Your favorite tool ?

[RexCag]

I have two favorites. Both are tools that I had heard about for years, but, I just kept on doing it the way I always did.

One is the switch to scalpels from X-Acto knives. I still keep the knives around for most of the heavier work, but, I use the Swann Morton scalpels now for fine plastic work and for cutting decals and masking tape when the cut edge is critical. I switched when I found out that scalpels don't grab on the cut like X-Acto blades can, due to the direction they are sharpened during manufacturing.

The other sounds simple,,,I am a paint shaker*. But, after the paints for the whole job are shaken, and they settle as I work the model, I use the Tamiya Paint Stirring Tool to stir the paint. No matter how simple or intense your mixing method, you still have to manually stir the paint just before you actually use it. It seems like it is "just an expensive stir stick", but, if you airbrush, it also functions as a tool to tell me if I have the paint thinned correctly. If the paint glops on and doesn't flow down off the end of the flat blade, it is too thick. If it runs off in a hurry and only leaves a thin film behind, it is too thin. But, if the paint sticks to the paddle as if I dipped it into the paint to color it,,,,,,that is just right for airbrushing my Aeromaster and Polly Scale acrylics.................*(I also don't shake the paint the way most people think of it,,,,,,my beads just go "shushh, shushh" up and down as the big wheel turns, not the "clack, clack, clack, clack, that shaking them in your hand does)

[Medicman71]

Kari, that is a good one. I use a fermis hack and have a low-powered "dremel-like" tool that I put a piece of sprue in. Same effect.

My favorite? Probably varies as I get a little better at things. I love the flex-i-file...now that i know how to load it. DUH.

Man I got one of these recently and I love it!!! Makes cleaning up seams on the wings and such quick work!!

[lawdog114]

The Underhill credit card has been a useful tool over the years......kind of like Underhill himself....