HOBBY: What Your Dog has to Say About Your Hobby . . .
Upgrading your hobby arsenal in unexpected ways . . . You can find hobby stuff in the weirdest places!
Greetings fellow wargamers!
Caleb with White Metal Games here. One of my favorite things to do if not my very favorite thing to do as part of the hobby is kit bash models! There is nothing quite as satisfying as taking parts from separate kits and joining them together into something new and original.
One essential tool for this sort of endeavor is a Pin Vise, aka hand drill. However, if you’re like me at all, you said Adios to the pin vise long ago and now use tools like hand drills and dremmel tools. I could go on and on about the advantages of hand drills and dremmels, but allow me to cut to the chase.
90% of the pinning I do is with 1/16″ Brass Rod. It’s readily available, and you can find simple drill bits in the 1/16″ size at your local hardware store.
However, for particularly small models, I was at a loss. I finally started using 1/32″ brass rod for particularly small joints, such as 25mm scale and 28mm scale models. The problem was finding a dremmel that would accept a 1/32″ drill bit. The bit is so small, most drill chucks won’t wind down tight enough to hold the drill bit.
My simple, very cheap solution to this was a 1/32″ mini chuck and a dedicated, cheap dremmel tool so I didn’t spend a lot of time changing chuck bits during a hobby session.
The answer to the cheap dremmel tool was the Peticure tool, seen here! And also here is a
Link to the Peticure Elite Tool, for those interested in buying their own! For the price you can’t beat it! It doesn’t have the same torque of a traditional Dremmel tool, but for a fraction of the price you really can’t beat it! And for pinning plastic, resin, and even white metal figures, its adequate for your hobby needs.
Ironically, in my search for a dremmel tool on the cheap, I also came across a spray gun on the cheap for my air compressor! Also intended for use with dogs!
I think they use it traditionally to spray flea treatments or the like, but it’s made in the same fashion as a traditional spray gun, and I use it on projects where I need to spray a thicker acrylic paint (such as for painting interior walls and such) on my terrain projects and boards, and such. Here is a Link to Mini Spray Gun. 
In addition, for those of you on a really tight budget, here is a link to another poor man’s dremmel tool that I added to my arsenal.
This article may seem like I am meandering a bit, without rhyme or reason, but my point to all this is very simple:
Don’t be afraid to shop off brand and low end products for your hobby needs. There are a wealth of tools out there for the saavy shopper, looking to get their hobby needs taken care of without spending hundreds on fancy tools.
Do I own a Dremmel tool personally? Yes, yes I do.
But I’ve been at this a long time, and starting out in the hobby, I wish I had known about cheaper options for tools to help me personally get started in the hobby! And that’s why I wanted to share my findings with others. There are cheaper ways to do things for those willing to look.
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Until next time, PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!!!
Caleb, WMG
