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Which tool?

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  • Member since
    April 2023
  • From: New mexico
Which tool?
Posted by John3M on Sunday, October 22, 2023 7:39 PM

Is there one or two tools that you feel has made a difference in the quality of your work and a favorite tool if it got lost would cause abnormal "grief"?

  • Member since
    April 2020
Posted by Eaglecash867 on Monday, October 23, 2023 5:54 AM

My Pixnor tweezer set.  I'd be flinging parts to the carpet monster on a daily basis if it wasn't for these.

"You can have my illegal fireworks when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers...which are...over there somewhere."

  • Member since
    May 2004
  • From: Land of Lakes
Posted by cbaltrin on Monday, October 23, 2023 5:57 AM

I could rattle off 25 items on my WB that I could not work without, but i'll just post three for now.   As an aside, a interesting challenge for everyone would be this. For your next kit, for every tool you touch, when you put it down, put it in a special place/box, and see which of your tools you have touched during the build -- would be cool find a way to monitor how many touches each one got as well, and even more interesting to see which ones did not get touched Cool

1) Optivisor

2) Switching from dull in under 10 seconds x-acto blades, to quality scalpel blades was a game changer.

3) This amazing Proxxon Micromot 60/E rotary tool is the most recent thing I have bought. have had it for about 12 months or so... This is the 3rd time I have posted about it in the last week Angel

EDIT/UPDATE Oh, I'll have to make it Four -- How could I forget this guy, the amazing JLC Saw:

On the Bench: Too Much

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Monday, October 23, 2023 4:24 PM

Optivisor: why I never considered one,I don't know.

My good set of tweezers.

Air brush: total game changer.

  • Member since
    September 2015
  • From: The Redwood Empire
Posted by Aaronw on Thursday, October 26, 2023 12:22 AM

Sprue cutters, a fairly cheap addition but one I resisted for years as unneccessary. A huge improvement over the nail clippers, pocket knife scissors, wire cutters and (gasp) twisting parts off the sprue that was my standard for many years.

 

Pin vise (for tiny drill bits)

Styrene stock in sheets and shapes, brass rod, sheet, tubing used for creative gizmology (a word I have borrowed from an unknown source) to create the appearance of detail where the kit was lacking.

 

#1 the internet which has improved my modelling skill / ability more than any physical tool.

  • Member since
    March 2022
  • From: Twin cities, MN
Posted by missileman2000 on Saturday, October 28, 2023 10:08 AM

Eaglecash867

My Pixnor tweezer set.  I'd be flinging parts to the carpet monster on a daily basis if it wasn't for these.

 

Ditto

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Towson MD
Posted by gregbale on Saturday, October 28, 2023 11:15 AM

A good pair of cross-lock needle-nose tweezers. I use them for everything from parts handling (plastic and photo-etch) to precise placement of decals...to picking away that one errant strand of lint or speck of dust that always wants to adhere itself to your nearly-finished model's impeccable paint finish. Also (like any cross-lock anything) works great as an emergency clamp, or one that reaches into tight corners or narrow spaces.

I emphasize the word 'good' because the cheap ones are the ones that will randomly fling your tiny parts across the room. If the needle jaws aren't perfectly aligned -- and built sturdily enough to stay that way -- they'll slip side-to-side and lose grip, hurl or bend or break those critical parts...or simply mangle your expensive PE into tiny unrecognizable spider webs of twisted metal. A few extra dollars up-front will save years of frustration. Wink

BTW, I'll second cbaltrin in his love for the JLC saw. A real game-changer! Yes

Greg

George Lewis:

"Every time you correct me on my grammar I love you a little fewer."
 
  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posted by Real G on Saturday, October 28, 2023 4:45 PM

For me, I have some small metric  drills in 0.01mm increments.  Although they were cheap and dull when new, they are indispensible for drilling out the snap-fit sockets of Gunpla kits.

My Optivisor is the other thing I cannot build without.  I can't build what I can't see.

“Ya ya ya, unicorn papoi!”

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