Stretching the modeling budget

Dre, what kind of putty do you use for the seam filling formula?

Folks, we're on the second page, and no one has mentioned 35mm canisters yet; welcome to the digital age!

Glenn

Heavy foil from wine bottles or contact lens cases make great seat belts and is good for other uses.

I keep a large pill bottle clean so I can fill it with Future for canopy dipping.

I store and categorize paints in some old kit boxes so I can just pull the box I need and set it on the bench instead of searching through a paint rack.

Old sprues get finely chopped up and mixed with MEK and putty to make my own seam filling formula.

I cut up old instruction sheets or junk mail to use for a variety of reasons (masking, etc).

Tupperware-type containers are all over the house as I use them to store and keep safe all the small breakables during a build.

I use old boxes to hold a model as I paint it to avoid fingerprints and for storage as the paint cures.

There are all kinds of cheap short cuts out there, we just have to think outside of the accepted solutions.

Free paint stirrers can be found at McDonald and Starbucks.  They think they're coffee stirrers, but we know better!  Wink, wink, nod, nod!

This sort of gos against the theme of the original post (saving money) but I am amazed at the number of different X-acto knife handles available, even of the same size (the small ones that hold the #11 blade).  Used to be the plain cylindrical handle, made of aluminum with bare aluminum finish, was it.  Now, lots of different styles.  Soft foam grips, various diameters and contours, drawbar type chuck.  Oh, they all cost a bit more, but as much as we use an X-acto knife, comfort can be important.

Also, even in the #11 blade, several mfgs offer them, a couple of different point styles.  Boy, we live in a golden age to have so many choices.  I remember as a kid, building balsa models (plastic kits were in the future) I had to use razor blades until I got my first X-acto knife set for a present.

Like Don mentioned, I use toothpicks too.  For all kinds of things:  paint stirring, propping up sub-assemblies, etc.  I use wax paper for a pallet.  Lots and lots of paper towels.

I keep a whetstone (not sure if I spelled that right) on the bench for emergency's. If I dont have a new blade to use I sharpen an old one. But you can never get a "like new" edge on one. Especially if you use a blade to cut brass wire because you cant find your wirecutter's!

X-acto blades can be resharpened. I use some old sanding sticks and an old emery board for this purpose. I use a stropping type motion as opposed to a forward cutting type as when using a stone on a regular knife blade. I have found that this will keep the tip nice and sharp while cutting masking tape while working on canopies. I doubt it would be worth it for a blade that is really well worn though.

I certainly do use a lot of supplies.  Main supply I go through is paper towels.  Every time I use my airbrush I use a couple.  Hand painting sessions use another one.  Wet sanding uses a couple, etc.

Toothpicks are another essential supply for me- fortunately quite cheap. I use those double ended sharp point ones.  I use them for painting dots or fine lines smaller than any paint brush I have, and for holding small parts while painting.

I use coffee stirrers for mixing and stirring paints.  I also use them for holding larger parts, parts with larger holes, etc.

Glues, paints, putty, of course are supplies I am always running out 'cause I just ran out of something :-(

I remember more than a half century ago, a guy gave a talk on sharpening carving knife blades.  This was a flying model club.  Anyway, he claimed the steel in X-acto blades was too brittle for good resharpening, and recommended other brands of knives that had different steels.  Things could well have changed.  As I think of it now, that was sixty years ago.  Of course, the fact that X-acto is still around must mean most folks are satisified with them, but I have never tried to sharpen X-acto blades because of that talk.  Maybe I should try it now.

Thanks for the feeback, I appreciate it; there's a lot of great ideas!

    I was looking at what I was spending on things to effect the builds, and saw that they fit into two categories, tools and supplies. Tools are the items that are durable, such as the aforementioned sprue nippers (absolutely indispensable!), airbrushes, files and the like. Thinking about it, it's been nearly thirty years since I had to buy a knife handle. Supplies are the disposable items, like paint, sandpaper, emery boards, etc. It just seemed that creating a way to make #11 blades more durable would create some savings, and alleviate some inconvenience when you just busted your last good blade.

Thanks

Glenn

Don Stauffer

I keep three X-acto handles on my bench with blades in them, and circulate the blades.  One is for cutting that needs a sharp blade.  That handle gets the new blades fresh from a pack.  When I change blades in that handle, the oldest blade goes in my second handle, and that is used for less demanding cutting.  When I change blades in that handle, the old blade (the oldest of the three) goes into my third handle.  That is used exclusively for seam scraping and other scraping, where I hold the blade at 90 degrees to surface.  That usage rapidly dulls blades and ruins them for any task other than scraping.  But I don't need to buy one of those more expensive seam scrapers.

I currently use 2 handles, the fresh blade for super-sharp needs and the second for everything else. Going to three handles makes sense, as I often find myself wearing out the second blade before the first, what with the abuse it takes.

Paul

I keep three X-acto handles on my bench with blades in them, and circulate the blades.  One is for cutting that needs a sharp blade.  That handle gets the new blades fresh from a pack.  When I change blades in that handle, the oldest blade goes in my second handle, and that is used for less demanding cutting.  When I change blades in that handle, the old blade (the oldest of the three) goes into my third handle.  That is used exclusively for seam scraping and other scraping, where I hold the blade at 90 degrees to surface.  That usage rapidly dulls blades and ruins them for any task other than scraping.  But I don't need to buy one of those more expensive seam scrapers.

Ditto on the 100 pack with a 40% coupon. I do, however, keep the used ones in a small jar to be used on not-so-important cutting jobs.

Jim

40% coupon at Hobby Lobby gets me most of my stuff pretty cheap.

Occasionally AC Moore's will have a coupon for 40% off one item---I usually spend it on a 100-pack of #11 blades. You can get a whole slew of 'em for dirt cheap.

If your talking #11 x-acto blades,I just a pack  of 40 on amazon for $12.00,a lot cheaper then the LHS

Using sprue cutters specially made for the hobby also cuts down on knife use.  I usually just change the blade if I need a sharp point to do some drilling, but then put the old blade back in.  Though filing an old blade is a good idea and will extend it's life.

regards,

Jack