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I’m going to USA in a few days and plan on shopping some stuff while I’m there. I just got back in the hobby, so I have some stuff, like hobby knives and some sculpting tools.

- I’m on the lookout for a quality clipper with a flat edge that’s not too big to fit in between the sprues and hs a spring that doesn’t get slack after a little use.
- Fine sand paper for models and/or those thin sticks about the size of coffee stirrers with sand paper on both sides.
- Rack for my Vallejo, scale75, army painter and citadel bottles. Not mdf
- Airbrush and compressor, I had and iwata eclipse 0,4 nozzle and was really happy with it, but I’m open for options. the compressor is preferably not too loud. It’s going to be 95% priming and base coating.
- weathering products
- inks
- any other items you guys would suggest?

I know amazon has a lot of stuff, any other places I can look? Hobby lobby?

Help is hreatly appreciated, thank you.

Yeah, hobby lobby will have a lot of what you’re looking for; I would also add jewelry files, pin vise to your list. It might be easier for you to buy at home and have it shipped than to buy overseas and haul it back.

As far as the clippers go, I’ve bought a ton from hobby stores, testers, Walmart, etc. I don’t think I’ve seen any as thin as GWs. You might want to just bite the bullet and get theirs. Idk if anyone can attest to how theirs hold up, but the other ones don’t last too long, in my experience.

Some of that stuff will be tough...hobby shops in the US are pretty sparse and often aimed at generic model makers, and not wargamers. Most major hobby/wargames companies sell through online. I would have a hard time recommending any of the local hobby shops for an out-of-country visitor....I think you'd be disappointed in most.

PS: An option would be...to order a bunch of stuff and have it shipped to wherever you're staying (if you can find a local friend wiling to hold onto stuff) if you just want to "smuggle" it back home without paying our egregious international shipping?

 Elbows wrote:
Some of that stuff will be tough...hobby shops in the US are pretty sparse and often aimed at generic model makers, and not wargamers. Most major hobby/wargames companies sell through online. I would have a hard time recommending any of the local hobby shops for an out-of-country visitor....I think you'd be disappointed in most.

PS: An option would be...to order a bunch of stuff and have it shipped to wherever you're staying (if you can find a local friend wiling to hold onto stuff) if you just want to "smuggle" it back home without paying our egregious international shipping?

I did plan to smuggle it yes
It’s so expensive with shipping to Norway from the US. In addition to the shipping costs I have to pay 25% of the total in customs. From the uk I can get pretty cheap shipping and if I keep the total below 4$ I get free customs.

Pretty much everything is considerably cheaper than in norway, so it’ll be worth it.

 Big Mac wrote:
Yeah, hobby lobby will have a lot of what you’re looking for; I would also add jewelry files, pin vise to your list. It might be easier for you to buy at home and have it shipped than to buy overseas and haul it back.

Out of that list? I've seen almost none of that in a hobby lobby.
Round these parts you'd be lucky to find a decent paint rack (and not specifically fit for those paint manufacturers) and maybe sand paper. But the same could be said for lowes/home depot, which might have clippers as well.

I'm not sure where you would find a vallejo paint rack in a brick-and-mortar store. As for the rest of it, you can find it all at a "HobbyTown USA" if there is one there.

Hobby Lobby does have some miniatures and modeling stuff, but it is largely aimed at home decor, gardens, fabrics, canvas painting and papercraft. HobbyTown USA is aimed more at model cars, trains and airplanes. You're probably going to be able to find every tool mentioned above there. However I have found that they do not carry much miniature acrylic paint.

The hobby lobby in McAllen TX, where I lived the past 12 years and now Dallas, TX area all have a small Vallejo rack, micro sol decal softener, paint medium/metal medium/glaze; soft camel hair brushes for washes; cheap air spray starter kits, xacto knife, hand held pin vise, etc; hobby lobby are almost identical base on my experience, you should be able to find most what you need.

Thanks for all your input!
I guess ill shop it all online, Any other places than Amazon you guys know of?

I get the Daler-Rowney FW Inks from DickBlick.com, best price I've found and they have all the colors (and free shipping).

 Big Mac wrote:
The hobby lobby in McAllen TX, where I lived the past 12 years and now Dallas, TX area all have a small Vallejo rack, micro sol decal softener, paint medium/metal medium/glaze; soft camel hair brushes for washes; cheap air spray starter kits, xacto knife, hand held pin vise, etc; hobby lobby are almost identical base on my experience, you should be able to find most what you need.

Agreed. You can get Vallejo Model Color paints at Hobby Lobby. Note however they only have 52 colors out of the approximately 200 colors in the line.

 H wrote:
I get the Daler-Rowney FW Inks from DickBlick.com, best price I've found and they have all the colors (and free shipping).

I’ve never tried the FW inks, are they good? I’ve only tried liquitex and Vallejo.

 killerpenguin wrote:
I’ve never tried the FW inks, are they good? I’ve only tried liquitex and Vallejo.

They seem good to me, they come recommended by Vince Venturella (from YouTube) and while I don't have much to compare them to, since I've never used the Liquitex ones, they seem to do what you want an ink to do (flow well, highly pigmented).