Welcome to my latest video where we will be diving
into the essential tools needed for taking your model building skills to the next level so… It's
been a year since I lost myself in scale modeling and built my first model kit. At the beginning I
bought a lot of tools and materials that I had seen others use while watching videos. Now after
a year in building 8 model kits I can share some of my experiences with you about what I have
actually used and what I haven't touched at all so let's start with snippers I actually bought
a cheap wire cutter which happens to the job quite nicely. It cuts the parts off in the way
it should. However you should be quite careful when removing transparent parts from the sprue as
using snippers can cause some inside cracks which are quite noticeable that's why it is much better
to cut these parts of using a knife and then sand off the extra bits. At least that is what I have
learned so far. Let me know if there are any other ways for doing that kind of job maybe by leaving
a comment! Next the knife I'm using is the OLFA 5 It is a really handy tool that can be used
for variety of tasks like cutting off extra bits or trimming decals it is quite important to
keep changing the blade quite often as there is nothing worse than a jagged edge of the masking
tape cut.
You can replace the dull blade with a new one in a couple of seconds! Just be extremely
careful as this kind of knives are a really sharp Now tweezers, I don't use cross lock tweezers
as I don't have one I only use two pairs of tweezers a regular one for a manipulating small
parts to get them in the place where they should be and another one that is dedicated only to
decals. Tamiya's tweezers have a really fine tip which helps a lot with working on decals.
Next a hobby hand drill with different size of drill tips.
It is really helpful with enlarging
holes for body parts like door handles indicators or wipers you can also use it to deepen the
muffler tips to add a bit more detail to them and an engraving tool some of the model kits have
body parts such as doors or hood lines that are not deep enough then you can use an engraving
blade to make them deeper and more visible once you apply a black wash. However as this blade is
quite sharp you have to be careful while doing this job as it is quite easy to make scratches on
nearby parts accidentally. If lines are so shallow that it is impossible to identify the curve you
can always use masking tape as a blade guide masking tape I use it quite heavily 18 5 3
and 1 millimeter different widths allow you to mask smaller or bigger parts and together with a
sharp knife you can also mask unusual shapes like windows seals or bumpers.
Different sizes save
time as you don't need to cut narrow stripes from the wider masking tape. Sometimes I also use
masking tape dedicated for curves but it's really rare as it is easier to stick wide masking tape
and then cut along the window line for instance then sanding paper, sponges and sticks. These
tools were the most often used ones as they are applicable for parts preparation and later
for polishing. The 3000 sponge is used to dull the body before covering it with primer. The 600 and 1000
sanding sticks to smooth out the seam lines or these extra bits of pieces which remain after
cutting them from the sprue. Then 4000 6000, 8000 water sanding paper is
used to prepare the body surface before polishing with compounds.
I also bought sponges and sanding
paper with different grid sizes but I have never gone beyond the values that I have just mentioned.
Let's move to polishing then. Polishing Compound sponges were used only once they are really
helpful when it comes to embossed parts of the body as their surface close to the edges is hard
to reach with a compound applicator cloth. However once I switched from manual to mechanical polishing
I no longer need any clothes or sponges A dremel-like tool with a cotton polisher speeds up
the time spent on polishing significantly with a much better result in comparison to manual methods.
By the way it is worth softening the cotton polisher by moisturizing it with water and soap
so the compound will distribute much easier than okay so now let's go to paint brushes and airbrush
with mandatory accessories like a compressor or a cleaning pot.
I am using ammo air Cobra 0.3 it is
easy to disassembly for cleaning and everything works well after one year. The trigger moves
smoothly and the needle is still straight as it should be. When it comes to the compressor you need
to remember that the longer you use it the more water can accumulate inside the tank. That's why it
is quite important to unscrew the drain valve and wait for all the water to flow out.
This water can
cause rusting in a longer period of time so it's better to keep it clean. When it comes to paint
brushes I only use size 1 and 0 and hardly ever I go with size 4. What's more a painting palette
will also help you a lot with mixing paints okay so those were the main tools which I used during
building model kits others are quite common like soft and hard cotton buds pipettes or toothpicks. I
guess patafix the removable adhesive pads that you can shape as you wish are really worth mentioning.
You can use it as a holder for parts that you are going to paint and what's more it is reusable
so you can use it quite a lot of times before it loses its adhesiveness.
For instance if you wish to
paint the body you can stick everything to a small bottle instead of buying a spray work painting
stand set which honestly I personally really like okay that's it I hope that this video brought
you closer to my tool set! Let me know if you find this content interesting by leaving a comment!
have a great time building model kits cheers!
