Tools I use

Thought I might post some of the tools that I use after some other terrain builders asked me some questions last night. First, my most usefull tool is Old Cookie Sheet with raised Edge around it. I can flock anything, when done, raise the cookie sheet and tap all excess material down to a corner for easy recovery. The edge stops roll away items from getting far. I can work with it in my lap while having the TV on. Make a mess with bits of stuff I am carving or reworking? No problem, clear tools and items, lift, tap and all the trash collects in the corner for easy disposal.

Next is the small green clips, they cost around 50cents each. I have 40 of them to hold glued items while they dry, such as the coffee stir sticks. Just peeking into the picture in the upper right corner is a plastic vice grip clamp. Nice to have a clamp that I can adjust the grip strength with. Next is the cordless dremel drill, comes with a recharge holding stand. It has made life much easier without a cord dragging through or over things. The glue gun has one of my colored glue sticks, I melt glue sticks, add a bit of color in the form of water base paint and cast the result back into a mold I made of a glue stick. I have to trim them a wee bit, but when the glue for my pine trees cools, the glue is not as noticeable. Long tweezers, I prefer them over short tweezers as once you get used to the length, you can reach deeper into a scenic bit to add deeper detail with. Take practice to not waver the points, which I adjust with needle nose pliers should they become unaligned.




A better view of the plastic vice gripper. The pads move to conform to the flat angle of the item its gripping. The fisker shear, orange grips, can cut any type of wire, I received them as a present from my wife when she tried to use some of my other wire cutters that had all at one time or another tried to cut some wire to tough and left dents in the cutting blades. These shears will cut and have cut every type of wire I have put in them without ruining the blades, they are close enough that they can cut paper on up also. Lastly are my pliers, open stuck paint bottles, bend wires etc. I have 2 different size pliers to help convince heavy wire to conform to the shape I want. I use various cutting tools to numerous and typical to show, safe to say I buy standard narrow Xacto blades in the hundred pack as a chipped tip can ruin a project step in a heartbeat.

And there you have it.