discussion New to scale modelling!

[DeeJay]

Evening all, I've been wanting to get into builds for a while now and finally at 32 made a go of it, just started with an airfix land rover and trailer, nothing to special i like to call this my training days, any advice on tools, tips and tricks would be massively appreciated, will upload a picture of my first build when its complete, thanks all

 

[pjgtech]

Hi and welcome mate.
Enjoy the forum, lots of good peeps and helpful info on here.
Re: tools, etc a basic starter set will do for now, see our very own Scale Model Shop, see link near top of page.....
See linky - SMS Starter tools
You may already have most of the tools in the house, car, shed, garage, etc?
You basically want a set of nippers to remove parts from the sprue, a scalpel type knife, a couple of files, or sanding sticks, fine, medium and coarse, some tweezers are always handy, a cutting mat is good, some good quality adhesive is good, eg: Tamiya Extra thin or similar..... and away you go.
Maybe some magnifiers for small parts.... somewhere to model, eg: kitchen table, etc....
Cheers

 

[flyjoe180]

Welcome aboard Dee

 

[DeeJay]

Hi and welcome mate.
Enjoy the forum, lots of good peeps and helpful info on here.
Re: tools, etc a basic starter set will do for now, see our very own Scale Model Shop, see link near top of page.....
See linky - SMS Starter tools
You may already have most of the tools in the house, car, shed, garage, etc?
You basically want a set of nippers to remove parts from the sprue, a scalpel type knife, a couple of files, or sanding sticks, fine, medium and coarse, some tweezers are always handy, a cutting mat is good, some good quality adhesive is good, eg: Tamiya Extra thin or similar..... and away you go.
Maybe some magnifiers for small parts.... somewhere to model, eg: kitchen table, etc....
Cheers

Cheers mate, I got a little kit yesterday from Hobbycraft, it had snips, a file, a cutting mat and a knife in there, seems to do the trick, but I understand as i move forward with builds i will need to upgrade along the way, thanks again

 

[Valeron]

Welcome on board mate.

With tools i think you'll find you'll start with a few and if the hobby continues, your tools etc will just grow.

Peter offers good advice above and from my point of view when I came to this gibberish about 4 years ago. I started with a cutting mat, nippers, a few different sized brushes, some sanding sticks, a knife with multiple different blades.

Taniya extra thin glue biscuit my go too, pkus maybe some drcal softer.

But the most will grow as you build more. In fact it will grow alot.

Mike

 

[boatman]

WELCOME Dee from me to have fun on this great forum i have an been here yrs
chrisb

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Welcome to the forum Dee

 

[Jim R]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[DeeJay]

Welcome on board mate.

With tools i think you'll find you'll start with a few and if the hobby continues, your tools etc will just grow.

Peter offers good advice above and from my point of view when I came to this gibberish about 4 years ago. I started with a cutting mat, nippers, a few different sized brushes, some sanding sticks, a knife with multiple different blades.

Taniya extra thin glue biscuit my go too, pkus maybe some drcal softer.

But the most will grow as you build more. In fact it will grow alot.

Mike

I have a feeling the hobby will most definitely continue as I've not finished the first one and have already been looking for my next build

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

I have a feeling the hobby will most definitely continue as I've not finished the first one and have already been looking for my next build

(Wheeze babble chime) ...And so it begins...

Soon you'll have your own stash of kits you like but will 'definitely get around to building. Some day!' Mwahaha!

 

[pjgtech]

ISTR someones "stash" on here recently topped 400! Lol....
I started with nippers and scalpel, now have a whole modelling desk, lots and lots of tools/paints, photo booth and airbrushing booth.....its a slippery slope. Enjoy the ride...

 

[Darian Frey]

Welcome to the forum and the hobby - you've come to the right place.

I totally agree with all the others of said - I have drawers full of tools and paints, but even after a life time of building, 99.999999% of the time I just use the below. - on every build.

OK so you might not need the reading glasses, nor the tiny spatula (you can just just a cocktail stick), but it really is all you need most of the time, other than some paints. And don't under estimate the usefulness of pringles lids (great for pallets, blu-tac'ing parts to for painting, putting filler, glues on etc.), cotton buds (great for cleaning or removing paints, water based filler etc.) and cocktail sticks (stirring paint, holding small parts for painting, applying glues/fillers etc.), blu-tac and clothes pegs.

Glue wise I use Tamiya Extra thin 99% of the time, even for attaching clear parts (there is a bit of skill to that - easy to learn though) and old fashioned tube glue, splodged onto a lid, and applied with a cocktail stick. I can't abide those precision glues - their stupid applicator tubes always block. Rocket Rapid is a good CA/superglue and easy to get on amazon. If you can't get hold of sanding sticks, just use old fashioned paper and have various grades so you can work up through them to polish out scratches etc. It's also useful to have a flat and a round needle file for obvious reasons. Knife wise I have scalpels, or one of those little retractable craft knives. The Scissors you don't really need, I just use them for cutting out decals.

As far as brushes go, don't spend a fortune on expensive ones. The Airfix ones are ok, but the best I've used is the old black handled Citadel ones. For most models, I only use the three pictured, with an occasion drybrush. If you need any advice on painting feel free to ask.

Something else I would add - don't wait until the build is finished before posting it up, get a WIP thread started and ask questions - there're no such thing as stupid one. Oh, and don't ever, EVER, compare your builds to anyone else. Learn yes, but enjoy the stage you are at and most importantly of all have fun with it.

Hope that helps.

 

[pjgtech]

Its a good point actually, I prolly have about 50 brushes, but, I tend to use the same few all the time, maybe six or so.
Same with sanding sticks, I have lots, but tend to use the same couple all the time, etc.
And even nippers and tweezers, I tend to use the same (old) nippers and the same (old) tweezers, despite have several sets of, so far unused, new ones, Lol....

 

[DeeJay]

Welcome to the forum and the hobby - you've come to the right place.

I totally agree with all the others of said - I have drawers full of tools and paints, but even after a life time of building, 99.999999% of the time I just use the below. - on every build.

OK so you might not need the reading glasses, nor the tiny spatula (you can just just a cocktail stick), but it really is all you need most of the time, other than some paints. And don't under estimate the usefulness of pringles lids (great for pallets, blu-tac'ing parts to for painting, putting filler, glues on etc.), cotton buds (great for cleaning or removing paints, water based filler etc.) and cocktail sticks (stirring paint, holding small parts for painting, applying glues/fillers etc.), blu-tac and clothes pegs.

Glue wise I use Tamiya Extra thin 99% of the time, even for attaching clear parts (there is a bit of skill to that - easy to learn though) and old fashioned tube glue, splodged onto a lid, and applied with a cocktail stick. I can't abide those precision glues - their stupid applicator tubes always block. Rocket Rapid is a good CA/superglue and easy to get on amazon. If you can't get hold of sanding sticks, just use old fashioned paper and have various grades so you can work up through them to polish out scratches etc. It's also useful to have a flat and a round needle file for obvious reasons. Knife wise I have scalpels, or one of those little retractable craft knives. The Scissors you don't really need, I just use them for cutting out decals.

As far as brushes go, don't spend a fortune on expensive ones. The Airfix ones are ok, but the best I've used is the old black handled Citadel ones. For most models, I only use the three pictured, with an occasion drybrush. If you need any advice on painting feel free to ask.

Something else I would add - don't wait until the build is finished before posting it up, get a WIP thread started and ask questions - there're no such thing as stupid one. Oh, and don't ever, EVER, compare your builds to anyone else. Learn yes, but enjoy the stage you are at and most importantly of all have fun with it.

Hope that helps.

Thankyou for that mate, really appreciate the advice and knowledge.

I have 2 brushes at the minute that seems to be doing the trick, I would like to look into airbrushing though.

For the glue I just have the poly cement that came in the kit, but I do think I will get hold of some tamiya, quite a few people have mentioned it.

I did make a mistake on the set I've got at the minute, I thought the paint was dry when putting the clear window in ans it smeared on there, any advice for cleaning that off?

I will upload a build in progress but after seeing some of the work on here I'm afraid mine won't look good lol

Thanks again mate

 

[Darian Frey]

I did make a mistake on the set I've got at the minute, I thought the paint was dry when putting the clear window in ans it smeared on there, any advice for cleaning that off?

I will upload a build in progress but after seeing some of the work on here I'm afraid mine won't look good lol

Thanks again mate

No worries - glad to help, and as I said, don't compare your work with others just your own last build and expectations.

As far as the window goes - let it dry and then it should just scrape off with a light rubbing with a cocktail stick. In fact that's how I paint some cockpit canopies - like those on hurricanes. I paint the frames and then tidy up the edges with the point of a stick.

 

[DeeJay]

No worries - glad to help, and as I said, don't compare your work with others just your own last build and expectations.

As far as the window goes - let it dry and then it should just scrape off with a light rubbing with a cocktail stick. In fact that's how I paint some cockpit canopies - like those on hurricanes. I paint the frames and then tidy up the edges with the point of a stick.

Ah will definitely do that, just waiting for kids bed time so I can sit and concentrate on the build, ive uploaded a post of the build so far.

I'm happy with it as my first attempt definitely room for improvement but I'm definitely not giving up lol

 

[Darian Frey]

Ah will definitely do that, just waiting for kids bed time so I can sit and concentrate on the build, ive uploaded a post of the build so far.

I'm happy with it as my first attempt definitely room for improvement but I'm definitely not giving up lol

Awesome! And as someone else said on your thread - it's quite an old kit too which adds extra fun!

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Awesome! And as someone else said on your thread - it's quite an old kit too which adds extra fun!

Old kits. Extra fun.

Yes, yees. You have succumbed!

Join us in the 'There's so much room for extra detail and improvement in Old Kits' Dungeon...
I mean, workshop!

 

[DeeJay]

I really didn't want to stick to the kits paint suggestions with this kit, I wanted to muddy up the tyres and arches, add a bit of rust and maybe instead of having the canvas on the trailer, make some hay bales for it, so it looks like an old farm workhorse, then i realised this is my first build so maybe just try and stick to the plan first

 

[Steve-the-Duck]

Do what works for you. Weathering is an inexact artform at best, so go with what works for you
But IMHO, less is always more