IIRC, there was a discussion a few years back about your most invaluable tool. I think sprue cutters won the day. What about your most useless/least used tool ? For me, it was one of those “magic hands” thingies (you know the adjustable arm with a bulldog clamp at either end, sits on a weighted base) Saw it at a model show and thought “hey I dont have one of these” Sat on my bench (unused) ever since. What impulse buy now mocks you every time you look at it ? Or what did you buy with high hopes but were ultimately disappointed ?
Ya know I had the same one sitting on my work bench for years too. But it came to the rescue when I was rigging my WWI Albatros, couldn’t have done it with out it!
Now one that is totally useless, I think the most disappointing one is a line scribe I got that works like crap. can’t remember who it was from though.
John
Yup, I have one of those gathering dust on my bench also. I went all out and bought the one with the magnifying glass.
Agreed. I am not sure where the magnifier is and the base with the “hands” is sitting out on my old bench that was replaced. A gentleman on another forum has a board with 40-50 holes drilled in it to hole what looks to be coat hanger wire or 12 ga wire - he has alligator clamps on them and can use as many or few as needed and the wire bends as needed, to.
Next would maybe be my hands…
“Touch 'N Flow” glass tube solvent applicator.
I have a helping hands, It comes in handy for soldering, never for modelling. An optivisor may be a different story been thinking one of those might be my next investment.
My non-variable speed basic Dremel tool WAS considered useless (for plastic) until a buddy came over and pointed out that I could rig a dimmer switch to the power source and convert it into a variable speed. That fixed that.
My ball peen hammer is useful for builds gone terribly awry 
I’ve used Testors lacquer clear coats to ruin more paint and decal jobs than I’d care to admit, I’ll say that!
-Blake
Me.
I actually use my “magic hands” thing all the time.
propellant cans for Air Brush or Basic Spray Gun use
it doesn’t take a person too long using those to realize that even the “wrong” air compressor is a better option than those cans
Rex
Got a photo etching set for Christmas one year. Just never had the guts to make it work.
Really? I find mine extremely useful and own several that I have picked up from Harbor Freight for a couple of bucks each. I use them for attaching antenna wires, holding parts at awkward angles while the glue sets, propped up against a part to be glued at a difficult area to reach, rigging WWI planes, just to name a few. All my tools get used, some more than others but eventually they get used.
I felt the same way until the company rep. showed me at the IPMS Nationals how to use it. Very simple:
Do not follow the directions on the enclosed literature but put the applicator needle end into the Plast I Weld bottle , then take the small plastic bottle with the blue cap and carefully insert it into the glass end, now slowly squeeze and bubbles will be seen out of the needle end in the bottle, release and the suction will load the applicator. Carefully slip out the plastic bottle and you are ready to weld. Keep the applicator horizontal to stop the flow and vertical to apply. If the tip get clogged just stick it back into the glue bottle and the glue will clear the clog by itself. Works like a charm and now I use it for just about every gluing situation.
My Scriber. Perhaps it’s operator error, but I can never scribe anything that remotely resembles a panel line with it. It does give me more practice with putty, however.
You are correct, Plasticjunkie, that is the correct way to fill the Touch 'N Flow and I use that method.
Roger putting the needle end in the bottle to melt any plastic blocking the tip- that works. But I have also gotten tiny pieces of junk that had collected in the bottle into the tube. It then clogs the needle from the inside end, and there is no way to fix that. I have avoided further instances of that by removing the crud from the bottle by running it through a coffee filter paper. The stuff is so tiny you can’t see it in there unless you use a magnifier light. I suppose it is residue from dipping a brush in the bottle over time.
Also I have problems with static electricity pulling the drop of solvent away from where I am trying to deposit it, and ending on the surface of the model way off target. It’s a great tool when everything is working just right, but I spend too much time getting it that way. I find a very fine paint brush works just as well.
My most useless but used item, My hands they always stuff something up…
On a more serious note my most useless or least used item? Would have to be my magnifying goggle things. They are just painful on my eyes to use to focus that close and my eyes are good enough (at the moment) that I don’t need them anyways. Otherwise I’m cheap enough that I only buy tools I know I’m going to use a lot.
Chuck
I have those pesky little particles too so I let them settle to the bottom and draw the glue near the top as the level gets low.
Hi :
I believe at the moment I have only one really little used tool .Sad to say it’s not cheap either .I bought it at an I.P.M.S. show , It’s a P.E. bending tool .Steel and wood pins , baseplates of grooved and slotted aluminum and lexan . I find myself going to my first tools for that .A pair of Grozier pliers and a pair of duck billed Flat jaw pliers , used in the stained glass hobby and modified by me for P.E. ! and a regular flat pair of needlenose and a couple of different sized pen barrels .Quicker and cheaper ! I think I paid $ 42.00 bucks for that bending tool too !
My Optivisor is something that gets no use. Since I discovered the cheap reading glasses available at Dollar General I’ve switched to them and find them much easier to use. And since I wear glasses anyway, they are something that I’ve already gotten used to wearing.
A PE bending tool, the one with ‘E’ shaped clamp & plastic razor blades… Never Used it…
Borrowed a magnifier on a stand, with a built in light… gave it back as not any use (to me anyway)
Useful tools… Lightweight ‘optivisor style’ magnifier, & a good lighting rig…
6 Halogen Spots on the ceiling, 2 daylight bulbs on anglepoise lamps, 2 mini-strip-lights on mutipoise stands, 2 more high spots over the a/b station…
Is that too much? [H]
Nice to see the support for the magic hands. Those of us who build WWI know what a valuable tool it really is.
I had one of those holding hands with a Magnifying glass. I just didn’t like it as I could never get the part in the right place and the magnifying glass was always in the way when I was painting.
Of the tools I have now, there two I don’t use. One is the touch and flow. Just seems to much hassle to load it up, I am still using an old fine paintbrush.
The other is an Etch Mate 3C PE bending tool. But that might come in useful for larger PE on armour, for small PE I find my flat nose pliers perfect and less hassle.