I was looking thru the catalog of a major model hobby tool supplier recently and decided to check out alternatives. I came up with 2 quick ones:
a. Pipettes with a bellows head for measuring/mixing paint, thinner, glueing ballast and scenery- $13.00/20 from “supplier X” and $15.41/50 from Amazon (Kartell 5 ML Bellows Pipette brand). They look identical to me!
b. Get a pair of barbecue tongs from Walmart, etc. for $10.00 (maybe comes in a 3-tool pack)- the ones with a 1/2" diameter arc at the base. Use doublestick tape or contact cement to adhere pieces of mouse pad neoprene rubber to end blades. If you are industrious, drill a hole and run a screw bolt with a spring over it secured by a moveable wing nut/washer. Much more durable (based on the instructions I read online) than that paint handle sold by “supplier X”.
c. Michaels Crafts has small pebbles in irregular sizes and colors used for plant decorating- great for bolders and large stones on an HO or N layout, streambeds, etc. Very Cheap!
Michaels artificial flowers dept. are a great source for tree armatures, bushes, evergreen trees, etc. Just use your imagination as to what the parts will look like disassembled, dipped in glue and turf to dry. I have obtained 30 or more pine trees from one $4 bough of flowers. I also use their oven bake clay to make tree trunks. Just mold around a wire the size of your tree armature and bake in a regular oven for 15 minutes. Paint with acrylics to desired color.
WAnder around Michael’s or AC Moore Craft stores and look at everything with a critical and scale eye.
One will find all kinds of stuff that can be used for a variety of purposes. CHeck several times a year as some items are only seasonal.
Often, in the Sunday Newspaper they have ads and a 40%-50% off coupons for the more expensive stuff, OR to make a single item “cheap as dirt” to use on your layout.
I find various fake flowers that have tiny colored “balls” or other tiny little parts on them that when picked off by one tiny piece only will resemble scale flowers for in front of houses and in window boxes on scale houses.
Tiny whisk style brooms {available generally only in the fall supplies I think} when snipped off can make straw grasses by ponds, rivers etc, or when flocked with green material can look like corn planted in a field.
They havea variety of brushes and inks that can be used to weather somehting.
They have a variety of molding and casting products.
So, Hunt and poke around and see what you find. TAke your coupons!!!
I also use a pie plate to keep small parts in as I disassemble or reassemble something. It helps keep all the parts easily available and ready without loosing them. Just DON’T EVER knock the pie tin off the table or workbench! I do the same with any “knock down furniture” or other bigger “ready-to-assemble” or “Some-assembly-required” project.
The pie tin should be weighted to keep it more stable, or put doulble sided tape underneath.
Paper towel tubes (and TP tubes) are great for keeping cords under control. Fold the cords like the arrived and slide into the tube.
The large clear plastic clamshell containers like sandwiches come in are great for WS foam etc. The product can be contained (say when sprinkling on a tree) and the excess stays within so it can be reclaimed. Then close the lid and it is stored.
Sticking a round of suitable screen inside a parmesan cheese or Bac-O’s shaker is a good way to screen and control ground foam.
Frozen dinner trays (the small one-serving kind) are great for corraling tools on the workbench or holding parts for projects. I’ve lost a lot fewer pieces since I started using them.
Wooden clothespins with springs are good clamps and easy to modify.
My local Ace hardware store has a dollar table - all kinds of misc tools, brushes, etc. for under $5. Not the highest quality but some good stuff for cheap.
After struggling to bend the uncouple wires I decided to make one of the tools for that purpose.
I bought a pair of pliers for $1.78 at Harbor freight and had at it on my grinder.
My Grandfather had a saying “poor people have poor ways” and being one of those. [:-^]
A wire coat hanger unbent into a Y shape with a piece of foam rubber glued to each end makes a fully functional paint holder.
The little plastic containers that restaurants serve salad dressing in make great paint mixing containers. Available at food service supply companies dirt cheap (like 500, with lids, for about $10).
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