Hi there people.
I cater to alot of people that are on tight budgets as we are situated in a country with low incomes and high outgoing expenses. So alot of our hobby needs to be done in a very wallet friendly manner. I am often asked how i work and what tools i use and so on. Will give a quick run down of what i use and what they substitue or what i use them for.
Assembly:
For assembly clippers are essential. However as a commission painter, it gets very tiring having to cut off copious amoutns of extra plastic that come along with clippers that often wear out to fast. So what we do? We use Cuticle Cutters that you can get at Beautician shops and stuff like that. Go to the ladies section and look for a small clipper looking thingy. Thats the one!!! This works great coz its a very cheap alternative that gives a very neat and precis cut. Also, since it is MUCH smaller than the average set of clippers its very good to use on small parts that may be fragile or whatsoever. Only problem with these is that you cant use them for metal. So if you need to cut up a paper clip or whatever, not a good idea to use this and same applies for large chunks from metal models. For clipping of debris and small flash it works fine, but just make sure that its almost as soft as plastic before you damage them!
Exacto Knife. What a handy tool yet so damaging to the wallet. Exacto knifes wear out very quickly, especially if you use them atleast 5 times a day like we do. So, we have looked around abt and the best solution we could find was using a razor blade. Razor blades can be bought in bulk. and this stuff will last you for a GOOD while. you can buy them in bulks of boxes for a great price and each box has about 5 razors in it. The razor blade itself is however dangerously sharp, so it takes alot of practice in getting the technique right when using this. But to avoid cutting yourself when you take it out of the box it will most likely be wrapped in a small piece of paper. Break the razor in half while its in the paper itself. This gives u two halves that can be used and minimizes the risk of getting cut a lot. Do bear in mind tho that when you throw the razors out, try to put them inside a small disposable container such as a matchbox or a empty cigarette packet. This is because if you dont use this and throw threm straight into the bin, well then i hope yu have a good time clearing up your garbage after it spills onto the floor when your taking it out(trust me, bad experinces always teach the best). Do try this at your own discretion though. This works for us and make sure you are responsible enough to not hurt yourself or those around you by beign careless. But yes, buy 50 razor boxes for 5 dollars, and break them in half, that essentially gives you 100 blades to work with. while if you buy exacto blades, you have 5 blades to work with (or less even)and they will cost you about the same if not more.
Glue is hard to cheat with. Glue unfortunatly has its benefits and its those types of things that you need to invest in wether you want to or not. You can get the 10 pack of cheap super glue at the dollar store but that will give you LOADS of problems and it will not be worth the trouble and heartache. To start with as you can probably figure out the quality of the glue is not very high. This means breakages will often occur and the models will become as fragile as glass. Evne transporting them in a battle foam case with extra padding will be hard. they almost break under their own weight.Also cheap glue has a tendency of being very runny which will mean that it is great for filling gaps, but nothing else. and u will end up getting it all over the models.
Painting:
brushes. obviously you need brushes. its hard to paint without them. but brushes cost like 15 dollars a piece for a good one. so what happens then?? well find out what brushes you need for what, eg detail brushes and drybrushes and basecoating brushes etc. For me i have about 5 brushes that i use often. One is a detail brush, one is a so called standard brush and the other 3 are various sized brushes for dry brushing. I use the standard brush for most things. simply because if you have good brush control you can paint a whole model with only one brush. Damn you can even paint a whole army with one brush. But again brushes its hard to cheat your way out. even if you dont buy the commercial hobby brand brushes like GW or Army painter etc, sable brushes are very hard to find that are high quality and the szes you ned for model painting. But this only really applies to detail brushes and standard brushes. for drybrushes and base coat brushes you have a HUGE selection at your lcoal art store. Often you can find lots of brushes in big packs of like 10. They give you many different brushes and they allow you to use some, save some, and alter some brushes if needed (for example vutting a brush half way up the bristel for stippling) and you wont mind too much as the brushes are easily replaceable. But try to find brushes that are sable and have some resistance. Nylon brushes do work, ofcourse, but i find that they dont carry paint as well as sable, but you should use the consitancy of the bristles from a nylon brush as an example of what you are looking for.
Paints are very hard to talk about. Every single person has their own preferences for brands,what type of paints and so on so i am going to leave ths up to you. Again, paints also are hard to cheat on, it can be doone, but its hard. The paints that are designed for modelling are created specifically for this type of hobby. therefore the characteristics of he paint work well with models and materials like resin and plastic and metal. Watercolors for example dont really stick well. Therefore makimg it hard to paint with them. there are lots of brands out there and each individual should play around with what they can. I personally like to use Vallejo paints because they have a great range of paints, and they come in small dropper bottles which makes it really easy for puttign them in my airbrush and mixing when u need exact ratios. Do play around wth it. i know some people that prefer PP or GW and some even Tamiya. DO be careful tho with some paitn products as they do have a tendency of melting soft plastics.
Just a short one but i hope it helps you all ppl!!
I cater to alot of people that are on tight budgets as we are situated in a country with low incomes and high outgoing expenses. So alot of our hobby needs to be done in a very wallet friendly manner. I am often asked how i work and what tools i use and so on. Will give a quick run down of what i use and what they substitue or what i use them for.
Assembly:
For assembly clippers are essential. However as a commission painter, it gets very tiring having to cut off copious amoutns of extra plastic that come along with clippers that often wear out to fast. So what we do? We use Cuticle Cutters that you can get at Beautician shops and stuff like that. Go to the ladies section and look for a small clipper looking thingy. Thats the one!!! This works great coz its a very cheap alternative that gives a very neat and precis cut. Also, since it is MUCH smaller than the average set of clippers its very good to use on small parts that may be fragile or whatsoever. Only problem with these is that you cant use them for metal. So if you need to cut up a paper clip or whatever, not a good idea to use this and same applies for large chunks from metal models. For clipping of debris and small flash it works fine, but just make sure that its almost as soft as plastic before you damage them!
Exacto Knife. What a handy tool yet so damaging to the wallet. Exacto knifes wear out very quickly, especially if you use them atleast 5 times a day like we do. So, we have looked around abt and the best solution we could find was using a razor blade. Razor blades can be bought in bulk. and this stuff will last you for a GOOD while. you can buy them in bulks of boxes for a great price and each box has about 5 razors in it. The razor blade itself is however dangerously sharp, so it takes alot of practice in getting the technique right when using this. But to avoid cutting yourself when you take it out of the box it will most likely be wrapped in a small piece of paper. Break the razor in half while its in the paper itself. This gives u two halves that can be used and minimizes the risk of getting cut a lot. Do bear in mind tho that when you throw the razors out, try to put them inside a small disposable container such as a matchbox or a empty cigarette packet. This is because if you dont use this and throw threm straight into the bin, well then i hope yu have a good time clearing up your garbage after it spills onto the floor when your taking it out(trust me, bad experinces always teach the best). Do try this at your own discretion though. This works for us and make sure you are responsible enough to not hurt yourself or those around you by beign careless. But yes, buy 50 razor boxes for 5 dollars, and break them in half, that essentially gives you 100 blades to work with. while if you buy exacto blades, you have 5 blades to work with (or less even)and they will cost you about the same if not more.
Glue is hard to cheat with. Glue unfortunatly has its benefits and its those types of things that you need to invest in wether you want to or not. You can get the 10 pack of cheap super glue at the dollar store but that will give you LOADS of problems and it will not be worth the trouble and heartache. To start with as you can probably figure out the quality of the glue is not very high. This means breakages will often occur and the models will become as fragile as glass. Evne transporting them in a battle foam case with extra padding will be hard. they almost break under their own weight.Also cheap glue has a tendency of being very runny which will mean that it is great for filling gaps, but nothing else. and u will end up getting it all over the models.
Painting:
brushes. obviously you need brushes. its hard to paint without them. but brushes cost like 15 dollars a piece for a good one. so what happens then?? well find out what brushes you need for what, eg detail brushes and drybrushes and basecoating brushes etc. For me i have about 5 brushes that i use often. One is a detail brush, one is a so called standard brush and the other 3 are various sized brushes for dry brushing. I use the standard brush for most things. simply because if you have good brush control you can paint a whole model with only one brush. Damn you can even paint a whole army with one brush. But again brushes its hard to cheat your way out. even if you dont buy the commercial hobby brand brushes like GW or Army painter etc, sable brushes are very hard to find that are high quality and the szes you ned for model painting. But this only really applies to detail brushes and standard brushes. for drybrushes and base coat brushes you have a HUGE selection at your lcoal art store. Often you can find lots of brushes in big packs of like 10. They give you many different brushes and they allow you to use some, save some, and alter some brushes if needed (for example vutting a brush half way up the bristel for stippling) and you wont mind too much as the brushes are easily replaceable. But try to find brushes that are sable and have some resistance. Nylon brushes do work, ofcourse, but i find that they dont carry paint as well as sable, but you should use the consitancy of the bristles from a nylon brush as an example of what you are looking for.
Paints are very hard to talk about. Every single person has their own preferences for brands,what type of paints and so on so i am going to leave ths up to you. Again, paints also are hard to cheat on, it can be doone, but its hard. The paints that are designed for modelling are created specifically for this type of hobby. therefore the characteristics of he paint work well with models and materials like resin and plastic and metal. Watercolors for example dont really stick well. Therefore makimg it hard to paint with them. there are lots of brands out there and each individual should play around with what they can. I personally like to use Vallejo paints because they have a great range of paints, and they come in small dropper bottles which makes it really easy for puttign them in my airbrush and mixing when u need exact ratios. Do play around wth it. i know some people that prefer PP or GW and some even Tamiya. DO be careful tho with some paitn products as they do have a tendency of melting soft plastics.
Just a short one but i hope it helps you all ppl!!
