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One of my friend's sons has become fascinated with the hobby idea recently thanks to the Lord of the Rings figures he's seen. I was looking to help her get him set up with the basic stuff to get started on this without breaking the bank. I cobbled together my collection of tools and equipment over many years, but unfortunately I am not in the same town as them to give him stuff that I have and could part with.

She's a single mom, so I am trying to find budget alternatives to the GW tools as I am putting together this list for her.

So far I have:

Brushes - I suggested Michaels craft stores since I know I have picked up a few brushes there over the years.
Files and plastic snips - not certain if Michaels carries these to be honest, but there are a few hobby stores in her town.
Glue - super glue is pretty basic so I was thinking that(plus it's useful to have around the house anyway).
Spray paint for primer - any particular brands people would recommend?


I am picking up one of the GW starter kits for painting for them, so building the paint selection will have to happen over time.

Is there anything I am missing that you guys would deem a must have for a newbie painter/modeler?

Thanks for any help in advance.

Files and snips, tell her to go to a home hardware or crappy tire. For glue again she can get that at a hardware stoe, i personally like gel based super glue. For primer Krylon is amazing and cheap, can be found at walmart.

If she can find vallejo locally its cheaper then GW paint, all depends on what city she is in.

Brushes, if you can get down to see them and teach the kid about brush care this is one area i would not cheap out on. a good brush will last longer then its same value in cheap brushes.

Where is this family? might be we could hammer together a christmas package. I mean, you could even mail the package over, but hey, if they're in calgary, i'd be willing to throw some money towards someone else's christmas.

For files, snips, pinvice and drill bits, I grabbed a pack for £10 on ebay, the actualy quality of the tools isnt amazing, but they get the job done and were rather cheap!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Craft-Model-Hobby-Tools-Kit-For-Airfix-Modeller-Tamiya-Revell-Roll-Up-Case-SET-5-/400341370277?pt=UK_ToysGames_ModelKits_ModelKits_JN&hash=item5d363485a5

For brushes I would reccomend Rosemary and Co, Almost all of my painting gets done with a size 0 and a size 1, once in a blue moon I use a size 3, Series 33 pure kolinsky sable. They do mongoose hair brushes too which seem decent for drybrushing, they come under the title 'masters choice' on the website.

https://www.rosemaryandco.com

HairySticks wrote:
For files, snips, pinvice and drill bits, I grabbed a pack for £10 on ebay, the actualy quality of the tools isnt amazing, but they get the job done and were rather cheap!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Craft-Model-Hobby-Tools-Kit-For-Airfix-Modeller-Tamiya-Revell-Roll-Up-Case-SET-5-/400341370277?pt=UK_ToysGames_ModelKits_ModelKits_JN&hash=item5d363485a5

How's the Drill Vice in that set? I've got that same set of Drill bits and I'm happy with them but the vice that came with them isn't the best, it struggles to hold some of the bits in the middle of the set.

For clippers a good hobby knife and a cheap set to clippers that you would normally use for nails has worked great for me in most cases. As far as paint brushes go I use cheap ones and need new brushes almost every time I start a new painting project since all of my detail brushes die quickly but that's likely due to bad care on my part.

You're definitely going to need a hobby knife, sometimes called an exacto knife.

For plastic snips, hit up your local hardware store and ask for a micro"flush cutter". They are usually available for very cheap (around 3 bucks) and being flush cutters they will cut plastic sprue much more neatly than most cutters which are indented on both sides.

This is the kind of cutter you are looking for.
http://www.harborfreight.com/micro-flush-cutter-90708.html

And a basic set of knives like this is a good place to start, though they'll probably eventually want a nicer set.
http://www.harborfreight.com/13-piece-precision-knife-set-32099.html

If you''re willing to order from Harbor freight, they have all the files, cutter, and hobby knives you'd need for almost half of what you'd spend elsewhere.

wpgguy wrote:

Spray paint for primer - any particular brands people would recommend?

Some are better than others. Brands like Army Painter are cheaper and better than GW, but really, for primer, as long as its acrylic, brand doesn't really matter.

Thanks for all the input guys.

I completely forgot about the exacto knife, since for me it's just always been there. I also now know the actual tool name for the snips, so thanks for that.

If any of you guys know a specific spray paint that works well let me know. I was suggesting the Walmart paint to her, but didn't know what kinds are around any more since I have refused to let my self prime anything more until I am caught up on my backlog of half finished projects.

Thanks again for all the information.

Exacto is a brand. I have managed just fine with a cheap Stanley extendable with the disposable blades you snap off. I'd be careful with spray primer, though. You're much better off getting soemthing a little more expensive thats designed fro use on models, ratehr than hoping some random bulk brand will work.

Brushes: I find that the packs they have at Michaels is good for a beginner. They have some packs with fairly fine brushes, and they'll work well until he learns brush care. I use them since I'm still rather abusive to my brushes. :(

Snips: The ones listed above from Harbor Freight are grand and lasted me several years before I had to buy another pair.

Knives: The cheap Stanley utility knives with the breaking blades works wonders and is only a couple dollars.

Glue: Super-glue works great, so long as he never drops anything... and so long as he doesn't wear contacts. I've heard horror stories...

Primer: I know it's not made specifically for models, but the $0.99 stuff from WalMart works just fine for me, so long as you don't dump it on too thick.

 JustPlainJim wrote:
Brushes: I find that the packs they have at Michaels is good for a beginner. They have some packs with fairly fine brushes, and they'll work well until he learns brush care. I use them since I'm still rather abusive to my brushes. :(

Artist's Loft Watercolor brushes - 4 piece round natural hair brushes (10/0, 5/0, 3/0, 0) pack. They're a far cry from high end sable brushes, but they beat the heck out of every <$5 synthetic/blend I've tried and the 4-pack costs as much as many singles of comparable size (coupons sweeten the deal, but the'yre pretty reasonable, even at list price). Rifle through the packs until you find a good looking one (some have visible stray hairs or have bucked their covers in the sleeve and gotten creased/splayed in shipping). With moderately careful cleaning and perhaps a minor trim at the start, they'll last for a reasonably long time with reasonably good results. At the very least, they behave more like "real" brushes than shorter, thicker synthetics that can push house paint, but hook and get bushy after the first week. Note that these are watercolor brushes, though - they're too long and soft/springy to push thick paint around, so you may want to save them until the kid has at least a little experience, if he's particularly young and/or you expect him to jump in headfirst, pots open.

As far as files and clippers are concerned, Michaels does also carry both (in the jewelry section, not with the plastic models). With coupons, the prices are reasonable enough and the quality looks decent (haven't bought any, since I'm already set in those departments -HF flush cutters, assorted files - but I've checked them out while I'm there). He'd likely have to contend with pink and/or purple handles, though. If the boy isn't particularly secure in his pre-manhood, I'd look elsewhere. Honestly, I don't even consider flush/side cutters a must-have. Everything can be done with a hobby knife, if you're careful. If you want to clip, not slice, nail clippers do the trick, although the heads can be a bit unwieldy, as do cheap diagonal cutters, although there's a bigger nub to trim/file down.

For primer, I've used the same cheap cans of spraypaint as JustPlainJim to great effect. On plastic, especially if you varnish over the top, it's sufficiently resilient. Although a real primer will always be more robust, regular matte spray paint is sufficient for a beginner using plastic kits (that's all you'd get if you went with GW, anyway).

Only other "must have" for an absolute beginner is a craft knife (and a cutting mat, if he doesn't have a suitable substitute, even if it's just a piece of cardboard and a table that nobody cares about). Here, I'd actually recommend going name-brand and getting Exacto. There are cheaper brands available, but it's rare to find one with decent quality, especially when looking at sets with several handles and a bunch of blades - for most of those, the blades are springy and tend to snap at the tips and plastic collets strip or crack almost immediately. Retractable, snap-off style utility cutters are great for certain things, but the width and spring of the blade and shape of the handle (fits a fist, not fingertips) make them useless for detail work. Best picked up as a secondary tool, as the classic Exacto (pen-style metal handle, #11 blades) is by far the more flexible tool.

A razor saw is also nice (especially with a little miter box, even a cheap plastic one), but far from a necessity.

Now that I think of it, everything you need could be bought at Michaels and with savvy coupon use, it wouldn't be terribly expensive, either. That's not to say that it's necessarily the best option, though. If there are hardware and/or hobby stores around, it's mostly a matter of how much leg work the mother is willing to do.

I think this is a great idea, and sounds like you are off to a great start.

However, I would give one word of caution, but will say up front I do not know much about the lotr game, and if has the same model "demands" that 40k or fantasy has.

Basically, for anyone on a budget, I would never suggest 40k as a hobby. There are tons of cheaper alternatives.

Now, if lotr game has a low model count, then please disregard this advice. If it is similar to 40k....well, I think you are doing anyone with budget constraints a disservice for getting them into this game.

davethepak wrote:
I think this is a great idea, and sounds like you are off to a great start.

However, I would give one word of caution, but will say up front I do not know much about the lotr game, and if has the same model "demands" that 40k or fantasy has.

Basically, for anyone on a budget, I would never suggest 40k as a hobby. There are tons of cheaper alternatives.

Now, if lotr game has a low model count, then please disregard this advice. If it is similar to 40k....well, I think you are doing anyone with budget constraints a disservice for getting them into this game.

I can't really speak to Lord of the Rings either but there are a bunch of great ways to play 40k that aren't 1850 or 1999+1 games and accordingly aren't nearly as demanding on your budget, particularly Kill Team is an underappreciated option IMO, and has been updated for 6th edition by fans.

Not to get too off track but I just think 40k get's pigeonholed into the tourney size games a bit too much and people forget that's not all there is.

davethepak wrote:
I think this is a great idea, and sounds like you are off to a great start.

However, I would give one word of caution, but will say up front I do not know much about the lotr game, and if has the same model "demands" that 40k or fantasy has.

Basically, for anyone on a budget, I would never suggest 40k as a hobby. There are tons of cheaper alternatives.

Now, if lotr game has a low model count, then please disregard this advice. If it is similar to 40k....well, I think you are doing anyone with budget constraints a disservice for getting them into this game.

He is more a huge fan of the books and movies than a gamer I would say, so for now the playing part won't be a big deal. I picked them up a Mines of Moria set, and the starter paint set for Lord of the Rings to get him off and running, and I will likely look for some of the stuff I bought when it first came out and never got around to painting. I want to say i have 3 box sets sitting in storage back home that I'm going give him ( the ones I remember buying are no longer on the GW site by the look of things so couldn't tell you the names). That should keep him out of trouble for a while.

I am hesitant to get him the hobby knife right off the bat, since I really don't know how responsible he would be with a sharp blade.

Thanks again for the information and ideas guys.