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

I was told it was just ‘silly putty’ which I got much cheaper from The Works but tbh that seemed quite oily. I got the MRP version at a show and it is def less oily but I did find you need to work quite quickly as it tends to soften or sag and move even after an hour and especially in the current hot weather. It’s an interesting alternative to white tac especially as you can really reuse it easily which I’ve never been able to do with tac.

I agree my most important ‘tool’ never without it. I did recently treat myself to the full kit which comes with 5 lenses, loop and light in a fantastic case - like a pelican but better. Only place I could find it in UK was Farnell electronics and it ships from US so while about £200 it’s still pretty good value (and didn’t have any charges) and I had it in about a week. Have the 2.5 in my old visor and a 3.5 in the new one, unfortunately agree swapping over is a faff but much less of a problem for me now. btw my old visor used the cheaper plastic lenses but the new set is the glass and they are ever so slightly better I think.

I’ve got both CMK and JLC saws, equally good tbh the CMK is plastic so maybe bit lighter and flimsier but never had any issues, JLC bit better finished and more traditional with the wooden handle and metal head but no real improvement. Jlc allows for 2 parallel blades to be fitted but tbh never used that at all.

I have the Dspiae sanding pen which seems a similar if slightly cheaper option( cost me about £30). For bit holding it uses 2 small grub screws with the Alan key kept on board so it can take a range of pcb drills, grinding, sanding and polishing heads. Dspiae do a range but Dremel size ones seem to work fine. For really fine sanding I made my own attachment from a piece of 3mm aluminium tube and plug the end with pieces of sanding sponge cut with 3.5mm punch to get into really tight areas. its usb charging (usb c in this case they seem to not be able to standardise as my other dspiae tools use mini usb). Not a huge range of speeds but fine for what I need. Only major downside is it goes flat even when not being used so I have to plan when I want to use it and make sure it’s been charged for couple of hrs before hand. very light small and easy to use for what it is but still have a rechargeable Lidl ‘dremel’ for heavier things like cutting off pouring blocks etc. You could buy both for the price of that wowstick.

The numbering may be confusing, the lower the number the thicker the product, so as mentioned above for use as a filler ( for very fine gaps or scratches) it’s normally 500, I use alcohol on a cotton bud ( the tamiya or mr Hobby ones as they are much firmer and don’t leave ‘hairs’ like Johnson’s etc.) to clean off before fully dry. As it’s lacquer based it will be dry relatively quick depending on how thick but normally clean off after 20 - 30 mins or so. The other main use I know of for 500 is adding texture, brush paint onto the object to be texturised, leave for 4 or 5 mins until it is ‘sticky’ then take an old short brush (I use the ones from airfix starter kits cut down to about 5mm long) and stipple the surface. 1000 or 1200 is normally airbrushed as a primer after being thinned at least 50:50 with lacquer thinner, Mr Levelling Thinner being the preference. It is really useful if the surface is poor as it is more of a primer filler for rough surfaces than the others, again lower the number thicker the product. The 1000 base ( the white one) is really useful to cover strong colours e.g. for a Ferrari where the companies still insist on using annoying bright red plastic. It will leave a smoothie solid white surface to add colour to. Last but not least is the 1500 you have which when thinned (again at least 50:50 with levelling thinner) is, as mentioned before, the best primer I have ever tried. As with all Lacquers if you are airbrushing you NEED an extractor and mask they are not healthy options! They will however give a smooth surface ready to paint like no others I have used. Stynlrez (or repackaged versions like UMP or AK one shot) is a good acrylic alternative but some of their colours just don’t work for me while Mr Surfacer 1500 has always worked literally 100% of the time and I’m crap with an airbrush. First coat for me is always 1500 grey as it will show any colour imperfections. Leave at least 6 hrs before sanding 24 is better but it will also sand really well. If you need to strip it Dettol works but is slow and messy however I’ve never needed to strip because of the Mr Surfacer only afterwards with problem top coats. If it is going to be white or another pale colour I leave it grey, any paint I have ever tried will work over it from Vallejo to Zero. The black, as a second coat once all the imperfections are fixed, filled or sanded, is my go to for aircraft and armour ( on the rare occasions I do that) for black basing with mottle over the top for contrast before a final thin top coat of colour and also acts as a good semi-gloss black for mechanical parts on cars or as base for dull/ flat metallics (Mr Hobby GX02 gloss black is my go to for basing shiny metallics and alclad etc). The new pink colour is great as second coat to base red or yellow, it works even better than the grey and still better than the white IMHO. The white I tend not to use any more, if it is a red or yellow I’ll use pink base and if it is white I use grey so I can see where I’ve actually painted. There is also mahogany which I’ve never found a use for but maybe try it in future for a black based equivalent for something red maybe? I’ve also heard it’s very good under red oxide on German armour etc. Hope this helps explain at least my experience and helps you get on with what really is a great product that actually does what you expect it to for a change.

I 3D printed mine on my Prusa from this stl on thingiverse https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2953590 works great They have a load more variations with more complexity/adjustability but this one works for me.

Try ‘makeup mixing palettes’ on Amazon, small shallow metal dishes with a spout formed in them, similar to the ones Mr Hobby sell but a lot cheaper and with the spout which helps when transferring to the airbrush. About £7 for 12 last time I looked/bought. NB not stainless so can rust if left wet but I just flip em over and use them for CA which you can also burn off them (but they will get hot).

Realise it’s a bit over budget (I did see it at £145) but my go to is always the Iwata eclipse, standard 0.35 needle and you can get a 0.5 nozzle and needle set too if needed, that said I have the 0.5 and I think I’ve used no more than 3 or 4 times and not for the last couple of years. brush works brilliantly; reliable, accurate, flexible on paints and thinning and dead easy to clean with the removable nozzle. Only thing I did to upgrade was get the longer trigger as I found it more comfortable.

Looks like Copper State Models are doing some as well in 1/48 and 1/32

I used them for the first time a few weeks ago and they were great. While the range of 1/24 isn't huge it is good, I managed to get the K3 Porsche 935 along with the detail set and the apple computer decals. Picked up aome other renaissance bits as well. Next time might try them for som Komakai books rather than have them sent from Spotmodel in Spain. Long may they continue!