How To Save $100 On Hobby Tools

Last week we took a look at Pin Vises and I talked about how to get a complete miniature pinning kit for around $25 instead of throwing money away on an  overpriced Games Workshop Drill Set. I mentioned in that post that there were some other approaches to getting yourself a complete set of hobby tools that don’t require you to shell out $150 for Games Workshop/Citadel branded stuff.

Now don’t get me wrong here, I’m not a “GW Hater”. To the contrary, I’ve been playing GW games for 20+ years and I really enjoy the worlds they’ve created, warts and all. My issue is that hobby gaming is already a fairly expensive pastime that has a way of sneakily “nickel and diming” you into spending more than you think you will when you start out. It seems crazy to me to blow the insane amount of cash on tools that GW tries to convince new miniature hobbyists that they should spend. GW gets away with this because people coming into the hobby sometimes don’t know any better.

A Word About Methods and Tools

This article is based on my experiences building miniatures and models over a couple of decades. I’m not claiming that my way is the only way, just showing you how I do things. One of the best things about this hobby is the community and how folks are willing to share their techniques and tricks of the trade and I sincerely hope you find something useful here. I welcome your input and observations so feel free to add anything you think is helpful down below in the comment section.

Before we get started, a quick word about tools. I’m not a tool snob, nor am I a frugal gamer (can anyone in this hobby really be considered frugal?). Since this article is about getting the most bang for your gaming buck I will be recommending some fairly inexpensive items. A few of them will be from Harbor Freight Tools. Some folks think anything from Harbor Freight is junk and to be fair, if I was a contractor or a mechanic I probably wouldn’t rely on some of the stuff they sell. However for the purposes of what we’re doing Harbor Freight Tools is a great place to shop for hobby tools. For convenience, I’ll also link to similar items that are available on Amazon.

The Basic Tools Every Beginner Needs

To get started you’re going to need a few basic items like a knife set, some files, and a sprue cutter. These items are your core tools and what you will rely on most of the time.

For knives it’s pretty straightforward, you’ll need a basic X-Acto style handle and some number 11 blades. Games Workshop sells one of these that also includes 5 replacement blades for $25 and to be quite blunt, that’s outrageous. If you’re shopping for a hobby knife you can either buy just a knife and some blades for around $10 or you could go with one of these Xacto Basic Knife Sets that’s got not one but three different handles and a variety of extra blades. The Amazon price for this is $16.29. Harbor Freight carries a 33 Piece Deluxe Hobby Knife Set that’s usually priced at $15.99 but is currently on sale for 13.99. The Harbor Freight set also includes some useful additional items like tweezers, a scratch awl, calipers and some tiny screwdrivers. You can also find the Harbor Freight set on Amazon here.

One last knife set I want to mention is this Mastergrip Craft & Hobby Knife Set. I mentioned this via my Twitter account last week and Costco has had these for quite awhile. It now looks like they’re no longer available at Costco.com and are on clearance at the warehouses. This set was $20 and at my local warehouse it is now on clearance for $13. Twitter friend @D3FFDR3AD found the same set at his local Costco for 10 bucks! These probably won’t be available at Costco for much longer but it’s worth a look at your local store if you happen to be a member.

Next up, you’ll need a set of cutters to clip all of those parts away from their sprues. Once again, Games Workshop has a set on offer for the astronomical price of $30. But they’re “precision made from stainless steel and have bypass micro-shear blades”…right. They’re angle cutters and you can get some for under $10. In fact unless you’re set on a name brand tool you can get a set of these for way under $10. Check these Hakko CHP-170 Micro Clean Cutters available on Amazon for $4.37! These will do the job and have the right angle to get at those tiny parts cleanly. Over at Harbor Freight you can get these Micro Flush Cutters for three bucks, I’ve seen these on sale there for $2 bucks on occasion and I don’t think you can beat that price anywhere.

Update 5/7/14: It’s been suggested to me by more than one reader that I mention these Xuron 170-II Micro-Shear Flush Cutters as these are widely available in lots of hobby and game shops and are a popular choice among hobbyists. At the gamer friendly price of only $7.68 they are also another great deal in comparison to the Citadel Cutters.

 

Lastly as far as basic tools go, you’ll need some files for mold line removal and prepping parts where they join together. Games Workshop is happy to empty out the rest of your wallet to the tune of $18 for a pair of needle files, but these files were probably blessed by the Emperor or something so you know, premium pricing. OR…you could get a set of these non-consecrated needle files that come in a pouch and have handles, and did I mention this is a ten piece set? It’s $7 on Amazon. That’s 10 files in various shapes with plasti-dipped soft grip handles. Harbor Freight also has some needle file sets (probably imported from the Eye of Chaos, but whatever) that are dirt cheap. There’s a set without handles that’s $3.49 and a set with plastic handles for $4. Both of these also come in a handy vinyl pouch.

The Extra Bits

For completeness, there are a few other tools that you should eventually get but they aren’t strictly necessary for beginners. First up is the Mouldline Scraper – once again GW has one of these, and it’s $17. This tool is strictly optional and to be honest, you don’t need it. It does the same thing your file set does and if you bought one of those knife sets I mentioned above that come with multiple handles and blades you can designate one of those as your mouldline scraper. Personally I use the back of a knife for most of these tasks. If you absolutely have to have a tool like this then I recommend this Squadron Products Seam Scraper. It’s 10 bucks which still feels a little pricey to me, your mileage may vary.

The next thing you’re going eventually need is a pin vise/drill. I wrote a post on that subject that goes into great detail bout how you can put together a complete kit for pinning models together for less than the cost of the stupidly priced Citadel Drill so I won’t repeat all of that here. For our purposes, this is the pin vise I use and it’s $8 from Amazon. It doesn’t come with drill bits but see my other post for some recommendations. Surprisingly, this is one of the few things for the hobbyist that Harbor Freight does not offer.

Our final comparison item is the Sculpting Tool Set. This is really optional and you probably wont need this as a person just starting out in the hobby. I do like to use the spreader for basing materials sometimes so it does have uses other than sculpting. Harbor Freight has one listed for $6 and it includes 6 different tools. It’s the 6 Piece Stainless Steel Carving Set and it has a nice variety of shapes and sizes. It’s really a much better value than the Games Workshop Sculpting Tool Set which has two tools and will set you back a ridiculous $25. You can also find this 12 piece sculpting set on Amazon for around $9 – check the various options here, some are free ship and some are free for Prime members but they’re all right around $9.

And The Winner Is…YOU!

So we’re at the part where we sum up how much our tool set costs us and compare it to what Games Workshop has on offer. Since I offered up some different options I’ve sort of averaged the cost here a bit, rounding up to give a little room for price fluctuations (keep in mind that prices on Amazon change daily, sometimes even more frequently). Lets take a look:

Knife Set – $16
Sprue Cutters – $5
File Set – $5
Mouldline/Seam Scraper $0 or around $10 (Completely optional and you can get by without one of these)
Pin Vise – $8 (You’ll need to add some drill bits but see my other article first)
Sculpting Tool Set $8

Total = Around $40 – lets say $50 if you throw in a micro drill bit set instead of building the complete pinning kit.

That means you’ve just saved a whopping $100 for your tool set compared to what Games Workshop has on offer. Sure, you didn’t get that nifty cloth roll up to carry your tools around in but I’m betting you have something around the house that will work or you can hit your local sporting goods store and find something there for about five bucks. You might even consider checking out etsy to see if someone there can make you the custom roll-up tool pouch of your dreams.

Saving that $100 means you have more money for actual miniatures and models, or you could expand your tool set with some other useful tools. In my next post I’ll show you some other items that I think are good to have in your hobby tool box. As always, feel free to ask questions and/or leave constructive feedback below in the comments section.