Favourite tools

[Neil McGrath]

What is your favourite modelling tool?

 

Mine is the Antex soldering iron. It is cheap and does not lose its heat when you try to tackle larger jobs. The tip has a large thermal mass which really seems to help. I have used expensive temperature controlled irons but always come back to my trusty Antex when I want a simple and effective device.

 

Let me know your favourite modelling tool and why you like it.

[Steamport Southport]

A big hammer! If that doesn't work, then an even bigger hammer!

 

 

   

 

 

Seriously though. Good quality cutters from someone like Xuron, Tamiya or even Hobbycraft. Especially the photo etched and the plastic sprue cutting ones. Don't mess around with cheap alternatives when you can get good quality ones for a reasonable price.

 

 

 

 

Jason

[brossard]

Certainly my soldering iron is something I use almost every day.  It's a Weller.  I also have a Weller 50W soldering station that needs a new bit.

 

I recently got some diamond files from Eileens to replace a set I have had for years but the handles broke off.  These are indispensable.

 

Fine tweezers.

 

A set of broaches.

 

Olfa knife.

 

There are a great many tools out there but I find I use just a few of the old faithfuls.

 

John

[96701]

My favourite tool is the one that I can find when I need it.

[Mick Bonwick]

RMweb.

 

I can use it for hours on end and never achieve anything.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

I remember wincing at the purchase price of my vernier calipers (all metal, no electronic doodads) but forty-five years on this trusty friend has done so much work for me.

[Wickham Green]

A big hammer! If that doesn't work, then an even bigger hammer!

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously though. Good quality cutters from someone like Xuron, Tamiya or even Hobbycraft. Especially the photo etched and the plastic sprue cutting ones. Don't mess around with cheap alternatives when you can get good quality ones for a reasonable price.

 

 

 

 

Jason

Favourite for removing etched components is my miniature end cutter ....... the blunt one I've just retired from frontline use is still used for chomping unwanted bits off plastic mouldings : rather like those great munching machines you see on demolition sites !

[Spitfire2865]

My pair of reverse tweezers.  Stainless so perfect for soldering work and forked faces to hold tiny nuts and bolts.  Certainly helps when Im working with hundreds of 14BAs.

[smokebox]

I don't think it's possible to have just one favourite tool. It depends what job you are doing.

[alfsboy]

Xuron Rail cutters .My wife swears by them for cutting her toe nails.I have even used them to trim rail as well .

[John M Upton]

My Xuron rail cutters have been used for cutting all sorts of things, not all of them model railway related, including some rather stubborn small branches during a session of pruning in the garden last year!

 

The other essential tool is a cheap multi head screwdriver where the alternative heads live in the handle secured inside by a screw top 'lid' which cost me fifty pence from a 'cheap shop' many many years ago and as outlived many attempted replacements!

[Nearholmer]

Judging by the criteria 'things I acquired 40+ years ago, and which still see frequent use':

 

- rabone chesterman steel rule;

 

- Stanley 99E;

 

- a much finer Stanley knife that I can't recall the model number of;

 

- pin vice;

 

- set of needle files (the original set were long demoted to rough work, but still keep going);

 

- razor saw handle;

 

- pair of long-nosed pliers;

 

- set of eyebrow tweezers that I 'borrowed' from my mother in about 1968, filed to make them a lot finer-tipped;

 

- small engineer's square;

 

- set of jeweller's screwdrivers.

 

That lot got me going in cardboard/paper/wood modelling, vastly improved plastic kit making, and allowed me to 'improve' old locos bought at jumble sales. With the addition of a decent aluminium mitre box, and pair of Xuron cutters, it is probably what I'd buy for a child starting out on model-making now.

 

As everyone does, I've acquired a lot more tools since, but every one of the above still earns its keep.

[gobbler]

My 200mm mitutoyo vernier (bought £80 about 30 years ago when I was an apprentice at Marconi)

 

No.3 scalpel and my 10A blades

 

Happy modelling chaps

 

Scott

[Boston Lodge]

No 1 tool is a gas soldering iron from B&Q.

Only owned it for 4 weeks and i love it.

 

Second favourite tool is the inside of a windscreen wiper, cut into 4 inch lengths, some straight, some bent at useful angles - used for stirring paint, applying pastes etc.

[Ruston]

Resistance Soldering Unit. Followed a close second by my set of diamond-coated needle files.

[alfsboy]

Could I add my Starret pin vice .Cost a l comparatively  lot of money but takes  very tiny drills accurately unlike the cheaper versions.

[katwigan]

Favourite for removing etched components is my miniature end cutter ....... the blunt one I've just retired from frontline use is still used for chomping unwanted bits off plastic mouldings : rather like those great munching machines you see on demolition sites !

The company I worked for until retiring last year made blades for those great munching machines,one set of wnich could last nearly a week biting through the large railway track on the mining lines up in the N W of West Aust.To say it goes with a bang is an understatement. ( oh, and our blades lasted twice as long as some opposition blades!!)

[polybear]

Impact Driver.  Never fails to undo all those bvggered screws that never budge with an ordinary screwdriver.....

It's earned  me a Kit Kat once or twice at work too.....the KK tastes particularly nice when some smart Graduate type (you know - the ones that always know best) eventually admits defeat after working up a real sweat attempting to undo that 6mm screw that some guy called Buster put in using a 3/4" speed brace, after first adding a liberal amount of concrete-grade Loctite.  Being presented with the sight of a completely rogered screw head is never pretty...

[MartynJPearson]

I love my Badger battery paint stirrer. Until I accidentally press the button when removing it from the tin, then it becomes my least favourite tool.

[Il Grifone]

For fine work, a Swann Morton scalpel. Anything else is asking for trouble.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=swann+morton+10a&rlz=1C1AVFC_enGB735GB776&oq=swann+mo&aqs=chrome.4.0j69i57j0l4.12328j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

IIRC it was C.J. Freezer who said these are sharper when it's time to throw them away than the rest are new.

 

The Stanley is fine for heavier jobs.

 

Secondly, my vernier caliper.

Edited April 27, 2018 by Il Grifone

[timbowilts]

Like other posters the tool I would not be without is my vernier callipers. So much so that I have a thirty year old Mitutoyo one and one of the £5 specials mentioned on RMWeb a little while ago.

 

Another “indispensible” tool is a pair of Maun parallel action pliers, essential when forming AJ couplings

 

Tim T

[Worsdell forever]

My favourite tools are my Stubbs needle files, collected them over the years from the oddments boxes on tool stalls at model engineering shows and some inherited from my granddad. They just keep going with an occasional clean out with a scalpel. Remember, always use your best files for whitemetal, cheap rubbish won't leave a good finish and clog instantly.

[E3109]

When I'm in Bangkok I always pay a visit to Foodland (24hr supermarket chain) and bring an absolute shed load of Kom-Kom vegetable carving knives back. The long, curved one in the picture.

They are razor sharp and ideal for carving styrene.

They do lose their edge rather quickly, though they will take a couple of sharpening sessions. But at around £1 a go, I usually just chuck 'em away.

 

They are available here via specialist Oriental shops, but are rather pricey.

[Sir TophamHatt]

- set of jeweller's screwdrivers.

This is it for me.

Got a cheap set from Amazon but they're so much better than trying to use an oversized screwdriver for a tiny screw!