Another tool? Really?

And I bought new gloves too.

 

I think it is well chronicled on these pages that I have a weakness for tools.  I've written a number of posts about it, and taken more pictures than I should.  I also have to admit that I open the Canadian Tire and Home Hardware flyers first--well before the food.  Whenever I visit those stores, I always walk around the tool sections, hefting the wrenches and drills when opportunity allows.

So it should come as no surprise that bike ownership can also include some tools.

When I purchased the bike, I asked what tools I would need--this is probably the kind of words a salesman dreams of hearing.  However, they said I would need a pump, a multi tool and some tire levers.  The assured me the bike comes with a several tune-ups and there was much less maintenance than a mountain bike.

Being at the bike show, I couldn't resist picking up this tool.  Will I need it?  Doubtless, there are ways to measure chain wear without this tool--but .....tools are cool.  I like tools. 

 

As you can see, it was a moment of weakness.  Fortunately for me, it isn't a big ticket item, and it didn't break the bank.  It was cheaper than I have seen it at bike shops and even online shops.  It isn't like I bought the entire Park Tool Master Kit.

Getting Organized

The first step in getting back to my model hobby is to earnestly get my hobby desk in order.  While that sounds like a good idea, until you have to move about 30 small paint bottles, little by little, you don't realize that this is a bit of an undertaking.

I have included a before and after shot, just so you can see what I am working with.  It isn't as brightly lit as I would like...but I shouldn't complain.  It isn't like I can't go buy another lamp.

 



Before

If you are interested in my thoughts on organization, and want to read more, please check out my other blog. https://todaysperfectmoment.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/the-better-organized-me/

It isn't really about hobbies, but some of the better writing I have done lately is there.

More organized
 



As you can see by the shot, I have made the decision to purchase a spray booth.  From a health perspective, this was a no brainer.  While all of the paints I use say they are "non-toxic" I fear that a phrase like that, translate through lawyers and other legal jargon, really means, "not as toxic as poison, so you can't sue us, but still not great for your lungs."  I haven't used it yet, but hopefully today or tomorrow.







Can You Ever Have Enough Tools?

Okay, if I wasn't sure before, I am sure now.  I have a very bad habit of buying tools for my hobbies.  I went to the hobby store, planning strongly to resist any purchasing of tools and magazines.  I even took a friend--you know, don't go swimming without a buddy, hoping that they would help me be the voice of reason, or at least restraint.

No such luck.

I don't mean to blame my friend.  They would have restrained me if I had asked.  I just didn't ask and proceeded to the checkout very quickly.  I am my own worst enemy....I guess.

On the bright side, I do think I made a good purchase.  I have a lot of train buildings to assemble and not one of them has a square edge.  What?  That's right.  I have to assemble about 20 buildings for my train layout, and not one of them has a straight edge.  You see, to facilitate the manufacturing process, the moulds all have "draft" edges, so they will pop out of the machine easily.  Hmmmm?  You'd think with today's technology there would be another way around this--but what do I know of injection moulding?  In the end, I have to sand the edges until they are 90 degrees.

You might remember a post where I created my own sanding board.  That worked well, but provided no way to evaluate my work.  This tool should do the same thing, and allow me to be a bit more uniform.

My friend, and several people at the shop, said I was making a wise purchase.  They explained that while I didn't need the tools, the proper tools make things go so much easier.

Any thoughts.

Hobbies Lead to Tool Lust

Once again I find myself in a hobby conundrum.  The only good thing is that I recognize it, and might be able to escape this one.  However, I am not really sure.

I used to love riding my bicycle.  I rode all over the place.  This might have a lot to do with the fact that I didn't have a car, but I am pretty sure that isn't all of it.  I know I loved the feeling of speed and power.  I remember once thinking I could be in the Tour de France.  I was never that good, but every boy has to dream.

I have always owned a bike.  When I had a job as a teenager, I took my bike to work every day.  If I had the choice of bus or cycle, I always chose cycle.  When I lived in Japan I bought a bike on a whim and had to carry it home on a very packed subway and train.  This was the kind of thing I did.  I never second guessed decisions like that. 

Lately, I have been thinking about getting back on my bike before the dust in the garage consumes it completely.  It would certainly help with the fitness part of my diet.  Of course, being dusty, it is going to require a bit of maintenance, and that is where the dilemma comes from.  I could pay someone to do it for me, or I could do it myself.

I know that I would rather do it myself.  Yes, it is a mechanical job, but it doesn't seem that hard.  So, I did what I always do.  I checked the internet and found lots of good resources and tools.  Do you see where I am going with this?

Regular readers of this blog (if there are any) know that I have tool equipment lust to a terribly high degree.  Sometimes, I love hobby tools more than the hobby itself.  I thought I was strange, but after reading other blogs and internet forums, I know I am not the only one.  Plus, I am one of those guys.  I think tools are cool.  I want them, and I want good ones.

My current lust features two things:  A bike stand for working on the bike, and a dedicated set of tools.  Of course, there are some really flashy ones out there, but I have settled on these two.  The fact that they come in sexy anodized blue is just a coincidence--or is it.  Perhaps, I really don't need these things, but I scratched the itch, and I am now I am starting to obsess.

I probably have enough tools that I only need a few specialized ones to do any repair that I want.  I also don't need sexy blue tools.  Plain ones will do.  As for the bike stand, while not necessary, it certainly would be handy.

The next deadly step is to go to a bike shop (rather than the internet) to see what they have.  I might succumb and regret it, but what else can I do.

When Something Needs Stirring...

 

 

We've all said it.  You've said, I've said it.  Like I said, we've all said it. You buy average tools all the time, and you buy quality tools only once.  Or maybe you said, the right tool makes the job easier.  The question is, do you really believe it?

I was doing some painting yesterday.  I noticed the paint needed to stirred up.  So I reached for my official Tamiya paint stirrer.  Yes, that's right.  I have an official paint stirrer.  I could have used a tooth pick, but I employed the paint stirring tool.

At a 300 yen price tag (actually I bought it for 240 yen...and I won't tell you where just in case Tamiya takes their recommended sales price overly seriously) I could have bought a box or two of toothpicks.  All I can really say, is that it was definitely worth it.  Two hundred and forty yen is just shy of three Canadian dollars, when tax is figured in.  Of course, I bought it in Japan, so if I include the price of airfare the overall price really skyrockets.

It isn't so much that it works better than a toothpick, or that I couldn't have MacGyvered something similar with a coat hanger, but I just feel that much more purposeful.  I feel like I am really working on a project and that the project is not working on me.  It is one less thing to worry about while I concentrate on the real task.

Sometimes you just need to have the right tools.  In my various hobbies, I have spent the money sometimes, and cheaped out sometimes.  Sometimes I have been creative and found very workable things at dollar stores.  Who knows?  All I know for sure is that the money I spent on the paint stirrers was not a waste.

Limits

When I tell people I have a lot of hobbies they mostly ask what they are and leave it at that.  The more adventurous ones might wonder how I can afford it.  Funny though, no one wonders where I keep it all.

I have written a couple of blogs about storage, but that's common to all hobbyists.  We've all got tools and supplies and various other equipment.  It takes up space, but most of that is "out of the way" or stuffed into a closet.  There is always room for that stuff.  What nobody really stops to consider is what do you do with the finished products.

If you have a hobby that results in some finished product, you might want to display it.  In some cases you've got to display it.  Sure, you can give some of it away--some people do crafts that turn into Christmas presents.  But, how many times do your family and friends want that stuff?  If it is a quilt, you probably don't mind having six or seven of them, but how many wool sweaters do you want?  How many hooked rugs do you need?  How many paint by numbers can adorn your walls?

Okay, some of these crafts are beautiful.  Hence the reason I wrote that you've got to display them.  Sometimes these crafts are so integral to your life that everyone expects to see them on display at your house.  No problem there.

I, Jack of all hobbies, however, have so many hobbies, and do not often produce things of display quality.  What do I do then?

Limits.  I have limits.  There are only so many of one thing that I can have before it needs to get pared down.  If I make a good car model, it usually displaces a model I am less happy with (though some parts end up in the parts box for that diorama I am going to do someday).  I've only go so much shelf space, and the better models make the bad ones look rather poor.

New magazines displace old ones--or more likely, deluxe editions of books put out by these magazine publishers displace the magazines.  Realizing that they had me paying twice, I read the magazines at the library and only buy the books....but this is a topic for another day.

Train stuff....well, I can always make more room for train stuff.  I am into N scale, and that doesn't really take up  a lot of room.....besides, you've got to have priorities, and you've got to rationalize.

Take my latest puzzle.  I did it because I liked trains.  I thought about putting it up over in the room where there will be a train...but then I realized that wall space was at a premium, and I had already done a couple of other train puzzles that I thought were better than this one.  So what could I do?  Despite my pack rat nature, I am going to pass this puzzle off to someone else who will have to figure out what to do with it once they are done.

Tools and Projects

Whenever I get a chance to use some tools, I feel pretty manly.  Call it stereotypical, call it macho bullshit, call it whatever you want.  I know how I feel.  With tools in hand I feel great.

It should come as no great shock that I am not a master craftsman.  I am not talking about designing and building great furniture from beautiful wood.  I am really talking about assembling a cheap, compressed sawdust, piece of furniture from a box.  Not so amazing, but still, if I build it, then I feel pretty good.

My latest project was a media cabinet.  It was on sale at Canadian Tire (discontinued) and therefore not expensive at all.  I decided I wanted to put my DVD's away, rather than stack them in piles on the coffee table, desk, or floor.  It seems like a noble idea--I guess I am a victim of the desire to organize, even if it rarely gets done.  My heart is in the right place.

This particular creation required only two screwdrivers and a hammer.  Usually, I don't classify it as a real project unless it takes a least five tools, and one of them has to be a power tool.  That seems reasonable doesn't it?

Too Much, Too Many?

How much is too much?  How many is too many?  Either every hobbyist must answer these questions, or spend a lot of time avoiding answering these questions.  If they don't ask themselves, then surely someone in their family, or circle of friends, or amongst their co-workers will ask this question.  At first, it will be polite, but that will change.... Given time.

Hobbyists (the part that becomes the collector) start out small.  A few model kits here, a stumble across a sale means a few more, a deal at a yard sale, a trip to a convention.... I used model kits as an example, but it might just as well have been trains, die cast cars, Lego kits, DVD series, tools, doilies, stamps, hockey cards..... really, I should have just left a blank and asked you to fill it in.

You know the kind of hobbyist I mean.  This person has way more stuff than they can ever tackle, and has no desire to part with any of it... at any price.  They've got some great stuff, some usual stuff, and hidden away, though not less valuable to them, some very mediocre stuff that they wouldn't show their hobby friends.

In my case, it isn't quite that bad.  I don't have too much of any one thing.  I've got more than I need (don't we all), but I won't be featured on any hoarding television show.  However, I probably have too many hobbies, and therefore too much hobby stuff as opposed to too much of one thing.
I am pretty good at setting limits, but I am often swept away by new interests.  Something new is more interesting than something I have seen before.  Something different is better than something I already know about.  Of course, this is also limited by cost, but that will be the subject of another blog (the title will also be "How much is too much?" but with different implications)

Recent additions to the collection

So how much/many is too much/many?  It's a tough question.  As for model kits, more than you can build in your lifetime would seem to be a good place to start....but that doesn't take into account new things that come onto the market.  The same could be said for trains.  More than you can run in a weekend seems like a good number.  Lego.... when you can build your own house out of Lego, you should probably stop.  Comic books.... when the boxes can't be stored in the guest room, that should be it.  Tools....if you haven't even taken them out of the package in a few years, the message should be clear.  The list could go on, and I really want to hear from you people and how much you think is too much for the hobbyist in your life.

Hobbies I would take up: The bottom 5 (part 3)

I'm a guy.  Not a particularly enlightening sentence (and much shorter than I allow most of my students to construct) but true nonetheless.  As a guy, I come with typical guy attitudes and stereotypes.  One of those is guys should be good with tools, have lots of tools, and be able to talk about tools.  This does not discount women.  I have met women who met all three criteria.  I am not inept with tools, and I have quite a few of them, and I have completed a project or two.  However, there will not be a reality show featuring me completing wonderful and complex projects in a quick half hour.  The problem is, sometimes, I wish I could.

I wish I had more time, energy and talent to build wonderful pieces of furniture.  I hate going to stores and seeing the crappy, particle board furniture that is ubiquitous.  I want to build beautiful solid wood pieces.  I'm talking about a new headboard, a new TV stand, wood paneling for the pool room (someday), a coffee table with a train layout in the bottom.  The problem is a lack of pure talent, space, energy, and money. The last being rather important because good wood is rather expensive--and the lack of talent could only lead to beginner mistakes and more purchases of lumber.

At to this that well made, ornate furniture would probably require some carving or filigree (thank you spell checker) and that requires talent.

Someday, I may take this up, starting small of course (bird house, deck) and work my way up to coffee table, or end table.  However, until that time, I guess I will have to shop at better places.

 

So Many Cords and Cables

The modern world is an amazing place.  We can do so much more than the generation before.  The only thing is that all of this needs electricity.  No, this isn't a rant against nuclear power (for rants please see my other blog "The Octagonal Peg" located in the blogs I follow section located at the lower right).  Instead, I just want to lament the need for so many cords and cables.  So, so many cords and cables.

As a modern hobbyist, I have a ton of cords, a ton.  I've got adaptors for power for computers, DVD players, video games, tools, soldering irons, battery chargers, air compressors, and train power.  That isn't really bad, because everyone has cords.  The problem is that I have to also include the staggering amount of USB cords I have.

USB stands for universal serial bus.  Clever acronym, but I have to take issue with the word universal.  Indeed, from the computer connection, it is universal.  Everyone I have fits into the USB slot in my computer.  The problem is, though, every single one of them has a different end that fits into the device.  So, for every modern, cool, hi-tech piece of equipment I have, I have another USB cable.  Perhaps I should be thankful that they seem to only come in two colours (white and black, though I suspect there are some grey ones out there) but it does make them difficult to distinguish when I am in a hurry.  I don't want to over dramatize the dilemma, but I think frustration is a word that best categorizes it.

Someday, everything will be wireless.  A lot of things already are.  I should just sit back, complain less, and await this day.  Not really my style, though.  Until that day, as I drown in a sea of cords, cables, and other wires, as I occasionally trip over them, I will voice my concerns.

Decals.....My Nemesis

I am not going to boast about my modeling skills--mostly because I can't.  I am stuck in the intermediate phase and seemed destined to stay there forever.  On one of my current projects--Jacques Villeneuve's Formula One car I had been making good progress until I met my nemesis.

My nemesis at car modeling that is.... my sink nemesis is this guy named Martin, and my bus seat nemesis doesn't have a name, but he has sharp elbows that seem to stick me whenever he is texting someone.... whish is ALL THE TIME!  I seem to be digressing.

My nemesis in car modeling must be decals.  I have lots of good equipment. I have a good set of knives.  I have a steel ruler.  I have a really cool self healing cutting mat (not entirely sure what that is, but it sounds cool).  I've even got a full range of tweezers and some setting solution for the decals.  What I don't have is patience for getting them on strait, judgement to know when to remove them from the water, and delicate fingers to stop them from ripping, folding or disintegrating.

I have, in the past, managed to get the decals on license plates, dashboards, air cleaner covers and manifolds.  As for this car, I have ruined a few, and now feel dejected.  I am not sure I want to finish this model, even though it started out with such good progress.

I wish I could blame the decals.  They seem very thin and fragile.  Maybe they are defective.  If I could comfort myself with that lie, I could probably tell myself the dozens of others that politicians and pseudo academics try to foist on me on a weekly basis.  Sadly, I cannot do that.  It is probably less about principles than practical honesty.

I had such high hopes for this car, but sadly, it may go back in the box to rest for a while.  A long while, if I can't shake this funk and feeling of frustration.

I used to hate painting car bodies, but the airbrush has made that somewhat easier.  Of course, choosing the right colours and thinning the paint appropriately has also helped that, but I would rather thank the airbrush.  It is just simpler that way.

I used to hate taping walls and baseboards for painting, but the new tape (frog tape I think it is called--they must be competing with duct/duck tape.) has made that easier.

wiring up train tracks and lights used to be a pain, but that has been solved.

So basically, why can't they make better decals for car models.

 

On a side note, as an ESL teacher, I am amused by the word decal.  Do you pronounce it /dee-kal/ or /deckle/ ?

these turned out relatively good

Making Tools and Sweating Buckets

Being a hobbyist, more specifically a train hobbyist, has made me use more raw skills than any other hobby.  It involves all the skills of building plastic models--the prepping, the painting, the assembling, the disassembling, the repainting,  It involves a fair bit of math-- measuring angles, radii etc as well as re-measuring those same angles and radii.  It involves a bit of electronics--soldering, wiring, re-soldering, rewiring.  And it involves a bit of carpentry--constructing platforms to build the train on, backdrop holders, rebuilding those same things, quite possibly several times.

An example of the thick sprue channel

I am no carpentry whiz--as I mentioned before, that is my brother's department.  Nonetheless, I try not to bother him with things I should be able to handle.  I build my last train table myself and managed to do a fine job (though, I wish I hadn't taken the advice to build the thing on a hollow door--plywood would have been better and it would have been much easier to wire.)  Some friends even commented that I did a decent job (that is why you have friends by the way)  I managed all of this without a serious collection of power tools.  Hand saw, mitre box, and workbench can take you far.

Besides giving myself a virtual pat on the back and feeling smug about my self reliance, it does bring me to today's blog idea--making tools, or at least making do.

The cleaned up model I am working on--sanding still required

Today I started work on a DPM (Design Preservation Models) Hayes Hardware kit.  Having spent a lot of years building car models from the US, Japan, parts of Asia and Europe, I can say that car modellers have it way easier,  You clean up a bit of flash, fill some gaps and you're ready. With these kits I had to cut off a lot of extra material, (I have never seen such big sprue channels) and you aren't really provided with a nice tab system for keeping things together,  What really irked me was that I was told I had to "level the draft corners".  The building doesn't even come squared.  The edges are bevelled!  Why would they do it that way?  Granted I found no injection marks, but still!  I would like to see what a Japanese company like Tamiya could do on buildings. (I have a Japanese model of a convenience store but it came pre-built, so I can't really compare.)

The recommended rotating the model around a piece of sandpaper tacked to a piece of wood.  Sounds good, but wouldn't it be better to have the sandpaper glued to the wood?  Whether it is better or not, I do not know.  However, that is what I did.  I got a piece of wood, cut it to size with my trusty handsaw, and glued two pieces of sandpaper to it.  Now, I have what they asked for, built to my specifications.

The sanding tool I made

The negatives; it took me some time (finding the piece of wood, getting it down from its high storage area involved moving and setting up my not so light ladder, marking the cuts, cutting it, cleaning up, gluing and waiting for the glue to dry) and when the sandpaper is used up, I will have to make another one.

The positives; I feel very manly.  (in which case I feel entitled to a beer)  I feel self reliant.

All in all, I am confident that I can go to the next stage in the building process.

If anyone would like to comment on the outdated tools they use, or the tools that they have made, that would be wonderful.

Tools and Tribulations

I was once warned that I could spend a lot of money collecting hobby tools and have no money leftover for the hobby itself.  I don't remember if that was at a hobby show--because I used to go to a lot of those, or whether it was on a hobby website.  While this hasn't exactly happened, I do think it is good advice.  Of course, some tools are necessities, while others are a luxury.  Though I can't always tell the difference, I hope I have struck a happy medium.

The best tool I have every bought was my airbrush.  It has improved my painting a lot.  I still need more practice, but on the whole, I like most of the results.  Can't say I am fond of the clean up, but it isn't really that hard.

The worst tool I have ever bought (not including the multi drawer storage cabinet that binds every time I open it) was a cheap micrometer.  If you are going to purchase this tool, buy yourself a good one.  It isn't going to break and if you have it for ten or twenty years, it really won't cost that much.

There are tools I lust over, and someday will have

I would love a spray booth.  My current solution works, but is not ideal.  I have one of these saved on my Amazon account, so someday it will be mine, all mine,

I would love to have a Unimat hobby lathe.  I saw one fantastic all in one hobby machine, and I have lusted after it ever since.  The price is way out of my ballpark, but,  I think it would be a worthy investment.  Who knows, I might win the lottery someday.

The magnetic jig.  I am not sure this is absolutely necessary, but it sure would help putting those train buildings together.

Life every train enthusiast, I probably need an official NMRA gauge,  I have one for spacing and ride height, but I could probably use the all encompassing one nonetheless.

In addition to these there are lots of files, glue guns, scrapers, hot wire cutters, moulds,  magnifiers, third hand devices, electronic gauges and sensors, clamps, and computer doohickeys.  The list is endless.  When you get right down to it, the warning I received so long ago, seems very appropriate.

Would love to hear about the best and worst hobby tools that you've ever bought.  Please leave a comment.

Progress Report

I started this blog with the idea that it would contain a whole bunch of things.  I had this mission statement

I plan to write about the different hobbies I have take up, the ones I have researched, and my future hobby dreams--and believe me, I have lots of those.  I will also mix in amusing stories of my hobby foibles, as well as thoughts on the state of hobby pursuits in the twenty-first century.  On top of all that, I may find time to review tools, hobby kits, and anything else.  In essence, I am promising a mixed bag of tricks. 

I think I have covered the foibles and the amusing stories, but I really haven't updated you on my hobby progress. That is where this blog comes in.

Amongst my many hobbies, building plastic models ranks pretty high.  I build cars, military vehicles, Japanese castles, and science fiction subjects.  One of my ambitions is to build a car themed diorama.  It was this in mind that I started the Fujimi Tools kit.

 

I really liked the subject of this kit because it was a little different. I am attracted to more unusual pieces.  I have seen some nice finished examples of this on the internet.  My pieces are coming along, but, as you can see, they need a little finishing.

 I should point out (because I have learnt that there are some very smart people inhabiting the internet) that the engine is not from the Fujimi kit.  I am also working on a Ford Fairlane--but the engine is all that I have managed to finish.

I also recently finished the Schwimmwagen.  (okay, I haven't added the crew, but I probably won't)

That is where things stand, today.  As far as models go.  You'll find out the progress, or lack of progress, in future blogs.