how can I write a new Error Model for a Courselets thread, to identify a common misconception?

As soon as you notice a way that students are misunderstanding something, you should add it to that thread as a new "Error Model". This serves both to help students identify exactly what they're misunderstanding, and show them how to fix it. Here's a quick demonstration of how to do that on Courselets:

https://player.vimeo.com/video/300822438