Rodger Cole (Halfyank) has written a nice piece on saving money on your modeling expenses. Something everyone likely thinks about these days.

Modeling on the Cheap

As usual if you have comments or feedback please leave it here.

Thanks Rodger!

Cheers,
Jim

:-) Nice one Rodger, some interesting ideas, I'll certainly look closer at what I buy in the future.
Mal

You are a smart Man Roger. Good points to look for.

Very helpful tips Rodger!!! Some I knew some I didn't. What's sure is that as much we save on the front of the tools (just sourcing from a different side) as much we can "invest" on kits.
Ciao an thanks again

Well done! And there are many more examples that Armorama has posted here and there.

But, I also hear that if something is marked "for elevators", it costs triple, or "for dentists" or "for pharmaceutical use", etc. While your examples are perfectly correct, there are many other professions and hobbies that feel the same way.

In all fairness, being a business owner, its all about supply and demand. In other words, no one if forcing us to buy a toolbox at the hobby store if we are willing enough to look elsewhere.

Have some fun with this. One of the most perfect sources for 1/35th scale leaves can be collected for free...if you live in parts of Europe with silver birch catkin trees, since none grow in the U.S. (even in arboretums, as I have called them to ask). Rubberized horsehair for modeling brambles is free if you have access to the packing arround artillary shells in the Dutch army, but the only place I have found in the U.S. that has it requires an entire roll to be purchased for beaucoup dollars. (Hey, Hans, I still haven't got the package, yet.)

On the other hand, a supplier of plastic containers for salads sent me a free case of containers whose bottoms (for cakes) or tops (for salads, same thing) make absolutely perfect paint pallets.

Your report is one of the reasons I love this website. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

Sealhead (Kansas Sunflower)

P.s. That's why I wrote the air compressor article. To help others on this site that have helped me. Armorama is a perfect example of what good the Internet can do. Now I have to go and delete (most) of the Viagra and porn spam.

hi Rodger,
You are right in every word you told here and I agree 100%. Thanks for bringing them to sight.

Hi Great article Halfyank. Agree that a person has to do some looking around in some of the most unlikely places in just about any store you happen to go into to find alternative products to those high-priced articles with the name 'hobby' or 'atrist' attached to them. It really pays to snoop around. I hardly ever buy any type of tool, brush, cutter, etc., from hobby stores. Just too high priced.

I really like the Michaels store you mentioned. We have one just up the street and the really good thing about this store is that they run 40% cupons in the paper just about every week or so on their non-sale items. This is how I pick up all my oil paints, brushes, thinners, knife blades, etc. Saving anywhere from $1 to $ 6 to $8 per item, just by using the cupons.
And as you've mentioned, they also have a very extensive selection of acrylic paints that come in just about every shade under the sun for whatever you may need. And none of them are over $1 each.

I've found one of the most useful tools to do general cutting with is a pair of cutical snippers that I found at Wal-Mart for a couple dollars. It has a small rounded type of cutter on it that is really great to get into small places in removing small parts from plastic spures.

Also in some of the local hardware stores you sometime find bins full of small items on close out that can, on occasion, work for modeling, as is or with a little modification to them. Have picked up some adjustable clamps in these places that are just perfect for holding pieces togther with just the right amount of tension needed.

It certain does pay to keep a sharp eye in some of the most unlikley places. You just never know what you're apt to find sometimes. Beleive this is something Shep Paine also mentiones in some of his books.

Thanks and take care, Sgirty

Sealhead,

Reference your comment on Silver Birch, I believe White Birch, a clump of which was in the front yard in California, back in my youth can be substituted. I remember pulling off and crumbling the catkins, creating a pile (unknown to me at that tender age) of 1/35 scale leaf litter. I will have to check out some of the River Birch that the neignbors have in their yards.

Jeff

WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A WAY.
GREAT ARTICLE. NOW WE CAN ALL JOIN THE HUNT.
ONE IDEA I'VE RECENTLY SENT TO THE SITE, HOPEFULLY TO BE PUBLISHED SOON, IS ABOUT TUBES FOR AIRCRAFT GUN BARRELS.
INSTEAD OF HYPODERMIC NEEDLES YOU COULD SAVE THE TUBE FROM REVELL'S AND HUMBROL'S PRECISION CEMENT APPLICATOR BOTTLES AND CUT THEM DOWN ACCORDINGLY.
YOU'VE ALREADY BOUGHT THE GLUE SO.......
CHEERS
PETER :-)

Some great tips and I have picked up a lot of my supplies very cheaply. Here in Australia I got an airbrush compressor for $70 that has a 3 litre tank and water trap etc. I go to "$2" type stores and buy decent paintbrushes for $1-$4 as opposed to $6-$16 at the LHS.

Thank you for posting these ideas. One other item where a modeler can get bang for the buck, pound, euro etc. is the car boot / garage sale. I've found many modeling deals including kits and tools for pennies on the dollar.

Thank you for posting these money saving tips. I am always game, for saving money.
I do find that, with some tools and supplies it is best to go with the hobby specific ones. I did pick up a sprue cutter for $5, from Harbor Freight. They work great! Depending on the model, I use 96 cent Color Place primer from Wal-Mart. I was also able to purchase a finite ruler, from Harbor Freight. However, cement/glue should be made for the hobby. The same goes for razor blades. I got the cheap ones, from Wal-Mart. I only used one, for cutting styrene. By the end of the first session, there were very large chips and I had to toss it. While generic thinners will work, the hobby specific ones work that much better. I found this out, using IPA to thin Tamiya acryls. I kept having problems achieving a smooth finish. As soon as I switched to Tamiya thinner, I achieved excellent results. Personally, I won't have anything to do with Michaels. They have burned me too many times. First, they were just flat out rude when I wanted oil paints out of the locked cabinet. Then, they refused to accept the coupon I had printed off that morning. They claimed it was expired. Another time, I call to see if they had a product in stock. The first employee hung up on me. I called back and asked for the manager. She said that they were too busy to help me and that I would have to drive there to see for myself.

I've used basic artist pastels for years as pigments, as well as substituting soil samples from the yard. Excel hobby blades are much cheaper than X-acto, and last longer. Small files at a big box hardware store are much cheaper than the small files at the hobby store.

As for the craft paints, how do they airbrush? I've experimented with them in the past but didn't have the best result.