At last! It’s our turn once again, so we’ll waste no space but get right on. It’s true to say that for every modelling project undertaken, the more comprehensive your tool kit the more likely it is that you’ll be able to deal with any eventuality. My own toolkit, collected over 60 years, contains dozens of items – all are useful and frequently used but only a few are essential to get the job done. A modeller of a high enough standard to be asked by the Royal Naval College to make models for presentation to the Royal Princes has a vast collection of ships and aircraft, all to the scale of 1:300, and with functioning details such as gun elevation and rotation, folding of wings and spinning rotors on the helicopters. The staggering thing is that all these models are made from matchsticks and matchboxes and nothing else, although you would never guess this from the superb finish he always manages to achieve. His name is Phillip Warren, and his toolkit contains a steel rule, a pencil, razor blades, pointed & flat tweezers, abrasive papers and a few pins! They are all, of course, of the very best quality and although it may seem expensive to buy the best you can afford in the long run it will prove to be more economical. List everything you would like to have in an ideal world, and then whenever an occasion comes up your family and friends will never be short of gift ideas. Model making involves, in general, the following, which will define your needs: Measuring, Marking, Holding, Cutting (drilling and sawing), Joining, Finishing, Painting. Let’s look at the first four and list the options – in each case I have listed the essentials first. MEASURING – a good quality steel rule marked in metric & imperial units, one type either side, but in Spain you’ll be hard put to find anything other than metric. Your wish list could also include scale rules and Vernier calipers for the ultimate accuracy – up to a fiftieth of a millimetre. MARKING – A must here is a small tri-square in good quality steel to obtain accurate right angles. Add to this compasses with interchangeable tips which allows them to act as dividers as well. This dual-action tool can then draw accurate circles and arcs and be used to transfer measurements from drawings to material. A selection of set squares and protractors should be all that you’ll need after that, plus of course a pencil, 2H grade graphite is best, fine-pointed and then modified to chisel profile by lighting rubbing opposite sides of the point on the side of a matchbox. HOLDING – requirements here are obviously variable. Your fingers will do much of the basic work, of course, but when too big and clumsy you can buy miniature ‘G’ clamps in both palstic and aluminium. Spring-loaded clothes pegs are great, but choose wood as the plastic ones can slip on smooth materials. Crocodile clips have their uses, but can mark wood. Pins and toothpicks are useful, and if you use plasticine wash the parts afterwards or paint will not stick. My favourite holding tools are aluminium, spring-loaded ladies’ hair clips – the sort used to secure rollers.You can bend and twist them to work in all sorts of otherwise inaccessible places. CUTTING – a boxed set of good quality craft knives, with two or three handles and up to a dozen interchangeable blades for various functions. High grade steel blades hold their edge well and can be sharpened using a small oil stone. A surgical scalpel (Swan Morton) is the best thing for very fine work. DRILLING – Most needed when creating the impression of copper nails in planking, by pre-drilling planks and underlying frames then pushing in tiny copper nails. A small ‘pin vice’ for drilling, capacity 0.3 to 2mm will be fine. Other options are a pump action manual drill, or a real treat would be one of the many tiny electrical mini-drills specially produced for the model market, complete with accessories. SAWING – no great need here; a junior hacksaw and small coping saw should be enough for most tasks. For a great selection in modelling tools, ask at Mayor Hobbies to see the selection from Chaves and Artesanía Latina, and do take the time to select carefully. Our thanks to Mac McCauley of Torrevieja for sharing his knowledge with us. Our apologies for having condensed his work, but space is, as always, limited! If you need help with any modelling project, just call our Hobbies Helpline on 96 541 54 10 and ask for Howard, or pop into the shop, Mayor Hobbies, at Calle Mayor nº 73, Santa Pola. Open Tuesday to Saturday 10.00 -14.00 hrs and 17.00 -21.00 hrs. We’d be glad to help.
