Ditto on giving up on the Revell 1:96 USS Constitution. I received that kit for Christmas in 1969. I was 12. I worked very hard on it over the next six months or so, completing the lower gun deck and the upper spar deck. Then came the masts. One of them (the foremast, if I recall) didn't want to go through the holes on the two decks so, being 12 years old, I tried to force it. Both decks collapsed and the mast shattered. I threw the whole lot away (12 years old, remember?).

A few years ago, I received another copy of that kit (again, for Christmas) and I'm currently in the process of attempting to build it with my much-improved adult skills, patience, and wisdom. Progress is slow, but I'm taking the time to scratch-build some details this time around, including some of the internal structure and a bunch of cannon ball racks.

BTW, I read a similar story recently on the Ships Of Scale forum. The poster had given up on that same kit and donated it to a charity thrift store. Fast-forward a couple of years and he regretted letting it go so started haunting yard sales and thrift stores to replace it. He found one that had been partially built. Only after digging in did he realize it was that exact same kit he had donated years earlier. He surmised that someone had tried to continue his work but become discouraged and, in keeping with unspoken tradition, donated it themselves.