Electric tools??

I wouldn't give up my Dremel, that's for sure!

The problem with most power tools in modeling applications is that modeling is a task that requires a light touch, and most power tools are designed for power and speed - not a good matchup most of the time. Even my Dremel, small as it is, never gets used at anything approaching full power for modeling.

Use what you've got... adapt, improvise, overcome. That's a big part of the fun of modeling. A hot glue gun, if it works for your application, isn't cheating - it's smart.

Kevin

The power belt sander gets used quite often to remove the lower hull from a ship casting.   It makes a lot of dust, but I get a better, truer surface more quickly than trying to sand it on a sheet of wet-n-dry.

Similarly, the disc sander gets pulled out and used when I'm shaping plexiglas cores for scratch built structures.  Good square corners there.

The compressor for the airbrush is electrically powered.

I cut, rout, and finish my own bases -- circular saw, router, drill press used there. 

I have a compact sander from a battery-powered toothbrush.

I have batteries in my digital calipers.  Does that count for 'electric'.  

Oh yeah, then there is the Dremel,  but granted,  using it to drill with micro-sized bits is asking for breakage.  

Use the best available tool for the task at hand.

Thank you guys for the replies..Kevin, you got it.The point was I felt a little stupid for not using it before! I did forget about my compressor ...OK two electric Tools. Three..I dont model by candlelight. I have always wanted a Dremel though. Ed..we wont count your calipers or your wood working tools

Thanks again!

I conisder the use of new and innovative ways to use old tools, new tools, and tools not designed for modeling use, to be very creative and clever.

I also think that throughout history, clever folks have been greatly rewarded for their cunning ways, and our hobby has no reason to be any different.

Personally , I think anything to make the hobby easier and/or more enjoyable is worht pursuing. Congrats on finding a new way, regardless on the time frame. More importantly, thank you for sharing your new ideas... it's posts like this that make this board so great.

I use power tools of one kind or another, all the time. I'm looking for the end result. I just made hairpin radius rods for a race car. Used a soldering iron. If the "getting there" part of the build is what turns you on, then do what traditional woodworkers do and use all "hand" tools. If nothing else, your progress will be slowed down. Sometimes you have to do it by hand, but quite often after doing it by hand I realized I could have done using a power tool.

Several years ago a local arena hosted a model engineering expo. Minurature steam engines and such. One person had a working model of a rotary piston gas engine. Built very similer to a hydraulic motor but without the variable displacement. It was very high tech and made of stainless steel. When I asked him how he made it he said he used a very high end milling machine to achieve the tolerances required. When I asked him how he made the cam(worked somewhat like the hydraulic motor swashplate) with the variable lift geometry designed into it, he said he used files. Probably the most critical part of the motor. When I questioned this and wondered why he didn't use the cad features of his milling machine, he became defensive and said he only used traditional methods of building. Go figure.

Jim