Part 2

The following list of items are things that you can get to expand your toolbox and the items aren't absolutely necessary for building your projects. However, they do help in some areas.

Miscellaneous Tools you may wish to get Sometime
Picture	Item	Usage	Description
	Drill with Various Bits	Varies	I suggest a hand drill... one with a crank. Also the Battery Operated Mini Drill that comes with the AMT Fiber Optic Kit. The reason for a hand drill, #1 you don't have to worry about accidentally ruining your model because the drill slipped and #2 because it gives much more control over what you're drilling. One suggestion: Try using a small drill bit with a detachable knife blade handle. Makes a great precision finger drill.
	Hemostats	Alot	These are getting easier to find these days. I suggest getting one pair of Straight ended and one pair of Curved ended. These come in handy as mini vise grips for holding small parts and placing small pieces onto an area that's hard to reach with fingers. You may also find small clips like clothes pins and alligator clips to come in handy in these areas as well.
	Miter Saw	Little	This is a small saw that can be used to separate pieces from the sprue or even making corrections to a model with ease. Has many uses.
	Needle Nose Pliers	Alot	A small pair of these comes in handy for small pieces and for using in small places where your fingers just can't reach.
	Rubber Cement	Little	This comes in handy for masking during painting because it comes off rather easily simply by rolling your fingers over the cement when it's dried.
	Small Air Brush	Little	You can pick up a very inexpensive air brush nowadays for about $20 bucks. Testor's makes a pretty good package that you can find at just about any department store. Whether you choose to fork out the money for an air compressor or not is up to you, but you can always use the canned air for small projects.
	Small Candle	Varies	This comes in handy when you need to heat something up or if you just want to set a romantic mood on your work bench! A good Bic lighter also comes in handy and should be essential to your toolbox.
	Small Wire Cutters	Varies	These come in handy when you're doing small wiring in a model. Not to mention clipping your model pieces from the sprue. You can also use a pair of fingernail clippers if you don't want to spare the extra expense.
	Table Mini Vise	Varies	These come in handy for holding small parts together for drying, drilling, or sanding. Has many uses and is fairly cheap.
	Tape Solder Strips	Varies	This stuff I found at Radio Shack. It's a solder in little strips that you can wrap around your wires that need to be soldered. But the real cool part is that you don't need a soldering iron. Just use a lighter or a match to melt the solder and viola, you've got a permanent connection. Although for those die-hards, you can always use the soldering iron and regular solder.
	Tweezers	Some	These can be used in the place of the Hemostats above, and serve the same purposes, however they can also be used for extremely small parts the hemos cannot hold.
	Zap-A-Gap Glue	Alot	This glue is almost the same thing as instant bonding (Crazy Glue), but it fills gaps and is completely sandable. I use it for just about all my gluing that requires different types of material bonding (e.g.: metal to plastic, clear plastic to wood, etc.). You'll love it if you can find it.
	Dremel Tool	Many	Submitted to me by S. Clark, I had to check this one out, and so far, I don't know what I ever did without this cool little tool. Think of a small cordless drill with attachments for sanding, cutting, buffing, and drilling. This is an EXCELLENT tool I highly recommend to anyone who can afford it.
	Magnifying Lamp	Some	Here's another suggestion by S. Clark above and I recommend it for those with poor eyesight or those working on extremely small parts.
	Q-Tip Swabs	Lots	Submitted to me by Steve Davis he recommends using these handy little buggers for just about anything, from painting to applying glue. He says these are great for sopping up extra water around decals, smearing chalk or paint for weathering... you name it. You can also cut off one end and use it as a paint mixer. A good tip for everyone!
	Old Tooth Brushes	Lots	Another suggestion by Steve Davis and we all have these things laying around somewhere. Great for just about everything from buffing a surface for gluing or painting to stripping old paint from a model. He also suggests using it for splatter effects for weathering. A great tip Steve!
	Scriber	Some	My friend Startrek sent in this submission. A scribe for scribing lines into the plastic surface of a model. Many times a models panel lines are raised. You can sand them down and add in accurate recessed lines using this handy tool.
	Sheet Styrene	Lots	Sheet styrene is becoming more readily available at most hobby stores and comes in handy for creating your own details and making pieces for your model that sets it aside from others. It also comes in handy when scratch building your own models because it is easy to manipulate.
	Tuna Cans	Many	These handy little things are great for mixing paint and keeping those little things that you can use organized.
No Pic Available	Dental Tool and Picks	Many	The hand kind, not the drill attachments according to my friend Alex Hochstraser. Next time you go to your dentist, ask them if they have any of their oldpicks and such that they don't use anymore. Chances are they'll give them to you if they are in a good mood!
No Pic Available	Jewelers Files	Some	Alex continues to add that K-mart used to sell a 6-pack of Great Neck brand Jeweler's Files which were cheap and supurb for your model toolbox. They may still have them. They are great for filing away small areas and cutting grooves into your kits for laying down wires. (look at my Enterprise 1701-D pages to see what I mean)
No Pic Available	Old Rags	Alot	Alex goes on to suggest that paper towels are good, but nothing beats a good old rag for some applications. Not to mentions it's more environmentally correct too!

Part 1

Do you have a cool tool you'd like to see added here? E-mail me at JimDDavis@AOL.COM and I will do my best to add it here. Give a description of the tool and how it could be used for your everyday modeling or specific task.