Hi all,

ive been trying to pay more attention to my painting recently and Ive tried to get to the smaller parts by using a magnifying glass on a stand, but im finding this just doesn't work for me when the paint brush approaches the target it just seems way off.

So Im thinking magnifying glasses / watch repair style glasses may help. There seems to be plenty out there some with lights and various magnification, so before I rush out and buy some,

will this help?

Lights or no?

Magnification?

Brands?

Any answers will be gratefully received. Thanks guys.

Start with ordinary reading glasses you can get at any pharmacy for $20. If you are just now deciding you need magnification 2x or 2.5x will be plenty strong.

Not to detract from Jonathan's suggestion, but you can get much cheaper reading glasses up to +3.0 (3X) magnification at a dollar store for much less than $20.

If a pair of +3.0 reading glasses aren't enough, you can try this:

I took an old pair of plastic glasses frames and added 16.5X Jeweler's Clip-On Eye Loupe, one clipped to each side of the frames. I got the Loupes from Harbor Freight Tools for $3.99 each (HF is listing them for $4.49 right now though).

Harbor Freight Jeweler's Loup

I got two loupes because I can use the 3.5X and sometimes the 5X loupes with both eyes (depth perception), but the 16X is too close and I can only use I eye at a time.

And here is the picture of my magnifiers:


I hope this helps.

I heartily second the "reading glasses" route. I picked up a 3-pack of decent quality ones at a local drug store for ~$10.

@ Jeff - I swear, Harbor Freight is a veritable candy store for modelers, isn't it? I can't go in there without saying "Gee, I could use that" or something similar.
It's a dangerous store.

Forgot to add - My primary magnifier is one of these setups:
http://www.loupe-magnifier.com/quasar_ls_lighting_system.htm

That Quasar lighting system is FANTASTIC. The only (somewhat) negative part is it's only REALLY bright when the batteries are fresh. It's still quite usable as the batteries go down, just not AS bright.

Thanks guys. Quasar looks like it might be the go.

You won't regret it.
To be honest, I'd rather go without my sprue cutter than not have my Optivisor/Quasar combo. My Quasar had an issue with both a switch gone bad and a loose LED. The switch was a standard size, and replaced easily, and the LED took 5 mins with a soldering iron to fix. Only issues I've had with it in maybe 10 years or so. One more thing - use GOOD AA batteries in it. You won't get more than a couple of good hours out of the cheapos.
From the Mfr.: http://www.novaconltd.com/Quasar/index.htm