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Hey guys, as we all know wargames, can add up VERY quickly with just the miniatures, then you start throwing in paint, xacto knives, flush cutters, PVA glue, pin vises, drill bits, upgraded paint brushes, magnets, and all the other little odds and ends we need, and you can quickly spend quite a bit of money without even buying a single figurine! What the purpose of this topic will be is to help those who are new to the hobby with my own experience, and that of others in finding great deals to try and spend quite a bit less.

I'll list the parts I've bought so far while deal-hunting, and anyone who wants to add anything, please post on here, or send me a PM. If anyone can locate a better deal, or another necessary product at a better deal than other retailers I'll add it on to the original post. I feel this will all be extremely helpful for new modelers in breaking down the daunting prices of making quality miniatures. Also, this thread will mostly pertain to the US as when you go international, it greatly changes things because of increased, and varying shipping costs.

Things I have no experience with yet that I would definetely like to add to the list are green stuff, and carving tools for green stuff, and anything else you guys can think of.

So without further adieu

Hobby blade (Xacto knife):
Price: $3
Location: The cheapest I've found these are at walmart, this is a necessary when modeling for removing mold lines which can be a major detractor in the looks of your modles. Anywhere else, even online is going to charge you 5 dollars minimum, along with shipping costs.

Flush cutters (sprue clippers)
Price: $5
Location: Once again, the cheapest place I was able to find these is walmart. They are 5 dollars(possible 5.99, I'm not 100% sure, I'll check the next time I'm there). As with the xacto knife, walmart is not able to list the price even on their website because it is below MSRP, and walmart has some sort of deal set up to get these things dirt cheap. I've clipped over 70 miniatures with mine, and they work perfectly fine still. The brand is named Cousins, and they can be found in the craft section of the store, near the little jewelery odds and ends.

Spray Primer.
Price: $1.08-178 (I've noticed differing prices at different walmarts)
Location: Walmart for the third time, the name on the can is "Fast dry spray paint" It is very cheap, and very thin paint.

Raphael 8404 brushes
Price: $15.83 for one single brush SHIPPED
Location: www.secretweaponminiatures.com As I got a bit further into the hobby, I got very sick of citadel's brushes, and wanted to upgrade at the very least my fine detail brush. However while prices on all art supply websites were the same, the shipping was VERY different, if I was ordering one single brush through dickblick.com, it was coming out to close to 20 dollars just for the shipping, so this puts the single brush at almost TWICE what I was able to pay on this website.

Magnets
Price: 3.50 for 50 3mmx1.5mm magnets SHIPPED
Location: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0065O63BK Everybody likes magnets, from vehicles to our little mens arms, if you want to have multiple weapons available on your miniatures you need magnets, and this is the best deal I've been able to find anywhere. They have almost 100 positive reviews, and while I haven't recieved mine yet, I'm pretty sure they're going to work great. There are at least two different retailers who will ship them for this same price.

Pin Vise
Price:3.95 SHIPPED
Location: http://www.ebay.com/itm/170995053280 This is what is used to hold the drills which make the holes for our magnets to be inserted.

Drill bits(3mm)
Price:3.59 SHIPPED
Location: www.amazon.com/dp/B004XX1D3I As the magnets listed here are 3mm, we definetely need a 3mm drill bit to go along with our pin vise in order to get a hole in our model to place the magnets. This is the cheapest I've found for a retailer, but there may be better deals out there, also this one comes with 2 of the same size drill bits.

The master's Brush cleaner, and preserver
Price: 6.16 SHIPPED
Location: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TNR7VM from what I've heard this stuff is absolutely awesome, and necessary for keeping your brushes clean, and maintaining a sharp point to your brushes, it is 10 dollars at my local craft store which is the only place locally that has it.

Poster putty
Price: 3.46 SHIPPED (or 1.60 with a $25 amazon purchase)
Location: http://www.amazon.com/Duck-Removable-Mounting-Poster-1436912/dp/B000BQMFEC/

This is good input, but there is a sticky at the top of the P & M Forum for information like this.

I know there is a pinned topic about this, but I hope this thread continues cause I need to buy some more supplies on a limited budget.

Why spend the money on sprue cutters when toe nail clippers are cheap and work just as well?

Also I would caution against a super cheap x-acto knife.....I had one, it was bad, real bad, loose handle didn't hold the blade quite tight enough.....blood flowed.....

I saw a nice xacto style knife with a soft grip at Radio Shack the other day. Forgot how much it cost cause I was looking at the small parts to see if there was anything I could use for conversions.

17x23 Self Sealing Cutting Mat $16.19 @Target


http://www.target.com/p/self-healing-cutting-mat-17x23/-/A-10730954?ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001&AFID=Google_PLA_df&LNM=%7C10730954&CPNG=Toys&kpid=10730954&LID=PA&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=10730954&gclid=CMu9oO_F7rkCFc01Qgods0YAgA

Duplicating Jig for Cutting strip and tube stock 27.85

http://www.micromark.com/duplicating-jig-for-cutting-strip-and-tube-stock,9273.html

I was gonna do some metal tube cutting and needed them to be all the same size without the guess work and this is what I found so far.

Keep in mind that it is very rare for a miniature hobby company to have the best price on anything...except for miniatures. DickBlick sells brushes for cheaper than Secret Weapon and they have a larger assortment. The brush cleaner is cheaper from them as well, and they have the poster putty for cheaper too.

They offer free shipping on orders over $99 regularily and often have other sales (right now free shipping on orders over $59). Throw in some flowaid, maybe some airbrush thinner and you can hit that free shipping number really easily.

They also have best prices or nearly so on knives and a lot of other handy tools and supplies (clay shapers, polymer clays, resins, silicone...).

Widgets Supply is the other goto source for all sorts of tools. They are normally cheaper than most, have a huge selection of odd ball tools for hobby work and fast, cheap shipping. Drills, files, cutters, knives, tweezers, polishing points... Pretty well covers the things which DickBlick misses.

Also, for the really tight budget...most big box craft stores regularily have 40% off coupons. Michaels, Hobby Lobby and AC Moore are generally available within a short drive anywhere in the US. Watch the weekly adds and stock up either using that coupon or the sale items which often offer discounts of 50% off the regular price (which is normally 10% off retail or so).

Ebay is a great source for hobby stuff. For example, the magnets you can get 50 3x1.5 for $AU1.70, 100 for $2.91.