Kit building

Panel lines can help give life and realism to a model. These are the gaps or joins that you would see on the real-life prototype of a model between the metal panels that make up its bodywork.All large forms of transport have their outer...

BEWARE RISK OF BURNS With most plastic, hot water is usually enough to bend it. If you are straightening weapon barrels that have gone a bit wayward then place them under the hot tap and let it run until the water is too hot to touch. This...

A lot of modellers like to add detail to their models. One of the things you can do to add realism to your model is to accentuate its panel lines. Panel lines are the gaps or joins between the panels that make up the outer shell of a vehicle,...

A G clamp is traditionally used in wood working for holding pieces of wood in place whilst being glued etc and come in many sizes. In the world of modelling you can get a sized down version, which you can use for clamping more or less anything...

Introducing the most useful piece of kit that any modeller could have in their toolbox. It is called a helping hand tool but sometimes masquerades as a third-hand tool. It delivers what its name promises: a helping hand!A helping hand tool is...

Choosing a brand new Revell kit to build is an exciting time, all of those shiny pictures on the boxes make you want them all. But some kits are more complex than others, some come with paint and glue whilst others don't. So which one is right for...

Self-closing tweezers are regular tweezers but their default position is closed just like a clothes peg.There is nothing complicated about their design though, in fact, self-closing tweezers are more straightforward than a clothes peg with no...

Gunpla, are plastic models depicting the numerous characters and vehicles from the 1980's TV series "Mobile Suit Gundam". The name Gunpla is an amalgamation of Gundam and plastic.Mobile Suit Gundam was an animated TV series produced in Japan...

As an Airfix kit is made of plastic, the best glue to use is a polystyrene cement, although some experienced modellers will use superglue. Be aware that polystyrene cement actually melts the plastic to create a bond as it is a solvent and not...

Cross lock tweezers are for all intense purposes regular tweezers, they are roughly the same size and are used for pretty much the same kind of jobs as standard tweezers, however, they have been engineered in such a way that the two metal pincers...

A 3D printer is a machine that literally prints three-dimensional objects. That sounds great! and it would be easy to deduce that you can now upload a photo of your favourite locomotive, building or tree, hit the print button, and hey-presto! a...

There is glue specifically designed for gluing photo etched parts, but this is basically a strong super glue (cyanoacrylate glue). Depending on what it is you are gluing, a good superglue will suffice in most cases. Some people even use PVA glue...