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11 Game-Changing Miniature Hobby Tools You Might Not Have Thought Of

We’ve all seen the lists of miniature hobby tools for wargamers, miniature painters, model makers, and hobby terrain makers, but there are some things that get left out of these lists because they’re a little different.

I’ve been in the model making hobby since I was nine with my first model train set, and I have had a wide range of model making experience, from working in commercial design to working in architecture to working in the theater, and, of course, to work with miniature wargames. And these are some of the miniature hobby tools that I find to be must-haves. Not all of them are going to be perfect for everyone–we all have our own processes and habits, not to mention different workspaces–but maybe these will spark ideas that you hadn’t thought of before.

#1. A Drafting Brush

A workspace can get messy with little bits of sprue and basing material scattered everywhere, but sometimes you need a surface that is nice and clean–but you don’t want to damage anything! This is where the drafting brush comes in. These are, obviously, made for drafting (architectural drawing) and intended for brushing away loose eraser bits and pencil shavings and dust. They’re incredibly gentle brushes because the last thing that you’d want is to ruin your blueprints, so they’re made for paper, and I find them absolutely perfect for both cleaning my work surfaces and dusting off models.

And if you get a good one, they’ll last you for years. The one I’ve had has been in my hobby arsenal since college, which is two decades past now. Here’s a link to buy a drafting brush on Amazon. Seriously, a drafting brush is a miniature hobby tool that will level you up.

#2. Citadel’s Outil Tool

This thing needs a better name, because I believe that “outil” is just French for “tool.” Basically, this is your spreader for applying textures to bases. I know you could just use a coffee stir stick or a toothpick, and I’m by no means encouraging people to go out and buy weird Citadel things because I love Games Workshop (I’m not going to recommend their spray paint handle). But the outil is a miniature hobby tool that is remarkably good at what it does.

It is perfectly suited for 28mm scale miniatures–as it should be, since it’s made by Citadel–and it gets in the crevices just how it should. It has the right amount of flexibility/stiffness. One side is a larger spatula and the other side is the little poker end for finessing the texture paste or PVA glue or whatever you’re basing with into place.

Here’s an Amazon link. Considering how overpriced Citadel stuff is, and considering how often I use this thing, it should cost a lot more than it does. (RELATED: I’ve written a whole article about how I like Citadel’s water pot a lot–and it’s cheap, too.)

#3. Pipettes

This takes me back in time to chemistry class. These pipettes are such a simple item–they’re just made for slurping up water and depositing it somewhere else–that it’s surprising they’re so useful. But I use these all the time.

I have one that just sits in my clean water jar (at my painting table I have a painting jar and a clean water jar–you should do the same) and I use the pipette to both perfectly wet my wet palette, but also to drip drops of water onto the palette if I need more water in one place. They’re also amazing if you use Citadel paints (which I tend to do, especially washes) and you you want to get the benefit of a dropper bottle from a stupid paint pot. They’re great for grabbing a drop of Lahmian Medium to mix in, or Contrast Solution, or whatever you want.

Also, if you are in the situation where you want to convert your Citadel paint pots into dropper bottles, you could do it the hard way (which is what I started doing) using tiny funnels. Or you could use pipettes, which is a million times faster and easier.

And on Amazon, pipettes are like 100 for $6, so you have no excuse not to buy them.

#4. Tupperware

I know this may not seem like a brilliant idea, because we all use Tupperware. But I use a very specific kind of Tupperware, and I use a lot of it. For basing materials, which is Use #1 for Tupperware, I make sure that all of my Tupperware (I’m using the term generically–I’ll give you a link to exactly the kind I use below) has clips on the sides to make sure that I can flip it upside down or kick it or knock it off the table, and it will never spill. Unfortunately, you can’t generally find a lot of Tupperware in the same sizes, because they want to sell you a set that will fit anything, but this set is what I’m talking about: from Amazon.

On the shelves in my hobby space, I store all of my models in Tupperware, too. Now, you can go absolutely bananas when it comes to storage systems for your models, and I admit that my are mainly intended for storage and NOT transportation. But for storage, you can’t go wrong with these from Amazon. (EDIT: ACK. They’re sold out. These are similar.) You can see how many of these I have bought and I still have more of them that I haven’t used yet.

#5. Micron Pens

Now, you may be thinking that these are for labeling all of those Tupperware, but they’re not. Micron pens are far too delicate to be used writing on masking tape. I use Micron pens–and I learned this trick from Squidmar–to draw on the fine detail work in my models. Got a purity seal that needs tiny squiggly lines of text? That’s a perfect job for a 005 Micron pen. They’re great for tiny lettering. And if your brushwork isn’t quite fine enough to freehand a symbol or insignia, try drawing it on with a pen, and then using your brush to color in the lines. Odds are very good that you’re more dexterous at using a pen than using the tip of a brush. Here’s a cheap starter set of Micron pens.

#6. LED Task Lamp

This was a game changer for me. And you may be saying “but I already have a lamp”, so I offer you this picture of the two lamps at my desk. When I bought the ring light on the right I thought that I was so awesome for having a big bright desk lamp that had a magnifying glass in it. But if you look at the color on that bulb, it is so yellow. And that means that you’re not going to be getting accurate views of your miniatures as you paint them. It may not seem like much, but the difference between yellow light and pure white light from an LED Task Lamp is night-and-day.

The LED Task Lamp is the most expensive thing on this list, but considering that light is one of the essentials of the miniature painting hobby, it’s a no brainer.

#7. Chisel

Okay, now this one is weird, and it may just be me. When you do a lot of hobby work–especially when you’re doing a lot of terrain work and things that are a little more sloppy than a single miniature–odds are good you’re going to drip super glue. And maybe that super glue is going to form into drops, and sometimes sand or grit or grout will get caught in the super glue. While I know that not everyone is as lucky as I am to have a terrific hobby desk (mine is an enormous desk that was made in the 1950s that weighs about 400 pounds and is virtually indestructible) the ability to remove little bits of glue and grit from your work surface is, if not necessary, still important. And I’ve found that there’s no better solution to cleaning my desk than a slightly-dull chisel.

This chisel has been in my tool box for 25 years and has lost some of its sharpness, and it is the perfect scraper for removing almost anything from my work surface, including glue, sand, and even spilled paint. Here’s a new chisel on Amazon, but I’d recommend you find an old one.

Chiseling the desk down at the end of a Saturday is one of the most satisfying clean-up chores I do. But that’s just me.

#8. Kicker

Again, this may seem like a no-brainer if you’ve been using kicker (super glue activator) for years, but if you’re not aware that this stuff exists then it’s a complete game changing miniature hobby tool.

Super glue, also known as CA glue (cyanoacrylate), is wonderful at bonding things together, but it is not an immediate bond, and sometimes you really need an immediate bond. There are lots of different kinds of kickers, the most common being baking soda. But baking soda has the problem (or benefit) of leaving a little bit of a gritty clump. This can be good on some projects, but often you just want a clean bond.

Gluing something in place and then spritzing it with kicker will instantly freeze the glue in place. This Mitre Apel is stuff that I use, which I am not 100% sure isn’t going to give me cancer (I kid), but any kicker will do.

#9. Packing Tape

This isn’t something that I use all the time–not something you’d usually consider one of the “miniature hobby tools”. In fact, it’s something that I hardly ever use. But when I do need it, it’s a pain in the butt not to have any laying around the office. I use this to wrap the little clear plastic stands that hold up Games Workshop flying models while I’m spray priming them. The question: can you use other kinds of tape? Scotch tape is the backup, especially because it comes off very easily, but you don’t want to ever use a tape that uses a sticky adhesive like masking tape or duct tape, as they will leave residue that will mar your pretty clear plastic stand. Is this a miniature hobby tools hack? Not really. But it’s nice to have when you need it so you won’t have to scrub masking tape gunk off your plastic.

 

#10. Curved Tweezers

Once you go curved, you can’t go back. Curved tweezers not only can reach into spaces that a pair of straight tweezers can’t (like if you’re placing a grass tuft between the legs of something) but I’m of the opinion that curved tweezers just fit into the hand better than straight tweezers and make ALL tweezer jobs easier.

What’s the problem? It’s hard to find curved tweezers unless you buy a big set of ten different styles of tweezers (most of which you will never use). What’s the solution? Big sets of different styles of tweezers are still pretty darn cheap, so you’re not really wasting your money to get a pair of tweezers that you will use all the time.

This is the pack of tweezers I recently bought (because I lost my old pair of curved tweezers–it’s not like tweezers wear out), but if you can find a different set, they’re probably good, too.

Those are my game-changing miniature hobby tools. What have I left off the list? Is there some secret tool you use that never gets talked about? Tell me in the comments!