Hobby Hacks 1: Back to Basics

I wanted to put together a quick list of hobby tips and hacks.

The list presented below are what I consider to be basics things and I will do a follow up with some additional tips concerning more advance hobbying suggestions. Most of it won’t be new to the veterans but hopefully you might learn at least one new tip or trick.

1. Always cut away from you – I know more than a few hobbyists myself included who have ignored this at their own peril. Ever since slicing the top of my finger nail off like a boiled egg I have followed this tip to the letter!

2. Keep two hobby knives – Following on from the above horror story, I always keep 2 hobby knives. One has a fresh blade which I use for precision cutting and the other has a dull blade which I use to scrape mold lines and/or carve models when I’m converting. I tried carving with a fresh blade and see the above story.

3. Superglue Removal – It’s inevitable during a building session that you will get superglue on your hands. I used to just pick it all off over the days following (which I’m sure some of your find fun in a twisted way). However there is a simple way to remove this is; run some hot water into a bowl and allow your fingers to soak for a minute or two. It should then peel off easily and painlessly.

4. Pizza box spray booth – If like me you undercoat or spray your models in the garden (or unadvisedly, in the spare room in winter) you want to make sure your don’t spray your surrounding area. Me, well I like Pizza and there’s usually a pizza box around so I use them, it has a back and a bottom so will catch most excess and hell its free! Be advised though to turn it over as the inside is usually greasy and that doesn’t go well with models.

5. Screw/bolt storage bits box – Pick yourself up a cheap screw/bolt organizer from your local DIY shop to store all of your bits. I have one per army and split the components into similar piles. Helemets, Heads, Left Arm etc. The ones I use can be found here. As a side note, these are also great for transferring smaller Kill Teams, just pad the compartments first.

6. Stop Glue drying – If the glue you are using has a nozzle, store it with the nozzle pointed down, this will prevent glue from drying inside the nozzle. Be advised, make sure the lid is on securely first!

7. Getting a better bond – On metal or resin models score the joints/binding points to get a better bond between the 2 pieces. Blue Table Painting have a good tutorial for this here.

8. Wet Pallette on a budget – Wet Palettes and the paper refills can get expensive. Make your own! It’s simple all you need is a tub, kitchen roll and parchment paper. A tutorial for this can be found here.

9. Paint pot/Cork model holder – One of the most devestating moments as a painter is handling a model when its still drying and leaving finger prints in the paint. Avoid contact with the model by attatching them to the top of a wine bottle cork or paint pot. You have control to move the model as if you were holding it but none of the risk!

10. Tile grout for base texture – I see a lot of flat bases with sand and flock dropped on top. Me I like to make the terrain more varied on them. You can use tile adhesive or I think spackle in the US? This is especially good for muddy bases!

If you have any hobby tips and tricks you want to share drop a comment below and I will add them to the next installment as well!

– ResinJunkie