What Tools Should I Get?

[oldcarfan]

Three years ago, my wife and I bought an old house and started restoring it on the weekends. We got it done and moved in just before the lock down started and lumber prices skyrocketed. I'd been working on my new work area in the shop when I got hit hard with COVID, so it took me quite a while to recover. I was planning to finish it up this summer until the summer temps got over 105 for two months straight. Anyway, I can't find the box of tools or my Ott Light and need to start buying more. I just bought some new XActo knives, Harbor Freight hemostats and some hand files. What are some other things to get?

[R. Thorne]

Well, my most go to tool is this rather cheap looking, but works great, reasonably priced ($28 from Amazon shipped) set of nippers from 3.peaks.

[TarheelRick]

You mentioned XActo knives, but did not mention XActo razor saws or Zona saws whichever you prefer.  Tweezers of assorted styles and sizes are always handy.  Sprue cutters are also pretty much a necessity. Another thing I find quite useful are those bags of small, plastic, multi-colored clamps Harbor Freight sells.  The list is inexhaustible, there is always one more tool someone is offering that you just have to get.

[Straightliner59]

I'd recommend a pin vise and a set of bits.

[oldcarfan]

3 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

You mentioned XActo knives, but did not mention XActo razor saws or Zona saws whichever you prefer.  Tweezers of assorted styles and sizes are always handy.  Sprue cutters are also pretty much a necessity. Another thing I find quite useful are those bags of small, plastic, multi-colored clamps Harbor Freight sells.  The list is inexhaustible, there is always one more tool someone is offering that you just have to get.

Good thought, I need to get some razor saws for sure.

[oldcarfan]

3 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

I'd recommend a pin vise and a set of bits.

!! I forgot about those. They're going on the list.

[Rodent]

Don't buy too much. As soon as the replacements start arriving, you will find the old ones.

[NOBLNG]

A good set of riffler files.

[Dave G.]

For two decades I built models using an X-acto with two style blades but mostly the angle blade. A razor saw, a pin vise. Some common pins and paint brushes. Testors and Pactra paint both bottles and spray. Some steel wool. And a pair of scissors. In that second decade came the airbrush. By the end of all that a Dremel that to this very day I barely used and now doesn't work.

You can spend a lifetime finding the theoretical best tweezers lol. But I got mine given to me by my surgeon after a neck surgery. Very pointed but with serrated grips on them. Awesome !

[bobss396]

I have a set if those files, which are fairly coarse. Most of my files are from the machine shop, mainly Nicholson brand. Much finer than anything else. I need to find a set of some really fine smaller files.

Hit a beauty supply store, they have the best sanding sticks and are like under $3 and last a long time. I have even cut some narrower with success. They can be washed when they get real dirty.

I have a ton of Xacto blades that were going in the trash at work, likely around 400 of them. Some specialty blades I picked up. I got 100 "surgical" blades at a show, not as good as real surgical blades.

I stumbled upon sharpening my own blades using a Smith's hard sharpening stone. I have one blade in the handle for well over a year, I just sharpen it as needed. This blade has been used to score aluminum and brass many times.

I also got a small Palmgren vise that was going out in the machine shop purge at work. I use this to file things square for the most part.

[Mike 1017]

Check out Amazon

Amazon.com: Rustark 21Pcs Modeler Basic Tools Craft Set Hobby Building Tools Kit for Gundam Car Model Building : Arts, Crafts & Sewing

[customline]

On 9/2/2023 at 8:02 PM, oldcarfan said:

Good thought, I need to get some razor saws for sure.

Of course I agree with all of that but a tool I find myself using frequently since I bought it recently is this PE razor saw. I got it off of ebay. It's a little awkward with my old hands but when you want an extremely precision cut, this is how you do it. I believe you will love this tool. Top chopping, panel lines, safe parts removal from sprue trees.....I wish there was a handle for it but maybe there is ?,

[bobss396]

Model Car Garage has a great set of PE saws that fit an Xacto handle. They come 5 or 6 to a package. I have bent and flexed them and have yet to break one. I use them to cut glass and interiors from old glue bombs.

[customline]

5 minutes ago, bobss396 said:

Model Car Garage has a great set of PE saws that fit an Xacto handle. They come 5 or 6 to a package. I have bent and flexed them and have yet to break one. I use them to cut glass and interiors from old glue bombs.

I was skeptical about PE tools but, today, I'm a believer. I'm going to check those out, Bob. Gary, if you do any scratch-building and/or advanced customizing, look at these fantastic photo-etched tools. The panel scribers are terrific,  too.

[Gary Chastain]

Some inexpensive tools I find on my bench constantly are my sanding sticks. Some are just paint sticks with sandpaper glued to them. Finger nail files work as well and I cut them to shapes. These work well for scratch building, cleaning up flash and so on. 

[NOBLNG]

14 hours ago, customline said:

.....I wish there was a handle for it but maybe there is ?,

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a picture of a similar one on this forum that had a handle.

[bobss396]

Again, if you have a beauty supply store, those sanding sticks last for a long time. I wash them when they get clogged up, let them dry and they are good for a while. I replace them when they get ragged.

I keep a set of the beat up ones by my sink for wet sanding. Good to remove raised ejector pin marks fast via wet sanding. 

[stitchdup]

hobbycraft sanding sticks. they come in a pack of 3 with 6 different grits. Its the green ones you want, absoluteley the best sanding sticks i have ever used and washable. a bit more pricey than the usual ones but worth the money.

a selection of clamps and rubber bands are always useful,

and while your in the beauty store have a look in the nail art section, there will be loads of brush sets for much less than you will pay at a hobby shop and they are great detail brushes

 

[customline]

17 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a picture of a similar one on this forum that had a handle.

Yup. I found one. Squadron Models. I also found some cool stuff at A modeler out in Australia. I'm on a tool buying binge now. Thanks a lot, guys ?

[oldcarfan]

9 hours ago, bobss396 said:

Again, if you have a beauty supply store, those sanding sticks last for a long time. I wash them when they get clogged up, let them dry and they are good for a while.

I bought some from Walmart and learned the hard way that not all waterproof sticks and indeed waterproof. I guess the lesson from that is to test one in water first.

[Straightliner59]

I've been using Tropical Shine nail boards, the last few years. I first got them at Sally Beauty Supply. Lately, I've been buying them on Ebay. I buy the black/grey, blue, and pink ones, and their four-way polishing boards. They're washable and disinfectable (not that we need that, but the disinfectant is likely harsher than water, so...). Somebody mentioned brushes, at the beauty supply--I have some "liner" brushes that are excellent. They maintain their points, well.

[bobss396]

1 hour ago, Straightliner59 said:

I've been using Tropical Shine nail boards, the last few years. I first got them at Sally Beauty Supply. Lately, I've been buying them on Ebay. I buy the black/grey, blue, and pink ones, and their four-way polishing boards. They're washable and disinfectable (not that we need that, but the disinfectant is likely harsher than water, so...). Somebody mentioned brushes, at the beauty supply--I have some "liner" brushes that are excellent. They maintain their points, well.

That is the brand I use. I just washed off my black ones after some abuse and they look new again. I probably have 1.5 years on that set.

While in the beauty supply shop, pick up a set of nail repair silks. Mine are Sally Hansen and look like 1/25 scale fiberglass. Great for fixing cracks or adding strength to a spliced in piece of plastic. They are sticky on 1 side, put it in place and soak the back with CA glue.

[Straightliner59]

17 hours ago, bobss396 said:

While in the beauty supply shop, pick up a set of nail repair silks.

Thanks for that! I will definitely give that a look.