What modeling item could you not live without....

[alextheblue]

Firstly, I owe everyone a bit of an apology as I've not posted on the forum for quite a while. However, I have never stopped checking in to catch up on all the great builds, news, chat and general lunacy! And I must say the standard of work being posted just keeps going from strength to strength. Also, the number of members now is quite jaw-dropping, although I'm glad to say that ISM is still the same super friendly, non-judgmental place that it has always been. Hats of to Lee and Paul for keeping the vision going.

I know, I know, I'm completely off topic, but I feel that I owe a little explanation for my lack of contribution over the past few months. Without boring you all with some sorry tale, lets just say that work hasn't been quite a bed of roses. In short, my business partners decided that when the going got tough, they could run off like scared little girls rather than stand and duke it out like men. However, to carry the fighting analogy going, when you're surrounded by just one too many guys and they all have bats, you resign yourself to the fact that the best thing to do is to lie down and take your licks. Yeah, thats not me though and I'd rather go down swinging and go down I did.

Back to present day and with the cuts and bruises almost healed, I decided to get back to my third favourite thing (the first being modeling and the second being ISM - of course!), that being.......asking stupid questions! For those that have had the misfortune of reading any of my previous posts, they will know that I like to stir things up a little by asking fairly innocuous questions and then to stand back and let peoples opinions do the rest. Previously I have celebrated the pride of my Scottish heritage, extolled the virtues of being left-handed, as well as a couple of other topics that escape me now.

Yesterday I decided to get back to the hobby that I love and with this in mind I decided to have a go at mending a dio that I had been working on last year. The barrel on one of the tanks had snapped off and being resin it needed a dab of CA glue to fit it back in place. Removing the cap of my trusty bottle of Rocket Rapid, I tentatively squeezed. Knowing that it would take a little more effort as the bottle has laid untouched for a few months, I squeezed harder. Rather unexpectedly, this did the job and a huge blob of CA landed on my cutting mat. Oh heck, I cried, or words to that effect and I immediately reached for my tube of kitchen roll. It was then that it dawned on me that I had done this almost subconsciously, without even looking to see where it was. Even after all this time, it was still like a reflex action and it was in this moment that I realised that the item that I could not live without was my trusty old roll of paper towels

So what does it for you, is it that trusty old airbrush that has been your faithful servant for many a year, or maybe that size 1 Windsor and Newton sable brush that still paints like true. Or maybe its those old sprue cutters that have been resharpened more times than you care to remember - what does it for you?

[Lego]

Mr Hobby cement s/tet and Ultimate sanders.

Ultimate sanders have made getting that smooth surface much easier to attain. Using sand paper,files or the other sanders I had in the past would drive me mental.

Using the old squeeze tube glue. shudders at the thought.

[Avgas]

My Swann-Morton scalpel. Use it for everything, sprue cutting, trimming, general poking at things. Lovely weight to it.

[Coen]

Firstly, it's great to see you back Alex.
I was talking about you to the wife a week or so ago and wondering where you've been.
I'm glad to see nothing nefarious has happened.
Secondly, this will be a bit of a twisted version of an answer to your question, but the one thing that I can't live without is my cave.
Inside my cave is more than just my tools and paints and built pieces, it's my fortress of solitude. My peaceful abode.
When I'm in there all the negativity and crap that is the world is on the outside.
I'm a happy camper.

[chief5437]

Not a modelling product, but I can't live without my ps4 that is next to my workbench. I use it for playing music, Netflix, Amazon prime, radio, DVDs, large ref pics on screen, watching the PoP on YouTube, and if a build stalls, I even use it to play games, lol!

[alextheblue]

Mr Hobby cement s/tet and Ultimate sanders.

Ultimate sanders have made getting that smooth surface much easier to attain. Using sand paper,files or the other sanders I had in the past would drive me mental.

Using the old squeeze tube glue. shudders at the thought.

Got to agree with you there, I'm a big fan of the Ultimate sanders!!

My Swann-Morton scalpel. Use it for everything, sprue cutting, trimming, general poking at things. Lovely weight to it.

Me too, I love a bit of S&M..................

No wait!! I meant the scalpels, honest!!

Firstly, it's great to see you back Alex.
I was talking about you to the wife a week or so ago and wondering where you've been.
I'm glad to see nothing nefarious has happened.
Secondly, this will be a bit of a twisted version of an answer to your question, but the one thing that I can't live without is my cave.
Inside my cave is more than just my tools and paints and built pieces, it's my fortress of solitude. My peaceful abode.
When I'm in there all the negativity and crap that is the world is on the outside.
I'm a happy camper.

Thanks Mike, it's great to be back!

Gotta to agree with you there brother, the world would be a beautiful place if it weren't for all the people messing it up!!

Absolutely loving all of your recent work by the way!

Not a modelling product, but I can't live without my ps4 that is next to my workbench. I use it for playing music, Netflix, Amazon prime, radio, DVDs, large ref pics on screen, watching the PoP on YouTube, and if a build stalls, I even use it to play games, lol!

A PS4 to play games on!! I've never heard of anything quite so absurd! Next you'll be telling me you use your phone to make calls on!

[Stokesy44]

TET - nuff said

[aur0ra145]

tube of kitchen roll.

Never in my life have I heard paper towels referred to as "Kitchen Roll."

Modeling item I couldn't live without? Desk lamp. Super useful, lets me see what I'm doing. Doubles as a reading light. Very trustworthy and I could bludgeon a burglar with it if needed.

[Avgas]

It's called kitchen roll across this side of the pond

Honestly, you colonials, we gave you a perfectly good language and then you change it!

[Coen]

It's called kitchen roll, paper towel, and kitchen wipe here.
We speak the Queen's English, American, and Canadian... Oh and French... But not France french.

[Lysus]

It's called kitchen roll across this side of the pond

Honestly, you colonials, we gave you a perfectly good language and then you change it!

[youtube]HXJkLBj6G1k[/youtube]

For me, my x-acto handle. It was my dad's for 30 years, and though it's nothing fancy or special, it's my totem while I work.

[Svenne009]

Trashbin.

[Coen]

Trashbin.

Hahahahaha!

[OneSmallStep1966]

My iPad. It's the fastest way to eBay and to all those modelling goodies.

[RobertK]

I like my scalpels but the tool I love the most must be a small segmented utility knife (or whatever they are called, you snap off the blade when it's blunt). You always have access fresh blades, they are cheap and lies good in my hands.

[Akula1959]

Coffee. LOTS of coffee.

DonP

[ScaleArmorBuilder]

I could think of alot of things I couldnt do without.
TET- to think I used the metal tubes of testors...
My Airbrushes/acrylic paint- I used to paint everything exclusively with low quality brushes and model master enamel
Xuron Sprue Cutters- I literally used to tear the parts off the sprues before I found these.

Yes paper towels are a great thing to have within an arms reach.

[Sturm]

Simple, my hands.

[NAMBiohazard]

The internet......
Its where I get all my references and also the new kits in the market.
Also it serves as my radio, tv and reading material