Essential or useful tools and utensils for the ship modeler. A final appendix lists the most common and useful materials.


In the similarly titled topic (linked at the end of the text), starting with a few questions, we discussed essential and useful tools for ship modelers.

The purpose of this article is to quickly provide interested parties with a complete list of essential or simply useful tools and utensils for ship modeling.
This eliminates the need to scroll through pages of posts that might not be of interest.
A novice modeler might ask, "I want to start this fantastic hobby. What tools do I need?"
Well, they can get an immediate answer here.
If you're curious and want to read the entire discussion, you can click the link at the end of the text.

Usually, when interesting topics (that could be useful to everyone) are discussed in the forum, I create a summary article in this section.
The need to create an article in this section arises because it's not possible to search for keywords in the text, but only in the titles. Therefore, many useful and interesting topics and information get irretrievably lost over time.
In this case, this isn't the problem because the topic title contains all the keywords needed to perform a search even months or years later.
The goal, therefore, is simply to get straight to the point without having to read 59 posts.

The following item concerns useful tools for naval modelers who build purely static models.


1. A cutter.
2. Sandpaper (various grits from 80 to 240)
3. Pencils (HB, 2b to 6b), erasers, and a sharpener.
4. Small-toothed hacksaw (like a hacksaw for iron).
5. Set squares, ruler, straightedge, protractor, and compass.
6. Lath bender.
7. Hand drill (with a set of bits from tenths of a millimeter to three millimeters).
8. Jigsaw (fret saw).
9. Sewing needles.
10. Regular scissors.
11. Tailor's scissors for cutting sails.
13. Medium wire cutters.
14. Small wire cutters.
15. Micro electronics wire cutters.
16. Model tweezers.
17. Medium flat-nose tweezers.
18. Long flat-nose tweezers.
19. Standard pliers.
20. Mini electronics tweezers.
21. Set of files (for working with brass and metals).
22. Awl or graver.
23. Plastic and metal clips and clips of various sizes.
23A. Threading machine for metal or alloy pipes.
24. Vice.
25. Clamping brackets.
26. Metal squares with level (right angle).
26A. Permanent markers and nibs.
27. Magnifying glass.
28. Paintbrushes of various sizes.
29. Chisels of various sizes.
29A. Twenty-second caliper.
30. LED spotlight.
31. Work mat.
32. Nail driver.
33. Plane.
34. Hairpin tools.
35. Pipe bender.
36. Third hands (crocodiles fixed to a heavy base) with magnifying glass.
37 Airbrush


Power tools

1. Electric scroll saw (corded jigsaw).
2. Drill press.
3. Dremel-type multipurpose drill (inexpensive, compact, very useful for a thousand purposes, easy to use, relatively safe.)
3A. Grinding wheel.
3B. Jigsaw.
3C. Circular saw.
4. Lathe.
5. Milling machine.
6. Laser cutter.
7. 3D printer.
8. PC with at least one drawing program (2D and 3D).

In addition to the previous list, the following list indicates the tools and utensils essential or useful to the naval modeler who builds dynamic RC naval models.

Screwdrivers of various sizes, cross-head and Phillips (I'm not mentioning Torx and Torx tamper-proof bits because they're unusual and unnecessary in our field).
Open-end wrenches of various sizes.
Adjustable wrench.
Allen wrenches.
Electric scissors.
Wire stripper.
Electric soldering iron with a very fine tip for electronics (600 watts)
Manual solder sucker.
Soldering station.
Pliers, tweezers, and wire cutters are already included in the first list.
Benchtop power supply (also serves as a battery charger).
Multimeter (voltmeter, ammeter, thermometer, etc.)
Digital oscilloscope.
Clamp meter.
Transistor tester.
Lipo battery charger.
Universal battery charger.
Third hand with the aforementioned magnifying glass.
Electronics mat.
Heat-shrink dryer.
Connector crimping tool.
Servo and ESC tester.
Spectrum analyzer (but too expensive).
Metal sandpaper.

Now a brief final appendix on the materials that are essential or useful for the ship modeler.
Some are always good to have, others can be purchased as needed:


In my opinion, for static naval modeling, these are the most important:
glues (of various types; I use a lot of cyanoacrylate),
paints,
enamels
I don't use fillers, but many modelers do,
resins (of various types),
masking tape,
brass sheets,
brass rods,
various types and thicknesses of cordage,
white spirit,
nitro thinner,
turpentine,
electrical tape.
I won't mention wood because I use it as needed, even though I have plenty of strips and pieces of wood left over.

A dynamic naval modeler also needs solder,
various types of wire,
various connectors,
batteries of various types, voltages, and amperages,
protective grease and lubricant,
electrical tape,
heat shrink tubing,
aluminum tubing,
brass tubing,
brass and aluminum profiles,
screws of various types and sizes,
micro-bearings,
joints,
and spring steel.

forum/153763

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