Reddit mentions of TEKTON 6655 Needle File Set, 10-Piece

Glue: Super glue. Plastic glue only works on very specific types of plastic, and not what PP traditionally uses (though that may change with the new plastic kits, I hear the TEP works with plastic glue, but not sure). You don't need any special type of super glue, it's basically all the same aside from the viscosity. There's basically no difference in performance between one of the expensive hobby brands and a general purpose super glue.

Brushes: In general you get what you pay for, but I would skip the branded brushes from the hobby companies. Some are good, but it's a crap shoot. Invest in some good red sable brushes from a real artist brand like Raphael or Windsor & Newton, and some brush soap. I am partial to these.. If you take care of them they will last basically forever. Good natural fiber brushes are more resilient than synthetic (in my experience), and hold their shape longer. You'll want to pick up a few cheap brushes for drybrushing, though. That will ruin the bristles. Size 2 is what I use for most of my painting. Don't get trapped in using tiny brushes. The sables will hold a fine point, even on the bigger brushes, and you want the large brush because it holds more paint in the belly and gives you more work time before it dries on the bristles.

Files: Just get a cheap set of needle files like this. However, you won't need them for a lot of things. Most plastic models can be cleaned up just by scraping an xacto blade along the mold lines (holding the blade perpendicular to the line), and even some metal models can be cleaned this way unless they are poorly cast. The files are just for the larger models or for badly cast areas.

Primer: There are too many choices here to really cover that, just use a little google-fu and see what you like. I have used everything from cheap krylon to brush on. Army painter primers are good if you are painting a set scheme because the tinted primer can double as a basecoat, but they are a bit pricy. I also use gesso sometimesas it is very humid around here, and that takes some of the variability out of the issue of priming models in a swamp.

Misc: I don't use a clamp, generally. I tend paint the models on the base. To hold them steady I usually just stick a glob of blu tack on top of a nearby bottle or object and use the bottle as a handle. Most of the time it's a can of primer I use as my handle, the larger / weighted object helps to steady the model in my hand. Blu tack also does double duty as "painter's tape" for me sometimes if I want to keep some section of a model free of paint. It's also good for removing dust from a primed model if you're like me and prime a huge batch of minis, then forget about them for 6 months.

If you're pinning models to the bases, you can also just stick the pin into the chuck of your model drill and use that as a handle.

Most people will suggest skipping GW for paint and hobby tools to save money. I suggest hitting amazon for a pair of flush cutters, set of needle files, and pack of testors model cement. Krylon camo black spray paint is a fine substitute for expensive primers. Vallejo paints are a top reccomended brand, and there is a conversion chart to convert old and new gw colors to vallejo colors.

A set of just standard tac marines is a great place to start, you'll use them for sure and theres plenty there to work on technique, hit up the warhammer youtube channel, as they have painting tutorials that are really great, watch as many as possible as each has something you can use even if they aren't painting space marine models.


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00FZPDG1K/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1459352340&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=flush+cutter&dpPl=1&dpID=414t7uLh8KL&ref=plSrch


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0013E68SU/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1
(Starting out you should be fine with just a zero, but if you really have moneh burnig a hole in your pocket a 1 and 00 would also come in handy eventually. Never leave your brush sitting in your water cup, don't let paint dry in your brush, and keep paint out of the metal part.)


http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0013D53CS/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1459352997&sr=8-2&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=testors+model+glue&dpPl=1&dpID=51QQU8wrc-L&ref=plSrch


https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000NPUKYS/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1459352697&sr=8-2&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=needle+file+set+for+metal&dpPl=1&dpID=412lincr%2B5L&ref=plSrch

Add an xacto and tube of superglue from your local superstore and you have all the tools needed to crank out perfectly acceptable models. I'll admit the brush is a bit overkill, but you're saving so much money on the rest of the tools, and a good brush makes the experience much more enjoyable, I suggest splurging there. Also don't bee fooled into buying a basing kit, regular old sand does just fine,

The 3 things you need are:

• something to cut the pieces off the sprue -- an exacto knife will work, but flush cutters are easier to work with.
  
• an adhesive -- super glue works, but plastic cement is better.
  
• something to remove sprue nubs/mold lines from the plastic -- an exacto knife can work again here, but I prefer needle files. Much harder to make an error than when using a knife.
  
  That's pretty much it. If you want to dive in really deep I have a massive post that lists other tools and touches on a lot of customization that people have done. But none of that's mandatory, you can very easily forge ahead with just the 3 tools I linked above.

> First, how do I patch holes in the plastic

You really can't unless you want to repaint the entire SNES case. You'd need to use Bondo, fill it, sand it, prime, then paint ... or spend $6 on a new shell and be done with it.

>how do I smooth out the edges of the holes I cut.

Use a fine grit file. You gotta remember that filing eats away at material too. Make your initial cut smaller than you need, then file it to the proper size.

Here is what I consider the bare necessities:

Radius block: Get one with the radius to match your fretboard. Attach self-adhesive sandpaper or use double-sided tape, mark your frets with a Sharpie, and start leveling.

Fret crowning file: Pick one that's the appropriate size for your frets. You can find info on what size to use on Stew Mac's site.

Needle files: These are just good to have. They'll be helpful to file the fret ends among other things.

Extra fine sandpaper/0000 steel wool: Once your frets are shaped, you will want to polish them. Steel wool won't give you the shiniest finish, but it's perfectly presentable. If you want mirror-finish frets, use fine sandpapers or fret erasers. ALWAYS mask your pickups or do your fretting with the neck detached from the body. You will end up with fret filings and steel wool particles all over your pups otherwise.

For tutorials and advice, check out r/Luthier or the Crimson Guitars YouTube channel.

For the fretboard scrape the heavy gunk off with a razor blade then wipe it down with naptha. Then you can spray a little guitar honey fingerboard oil on it if you like the look of darker fingerboards. You don't necessarily have to oil it, but I think it looks nice. Boiled linseed can be an alternative, but keep in mind it's a drying oil and will stay there.      

For the nut, a tusq but is a cheap and pretty much a drop in replacement. Bone nuts can get pretty expensive, and tusq is just as good if not better. There's precut fender style nuts for like $8.

If the frets are just a little tarnished, tape off the pickups with masking tape first. Then go 0000 steel wool->Dremel felt polishing pad with jewelers rouge->metal polish with a microfiber pad, then rub everything down with a dry part of the microfiber.

If they're totally messed up and divorced, uneven, etc then you can completely do the frets or take it to a shop. Level/crown/polish them. Regardless of the route you take I would probably file down any protruding frets that poke out past the fingerboard.

Anything perfectly level with some sandpaper to level frets, long granite scraps from companies who do countertops can be super cheap/free. You'll also need a sharpie, fret rocker, and straightedge. Make sure the straightedge is actually straight, cheap rulers generally aren't.


Any flat file for protruding frets. A small needle file with a safe edge ground on for dressing the ends after bevelling. For crowning use a triangular file with the corners ground smooth.  


Bevelling and protruding frets

Fret ends

Crowning

I listed cheap options to get started. You can always buy nicer ones. Stewmac, crimson guitars, LMI, and similar sell specialized ones for a pretty big markup.

A basic needle file set
and some chainsaw files in different diameters.

Most local hardware/lowes/HD etc will have these so no need to order online and wait

For what your needs are I would say you need a hand drill and a hobby knife (xacto) not files. I have used a cheap knife from my local hobby stores to slice off iconography before and it is very easy although you do need to file off some remains. As for magnitizing you want a hand drill with the right sized drill bits. As for recommendations I recently got a pack of files off amazon for cheap that I am loving.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NPUKYS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_vcZvyb0CSA63A

Give me a minute, I can link you to a comment I found explaining it in depth

EDIT: I'm just gonna paste it here. For reference, I,believe priming is coating it in a thin layer of paint to act as a base. Use black primer for darker results and white for lighter. Credit to u/pyrese

I love painting the hero forge minis; sounds like you did yours in the new high detail plastic.

I've done a few of those recently and once you get them primed, it's not much different than painting die cast minis.

1. Using needle files and a pen knife, gently remove any spru from your miniature. You will have to be a little more careful than normal; I had one with a particularly fragile joint snap on me from an inadvertent touch, but generally they are durable. If you break any part of it, use superglue and gently brace the two parts together; Let dry over night and it should be just as strong or stronger than before.
   

• Needle Files
  
• Pen Knife
  

2. Next, fill a bowl with some warm and soapy water. Using a soft bristle tooth brush, gently clean the whole surface and rinse in warm water. You can pat dry, but I would still let the figure dry over night after cleaning. It is very important that you use a soft bristle brush; Medium or harder can scratch the surface of your miniature.
   
3. Once dry, coat lightly with a spray on primer; you'll need to get all angles. I prefer white as, with the black plastic, it is easier to see how evenly I've coated. Let dry. For me, this is over night due to my schedule, but it should be dry for painting in 2-3 hours.
   
4. At this point, you're clear to start painting. Use light coats. The thinner your coats, the more detail that will be maintained. You can use matte acrylic medium to thin the paints out. For me, this takes place over multiple evenings. However, if you find that you can switch between different parts of the miniature or between other miniatures as they dry, you can work continuously, switching whenever you need to let a coat of paint dry (5-10 minutes ish). I'll provide more thoughts on the actual painting in a response.
   

• Matte Medium
  
• Brushes ; On the last few I did, I just used cheap brushes from hobby lobby. However, this is the set I'll be trying out on the Catfolk I primed last night.
  
• Reaper Paints ; Reaper MSP is the line I prefer to use for most of my paints. For some technical paints, I'll go to citadel's line, but you can achieve the same results by getting your own base materials and mixing with your Reaper or other base line of paints.
  
• Color Pallete Design a color pallete for your project before you start!
  

5. Once you are satisfied with it's appearance and everything is dry, coat with a spray gloss enamel; give 3 or 4 coats in accordance with your products directions. For me, that's 15 minutes between coats.
   

• Glossy Enamel
  

6. (Optional) if you want to reduce the shine of the gloss enamel, follow with 1-3 coats of a matte spray enamel. This also has the advantage of being obvious when your enamel starts to wear off. If you see shiny spots on your mini, it's time to recoat.
   

• Matte Enamel
  
  
  

I love painting the hero forge minis; sounds like you did yours in the new high detail plastic.

I've done a few of those recently and once you get them primed, it's not much different than painting die cast minis.

1. Using needle files and a pen knife, gently remove any spru from your miniature. You will have to be a little more careful than normal; I had one with a particularly fragile joint snap on me from an inadvertent touch, but generally they are durable. If you break any part of it, use superglue and gently brace the two parts together; Let dry over night and it should be just as strong or stronger than before.
   

• Needle Files
  
• Pen Knife
  

2. Next, fill a bowl with some warm and soapy water. Using a soft bristle tooth brush, gently clean the whole surface and rinse in warm water. You can pat dry, but I would still let the figure dry over night after cleaning. It is very important that you use a soft bristle brush; Medium or harder can scratch the surface of your miniature.
   
3. Once dry, coat lightly with a spray on primer; you'll need to get all angles. I prefer white as, with the black plastic, it is easier to see how evenly I've coated. Let dry. For me, this is over night due to my schedule, but it should be dry for painting in 2-3 hours.
   
4. At this point, you're clear to start painting. Use light coats. The thinner your coats, the more detail that will be maintained. You can use matte acrylic medium to thin the paints out. For me, this takes place over multiple evenings. However, if you find that you can switch between different parts of the miniature or between other miniatures as they dry, you can work continuously, switching whenever you need to let a coat of paint dry (5-10 minutes ish). I'll provide more thoughts on the actual painting in a response.
   

• Matte Medium
  
• Brushes ; On the last few I did, I just used cheap brushes from hobby lobby. However, this is the set I'll be trying out on the Catfolk I primed last night.
  
• Reaper Paints ; Reaper MSP is the line I prefer to use for most of my paints. For some technical paints, I'll go to citadel's line, but you can achieve the same results by getting your own base materials and mixing with your Reaper or other base line of paints.
  
• Color Pallete Design a color pallete for your project before you start!
  

5. Once you are satisfied with it's appearance and everything is dry, coat with a spray gloss enamel; give 3 or 4 coats in accordance with your products directions. For me, that's 15 minutes between coats.
   

• Glossy Enamel
  

6. (Optional) if you want to reduce the shine of the gloss enamel, follow with 1-3 coats of a matte spray enamel. This also has the advantage of being obvious when your enamel starts to wear off. If you see shiny spots on your mini, it's time to recoat.
   

• Matte Enamel
  
  
  

Although there's all kinds of branded equipment (from pin vises to knives to files) specifically for minis, you usually don't need to get the "official" stuff. Cheap pin vises (for drilling and pinning) can be found at any hobby shop, and my $5 set of files works splendidly.

That said, I did get the official wet pallette simply because it was much smaller than any non-branded ones and takes up less bench space. And, admittedly, I'm ok with paying for the convenience of pre-measured pallette sheets. If you wanted to try out painting with a wet palette (and you should!), you can make your own pretty easily.

You might also consider putting something over the table/desk/whatever you work on. So you don't get paint on it or accidentally cut into it with exacto knives. I just use a desk pad that I found at staples. That way I can also write notes to myself on it.

nice!

I use jewelers files for the majority of my cleanup...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NPUKYS/

In addition to whats listed here:

Self Healing Cutting Pad

Roll of paper towels

Exacto Knife with spare blades

Mini Files

Pin Vise (aka Mini Drill)

Here's a big fat messy shopping list I made for someone a while ago. You might find it useful too.

http://www.amazon.com/Quickshade-Ink-Warpaints-Army-Painter/dp/B00HC8D80W
Amazon.com: Quickshade Ink Set Warpaints Army Painter

http://www.amazon.com/Pacer-Technology-Zap-Zap-Adhesives/dp/B00SXJJ2QI
Amazon.com: Pacer Technology (Zap) Pacer Technology (Zap) Zap-A-Gap Adhesives, 1 oz

http://www.amazon.com/General-Pencil-Company-Masters-Preserver/dp/B0009RRT9Y
Amazon.com : General Pencil Company The Masters Brush Cleaner & Preserver 2.5 0z. : Brush Soap

http://www.amazon.com/Army-Painter-Wargame-Starter-Paint/dp/B01BJ55UDQ
Buy Army Painter Wargame Starter Paint Set - PLUS Promo Undead figure

http://www.amazon.com/280715-American-Accents-Primer-12-Ounce/dp/B00KZ6LLZW?
Buy Rust Oleum 280715 American Accents Ultra Cover 2X Spray Paint, White Primer, 12-Ounce

http://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-6655-Needle-File-10-Piece/dp/B000NPUKYS?
TEKTON 6655 Needle File Set, 10-Piece

http://www.amazon.com/Xacto-X3311-Precision-Knife-Blades/dp/B0000DD1N4?
Buy Xacto X3311 N0. 1 Precision Knife With 5 No. 11 Blades

http://www.amazon.com/Most-Wanted-Wargamer-Set/dp/B007H4YR8S
Amazon.com: 1 X Most Wanted Wargamer Brush Set

http://www.amazon.com/Xuron-170-II-Micro-Shear-Flush-Cutter/dp/B000IBSFAI
Xuron 170-II Micro-Shear Flush Cutter: Wire Cutters

http://www.amazon.com/Milliput-Standard-2-Part-Hardening-Yellow/dp/B011BO9R5W
Amazon.com: 2 X Milliput Standard 2-Part Self Hardening Putty, Yellow/Grey

Edit: Of, and I used this guide for making my Thinner. http://www.reapermini.com/Thecraft/15 But I'm going to experiment more, because this is not perfect.

A cheap set works fine for plastic. Something with a grip like these should do.

https://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-6655-Needle-File-10-Piece/dp/B000NPUKYS/ref=sr_1_4?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1502283785&sr=1-4&keywords=needle+files

That file? Not very well, no. You need one where the file pattern is present on the end of the file like the far-end one here. This means that you can get right in to the cap to smoothen it off!

I used a pair of wire cutters similar to these to cut the rest of the cap away to leave just the stem.

If you're LightningXI, I've just messaged you!

I used a glue stick to cover the box with paper and drew out the dimensions of the meter. After that I drilled holes to cut out most of the area and finished squaring off the hole with small hobby files, like the ones in the FAQ. These files: http://www.amazon.com/TEKTON-6655-Needle-File-10-Piece/dp/B000NPUKYS/ref=sr_1_2?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1416093199&sr=1-2&keywords=tekton+files

I don't know what to tell you with specifics for Spain, but I can give you some general info that may or may not be helpful to you.

First off, there's this link in the sidebar. It'll give you a bunch of options.

Your hobby knife and mouldline remover will be the same thing. The handles all function the same way. However, I'd recommend picking up some kind of hobby knife set so you get a variety of blade shapes to try and multiple handles to use. #11 blades are the standard, and I prefer X-acto brand, but your mileage may vary. Some larger blade sizes won't fit into smaller handles. Buy in bulk to save money. You can remove mouldlines with the back of a blade, rather than a separate tool.

Any kind of cheap and well-reviewed wax tool / clay tool / dental tool set will work for scupting. Same deal with needle file sets. And with your pin vise. The drill bits will break (for any set), though, and bits can be problematic to replace if you're not sure of exact sizing.

these are the ones I use for reference

Like this?

This is what I ended up using:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NPUKYS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

different inserts probably wont fix it. this is a typical problem with costar stabilizers. this is fixable.

the issue is that the opening is not big enough for the insert to fit into without bending. you need to either file out some of the opening in the plate, or some of the insert where it clips into the plate.

i suggest filing the insert because it is plastic, and thus easier. i suggest using a needle file. here is a cheap set

just a little bit at a time. you dont want these to sit loose when you're done

http://i.imgur.com/y7Ee4xs.png

I have a couple sets similar to these - the secret when filing is minimal pressure. The goal isn't to saw the part in half, after all.

Yes! Acquire some tiny needle files for detail work. Small emery boards (even from the dollar store) work too :) You also want to go very light on filler primer on these details; more primer will just obliterate details rather than fill crevices/steplines.

As a rule I avoid using Dremels on 3D prints in general; they often create enough heat to warp and melt the plastic rather than truly sand it.

Cough cough.

A friend of mine who paints minis recommended that I get small files to clean up my prints. I just got some from Amazon and tried them out last night. They make a huge difference

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000NPUKYS

For mold lines, I use an x-acto knife and just scrape across the lines. Something like this.

I also use some hobby files for the sprue bits and smoothing.

Before I got an airbrush, I used to prime with the Testors flat black spray paint. Make sure you don't spray too close to the mini and do it in short, quick bursts to preserve model detail.

You could prime with Retributor gold spray for stormcast but I personally would prime black and then paint gold. Metallics seem to shine better when painted over black IMO.