Journal · Redline Hobby
Notes from the bench
Cutting, sanding, painting and setting up a model bench in the Bronx.
Jun 2026A tool kit list for someone building their first GunplaThe honest starting list is shorter than most bundles suggest. A first build needs to be finished rather than perfect, and the tools that get a build finished are few…Read →
Jun 2026Working with 3D printed parts alongside injection kitsResin printed parts are increasingly mixed into plastic kits, and they behave differently under a blade, under glue and under paint. Treating them as if they were styrene is the…Read →
Jun 2026Seam lines, nub marks and the order to remove themClean-up is the least glamorous stage of a build and the one that most visibly separates a finished model from a snapped-together one. It goes faster in a specific order,…Read →
Jun 2026Painting stands and clips: holding a part without touching itThe hardest part of painting small components is not the paint, it is having somewhere to put a wet part down. Alligator clips on sticks solve it cheaply, and a…Read →
Jun 2026Setting up a first build bench in a small spaceMost people build on a dining table or a corner of a desk, and the constraint is that everything has to come out and go away again. A bench that…Read →
Jun 2026Nippers: single bevel, double bevel and when the difference mattersA nipper is the first tool anyone buys and usually the first one they replace. The decision that matters is not brand but bevel: whether the cutting edge is ground…Read →
Notes from the Norwood counter
Practical notes about scale model building tools, written by the people who stock it.