Tools of your craft

By Lyraeus, in Star Wars: Armada Painting and Modification

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Post up what tools you use as a painter/hobbyist.

Things that you find useful in painting and modeling. Such as using a PVC tube and drilling holes I to it to. Hold squadrons in place. Maybe your painting station or airbrush.

Use this to show off what you use so people can get ideas on what they wish to use.

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For holding squadrons when painting use cotton buds. Cut the ends off and the individual fighters slot right into the plastic part of the cotton bud.

Use BlueTack on the other end and holds them up while drying nicely.

Works like a charm

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I can not find "cotton buds" or Q-tips

QTips.jpg

here in the US that have plastic between the cotton. Everything is solid. What brands are folks using with the straw like plastic between the cotton?

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I had a spare section of PVC pipe with (almost) the correct diameter. So I slit it so it pinces a little.

Because my Q-Tips here actually have paper/cardboard tubes, much to my dismay :D

But honestly, most of the time, if I need to do something like that...

... I have a broken Jumpmaster model. So I just use the Single R&V Stand as a Painting Stick, if my PVC pipes won't grant me access to the underside.

Otherwise:

I only use a flat pallete, and a couple of different sized brushes...

Absolutely nothing fancy, nothing special.

I don't even own an Airbrush.

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DSCF5521.jpg

My Desk

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I use just some brushes from a local craft store. Anything small enough and pointy enough. I have a small plastic artist's palette that works well - found it on Amazon months ago for cheap. For holding squadrons, I went really cheap and bent some paperclips around until I had a small hole on one end and a handy-dandy hand hold on the other. Works like a charm.

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Twist pens. You twist the base and the internal pen extends. Gut them, and stick the outer housing in a chunk of Styrofoam. They provid a perfect base for spraying squadrons and peg ships. Yank them out of the Styrofoam to use as a holder while hand painting.

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I got a soldering iron, hand-helper with a magnifying glass, breadboard for testing circuits, Milwaukee 18v drill (a little overkill for drilling holes in plastic ships lol), hot glue gun, calculator, paper and pencil. everything you need to start putting LED's in ships!

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Here is my workplace... a bit of a mess, but I have to clean the garage first.

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One of my favorite brushes to use atm is an 18/0 brush I got from a local paint supply store.

I pretty much only use my other brushes if there's large patches of a color besides the basecoat. Virtually all of the details on my currently painted minis were done by that brush.

It'll be perfect for painting my squadrons (once everything else is out of the way, and once I've found good storage for them).

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The workbench of the worlds most amateur miniature painter before a night of furious base coating on some R&V.

Some of the tools I use that are pictured are pretty straight forward like Mr. Handy. But I also have devised some tools, like an upturned wire strainer that after going at with an ice pick to open up some of the holes gives me the ability to 360 prime lots of squads at once. Not pictured here is that I ended up using the bench vise to hold a 2ft section of pvc pipe with holes in it so I could use both hands to finish paint the rogues. Below is a very poorly lit sample of the finished product at the end of the night.

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... I guess I can't call myself Amateur anymore, can I?

Amateur ish , perhaps... :D


Looks like you did **** well, with some nice schemes straight up;

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I think the very definition of amateur is not getting paid to do something, so yeah I think you left that title behind a while ago.

Amateur-ish, as an adjective can be used to describe anyone, no matter what. For instance, OKC played incredibly amateur-ish last night and ended up getting spanked right out of the finals. Not a single amateur on the team. But amateurish? Absolutely.

That said, humility aside, I don't think the term applies to you nor anyone I have seen post on these forums. All I have seen is beautiful spaceships from everyone, even those intrepid first timers.

Edited by BrobaFett
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So, I actually added a new brush to my case about an hour ago.

Its a Daler-Rowney 10/0 that cost me all of 55c at Walmart.

Because despite having a nice narrow set of bristles in a round format, those bristles are soft and almost an inch long .

This brush exists so I can paint Bloodstripes on squadrons with a single swish. The brush is almost sideways with the side of the fighter wing, so it goes on wonderfully straight.

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I bought a little brush multipack that had one of those in it. So far I have only used it to paint around the cockpit of my A-Wings to run the forward stripe color all the back past the fins. I will have to try it for bloodstripes!

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I was feeling too cheap to spend $5 on the pack, so I got it individually :D

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This is pretty useful* - http://www.hobbyzone.pl/en/tables-for-painting/17-large-paint-station.html

*except for the wings, those are a completely useless waste of space (and material)

Nice!

I am getting http://www.back2base-ix.com/the-rack-mdf.html

HOLY SHI...MOLY that's a huge piece of wood there Ly-Ly (thanks for that, Vykes).

Shame that wouldn't fit in my work... area... what am I doing?

Aaaanyway stay on topic.

For Armada - get a bigger base coat brush (2-3). The only good Citadel brush I found was their XL base brush. It's perfect for Star Destroyers.

I can second the cotton bud sticks for holding onto squadrons while priming and painting.

For ships, just attach the fin and wrap wide masking tape around it and the peg - you've got yourself a handle.

So tools of the trade:

Big synthetic base coat brush (flat)

Smaller brushes for detail work (size 1 for individual panel work, size 0 or smaller for edge highlighting, preferably natural hair)

If you get a natural hair try looking in your hobby store for an animal fat brush soap (this one is fantastic https://www.amazon.com/General-Pencil-Company-Masters-Preserver/dp/B001TNR7VM/179-7019963-9535018?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0)

Hobby knife with extra blades to remove flash or other mess.

Green stuff to fill more visible gaps on the ships if you mind them (actual two part putty, not Citadel's liquid green stuff)

Torn piece of packing foam for battle damage (small chips)

Masking tape (Tamiya makes a lot of different sizes, they are low stick, won't damage the paint underneath)

Final tip: if you know any painters, don't tell them you're using natural hair brushes with acrylic paint. They might freak out.

Edited by Polda
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I paint my stuff whilst on the sofa watching tv.....

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This is pretty useful* - http://www.hobbyzone.pl/en/tables-for-painting/17-large-paint-station.html

*except for the wings, those are a completely useless waste of space (and material)

Nice!

I am getting http://www.back2base-ix.com/the-rack-mdf.html

https://www.miniaturescenery.com/CategoryPage.asp?CODE=CAT_ACCP

I have 2 Paints and a Corner Tool Rack.

Both CNC and Back-to-Basix are Australian Based Companies, and I've had tons of dealings with both in the past.

I prefer CNC if you're going MDF

But Basix are better if you're going Acrylic instead. :)

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The CNC one is the original one I found years ago.

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I paint with a frosty micro brew on my painting desk. Sometimes for a victory swig when an idea works, sometimes to drown a disappointing painting concept that eludes my limited skills.

I will also recommend looking out for one of the (low speed) pumpkin carving Dremmel kits. You can usually pick one up for 50% off immediately after Halloween. All standard Dremmel attachments fit. So worth it.