tools to get started

Tools! Tools! Tools! Tools to do this, tools to do that, I do agree before jumping into all those expensive power tools. try using the less expensive hand, tools, they may take longer to complete the task you're trying to do, and it might not be perfect / Perfect but sometimes the self-satisfaction gained doing it by hand, using good old hand tools is for me, very rewarding! I have a few power tools and many just sit there, as I enjoy doing things by hand! If I have repetitive things that need to be done, I create a jig to do them. There are power tools I believe you need to construct a model ship; Someday I will purchase a good machinist mill for my drill press:) I guess it all boils down to your personal preferences, why you build Models to begin with, and your Wallet!!
 
bandido said:
I guess it all boils down to your personal preferences, why you build Models to begin with, and your Wallet!!
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Well said, Bandido!!
We can discuss forever what tools should a scale modeler acquire, but... It will always depend on a modeler's personal preference, taste, and money.
 
i totally agree with the above post

i have a few friends who over the past 30 some years in the hobby have collected a huge amount of tools worth more than my car, maybe they just like to collect tools. I also have a large collection of tools from big to tiny and it has been going on since the late 1960s. Some are even older i got from my dad like a Sears jig saw that takes 2 men to pick up.

But like i said at one point new model builders looking to get into model ship building were scared away when they were told about all the tools like a $600.00 mini table saw or a $1,000.00 mill. Then to top it off they are told you have to use these exotic woods which are 10 times the cost.

do you really need something like this? NO! unless your planning on get into some serious model building like maybe a scale working steam engine. This is at the level of model engineering.

a101a.JPG

however this is well worth the investment and you can find used ones on Ebay for 1/2 the price.

aa1.JPG

or for your first kit or two a few hand tools are all you need.
 
Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) said:
But like i said at one point new model builders looking to get into model ship building were scared away when they were told about all the tools like a $600.00 mini table saw or a $1,000.00 mill. Then to top it off they are told you have to use these exotic woods which are 10 times the cost.
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...but, I don't believe we said so here! We keep saying NO, you don't need most of the tools, for now.
 
Dave Stevens (Lumberyard) said:
way back i was a judge at the Inland Seas model ship contest and there was a seperation in class of models the kit build model and the scratch built model these are worlds apart and are not even close. One is building a scale model of a ship and the other is building ship model.

You ask yourself what is your end game staying with kits or venturing into scratch buiding this determines the the tools you need.

i do not build commerical kits but i do scratch build a "kit" that is prep everything i need to build the model and at that point 90% of the build is hand tools. I just finished building the Sultana with nothing more than a set of Exact- o- blades, sandpaper, diamond burrs and a Deremel. The two most expensive thing i have in the Deremel and a good quality mini vice which i got off Ebay.
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Back in 1966 I was living above a garage in Coral Gables FLA as a student at the University of Miami. Being a lousy student (but not lazy), I decided I wanted to build a ship model. I bought the MS "Sultana' in the old yellow box at Orange Blossom Hobbies for $11.50. (I went without dinner for a day or two) Along with some sandpaper, a half round file, and a small X-acto hobby knife set (no Dremel, too expensive), some glue and hobby paint and a few cheap brushes (in stages as needed). Eschewing my homework, I dove obsessively into the project. Those old instructions suggested using wire and card stock to solve a lot of problems. The same directions took into consideration building a reasonably successful model using minimal resources. A lot of time was spent just patiently paring down the "pre-carved" hull into shape. Not being lazy, I made all the templates necessary for shaping. Since then, I've become lazier and use the" Winchum Suinchum' andThumbs-Upmethod for smaller solid hull creations.
In the end I finished a pretty nice hull (and typically average grades).
I finished the model 50 years later using the current updated plans.
I just posted the model on the Completed models forum. The build was definitely from poverty and hunger, but it provided one of my happiest (if not academically stellar) semesters at school with minimal expenditure, workspace and tools.:cool:

Pete
 
By the way, rule of thumb being "You can never have enough clamps" (especially working on furniture for a living) I finally realized I could never buy all I needed at one go (Even at Harbor Freight, which has the best clamps for every imaginable purpose, for next to nothing) So every time I went to the hardware store (usually once a week) I'd buy one or two clamps. After a while enough accumulated to usually have at least one of what I needed at hand.

Pete
 
bandido said:
Tools! Tools! Tools! Tools to do this, tools to do that, I do agree before jumping into all those expensive power tools. try using the less expensive hand, tools, they may take longer to complete the task you're trying to do, and it might not be perfect / Perfect but sometimes the self-satisfaction gained doing it by hand, using good old hand tools is for me, very rewarding! I have a few power tools and many just sit there, as I enjoy doing things by hand! If I have repetitive things that need to be done, I create a jig to do them. There are power tools I believe you need to construct a model ship; Someday I will purchase a good machinist mill for my drill press:) I guess it all boils down to your personal preferences, why you build Models to begin with, and your Wallet!!
Click to expand...
bandido said:
Tools! Tools! Tools! Tools to do this, tools to do that, I do agree before jumping into all those expensive power tools. try using the less expensive hand, tools, they may take longer to complete the task you're trying to do, and it might not be perfect / Perfect but sometimes the self-satisfaction gained doing it by hand, using good old hand tools is for me, very rewarding! I have a few power tools and many just sit there, as I enjoy doing things by hand! If I have repetitive things that need to be done, I create a jig to do them. There are power tools I believe you need to construct a model ship; Someday I will purchase a good machinist mill for my drill press:) I guess it all boils down to your personal preferences, why you build Models to begin with, and your Wallet!!
Click to expand...
What you are saying here, is/was what I tried to say. I am from the OLD school -about 1960 - and have never had exènsive tools, nor electric tools such as a lathe, fraeser , cutting tools, electric saw etc. The most expensive I bought was the Dremel and a very good Calibrator. still, although not building any more -80 years of age and a small apartment - my hacksaw, another type of handsaw to saw in a 45º cut a few pliers and my old hammer. At least in Denmark, there were nearly no tools for our hobby -some you could get in the plastic building hobby shop. my first Dremel I got as late as 1998. Drilling allways by hand drill , so I think you misunderstood me. Happy building -el capi
 
There is a recent post from Landsman from the Russian Federation which is a stellar example of the kind of masterwork that can be realized with the most rudimentary of hand tools. The tool featured in the pictures is an X-acto knife with a# 11(I think) blade!
Check it out!

hull model of the legendary French ship 1669-1692 Le Soleil Royal

Where do you start.. Huge thanks for posting Mr Deep!
shipsofscale.com
 
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