Esisode 27: Tools (and Other Stuff) We Can't Live Without

In this episode, Barry and Jim wax rhapsodic about tools and other stuff they can’t live without on their workbenches—and they have A LOT of fun doing it!

Above: Knives out! Top: the many blades that fit the trusty X-Acto; middle: the X-Acto “gripster,” which tightens from the bottom, and the “Micro Knife Set” from Micro-Mark.

It’s worth buying the good toothpicks (top); below: some of Jim’s toothpick sculpting tools, one end pointed, one rounded, coated in several layers of Super Glue.

Putties: Aves Apoxie Sculpt (Barry likes the white, Jim likes the natural, but he also likes Magic-Sculpt); Kneadatite (or Duro or Green Stuff—buy it in these tubes, NOT the ribbons, because the center where the yellow touches the blue begins to harden in that form), and an example of fast-setting plumber’s putty, useful for quickly setting a pose on a wire mannequin.

Jim’s trusty putty-flattening metal rod (top) and an example of K&S Brass rods (made in Chicago!); buy lots of sizes every time you see ‘em in stock, because you can never have enough of the size you’re looking for (and the tubes are great, too). And, as Barry says: PIN EVERYTHING!

Jim’s got two regular Dremels, but he finds himself most often reaching for the Dremel Stylus with a lithium-ion battery (these don’t seem to be readily available anymore, although they’re still listed on Dremel’s web site, and they should have a universal chuck, but they don’t). Barry prefers the Proxon motor tool (and here’s a video showing it in use).

Carbide Scrapers; not cheap, but invaluable! (Rio Rondo is a web site for folks who sculpt scale horses, and it has a lot of tools of use for figure sculptors, too.) Barry also recommends the ceramic scraper from U-star.

When the toothpick ain’t doing it: rubber-tipped Colour Shapers, excellent for sculpting folds in clothing.

The JLC Razor Saw (top) and the “button/rivet-pressing set” Jim mentions. He got both from UMM-USA, a.k.a. “Johnny Czech,” who’s a great supporter of the hobby and a vendor at many shows with an endless array of useful tools for modelers.

Kim Wipes and medical swabs (both better than regular tissues or cotton swabs because they don’t shed) and microbrushes (for applying glue when a toothpick just won’t do).

Top: a dissection probe; below: Barry’s dental tools, homemade brass-rod sculpting tools, and trusty old pin vise.

Parafilm, Barry’s choice for many (though not all) masking jobs.

Jim loves his Chopper for cutting uniform pieces of bass wood or plastic, and he absolutely cannot live without Liquid Vaseline for sculpting, casting, and lubricating drills and saws. (It can be hard to find, but it’s worth the effort; there’s none on Amazon at the moment, but there is some here.)

Top: Barry is loving his 3-D Printer; below: some busts he’s recently printed out from files on the Web.

The boys left their tool talk there for now, although they could clearly go on and on (and may eventually revisit this topic). They end this episode, however, by talking about some emails, submissions, and questions they’ve recently gotten from listeners. They chat a bit in response to a voice mail left by Jamie Stokes questioning whether storytelling is possible with a bust. (They think so, and they’d love to see some submissions from other modelers who’ve tried!) And speaking of submissions, inspired by the episode encouraging plastic modelers to get over their fear of painting figures, Robbie Nauftts sent the photo below of his first attempt at a 1/48th mechanic to accompany one of his wonderful aircraft. Well-done!

Finally, inspired by the boys’ talk about box dioramas, the Plastic Crack Podcast Facebook Group, a community of dedicated wargamers, conducted a challenge for its members to try their hand at this form. Listener Warren Cann sent us the following photos (which we’ll soon add to a full gallery on this site) and wrote, “I can say with certainty that all these efforts were the first ever attempts at box dioramas (excepting primary school shoe-box creations! ). Five people entered; two of them submitted TWO boxes.” The artists are, from the top: Gazza Phillips (“Escher gangers of the Decaying Weapons Clan led by gang sister Reva Venomsong move through the depths of the hive city close to the territorial borders with the Goliath Meatnecks”); Roy Bottomley (“Decent into the Depths of the Earth”); two boxes by Steven Brewster (“Sir Bors the Younger loses his head and fails to kill the Beast of Caerbannog (Anyone seen the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch about recently?)” and “Ascension”; two by Tony Phillips (“The Hunted or the Hunter?” and “The Last of the Mohicans”), and Warren’s own effort (“The Witch's Cabin”). Fantastic first attempts, one and all!