Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Just wondering which piece of hobby equipment you absolutely couldn't live without.

For me, it's my faux squirrel round size 14. It's a pain to use for details (kinda unpossible), but otherwise invaluable. What about you dudes?

This about sums it up.

Imagination

I have a small collection of Kolinsky sable brushes from Dick Blick's store brand. They are the highest quality tools on my desk, and I've nearly worn one out with use over the last five years.

 Sammoth wrote:
This about sums it up.

http://toolmonger.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/XACTO.jpg

This for sure

Xacto that much better than a regular Stanley knife?

Hard to say for me. I've used the same Swiss army knife for nearly 20 years for cleaning mold lines, so that would probably be it. However, my new Ryobi cordless drill makes drilling, pinning, and magnetizing ridiculously easy.

 nuttersuclan wrote:
Xacto that much better than a regular Stanley knife?

I use a Swann Morton scalpel with 10A blades but my favourite tool is my half round needle file.
(~£17 for a knife which will last a life-time with enough blades to keep it fed - don't think you can do better IMO!!)

Toss-up between my main sculpting tool, modified into actual usefulness from an old GW sculpting tool, and my hobby knife with little pointy Impex micro fine/Excel stencil blades.

A simple X-acto #1 handle with #11 blades certainly gets the most use, but scalpels, snap-off craft knives, etc. can do the same jobs - I wouldn't want to switch, but I'd get by just fine if made to.

What I'd never want to part with is my pin vice. It's old (from the '70s, I believe, when my father was still building model ships), probably Japanese, and perfect (largely due to the prior two points). Beefy brass body with heavy, but not overly sharp, knurling along its entire length. Heavy steel collar and collets. Ah, the collets! Precise, smooth machining on half a dozen sizes from zero-closure up to roughly 5/16". It can handle any bit I own and grip it tight, but never so tight that removal is problematic. The size and weight makes it feel solid and balanced in the hand, but it's not so heavy that I worry about wire-gauge bits snapping under its weight. The ONLY downside is the lack of a swivel-back, but that was long ago remedied with a small wooden cup (thick dowel stock, hollowed out and rounded over) which can be placed over the end to allow free rotation while applying palm pressure.

My flat-edge clippers. Essential to the cause.

I second the pin vice.
Got lots of different knives, but only one nice quality drilly thing

My glasses.

My eyes, and my hands

The box itself....

Seriously! I can still remember the amazing difference it makes to have all the tools in one place, nice and tidy, ready to use.

The combination of the paint rack, tool box, and general storage for all the associated stuff, turned the messy work desk into something more useful for working at, productivity went up 10 fold.
That made more difference than any one of the tools did on their own.

HairySticks wrote:
The box itself....

Seriously! I can still remember the amazing difference it makes to have all the tools in one place, nice and tidy, ready to use.

The combination of the paint rack, tool box, and general storage for all the associated stuff, turned the messy work desk into something more useful for working at, productivity went up 10 fold.
That made more difference than any one of the tools did on their own.

Very true. A well organized hobby kit is better than a well stocked one in many cases. It doesn't help to have a dozen different sculpting tools, saws, scalpels, knives and brushes if they can not be found and accessed with minimal fuss.

If I had to pick just one - I couldn't. Even when I was broke and head barely any hobby tools - I still had a couple different X-Acto blade handles and three or four pin vises and a selection of brushes (along with a bundle of brass and bamboo which I would shape into other tools as needed).

Now my collection of tools has grown several fold - and they tend to have very specialized purposes. A large collection of pin vises - each holding one bit (easy to change collets are nice - but it is even nicer to not have to change the bit at all). Various knives, gouges, files and rasps. Paint brushes, airbrushes, sculpting tools. Side cutters, flush cutters, fret cutters. Foam knives, hot wire cutters and Sur-Forms... Clamps, vises, third hands. I could likely thin it down some if I had to - but I would rather not. Definitely could not pick just one.

My compressor, I've been painting space marines and the airbrush needs the compressor to get that smooth easy finish!

Small File rounded on one side flat on the other.
.
I use sprue cutters and Dykes, and a File, never an Exacto, scars suck.
.
Many kits have parts already off the sprue that have remnants of the sprue still attached (some GW fortification kits for example) so the file gets used quite a bit.
.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
My eyes, and my hands

All of these are essential for miniature hobbying.

A Jewelers Saw, not as clumsy or random as a dremel, an elegant tool for a more civilized hobby.