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now that was a useful tip... i do have a permanent and big working place for my hobbby... but these discs i never really coud use in earnest because of their sub par survivability...this will be verrrry handy!!!! thanks a heap...

and very nice terrain there eilif!

I am getting that dremel bit;

My Dremel is my favourite purchase, that thing is da bomb.

Other than that; my contribution is;
Oyumaru / Insta-mold
Anyone interested in conversions is literally missing out if they don't have this product. I always rave about this product, but I can't be bothered to go through the whole spiel. So if you like to convert and you don't have it, go get it!

Tinsnips cut metal better than my cutters. I also use sewing pins for pinning rods, because they are vastly cheaper than brass.

Solar Shock: Insta-Mold (which I found to be cheaper than importing Oyumaru, unless you need a ton of the stuff) has definitely come in handy - it recently saved an OOP metal horse that had inexplicably lost its tail. I won't get any better at sculpting unless I... you know, sculpt, but sometimes I just want to spend five minutes (plus GS cure time) and duplicate a part.

Jimsolo: I'm not surprised; they're designed to cut metal. One of the better takeaways from my armoring days is my (meager, but bigger than average) collection of cutting tools - aviation shears, nibblers, end-nippers, punches... even the cold chisel has seen occasional use, since. Can't wait until I have the space to bring the rest of my tools out of storage.

 oadie wrote:
Checked out the blog post, Eilif - some nice toy terrain fodder, there.

Even having a rotary tool with both muscle and finesse (B&D RTX-B - a bit heavy (mitigated by flex shaft, when necessary), but double the torque of an entry-level Dremel, with a sturdier body, more reliable speed control, and a surprisingly comfortable "pencil" grip), I almost never find myself using it for miniatures or terrain. Perhaps if I had enough space to set up work stations with all of my tools permanently plugged in and hanging, awaiting use, I might, but it always seems like hand tools are just as quick, once I factor in digging the power tools out, cleaning up the swarf they spit out, putting them away again, etc.

I had similar considerations. I had a minor windfall and was looking at buying a higher end rotary setup (better brand, flex shaft, foot switch,etc) when my Dremel multipro died after a decade and a half of service. I realized, however, that just don't have room for a big setup, so I just bought another 4 speed dremmel. I keep the 543 installed and the dremel plugged in on the porch and it sees alot more use now. Maybe someday I'll really upgrade, but for my hobby use right now I just don't need anything more.

The short falls of being a human; you use whats closest and most convenient, the reason for all my blade accidents

A tip is have enough space to have stuff setup or wall mounted ready for use imo. Your work space setup is a major key to your work. I have just moved out and gone from 1/2 a garage in space to a full garage (still not that large in the UK), but yeh having stuff accessible and ready to use is a huge boon in terms of productivity. It means you are willing to get out the right tool and use it correctly, which then leads to not only getting better with said tool, but also being more aware of what you can do with that tool and you'll improve much more.

When I finally bought clay shapers (telling myself I could do flesh sculpting fine with metal ones), my work improved drastically.