Tools and other stuff you can hurt yourself with
My town just got a Five Below so we went in to check it out. My wife saw this collapsible makeup brush cleaning bowl from Urban Butterfly and pointed it out to me. I grabbed it for the standard $5.55 and I’ve been happy with it since on my Tablemate painting station. I use to with just a little water and a dash of Pink Soap.
If you are a miniature enthusiast, especially a fan of Atomic Mass Games miniatures, you know that plastic miniature parts that fall from your hobby table to the floor have a tendency to teleport to the void to disappear forever.
Railroaders have used a towel or apron to catch small parts when assembling. They usually would wear the apron and then tape the end to the underside of the hobby table so the small parts would fall and be caught instead of hitting the floor.
This $1.25 beard trimming cape works the same way. I picked this one up at Dollar Tree.
Just a quick question to the Collective who read my blog … What do you use for storage of your miniatures?
Since being diagnosed with multiple forms of layered arthritises, I wanted to come up with something to use in the living room to paint that could easily be stashed away so I can easily paint in the living room bit not take over like a hobby tyrant.
After a lot of research I decided to get the Table Mate XL Plus TV Tray Table (which I bought on Amazon) because it was a good size fir workspace, slides around easily to pull right into my lap, and folds up to be put away.
It was very easy to put together and it amazingly sturdy. It can be configured in multiple poses for different angles depending on what you need to use it for at the time.
I am very hsppy with the Table Mate. Its pulling multiple duties for me throughout the day. To me its worth every penny.
This is an old post from 2011 that I felt I could repost while I’m waiting to feel a little better recovering from bronchitis. The only thing I would offer as an edit would be that I now use Gorilla Glue Gel because it sits well and can be easily manipulated to not only glue parts but also fill gaps.
There are certain tools that I use on my painting table that I simply cannot do without. I’m not talking about paint, brushes, or anything like that.
Here is the short list:
That’s all for now. You can take a few moments to read about the sorting devices I use on my painting table as well. When you’re done, please leave a comment here about the tools that you find useful on your painting table. I’d like to hear about them!
Scab Red- Red Spice
Red Gore-Burgundy
Blood Red-Red Apple
Blazing Orange-Pumpkin Orange
Fiery Orange-Apricot
Golden Yellow-Yellow
Sunburst Yellow-Yellow
Bad Moon Yellow-Yellow
Scorched Brown- Burnt Sienna
Bestial Brown-Nutmeg Brown
Snakebite Leather-Toffee
Bubonic Brown-Carmel Candy
Vomit Brown-Kiwi
Bleached Bone-Antique White
Dark Flesh-Chocolate Bar
Vermin Brown-Goose Feather
Dwarf Flesh-Flesh
Bronzed Flesh-Fresh Apricot
Elf Flesh-English Lace
Liche Purple-Wild Iris
Warlock Purple-Cranberry
Tentacle Pink-Bubble Gum
Midnight Blue-Night Sky
Regal Blue-Too Blue
Ultramarines Blue-Neon Blue
Enchanted Blue-Colbat Blue
Ice Blue-Bright Blue
Hawk Turquoise-Viking Blue
Dark Angels Green-Forrest Green
Snot Green-Woodland Green
Scorpion Green-Green Apple
Goblin Green-Leaf Green
Rotting Flesh-Lemon Chiffon
Camo Green-Country Tan
Scaly Green-True Teal
Shadow Grey-Blue Stoneware
Space Wolves Grey-Dolphin Gray
Chaos Black-Black
Codex Grey-Pewter Gray
Fortress Grey-Country Gray
Skull White-White
Terracotta-Burnt Umber
Graveyard Earth-Burnt Sienna
Kommando Khaki-Sandstone
Desert Yellow-Country Tan
Catachan Green-Hunter Green
Tanned Flesh-Brown Oxide
Mithril Silver-Metalic Silver Sterling
Chainmail-Metalic Silver Sterling
Boltgun Metal-Metalic Silver Sterling
Dwarf Bronze-Kings Gold
Brazen Brass- Pure Gold
Burnished Gold-Pure Gold
Shining Gold-Kings Gold
FLOCK!!
Organizing your painting table can be tough. You want access to all of your nifty tools, reference materials, and projects but you also want enough space that you don’t feel crowded or overwhelmed. Depending on the size of your chosen work space, you may be very limited. And we all know that while we’re working, things can get out of hand quickly. Materials get scattered, and all of the sudden you have a big mess. And honestly, creativity can be hampered by cluttered and chaotic spaces.
I have a variety of wacky sorting and storage devices on my table, morbidly referred to as the Autopsy Table. (…begin rabbit trail…) How did it get that name? Well, it was a journey. When I lived in Indiana, PA my painting table was in the living room. Yeah, I’m not sure that was very smart … but it allowed me to paint and still interact with my wife … so it worked. However, the situation now referred to as “The Incident” happened … and it was the first step towards the naming of my hobby space. The culmination of the incident was that I was painting with my Blood Mixture (Chestnut Ink and Red Ink mixed) when I lost my grip and it spattered everywhere. On me, the table, and … yes … the white shag rug. Gahhhh! (By the way Pink Soap does wonders to clean paint from rugs and may save your marriage too.) That combined with the fact that my table often had the bits and pieces of many “tiny army men” on its surface … turned it into the Autopsy Table when our friend Claire arrived for a visit. She commented, “With these spatters of blood and the body parts … it looks like a mad scientists Autopsy Table.” ‘Nuff said.
Anyway … Sorting and Storage devices… right.
Reference materials are always handy. That’s why I recommend using a multi-level tiered file system for your magazines and clippings. You can keep all your precious materials close at hand and out of the way. I recommend that you scout out Thrift stores like Goodwill before buying these at your favorite office supply or big name store. You can usually find them on the cheap. Keep in mind that you want a sturdy file system because if you’re going to be putting No Quarter Magazines in there, they get heavy fast!
And then we have the upright Rubbermaid File Folder. This could easily be used to hold your reference materials, too. But I use this to sort and store my scratch building materials like plasticard, bass wood, and styrene parts. You can easily sort them out and stash them until you need them. I recommend keeping them in the bags that they come in so that you don’t have to fiddle around with fishing small parts out of the bottom of the file folder. Learn from my mistakes!
Also, I would like to recommend using a Bead Storage case with Jars as a way to sort out your flocking materials. You can easily fill these little jars with your favorite flocking materials and have them handy when you need to flock bases. You can screw off the lid, sprinkle the flock over your base, and then stash the case away again. Neat, simple, and easy to store. Don’t get me wrong, I use those huge Rubbermaid containers too, but this is more suited to storing on your painting table for finishing small batches of bases.
Lastly, I recommend these drawer storage units from Ikea, if you can find them. They are sturdy and the drawers are deep enough that you can place a model upright and still close the drawer. They come in many different shapes and sizes, many just the right size to snug into the corners of your painting table.
Well, that’s all for now. Get organized, and keep rollin’ sixes!
∞
Needle files don’t work very well when they are dirty and caked with debris. To clean them, use a small clean jar of choice. I like to use pickle jars, but if you prefer olives go right ahead. Fill it with lacquer thinner. Put the the clogged needle files into the thinner, making sure not to submerge the rubber ends of the files. Close the lid to avoid fumes, and then wait for about an hour or so. Remove the file, and clean it off with a stiff brush. An extra tooth brush will do. Then you’ll be good to go with your next modelling project.
I have a lot of handy tools on my painting table, but this is one of the ones that I couldn’t live without, seriously. I use Gorilla Superglue, and although their bottle is probably the best design I have seen for awhile to prevent clogging … in the end the tip gets clogged sooner or later. This is likely user error, but I don’t bash my head against the desk anymore when the nozzle glues itself shut. I just grab for this little baby …
Using this piercing tool, I can easily bust through the top of the super glue bottle and clear the nozzle. I picked mine up in Indiana, PA about six years ago. At the time, I was using Zap-A-Gap and the stupid bottle would seal itself about half way through my using it. I got this baby for about $3 and was a happy man.
You can find piercing tools in almost any craft or hobby store that sells clay. It’s mainly a shaping tool for clay. And be careful, that thing is sharp!
The Army Painter has some cool products, and they recently emailed me the following:
For those of you having endless time to glue together your metal miniatures and never get glued fingers – stop reading!
For the rest of us, the Magic Superglue Activator will be relieving you of stress and be your own little anger management conductor. This spectacular product will be released alongside the new fabolous 20gr. Superglue in October 2010. This product comes in a glass bottle and it is the quality used by US dentist so it simply does not come better. One dose will instantly dry superglue speeding your gluing time up no end! Christmas comes early this year… Also, check out the other upcoming products here
Simply put, this nifty little shelf organizer is going to be a nice addition to my painting table.
Matan Ram reviews Vallejo Acrylic’s “Urethane White Primer” for your viewing pleasure. Click here. It earned a 75% in the summary.
Children of the Ampersand 