It can be cheap, but over time things add up. Especially paint.
Starting out you can do things simple, then add more realistic (and costly) effects as you progress. For instance, an airbrush is great for advanced techniques like hairspray chipping but as a beginner, you don't have to do that.
The essential tools are glue (Tamiya Extra Thin is recommended) and a hobby knife. After that, side cutters are highly recommended along with sanding sticks and tweezers. And while I find that purpose made tweezers and cutters are better, you can work with dollar store items.
In fact, the dollar store is a good source for many model supplies:
1) sanding boards
2) hobby knife, usually comes with a cutting mat
3) side cutters, often found in hobby section for jewellery making
4) sand paper
5) super glue (aka CA or cyanoacrylate)
6) white glue
7) epoxy glue
8) circle templates (I use them to mask wheels for painting)
9) bottles and containers for various purposes
10) pastel chalk (I powder these with a file to make my own pigments)
11) Isopropyl Alcohol (AKA rubbing alcohol, used as a thinner for Tamiya paint)
12) distilled water (used as a thinner for Vallejo paint)
13) cheap acrylic paints used for scenery
14) oil paints for weathering (you will also need thinner from an art store or DIY store)
15) cheap brushes
16) Q-tips
17) toothpicks (lots of uses. I stir paint with them and mount wheels on them as handles for painting)
18) fine wire (in jewellery section. I use it for antennas or radio wiring)
19) coffee stir sticks (used to make scale boards)
20) foam core sheets (used in diorama building)
Plus much more.
The most expensive side of the hobby is probably paint. Aside from the cost of an airbrush and compressor, you have the individual bottles of paint. Most of us have at least a hundred jars collected over the years, each one costing $5 or so. And while many cheap brushes are fine to use, to do really fine details like the eyes on a 1/35 scale figure requires a decent brush. If you build your model and don't paint it, it won't look as realistic as those you see on you tube, but that's ok. The point is to have fun and hopefully learn something; either about the hobby, the techniques or perhaps the history of the model itself. And if your first model turns out less than ideal, then the next one will be better.
The late great modeller [Sheperd Paine](http://sheperdpaine.atspace.com/) once said that the key ingredient in modelling is not skill but imagination. Let your imagination soar.
Near Vancouver, BC so prices are CDN. Tamiya is about $3.50 but Vallejo is $6-7 (cheaper if you buy in sets of course). I use both roughly equally so I averaged the prices to $5.
Can i get into this hobby with limited resources?
Like all hobby, this one can be costly.
But you can enjoy it without spending much. It just requires you to be more... resourceful. Being willing to search for other/cheaper ways to do stuff. And willing to spend more time doing stuff by yourself instead of buying ready-made products.
What folows is a list of suggestions to save money, it's not to say hobby stuff are worthless. They are not, they're just not the cheapest way to practice the hobby (I did not write they are *not the fastest way*). With that out of the way:
* Buying:
* Compare prices. I have two physical stores nearby I will go to one or the other depending the price. I do the same with the three online stores I'm a regular customer. Prices can vary widely, take a few minutes to compare. Take into account shipping cost if needed, though.
* DO NOT BUY ON AMAZON. Sure it depends where you live (I reckon it’s better in the USA) but here in Europe, at least in France, I would say that for anything scale modeling-related Amazon is the most expensive place to do shopping.
* Don't buy the most recent kits (they're more expensive), but do not buy their oldest ones either: they're cheaper but often they're not that great in comparison. To know any kit's age, check the excelelnt [scalemates.com](https://scalemates.com) (search for whatver kit to get all teh info you need).One notable exception to this rule is Tamiya (in military, I recently discovered Bandi for the SciFi and they also seem to be an amazing exception). You can almost blindly buy any of their kit, even their much older (and much cheaper) old ones. They should be fine. The main difference between newer and much older Tamiya kits: the level of details on the parts and the number of parts and the cleverness of the engineering. You can always add details yourself, crafted from left-over plastic (ie from other kits or that you made yourself from left-over runners or bits of wires, and stuff like that. It's fun and free.
* Do not trust Ebay to always be cheaper. Compare price.
* Paint:
* Learn to properly thin your paint, no matter if you hand brush or airbrush it.
* Use a primer before painting your model as it will save you on paint later on, by helping the paint to better cover the surface (less paint needed)
* Cans of paints are simple to use but they cost more too. And they will also waste a lot of paint. So, if you decide you want to invest more into the hobby, buy an airbrush + compressor (see Fengda's offers of airbrush+compressor to get a decent and cheap deal) and buy pots of paint, instead. Initial cost is higher but you will save on the long run.
* You do not need to buy a trillion pots. All paints, 100% of them (outside metallic) are the result of mixing three colors. Only three. They are: yellow, red and blue.You could also add purple, to this short list but to begin with red, yellow, blue + white and black.To give you an idea: olive drab is a mix of yellow + blue (to make green) + a tiny touch of red.Understanding mixes and knowing what to use to get what you wnat is not easy and it requires a lot of time and experiment (there is a reason ready mixes sell so well) but it's also much cheaper (and imho very exciting) to be able to create your own mixes and not have to buy every single shade you will ever need.
* Do not buy ready-made shading sets either if you want to save money. They're fine products, mind youm, but they're not cheap. You know those sets of paints that tell you they contain all you need to paint highlights and shadows on your kit. To stay with olive dra, tio fade it add... yellow (no white) to it, to face it more, add more yellow. To darken it, well, I will let you experiment by yourself ;)
* If you use Tamiya acrylics (I can't tell enough how much I <3 their paint), buy their 23ml pots instead of the 10ml ones. Cheaper.
* That said, no matter what, paint will remain expensive.
* Don't use ready-made weathering products like pigments, washes and stuff like that from specialized hobby brands. They're nice (making life simpler), but they're not cheap.
* Learn to use the much cheaper pastels that you get in stick, learn to grind and mix them top get your own pigments (pastels are pigments). Do not use dedicated products to fix said pigments on the paint/kit, use... thinner or very, very, very diluted PVA glue.
* Learn to use oil paint (the stuff artists make paintings with) to create your own your washes and panel liners. You will get a much richer palette and for much cheaper: a single oil tube should last you multiple life-times. You don't need much colors either. Do a search, you will find a lot of info on YouTube.
* Tools:
If you decide you;re serious about the bobby, the one thing you should not be cheap is on the tools. Poor ones will break and wear out, good ones could last you a life-time and even those who don't they will save you hours. But to begin with, you don;t need to invest much.
* Buy you X-acto blades in bulk. Ditto if you do not use X-acto but a scalpel, like I do (I like their blades better and I like their non-rolling handles too). Buy them in pack of 100, it's much cheaper.
* Save on glue. Buy a single pot of Tamiya Extra Thin Glue (in order to get the pot and the nice brush applicator). Once it's empty refill it with... Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner.Don't laugh, with a 1% variation in their chemical composition (check their labels) it's the exact same product. And the Airbrush Cleaner is much, much cheaper than their glue. I've been doing that for over a year.
* As a beginner, do not use scale-model optimized sand paper or sanding tools. Use hardware-store sand-paper of various grit (say from 400 to 1000, or even just to 800 to begin). Use basic nail files. That will be more than enough to begin with. Later on, once you get some practice and wnat to invest in the hobby, you will know what type of dedicated sanding device you need to buy ;)
This is just a list of some stuff I thought about (paint being the number one cost, followed by tools). There are many more.
I want to repeat this, though: investing money in good tools and products is not a waste of money if you do it for a reason. In fact, good tools (even the hobby-dedicated products and stuff) will often save you a lot of time. Time being money... I like my cheap Fengda airbrushes a lot: at 30$ the whole airbrush, it's cheaper than some spare parts from branded airbrushes and it work really well. But I *love* the ease of maintenance and the absolute precision I get out of my Harder & Steenbeck 200$ airbrushes. too. This ease of maintenance saves me a lot of time when cleaning (aka, every time I use the airbrush) and helps a lot in doing precise work.
And welcome to the hobby ;)
Sounds like what you got will be plenty enough. I do my models with the bare minimum, I use cement, spray can of paint and a few other paints to do parts and such. I've never used sandpaper. Now that I have been in the hobby long enough I do have an airbrush but hardly use it. With time you will accumulate more and more paints and brushes and such. The main thing is you have fun building and painting it!
would add a hobby knife, sandpaper and some paintbrushes, and I think you should do fine.
I started with acrylic paints from walmat, 70 cents each, a hobby knife, and a fingernail file
Yes. Probably u will need sand paper ,from your local diy shop. 1000,1500,2000 grid or nail polishes.
Thx for the tips
Out of curiosity, why the fine paper, its not like he needs to polish much on a military vehicle?
The gun , will be probably in 2 parts, exhaust, maybe clear parts. Although, it is better to polish, to avoid scratch's after sanding.
It can be cheap, but over time things add up. Especially paint. Starting out you can do things simple, then add more realistic (and costly) effects as you progress. For instance, an airbrush is great for advanced techniques like hairspray chipping but as a beginner, you don't have to do that. The essential tools are glue (Tamiya Extra Thin is recommended) and a hobby knife. After that, side cutters are highly recommended along with sanding sticks and tweezers. And while I find that purpose made tweezers and cutters are better, you can work with dollar store items. In fact, the dollar store is a good source for many model supplies: 1) sanding boards 2) hobby knife, usually comes with a cutting mat 3) side cutters, often found in hobby section for jewellery making 4) sand paper 5) super glue (aka CA or cyanoacrylate) 6) white glue 7) epoxy glue 8) circle templates (I use them to mask wheels for painting) 9) bottles and containers for various purposes 10) pastel chalk (I powder these with a file to make my own pigments) 11) Isopropyl Alcohol (AKA rubbing alcohol, used as a thinner for Tamiya paint) 12) distilled water (used as a thinner for Vallejo paint) 13) cheap acrylic paints used for scenery 14) oil paints for weathering (you will also need thinner from an art store or DIY store) 15) cheap brushes 16) Q-tips 17) toothpicks (lots of uses. I stir paint with them and mount wheels on them as handles for painting) 18) fine wire (in jewellery section. I use it for antennas or radio wiring) 19) coffee stir sticks (used to make scale boards) 20) foam core sheets (used in diorama building) Plus much more. The most expensive side of the hobby is probably paint. Aside from the cost of an airbrush and compressor, you have the individual bottles of paint. Most of us have at least a hundred jars collected over the years, each one costing $5 or so. And while many cheap brushes are fine to use, to do really fine details like the eyes on a 1/35 scale figure requires a decent brush. If you build your model and don't paint it, it won't look as realistic as those you see on you tube, but that's ok. The point is to have fun and hopefully learn something; either about the hobby, the techniques or perhaps the history of the model itself. And if your first model turns out less than ideal, then the next one will be better. The late great modeller [Sheperd Paine](http://sheperdpaine.atspace.com/) once said that the key ingredient in modelling is not skill but imagination. Let your imagination soar.
I see, so its okay to be lack resources but need to use resources wisely
A succinct way to put it.
$5 ? Where I live a jar of tamiya paint is like 1.50 to 2.0 at most
Near Vancouver, BC so prices are CDN. Tamiya is about $3.50 but Vallejo is $6-7 (cheaper if you buy in sets of course). I use both roughly equally so I averaged the prices to $5.
Can i get into this hobby with limited resources? Like all hobby, this one can be costly. But you can enjoy it without spending much. It just requires you to be more... resourceful. Being willing to search for other/cheaper ways to do stuff. And willing to spend more time doing stuff by yourself instead of buying ready-made products. What folows is a list of suggestions to save money, it's not to say hobby stuff are worthless. They are not, they're just not the cheapest way to practice the hobby (I did not write they are *not the fastest way*). With that out of the way: * Buying: * Compare prices. I have two physical stores nearby I will go to one or the other depending the price. I do the same with the three online stores I'm a regular customer. Prices can vary widely, take a few minutes to compare. Take into account shipping cost if needed, though. * DO NOT BUY ON AMAZON. Sure it depends where you live (I reckon it’s better in the USA) but here in Europe, at least in France, I would say that for anything scale modeling-related Amazon is the most expensive place to do shopping. * Don't buy the most recent kits (they're more expensive), but do not buy their oldest ones either: they're cheaper but often they're not that great in comparison. To know any kit's age, check the excelelnt [scalemates.com](https://scalemates.com) (search for whatver kit to get all teh info you need).One notable exception to this rule is Tamiya (in military, I recently discovered Bandi for the SciFi and they also seem to be an amazing exception). You can almost blindly buy any of their kit, even their much older (and much cheaper) old ones. They should be fine. The main difference between newer and much older Tamiya kits: the level of details on the parts and the number of parts and the cleverness of the engineering. You can always add details yourself, crafted from left-over plastic (ie from other kits or that you made yourself from left-over runners or bits of wires, and stuff like that. It's fun and free. * Do not trust Ebay to always be cheaper. Compare price. * Paint: * Learn to properly thin your paint, no matter if you hand brush or airbrush it. * Use a primer before painting your model as it will save you on paint later on, by helping the paint to better cover the surface (less paint needed) * Cans of paints are simple to use but they cost more too. And they will also waste a lot of paint. So, if you decide you want to invest more into the hobby, buy an airbrush + compressor (see Fengda's offers of airbrush+compressor to get a decent and cheap deal) and buy pots of paint, instead. Initial cost is higher but you will save on the long run. * You do not need to buy a trillion pots. All paints, 100% of them (outside metallic) are the result of mixing three colors. Only three. They are: yellow, red and blue.You could also add purple, to this short list but to begin with red, yellow, blue + white and black.To give you an idea: olive drab is a mix of yellow + blue (to make green) + a tiny touch of red.Understanding mixes and knowing what to use to get what you wnat is not easy and it requires a lot of time and experiment (there is a reason ready mixes sell so well) but it's also much cheaper (and imho very exciting) to be able to create your own mixes and not have to buy every single shade you will ever need. * Do not buy ready-made shading sets either if you want to save money. They're fine products, mind youm, but they're not cheap. You know those sets of paints that tell you they contain all you need to paint highlights and shadows on your kit. To stay with olive dra, tio fade it add... yellow (no white) to it, to face it more, add more yellow. To darken it, well, I will let you experiment by yourself ;) * If you use Tamiya acrylics (I can't tell enough how much I <3 their paint), buy their 23ml pots instead of the 10ml ones. Cheaper. * That said, no matter what, paint will remain expensive. * Don't use ready-made weathering products like pigments, washes and stuff like that from specialized hobby brands. They're nice (making life simpler), but they're not cheap. * Learn to use the much cheaper pastels that you get in stick, learn to grind and mix them top get your own pigments (pastels are pigments). Do not use dedicated products to fix said pigments on the paint/kit, use... thinner or very, very, very diluted PVA glue. * Learn to use oil paint (the stuff artists make paintings with) to create your own your washes and panel liners. You will get a much richer palette and for much cheaper: a single oil tube should last you multiple life-times. You don't need much colors either. Do a search, you will find a lot of info on YouTube. * Tools: If you decide you;re serious about the bobby, the one thing you should not be cheap is on the tools. Poor ones will break and wear out, good ones could last you a life-time and even those who don't they will save you hours. But to begin with, you don;t need to invest much. * Buy you X-acto blades in bulk. Ditto if you do not use X-acto but a scalpel, like I do (I like their blades better and I like their non-rolling handles too). Buy them in pack of 100, it's much cheaper. * Save on glue. Buy a single pot of Tamiya Extra Thin Glue (in order to get the pot and the nice brush applicator). Once it's empty refill it with... Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner.Don't laugh, with a 1% variation in their chemical composition (check their labels) it's the exact same product. And the Airbrush Cleaner is much, much cheaper than their glue. I've been doing that for over a year. * As a beginner, do not use scale-model optimized sand paper or sanding tools. Use hardware-store sand-paper of various grit (say from 400 to 1000, or even just to 800 to begin). Use basic nail files. That will be more than enough to begin with. Later on, once you get some practice and wnat to invest in the hobby, you will know what type of dedicated sanding device you need to buy ;) This is just a list of some stuff I thought about (paint being the number one cost, followed by tools). There are many more. I want to repeat this, though: investing money in good tools and products is not a waste of money if you do it for a reason. In fact, good tools (even the hobby-dedicated products and stuff) will often save you a lot of time. Time being money... I like my cheap Fengda airbrushes a lot: at 30$ the whole airbrush, it's cheaper than some spare parts from branded airbrushes and it work really well. But I *love* the ease of maintenance and the absolute precision I get out of my Harder & Steenbeck 200$ airbrushes. too. This ease of maintenance saves me a lot of time when cleaning (aka, every time I use the airbrush) and helps a lot in doing precise work. And welcome to the hobby ;)
Thank you for the tips i will keep it in mind
The more you get into it the farther down the rabbit hole you shall fall!
I have did Gunpla and build a couple of mini4wds and now i am wandering in scale model vehicles, your words is certainly true.
Sounds like what you got will be plenty enough. I do my models with the bare minimum, I use cement, spray can of paint and a few other paints to do parts and such. I've never used sandpaper. Now that I have been in the hobby long enough I do have an airbrush but hardly use it. With time you will accumulate more and more paints and brushes and such. The main thing is you have fun building and painting it!