- nothing out of the box. ... It was my first dio and it did very well in every contest I entered it in. It survived a ride in the back of my pick-up from Anchorage, Alaska, down the Alaska Highway to Wisconsin and then Kansas.

In the KC area, it again kicked butt in contests, including one sponsored by the National Archives that got it displayed at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Museum in Abilene, Kansas for a year. In 92, it moved with me to Wsiconsin, where it again made the contest circuit and was finally "retired."

A local hobby shop owner asked if he could display it in his store and I agreed. When he opened another shop in another city, he asked if he could take the dio to the new store -- it went into a display case next to the front door.

In 2000, I was hired for my present job and was getting ready to move back to Kansas. I told the hobby shop owner I needed my dio back and he arranged to have it packed and brought back to his shop in my town. I picked it up, but didn't bother to look at it until I got home.

Yow! the whole thing was screwed up! Near as I could tell, something very heavy (a glass shelf, perhaps?) had been dropped on the dio. As if that wasn't bad enough, some numbskull had attempted to "fix" it, using 5-minute epoxy, which was slopped all over everything. Both tanks were smashed and un-salvagable; most of the figures had been "fixed" with epoxy, rendering them into junk .. I was only able to salvage the jeep (somehow, it escaped damage) and a few small pieces. The shop owner was beside himself with horror when I told him what his employees had done, and despite his apologies and giving me about $100 worth of kits for my pain and suffering, I wish we could have parted on better terms.

Keith Ouch, there is nothing I can say. I can't come close, I can't try. I'm sorry this happened.

Having looked at Everything on Armorama with your name associated with it I have a (all be it 'removed') sence of what was lost. Being a diorama artist I know the level of care, detail, and attention you put into your work. Wow, what a loss.

And it's ok to cry in your beer.

Keith, nothing like this has ever happened to me but I think I know how you feel. My heart breaks when a wheel falls of one of my AFVs. I think I would end up in ER if my kid destroyed all of my precious models. I know that all material things are replaceable but nobody can ever give you back the time you spent building your dios and the filling of satisfaction on a job well done.

I feel your pain.

Let your dioramas rest in peace.

Thank goodness im only 13 no kids to destroy my models and brother is 30 and already has a family. Hearing this storys sends a tingle down your spine id hate to see something I worked so hard on to be destroyed

Well I think that`s a summary of one of the most gruesome modelingstories I have every heard. bbbrrrrrr Shivers go along my spine If I think about this happening.

As I`m not that old (21) I don`t have kids but I have intercepted my sisters, both younger then I am, A couple of times when they were drawn by there own curiosity to my modeling kingdom. While intercepting them they almost got tossed out of the window.... Ah well everything for the hobby. Also my father destroyed some precious models when he was busy with doing major stupidities (ie He once bashed a 1:35 Huey helicopter to bits by putting a PC monitor on top of it. another stupid thing was while doing some painting thingys in my room he destroyed a ww1 doubledecker that I had won in some kinda contest) Problem with my father was that he was to heavy to toss out of the window

My mother destroyed my first model (A big shiny red Corvette, some american brand unknown as I was very young then, built it together with me father. After a dusting round through my room she simply sweeped the car off the chelf to let it land in different pieces. not to repair..... just as my heart for a long time.

Since then It`s not allowed for anybody in the family to even come in the neighbourhood of my workbench and collection when I`m not around. If I`m around there is a save-zone of a half a meter. Kids younger then 7 are only allowed to look at the model when I`m holding them. No vacuum cleaner in my room unless I put it there myself. No more dusting unless I do it myself.
Everybody who don`t listen to these rules end up with going away with an exacto sticking out there back or if they are light enough getting tossed out of the window.

Keith I really feel sorry for what happened man and I really can`t give you advice on this. MAn the work and satisfaction you put into that for the last years smashed in a couple of minutes. i think they could transport me immediately to ER just as Marty said. I`ll be taken away with an Heart attack. Hope you don`t loose your mind in Drinking but start building again and show us more of your stunning work

Thanks for the outpouring and the shared stories... i feel better. Guess the old saying "Misery loves company!" is true. Thanks for the words of encouragement... guess the show must go on. i was getting tired of looking at some of those older ones anyway, I guess....

I just read your post. Then I realized that my latest project is well within reach of my 3 year old. Think I'll call the wife now.........................

I feel for ya, I have two step-kids, and I have made it clear to them "upon pain of death", they were NOT to touch anything of mine without my permission..

1970 I had just finished my first Tamyia model the venerable tiger1 I put the Shwimmen wagon next to it,all on full display on my bar oh how proud i was. Then the wife polishes the bar, in come the cat through the window skids full lenght along the bar,direct hit right onthe frontal armour,no more Tank but i have a nice cat fur hat. Keith i feel for you.

Keith, I have only been a member of this site for 3 months, and one of the first things I remember reading on here was your Caen 44 dio feature. It really inspired me to get seriously into modelling. Since then I have looked over all your work, and got a great deal of info out of your features and various articles. I guess what I am trying to say is that I think I can just about start to realise how much effort had gone into those lost pieces of work and what it must have felt like to have lost them. I admit I had a lump in my throat when reading your post.

However, life must go on. I am sure you will continue to produce fine dios, and I for one look forward to the next one.

Good luck, and best wishes, Roger

Keith, I feel priveleged in being able to have seen some of your work last fall at that Armor Club show. Now I wish I had remembered to bring my camera. I can't even begin to understand the loss you feel over this. The humor you use talking about your son tells me everything I need to know about your character. Stand tall my brother for this too shall pass.

Keith,
I pray for you to have hope, patience and understanding. Little Chief and Gunny havn't destroyed anything yet, but my wife has done her share. I built Revell's 1/32 F4F Wildcat back when we were only married 2 years. I put about 60 hours into this kit, dropping the flaps, scratchbuilding hinges etc. for the moveable surfaces. I even scratch built the cockpit with glass faces for all the instruments. Gave it a little battle damage and repair spots, weathers, you know the full 9 yards. Put it in a contest and won 1st place with it for large aircraft. Went on cruise on the USS Enterprise for 8 months while she went home to her parents house.
When I returned, no Wildcat was to be found in our new house she had set up. Upon inquiring as to the whereabouts of my prize plane, she said it was still in a box somewhere. Yup it was, in more than one box. It seems somebody got overzealous with her dusting and dusted it right off the bookcase. I still have most of the pieces in a ziplock baggy. She asks why, so I wave it at her when I head for the hobby shop and reply, I am going to go get a "replacement kit."
Maybe you could raffle off the pieces to us on Armorama? I'd love to have a stained glass window for a church dio I have been wanting to build. Be strong, we love ya! Cheers!

It is really heartbraking to hear your story kieth. This doesn't even come close but still made me mad .I was just finished building my b-26 and for tge moment i stupidly put it on the ground to think of what it would look like at an aerodrome when my brother decided to climb on the shelvs .... well he gets to the top and jumps off and...............................smash it obliviated. i've still got it here in my room completely destroyed.


oh well it's behind me.. just don't let it keep you from modeling


remember think happy thoughts'
air

Im sorry to hear that story ....... again. Thats a few times now somebody has lost so much, so valuable. About six months ago I talked the other half into moving bedroom so I can have the old walk-in-wardrobe as my model room. Nobody gets in there now .... only me!
I have a very curious 19 month old who would only love to get her hands on my things! I hope to never have to share your experience!
You have to start planning your revenge now. When he is about 15 and builds amazing models, borrow somebodies child for a day and let them loose. Be there for your son to comfort him. #:-)

I'm only 14 but I have to watch out for my 7 year old sister. She likes my models and wants to look at them and hold them. ALso when my 12 year old brother gets mad at me. Once he broke a plane I had just finished. Then I kicked his ass. That made me feel a little better. But now I have to watch the both of them. When my mom cleans up, she sometimes touches my models and braeks them. Nothing magor though. Sorry to all modelers who have lost some of thier prized possesions.

As said earlier - I feel your pain! Argh!!!! Nothing is worse than putting your heart and soul into a model, diorama etc and having it destoyed by a child or other party. Fortunately for me I involved my son in the hobby at an early age (6) and he learned what is his is his and what is dad's is dads. He learned not to touch my stuff. And yes, he is still with us now at 11 he has turned into a fine modeler himself.

The pain one feels when a model or diorama is destroyed is hard for non-modelers to understand. I remember on time when a stray football took out a 99% finished model I had spent weeks on. I was nearly in tears - my wife - God love her said to me, "its only a model just glue it back together." I gritted my teeth and said, "yes dear." We're still married, but she will never understand why I build models and why I become emotionally attached to them.

Keith - if posible try putting a lock on the door. Or in the alternative electrically charged wire to keep the crumb crunchers at bay.