How much has your build technique, and tools changed over the years?

[JeepsGunsTanks]

The "What you get out of building", and "How many Models have you done" were really fun threads. They got me thinking about building and how much things have changed for me. 

 

When I was a kid, I just twisted the parts off the sprues and glued them with that thick Testors clear glue from the tube. That stuff melted styrofoam-like crazy! I put the decals right on the plastic; they were toys that did not last long. 

 

Probably about ten or twelve. I got some books on building models nicely. I'm sure one book was "Modeling Tanks and Military Vehicles by Shepard Paine. Then I went down and bought Testors Oil-based paints and started painting my models. 

 

Around this time, a local Hobbyshop had a modeling class every Saturday morning, and I learned about dry brushing and the future Floor wax method for dealing with decals.  That shop eventually closed, but I kept on building. There was a pretty nice hobby Shop even closer to my house than the old place. Scenario Game and Hobby, in Fremont California. He had a big selection of kits, all types, plus other hobby stuff, like all the board and RPG games like Battletech.   

 

At this point, I discovered you needed to buy some good paintbrushes. I was still using an Exacto knife to cut stuff off sprues.I had one normal tweezer, like the eyebrow kind I swiped from my sister.  I had upgraded to the Model Master Line of Testors paints. I loved the colors on them. The flat clear was awesome too. I was still all oil-based at this time, too.  I did start using some Tamiya Acrylics, but I had no idea they were not oil-based. For whatever reason, none of the local shops carried the Tamiya Oil-based paints. Or they did, and they got banned in California. The 80s were a long time ago! 

 

The Airbrush was another step up and the last early change, then girls and cars hit and I didn't build much. I did keep the tools and paint brushes and even the paints. 

 

Jump ahead a decade into the early 2000s, when I got back into models, I had learned about sprue cutters and had some cheap ones. The biggest change was that I was all crazy over CA glue!  I got ZAP, and proceeded to build everything with that. I kept around a tube of the Testors cement for something that needed a stronger joint. The RC Pershing was built with both, more cement than ZAP, but everything after was CA.  I built until about 2012 during this period. 

 

In 2022, when I got back into it with the two RC rebuilds, I went nuts with the tools and paints. I was really disappointed they killed the Model Master Acrylic paint line in 2013. When I heard about it, I almost gave up on models, I thought I'd be stuck with Tamiya Olive drab! Of course, between Mig, AK, Vallejo, etc., you have so many choices; it's almost crazy. I think we are in a modeling golden age right now. There are more amazing kits and specialty products to support the hobby than ever. 

 

I went back to Model Cement, and only us-CA for some things, and that's so much better. That's another area with interesting choices, like Reg Magma stuff, or the AK brand model cements.

 

Back in the day, I didn't do washes since you had to make them; now, there are ready-made washes in a variety of types. Same with dry brushing,  there is now a line of paint just for that! I got some of those too. 

 

I gave the liquid mask a try. My results are mixed, but it's easier than trying to cut little bits of masking tape off to cover 1/35 and 1/16th scale Periscopes. 

 

I have a variety of micro-saws to deal with 3D-printed parts like Periscope and Light Guards. 

 

I got a P/E bender tool, but still mess up most P/E. For the P/E stuff, I really want to try learning soldering. It seems like the best way to build the complex PE parts. 

 

I rarely use X-acto knives, but I have so many it's almost funny, some more than 40 years old! 

 

I have many tweezers, clamping, the kind that poke you and make you bleed if you're not warry, the kind that shoot parts across the room, I even have a sprue cutter that looks like tweezers! 

 

I have more tools than ever, in the vain hope they will help with my not-great building skills, and I think to satisfy a weird fetish for tools. I think the most helpful are the new paints and the really good sprue cutters. That and nice paintbrushes. Also, I have to say that watching videos on how to do things is very helpful as well. 

 

 

[mozart]

Hmmm, I have a very limited range of tools and paints: two Swann Morton knives with a 10 and 12 blades fitted, a good selection of very old needle files that I inherited from my father, a couple of razor saws, I only use MRP paints and one airbrush, and that’s about it really! The game changer for me was buying a Silhouette cutter 10 years ago; it enables me to design and cut masks for the specific plane that I want to model, and with some creative thinking can offer more solutions.

I like to keep things simple…..too much “stuff” causes confusion and uncertainty which I don’t need in my advanced years! 

Edited January 17 by mozart

[dennismcc]

Sounds like my modelling history, twisting parts off sprues, no paint, licking transfers, the latest masterpiece built in ten minutes all Airfix from Woolworths.

I built warships, AFV's, everything I remember building a green train or tram once.

Then I discovered exotic (to me) Frog and Revell kits, model magazines and Humbrol paint.

On one glorious day my mum took me to Liverpool and there was a model shop, somewhere off Bold street and I bought a Monagram 1/48 scale Fw190, it was an eye opener, lots of different varients and parts and big, all my previous kits were 1/72 scale.

I even found Japanese kits and can remember a Japanese biplane floatplane which I painted and displayed on the curtain pelmet at home.

Motorbikes, the TT, race meetings, a bike club, bike rallys and of course girls then interferred, but I got good at building motorbike kits and shaping racing tanks from balsa to conver my bikes into racers, there was some Honda CB72/77 kits that I used to favour for this, then the Protar range arrived, the Honda racers of the era, Honda and MV's especially.

After kids and the relative quieter life I needed a hobby and started building models again, all sorts of mixed scales and subjects but all aircraft.

Then the revolution started an airbrush was bought (Badger) and I can remember using it on my first 1/32 scale kit, a Matchbox SBD, then I used it to refurbish my sons cars, but brush painting was more the choice.

Simple improvements to kits, I remember articles called Gilding The Lily (John Teague maybe) with simple fixes for improving kits.

Then a spell working overseas meant that I had a nice study to build in and time for models, 1/32 scale aircraft became the norm, resin and PE appeared.

I had an account at Hannants and they used to send kits and stuff out to me in Thailand and Australia, I bought a lot of Warbirds and Paragon stuff, especially when we used to fly back to the UK specially for the IPMS Nationals later Scale Modelworld, boy we were cold.

A game changer was finding Xtracolor paints, the ease of airbrushing them won me over, later WEM Colorcoats and Model Master enamels joined the arsenal.

Back to the UK and Military modelling became a big part of my modelling life, lots of reference material for this including the excellent Mike Starmer books.

Paint masks instead of decals was a big step up, mostly thanks to Mal at Miracle Paint masks who made a lot of custom masks for me in the early days, then along came Montex and Makatar.

Then 1/32 scale kits and AM seemed to explode, in the 1990's I had a Hannants catalogue (paper) and went through it end to end marking in a highlighter all the 1/32 items from kits to AM.

There was not much there but as time has gone on on more and more has appeared, so now my stash is bulging.

 

Cheeers

 

Dennis

[ScottsGT]

Also did the twist and glue as a kid.  But I was always brush painting them.  Things advanced when I robbed my moms Paasche airbrush she bought to use in her ceramics shop she had.  Think that was around 13.  Didn’t take long to discover what happens when you don’t clean it as soon as you use it.  
 

it was 2004-2005, after I had built a handful of kits as an adult that I discovered LSP and ARC and was blown away at all of the stunning builds that were so realistic.   I wanted to build like that!  I had spent part of my adult life restoring cars and making them beautiful, why not models?  Around that time I picked up a Badger airbrush as my first. 
 

Started focusing on tips and techniques. I think I read everything published on these websites up until then. Then my task was to try them and get better at it.  I look at each model as an improvement over the last one. Well, that’s my goal anyway. 
 

I’ve recently added a few new tools to the stash. One is a seam scraper for barrels and leading edges.  Haven’t used it yet.  Second is in the mail, a Hobby Zone building jig. I’ve always cut reliefs in the ends of a box to hold a fuselage.  I have biplane kits to build and I want to make it easy.  
I have two airbrushes now.  My Iwata hp-cs I modified with a trigger stop adjustment back piece and my Grex I use with the fan attachment. I use it for larger models and decanted Tamiya spray paints.  That stuff likes to go on wet and heavy to gloss out.  I sold the Badger after about a year and switched to the Iwata.  

I use two Xacto handles with different blades. That’s new. Use do the #11 only.

Jewelers files. My go-to for heavy shaping.  They don’t wear out like sanding sticks or paper.  I keep a small wire brush handy to clean them out. 
My best “tool” is my small parts storage system on my bench and my roll around tool chest I store larger things in. Or maybe my paint booth?  
 

I still on occasion use the old Testors glue, but mostly Tamiya thin. I tried other liquid glues, just like the Tamiya best. 
 

Since the demise of the old Testors paints, I’ve switched over to lacquers.  Mostly Mr. Color and MRP, but just got my first two AK bottles in the mail yesterday.  

[Oldbaldguy]

Well, although I suspect I am older than most of you, it seems we all evolved similarly in the world of modeling.  I realized several years ago that I had finally transcended to a higher plane of personal development when I purchased a high end pellet rifle and have yet to use it on any of my models no matter how badly they deserve it.

 

A stash is a tool of sorts, I suppose.  For economic and other reasons, I rarely had more than a two kit stash until late in life, and even now, my stash is relatively small.  I wonder when and why big stashes became a thing?  Aftermarket is another thing I’ve had to get used to.  I once made wings and other parts from plastic rulers and still prefer to scrounge bits and pieces of whatever I can find to make details a kit may lack.  Paint has become a worrisome thing.  A single thimble sized bottle today costs more than any kit on the market when I was a wee lad, but the variety and quality of the stuff available today is light years beyond my wildest dreams.  Believe it or not, I still make good use of a sizable vice, a small anvil and a couple of hammers but Dremels changed everything - the kit that does not need some degree of drilling or grinding has yet to be made.  

[John Stambaugh]

When I got back into the hobby 5 years ago I was astonished at the improvement in quality, detail and engineering. Also the vast quantity of specialized tools and materials available. 

  I was and still am intimidated by it all. I feel that my skills are not nearly developed enough to fully do justice to these excellent kits. 

 The old days of tube glue, rubber bands and clothes pins are long gone as I have spent an embarrassing amount of money on specialized tools and other necessities.

 The hobby has matured and there is a nearly infinite variety to satisfy every taste and budget.

Am glad to be here. Happy modeling,   John 

 

[Oldbaldguy]

 

1 hour ago, John Stambaugh said:

 The old days of tube glue, rubber bands and clothes pins are long gone

 

 

Heresy!!  I have a most impressive collection of rubber bands and clothes pins that still work just fine.  As for tube glue, I still use it but the current stuff can’t hold a candle to the pre nanny state tubes of that stank up the whole house but stuck like, well, like glue.

[Juggernut]

Constantly evolving...

[MikeC]

How much has my technique changed?  Totally!  It has been a gradual evolution over many years, starting with (like many) sticking plastic together with tube cement and just adding transfers (no decals in those days). 

 

But I can pick out two big step changes that made a huge difference.  The first was, in the late 1960s, discovering AIrfix Magazine, and realising that one could take these kits to another level.  The second was in the late 1990s, when I switched to predominantly 1/48 and bought my first airbrush, a Badger 200: the combination of doing both around the same time just seemed to take things to another level.

[Greif8]

Interesting question.  During my career in the U.S. Army my tools remained pretty static and basic, a couple of hobby knives with various blades, 1 airbrush, different brushes, files/sandpapers in different grades and a couple of other small tools.  That all changed after I retired a little over 5 years ago.  I now have more tools and finishing products then you can shake a stick at, some of them actually useful/used - my wife says in my case, "No tool will be left behind".  Joking aside, some of my more useful purchases have been a very nice spray booth, better quality airbrushes and in some cases paint brushes, a couple of sets of good dies/punches and some measuring tools among others; and they do get used.  Having said that though, I have spent the past few bench sessions working on the masts for my Constitution build and the tools I have mostly used are sanding sticks and my hobby knife - not much different then say ten years ago.  What has developed are my techniques, especially in few areas.

 

I am much better at general assembly meaning the entry point for clean up work like getting rid of seams is better making later steps in the build process more smooth and effective; and the end result look a lot better than my efforts eariler in modelling.

 

Both my airbrushing and brush painting techniques have improved.  I can spray both primer and base coats without issues like orange peel or sags, and I am able to bring off advanced techniques like spraying mottling.  I have gotten much better at using an airbrush to apply weathering effects using different media.  I can now also airbrush most of the base colors on figures or do some decent light and shadow effects.  The area that I think my technique has improved the most is figure painting.  I can now use both oils and acrylics to achieve a variety of effects with an end result that looks fairly decent.

 

I have improved at scratchbuilding, though that journey is continually evolving.  I can now post some "in progress shots" of my scratchbuilding process with a bit of confidence.

 

There are other areas as well, and I think each build helps me improve at least one thing, making the journey that much more enjoyable.

 

Ernest 

 

 

 

    

[MikeC]

6 hours ago, Greif8 said:

I am much better at general assembly meaning the entry point for clean up work like getting rid of seams is better making later steps in the build process more smooth and effective; and the end result look a lot better than my efforts eariler in modelling.

I can relate to that too. A little care in assembly saves a lot of filling. Also related is the discovery that if you have to force a fit and clamp it severely, you're only building stress and potential problems into the model,  and need to work on fit a bit more.

[mozart]

1 hour ago, MikeC said:

I can relate to that too. A little care in assembly saves a lot of filling. Also related is the discovery that if you have to force a fit and clamp it severely, you're only building stress and potential problems into the model,  and need to work on fit a bit more.

Thorough Preparation is Everything! 

Edited January 18 by mozart

[chrish]

Well, I cannot add much. JeepsGunsTanks is pretty much my life story with modelling

started out as a kid building (mostly) NASCAR models on a Saturday morning on the living room floor in my Pyjamas while watching the Bugs Bunny road runner hour. Very few aircraft back then because fast cars were relatable. 
After making my living as an automotive mechanic for 30 (or so) years the shine on cars had long gone, after working on them all day I didn’t want to build models of them as well. But…having been a mechanic and needing a mass of tools to do the job, that mentality carried over to my hobby (when I returned to it) with Snap On tools boxes at work full of Snap on, Blue Point and Mac tools I figured I need the best (and most) tools I can get for the hobby as well (linear thinking at its worst) so 7 airbrushes of various makes/ manufacturers (of which I only use two Iwata’s) about 8 small handle Exacto style and 4 large handle Exacto style knives (now only buying bulk Zuron blades) I color code the handles so as to not use the newest blades as pry bars or scrapers. In all honesty I doubt any of the tools has improved my modelling as much as joining the local modelling club and a couple of forums and observing how others build, standing on the shoulders of those who came before me, taking their knowledge and experience and applying it to my builds. 
I first joined a club in 2010 and forums shortly after that.

 

 

[DeanKB]

My build technique remains pretty much the same, but I've managed to build an enormous stash of modelling tools, from numerous bladed weapons, to an electric sander especially built for model making. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

It's quite the feat to accumulate so many tools, yet remain stubbornly consistent in my modelling abilities.  

[Erwin]

Nothing changed in 50 years.

 

I still only build out of the box.

Still brush paint.

 

And most started builds never get finished .

Edited January 20 by Erwin