Jamiec360

If you try magic-strip from deluxe you can brush it on and wipe it off rather than having to strip everything else maybe?

What about ultrasonic cleaners? Strip the brush down pop it in for few minutes and it should come out like new. Can also clean swimbo’s jewellery while your at it for extra brownie points

It’s the combination; viscosity- pressure-diameter so thinner paint or higher pressure (I always go thinner) for thinner nozzle and some nice atomisation from the procon and you’ll be laughing

I got one of the gun primer rasers and it’s better than I expected. Tbh I got it as it looked cool with Barbatos Rex graphics on it but it works really well at removing nubs left after nippers etc. my main file choice is still Sujiborido but this is a close second and much easier to get hold of here.

I got some recently from 4D in their shop in London, previously got some from dolls house shop and Jewlers supply places. That said my original set I got from Amazon

Surprised no one has mentioned the Tamiya bits? For small sizes I find them great as they have really accurate but short threads and sturdy shank. The cutting portion is only 4 or 5mm long so difficult to break and while I’ve gone through boxes of pcb bits (and still find them good for bits about 1mm and up ) I now have the full set of Tamiya bits from 0.2mm to 1mm. Not cheap but never had to replace any so actually good value. Also don’t have to try and dig broken pcb bits out of my models

I’ve got Proxxon and Dspiae electronic sander and tbh just bought a second Dispae as battery has gone on the first but it’s that useful. The proxxon is great and engineered really well with dedicated speed control loads of attachments, mounts etc and a foot pedal which looks useful but like the Lidl Dremel copy I had before just a bit big and unwieldy compared to the Dspiae. there are almost identical ones on eBay but they have a 2mm chuck while the Dspiae has 3mm so the burrs and more importantly the sanding attachments won’t fit. overall the Dspiae top is a must have now for me especially for drilling and sanding even more than grinding

just about to order my second. really really useful but battery life is woeful, you need to pretty much have it on charge all the time as even without use mine would be flat in less than a day and now only runs when plugged in. Its ok as a drill but much better as a sander, polisher (with Dspiae foam pads) or grinder. There are alternatives on amazon which look the same for about £20 but I found they only have a 2mm not 3mm chuck (if you can call it that it just takes 2 grub screws) so none of the bits or sanding attachments I had would work. It is 3 speed but I only really use the first. Going to order a replacement because it's so good when it works that I'm just going to have treat it as a consumable. The sanding heads and self adhesive pads are a must for it (I use the 5mm ones most) And I made my own smaller sanding attachment using a piece of 3mm aluminum tube and I use a Tamiya punch to make 3.5mm sanders from sanding sponges which I push into the end of the 3mm tube and they hold great. Really useful for things like ejection pin holes inside fuselages or wheel wells etc.

Can you not contact GWH for a replacement? I’ve got the B version (final shoot down) in the q for next year just never tackled an all black finish yet, looks very good will def be borrowing some ideas for mine

Jeez at those prices I wouldn't have to expect to do any scratch building!

Tamiya actually did a CD-Rom of reference pics and documents specifically for their 1/32 P-51 I got a copy cheap from Hannants couple of years ago so if you still have drive on your PC and they still have any might be an option?

I agree with the other posters and would also recommend the Iwata although my favourite is the eclipse given its ease of cleaning but overall Iwata have never let me down. The eclipse shoots everything you throw at it and is really easy to clean with the removable nozzle system. If you can get a good deal the procons are fantastic too I have the 0.5mm trigger gun from them which was about 2/3 price of the identical Iwata (made in same factory along with sparnax afaik) it’s fantastic for large areas although you really get through paint with it! I was also curious about single action when I started and bought one of the single action procons which are basically the revelations but in a lighter aluminium body. Tbh used it once or twice but use the eclipse every day just about. Had issues with the needle always being open so if you don’t screw it all the way in and put the gun down in a holder it tends to leak out past the nozzle so L you have to screw the needle right in anyway which kind of negates the point of having the fixed needle preset to where you need it.

For nippers I’ve got the Dspiae single sided ones and they’re really good and somewhere between £30 and £40. I have heard the godhands are good but are about £50. for scribers 2 recommendations the set of 3 that MRP do (I got mine from premium hobbies and they are normally at Telford) which are a excellent and about £30 for the set or the Tamiya handle and scriber tip either needle style or ‘hook’. I would also really recommend the 2mm chisel tip they do I use mine all the time

Even with their own thinner I gave up on the red line, not tried blue because I found the same thing - really inconsistent some are great, true blue springs to mind, some are terrible like signal red By major contrast the lacquers are great, really thinable spray really well even not too smelly unlike Gunze or Tamiya LP or especially zero and gravity.

Another vote for dettol but it is proper messy when it comes out doesn’t really take the paint off rather turns it into a goo that you can scrub off another alternative but bit pricier is Deluxe Strip Magic it worked really well especially on smaller parts just need some ipa to clean it off