A number of years ago I purchased an excellent Kalmbach publication called “HO Lineside Industries You Can Build”. I had identified a couple structures that I wanted to build and had even purchased all the styrene and other parts for one of them. Unfortunately, inertia and life intervened with no progress. I’d like to finally get out of my armchair and actually build the structure! But, there’s a big but… I don’t have any adhesive or tools to perform the task. So my question for you, if you had $100 to get reasonably setup to scratchbuild, what products make your list of gotta haves and what may be nice to haves? I can increase the budget if needed. Look forward to your suggestions! 
This will take a pretty good chunk out of your budget, but if you want to make repetitive cuts this is a good tool to have:
https://shop.osorail.com/product.sc?productId=279
Shop around for the best price. I wouldn’t want to be without mine.
Lots of other stuff, too, but I’ll leave that for other folks to suggest.
Good Luck, Ed
Excellent suggestion! I had been looking at the Duplicate-It from Micro Mark which also very useful for making square cuts and cuts with consistent dimensions. It also seems to have a more working area. See: https://www.micromark.com/Duplicate-It
I was also looking at this gluing jig: https://www.micromark.com/Magnetic-Gluing-Jig-10-1-4-Inch-Square.
I do know that if you don’t buy the correct tools, workmanship quality decreases. That’s why looking to suggestions from the folks that have been around the block with modeling!
#11 X-acto knife: about five bucks.
Ninety-five to go.
Robert
I do a lot of scratch building and you will never have all the proper tools that are needed. I’ve been collecting tools for model railroading for over 60 years and it seems that I still come up empty on every project.
Here is a short list of the tools I use the most:
Dozens of small Spring clamps, 2” to 3½” C clamps and at least a couple of light weight screw clamps up to 12”.
1-2-3 blocks for gluing walls perfectly square.
I also use a 3” rotary chop saw a lot.
One of my most used tools in my Dremel, and it’s accessories . . . Drill Press . . . Router Table with a good set of cutting tips (great for making 45° edges on walls).
A good, comfortable hobby knife with a 100 pack of #11 blades. The blade tips don’t last me very long.
A good size cutting mat, I have a pair if 18” x 24&rdqu
For the basics, an X-Acto knife with lots of #11 blades and a few #17s, along with a utility knife and blades, a scale rule, a machinist’s square, a carpenter’s square, and a set of dividers. A razor saw might prove useful, but more for distressing strip styrene than for cutting anything - a hacksaw, which you probably already own, will do the same job with the proper blade. You probably already have some files and sandpaper on hand, too.
While the Chopper could prove useful, it needs some modifications to make it both more reliable and more consistent, and I wouldn’t suggest it unless you can do those modifications.
I’d skip a cutting mat altogether, and instead go for a suitably-sized sheet of heavy glass: it makes an excellent consistently level work surface that stands up well to cutting, and is impervious to MEK, whether you’re simply assembling things on the glass, or accidently spilling some.
If you haven’t spent the hundred bucks on what I’ve listed, start gathering material. My first choice would be a gallon of MEK, to use as solvent-type cement, and selection of brushes to use as applicators for it.
A 4’x8’ sheet of .060" styrene will give you lots of material for roofs and foundations, and can also, when cut into strips, be used as internal bracing. Evergreen has a wide selection of strip, rod, tube, and structural shapes in styrene, along with smaller plain sheets in multiple thicknesses. They also offer sheets of different types of structural siding - clapboard, novelty siding, board & batten, scribed, etc.
Unless you’re determined to scratchbuild windows and doors, I’d suggest Tichy and Grandt Line for a large selection of such items, all of high qua
Hi IDRick:
Here is what I would suggest that you need:
- X-acto knife with #11 blades
https://www.walthers.com/x-2000-tm-precision-knife-black-handle
- Cutting mat
https://www.walthers.com/cutting-mat-11-13-16-x-7-7-8-x-5-16-quot-30-x-20-x-3cm
This is just an example. Search your favourite hobby supplier. I’m sure they will have other options
- small square
https://www.walthers.com/l-square-3-x-4-quot-7-6-x-10-2cm
- scale ruler
https://www.walthers.com/microscale-clear-see-through-ho-scale-ruler
- Tamiya liquid styrene glue or similar. Avoid the Testors glue in a tube!
https://www.walthers.com/liquid-plastic-cement-extra-thin-1-4oz-40ml?ref=1
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wax paper so your structure doesn’t get glued to the assembly surface
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a couple of small square steel blocks 1"x1"x3" or there abouts, and small magnets. These are not essential but they will make life easier.
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small clamps
https://www.micromark.com/mini-hand-tools/clamps?page=3
https://www.micromark.com/mini-hand-tools/clamps
- small tip Sharpie marker
I haven’t added up the cost for all of the above but I suspect that it will be reasonably close to $100.00.
The ‘Chopper II’ is a nice option but IMHO it is not absolutely neccessary for what you are doing now. I have scratch built lots of structures without one. Having said that, I
Dave´s post sums it all up!
If you have money to spare, I´d suggest to add the following:
45 Degree Snap & Glue Magnetic Squares by Proses
They are quite pricey, but are a great tool to keep things “square”.
Good suggestion Ulrich, but they will take the OP way over his $100.00 budget.
There are cheaper ways to keep things square. If the OP has one of these he can just slide the ruler out and voila! he has a 90 degree template. OK, he can’t do four corners all at once. There is absolutely no need to work so fast that you have to glue all four corners at once:
Glad to hear that your weather has improved.
Dave
If your scratchbuilt structures are going to have windows and doors, you are going to need a “nibbler” to cut out clean lines and square oprnings.
https://www.micromark.com/Nibbling-Cutter
Rich
In addition to everything everyone has mentioned, I have an Xacto X75320 Small Mitre Box, invaluable in making 90 and 45 degree cuts in styrene (not sheet styrene)and wooden strips. I would also second the motion for Micromark’s Duplicate-It and Gluing Jig.
Well, those sprue nippers were around $16 bucks but if you build kits, they take the drudge and time consumingness out of the despruing step of model building. Plus, I’ve found breaking those tiny little parts to be rare using a nipper.
You have to decide what is worth the investment. They say Fast Tracks stuff has a start up cost but if you are builind lots of turnouts from scratch, people swear they are the best thing since sliced bread.
But time is a commodity many of us have in very limited supply, and this hobby has many things that can eat up copious amounts of time. You just have to decide where your goals lie and move accordingly.
I’ll leave the brand of glue up to personal choice.
Razor saw
Sandpaper
18 x 24 piece of glass, 1/4 inch thick.
Small drafting triangle
Large drafting triangle
Not sure what its called. Looks like graph paper, but its more robust and used for square up alignment and measuring.
All of this will probably cost less than 50 bucks.
It’s interesting that so many have looked at the “$100 challenge” as an invitation to create a list of necessary or really helpful tools. My first thought by contrast was, OK, assuming I had never done any scratchbuilding, what sizes and types of strip and sheet styrene, roofing materials, and common window and door sizes would I put on my shopping list (admittedly some of those things are dictated by the very structure you intend to scratchbuild, but nonetheless it helps to have a good generic library of styrene and window/door castings sitting around if you want to be in the position of just starting a project when the mood strikes). In the alternative I’d be thinking of what strip wood and scribed sheet wood I’d want to have handy.
So I guess my reaction would be to allocate perhaps $60 to tools, and $40 to raw materials, parts, and adhesives - or maybe flip those %s. And on the subject of tools, there are many very nice tools out there which, when all the smoke has cleared, are just time or energy savers from what can be done with hobby knife and blades, straight edge, T square, 45/90 degree triangle, and mitre box. In a [money] pinch you can do quite a bit of nice work using just those things, without the long list of speciality tools. (But yeah don’t forget the bandaids and antiseptics.)
Dave Nelson
I use a piece of left over plywood or MDF as a cutting board. I also have an old wooden kitchen cutting board from the a long time ago. All of those are free.
Buy an X acto knife, Mechanical pencil, Drafting Compass set, Try Square.
Spend the rest on Evergreen Styrene products. Select the products based on what you are going to build with them. Various companies make doors and windows. If you are going to build any structures with Spanish Tile roofing shingles get the ones made by Plastruct.
Plate Glass, not window glass!
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The $100.00 scratch building tool kit challenge… interesting. Let me see what I can come up with for this one…
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Free: Use scrap cardboard as a cutting board until you can get a good cutting mat.
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$3.00: First, you will need a good solid surface to build on. I prefer thick glass, but a good smooth floor tile will work as well.
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$5.00: A good Exacto knife handle and #11 blades.
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Awesome suggestions guys! Very helpful! Already had some of the items which is helpful. Gonna take some time to investigate alternatives and sourcing. You all made my job much easier!
I really like the idea of using glass as a work surface (obviously not an impact product…) Hmm, where do I source it and what do I specifically request from the source?
I had purchased all styrene parts for the “Hansen Storage” project years ago. Looking forward to getting the tools and completing the project. I will do a small test project first to get my feet wet.
I use glass for almost all knife cutting and assembly, but use a cutting board for razor saw cuts. Glass generally wont scratch very deeply, which keeps the surface from holding dust and debris. Glass wipes clean, and dried schmutz can be scraped off easily, but it probably dulls knife blades quicker than a board.
I originally went to a glass shop to have a 40x40 piece cut for setting atop our coffee table, which is where I got the idea for the 18x24 cutting board. Never asked about window or plate glass but the guy was a professional and knew everything there was to know about glass and my purpose, so I assume he fixed me up with the right kind.
Of course, he rounded and polished the corners and edges too, very important.
Plate glass is a lot more impact resistent than you would think. That’s the stuff they use for store front windows. Obviously you drop a claw hammer on it, but it seems more than adequate for the typical modeling tools.
I got mine at a glass shop. Probably a larger shop that does large window repair. They generally have scraps around that they can cut to the size you want. They will probably automatically round off/smooth the edges so you don’t cut yourself, but you can ask them to do so.
I have several smaller pieces. The piece I’m currently using is 6 X 18 inches. That makes it easier to pick up and scrape/wipe off. If you’re like me, anything larger than that will tend to get buried along the edges with peripheral clutter that seems to accumulate on the rest of the work area.