Bob Cleek

Here's another cheap tool: "Pizza savers." Yes, that's what they are called in the trade. They are those white plastic things that look like round tables with three legs that they put in pizza boxes to keep the top of the box from contacting the melted cheese on the pizza and making a mess when it's delivered. 
 

 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizza_saver
 
These make great "painter's points." A painter's point, which are often pyramid-shaped, but can have other suitable shapes, are used to hold a piece of work that needs painting up above the level of a table so it's top and edges can be painted without coming into contact with the bench top that it's being painted on. These "pizza savers" work great for this purpose. Just turn them upside down so they are standing on the round part and you'll have three pegs sticking up to support whatever you need to paint. Use three or four or more to support your work, of course. So, grab 'em when the pizza comes. In short order you'll have a box of them in the shop to use whenever they're needed. 
 
Store-bought painter's points: No need to waste the money on them anymore.
 

That, my friend, is what they call salesmanship!   

Thousands of years from now, archaeologists will be dumbfounded by those wire springs on clothespins. They'll keep finding them with their metal detectors, but there will be a raging debate over what they were actually used for.  

Thousands of years from now, archaeologists will be dumbfounded by those wire springs on clothespins. They'll keep finding them with their metal detectors, but there will be a raging debate over what they were actually used for.  

Unfortunately, the knowledge of how to maintain a fine French polish on a piece of furniture is totally lost on the homeowners of today. The same is true of hand-rubbed finishes on varnish and oil-based paints. 

In case you were asking what the modeler gets out of a more expensive kit, I'd say the answer is, "It depends." The very expensive kits generally contain better instructions, more historical accuracy, more detail, more complexity, more castings, and better quality materials. Mind you, though, that I have never bought a very expensive kit model. In my mind, it's something of a "Catch-22." I'm convinced that there are far more kits sold than are ever built. I really don't know why many modelers "build a stash" of un-built or half-built models. That said, buying a model you intend to build before you will have time to build it may make sense if the price is right, but, frankly, for some it appears to be something of a hoarding disorder. Few beginning or even intermediate modelers have the skill and experience to do justice to a $1,700 model. (And I'm sure somebody will say, "I do!" which is exactly why the manufacturers keep churning them out.) Those who have the skill and experience (not to mention the tools and machinery necessary to supplement "what comes in the box" of any kit to even begin to match the glossy colored picture on the kit box) will generally have long since abandoned assembling kits for building models, anyway. Kits have their place. They are ship modeling's "gateway drug" and some of the less challenging high quality kits (e.g. anything from Syren) are the very best way to gain skill and experience and at the same time end up with a beautiful model if it's done well, but it's generally the newer modelers who lust after a Victory or a Constitution and if ship models were restaurants, Victory and Constitution would be McDonald's and Starbucks.
 
As for the value of the finished product of an expensive kit, I doubt there are many who would pay $1,700 for an assembled ship model kit under any circumstances unless they were really conned into paying that much. In any event, people who are not knowledgeable collectors don't pay $1,700 for anything to set on their mantles and people who are knowledgeable collectors have no interest in paying much of anything for a model that is not a scratch-built historically accurate unique one-off example made by  a known top modeler to state of the art archival standards. (And more often than not such models are commissioned directly from the modeler.) 
 
Fine models are like fine art in terms of their value to those who might buy them. Kit models appeal to some who build for their own satisfaction alone, and that's fine, but unless they are done with a high level of skill, they are pretty much in the same category as paint-by-numbers oil paintings. They may look like the Mona Lisa if they are really done well, but most are just "Elvis" on black velvet in terms of monetary value.
 
By these comments, I certainly don't intend to denigrate those who build kits. I've built many, as everyone has over the years, but given the limitations of selling ship model kits as a business model, particularly with the inroads made by foreign "pirates" who steal the kit designers' intellectual property, it appears to me at least that the way the ship modeling game is trending over the long haul, the momentary impetus provided by "pandemic boredom" notwithstanding, is increasingly towards scratch-building a far less numerous output of unique "fine art"-level models. Kit manufacturers are struggling to realize a profit and the "aftermarket" vendors of pre-milled wood and fittings have been dropping like flies in recent years. Maybe that's why the smart kit fans all have "stashes," come to think of it!  
 
P.S.: If you want to see what can be done with a relatively simple quality model that's not particularly expensive... if you add after-market blocks and rigging line, etc., check out this beautiful job: 
 

And don't forget those mini bamboo skewers at the supermarket, good for all sorts of stuff including trunnels and the ever-present Starbucks skinny wooden stirring sticks.

Unfortunately, the knowledge of how to maintain a fine French polish on a piece of furniture is totally lost on the homeowners of today. The same is true of hand-rubbed finishes on varnish and oil-based paints. 

So very true, however, all that hand rubbing can go to hell in an instant if somebody spills so much as a drop of an alcoholic beverage on it!   I love shellac for all sorts of purposes, but the polyurethanes do have their advantages on furniture, particularly table tops.

And don't forget those mini bamboo skewers at the supermarket, good for all sorts of stuff including trunnels and the ever-present Starbucks skinny wooden stirring sticks.

And don't forget those mini bamboo skewers at the supermarket, good for all sorts of stuff including trunnels and the ever-present Starbucks skinny wooden stirring sticks.

Ron, now you've done it - Pandora's box has been opened
 
Let me add:  clothes pegs, hair clips and  bulldog clips as clamps
 
cheers
 
Pat

JR, I too suffer from FOMO.  I have to constantly restrain myself from buying kits I’m not ready to build.  By not ready, I mean I’m already working on a model and don’t really want to try to have two going.  There are pluses and minuses to that.  Occasionally, kits are discontinued and can’t be found later.  But it looks to me like more often than not, the most desirable kits get upgraded or get fixed if they previously had problems.  So it’s better to wait and assume that anything I missed out on was probably a bad kit anyway.  I feel like right now is an exciting time for kit or semi-kit (semi-scratch) builders because of the new products coming out from Syren, Vanguard, and CAFmodel.  So I don’t want a mountain of kits clogging up my shelf when I know there are more interesting things coming by the time I’m ready to build them.  
 
With regard to prices, it seems to me that kit prices go up as a function of size, detail, and quality of materials.

Thanks for linking my build in here Bob, I appreciate that. 

Agreed. I use shellac on smaller, decorative pieces. There is something about the look and even the feel of a traditional shellac finish that gives a handmade piece a sense of warmth and even soul that cannot be recreated with poly finishes. But acrylic poly is my go to for anything that needs to stand up to daily wear and tear, and with a good HVLP setup, it is fast and easy to apply.

So very true, however, all that hand rubbing can go to hell in an instant if somebody spills so much as a drop of an alcoholic beverage on it!   I love shellac for all sorts of purposes, but the polyurethanes do have their advantages on furniture, particularly table tops.

In case you were asking what the modeler gets out of a more expensive kit, I'd say the answer is, "It depends." The very expensive kits generally contain better instructions, more historical accuracy, more detail, more complexity, more castings, and better quality materials. Mind you, though, that I have never bought a very expensive kit model. In my mind, it's something of a "Catch-22." I'm convinced that there are far more kits sold than are ever built. I really don't know why many modelers "build a stash" of un-built or half-built models. That said, buying a model you intend to build before you will have time to build it may make sense if the price is right, but, frankly, for some it appears to be something of a hoarding disorder. Few beginning or even intermediate modelers have the skill and experience to do justice to a $1,700 model. (And I'm sure somebody will say, "I do!" which is exactly why the manufacturers keep churning them out.) Those who have the skill and experience (not to mention the tools and machinery necessary to supplement "what comes in the box" of any kit to even begin to match the glossy colored picture on the kit box) will generally have long since abandoned assembling kits for building models, anyway. Kits have their place. They are ship modeling's "gateway drug" and some of the less challenging high quality kits (e.g. anything from Syren) are the very best way to gain skill and experience and at the same time end up with a beautiful model if it's done well, but it's generally the newer modelers who lust after a Victory or a Constitution and if ship models were restaurants, Victory and Constitution would be McDonald's and Starbucks.
 
As for the value of the finished product of an expensive kit, I doubt there are many who would pay $1,700 for an assembled ship model kit under any circumstances unless they were really conned into paying that much. In any event, people who are not knowledgeable collectors don't pay $1,700 for anything to set on their mantles and people who are knowledgeable collectors have no interest in paying much of anything for a model that is not a scratch-built historically accurate unique one-off example made by  a known top modeler to state of the art archival standards. (And more often than not such models are commissioned directly from the modeler.) 
 
Fine models are like fine art in terms of their value to those who might buy them. Kit models appeal to some who build for their own satisfaction alone, and that's fine, but unless they are done with a high level of skill, they are pretty much in the same category as paint-by-numbers oil paintings. They may look like the Mona Lisa if they are really done well, but most are just "Elvis" on black velvet in terms of monetary value.
 
By these comments, I certainly don't intend to denigrate those who build kits. I've built many, as everyone has over the years, but given the limitations of selling ship model kits as a business model, particularly with the inroads made by foreign "pirates" who steal the kit designers' intellectual property, it appears to me at least that the way the ship modeling game is trending over the long haul, the momentary impetus provided by "pandemic boredom" notwithstanding, is increasingly towards scratch-building a far less numerous output of unique "fine art"-level models. Kit manufacturers are struggling to realize a profit and the "aftermarket" vendors of pre-milled wood and fittings have been dropping like flies in recent years. Maybe that's why the smart kit fans all have "stashes," come to think of it!  
 
P.S.: If you want to see what can be done with a relatively simple quality model that's not particularly expensive... if you add after-market blocks and rigging line, etc., check out this beautiful job: 
 

So very true, however, all that hand rubbing can go to hell in an instant if somebody spills so much as a drop of an alcoholic beverage on it!   I love shellac for all sorts of purposes, but the polyurethanes do have their advantages on furniture, particularly table tops.

In case you were asking what the modeler gets out of a more expensive kit, I'd say the answer is, "It depends." The very expensive kits generally contain better instructions, more historical accuracy, more detail, more complexity, more castings, and better quality materials. Mind you, though, that I have never bought a very expensive kit model. In my mind, it's something of a "Catch-22." I'm convinced that there are far more kits sold than are ever built. I really don't know why many modelers "build a stash" of un-built or half-built models. That said, buying a model you intend to build before you will have time to build it may make sense if the price is right, but, frankly, for some it appears to be something of a hoarding disorder. Few beginning or even intermediate modelers have the skill and experience to do justice to a $1,700 model. (And I'm sure somebody will say, "I do!" which is exactly why the manufacturers keep churning them out.) Those who have the skill and experience (not to mention the tools and machinery necessary to supplement "what comes in the box" of any kit to even begin to match the glossy colored picture on the kit box) will generally have long since abandoned assembling kits for building models, anyway. Kits have their place. They are ship modeling's "gateway drug" and some of the less challenging high quality kits (e.g. anything from Syren) are the very best way to gain skill and experience and at the same time end up with a beautiful model if it's done well, but it's generally the newer modelers who lust after a Victory or a Constitution and if ship models were restaurants, Victory and Constitution would be McDonald's and Starbucks.
 
As for the value of the finished product of an expensive kit, I doubt there are many who would pay $1,700 for an assembled ship model kit under any circumstances unless they were really conned into paying that much. In any event, people who are not knowledgeable collectors don't pay $1,700 for anything to set on their mantles and people who are knowledgeable collectors have no interest in paying much of anything for a model that is not a scratch-built historically accurate unique one-off example made by  a known top modeler to state of the art archival standards. (And more often than not such models are commissioned directly from the modeler.) 
 
Fine models are like fine art in terms of their value to those who might buy them. Kit models appeal to some who build for their own satisfaction alone, and that's fine, but unless they are done with a high level of skill, they are pretty much in the same category as paint-by-numbers oil paintings. They may look like the Mona Lisa if they are really done well, but most are just "Elvis" on black velvet in terms of monetary value.
 
By these comments, I certainly don't intend to denigrate those who build kits. I've built many, as everyone has over the years, but given the limitations of selling ship model kits as a business model, particularly with the inroads made by foreign "pirates" who steal the kit designers' intellectual property, it appears to me at least that the way the ship modeling game is trending over the long haul, the momentary impetus provided by "pandemic boredom" notwithstanding, is increasingly towards scratch-building a far less numerous output of unique "fine art"-level models. Kit manufacturers are struggling to realize a profit and the "aftermarket" vendors of pre-milled wood and fittings have been dropping like flies in recent years. Maybe that's why the smart kit fans all have "stashes," come to think of it!  
 
P.S.: If you want to see what can be done with a relatively simple quality model that's not particularly expensive... if you add after-market blocks and rigging line, etc., check out this beautiful job: 
 

So very true, however, all that hand rubbing can go to hell in an instant if somebody spills so much as a drop of an alcoholic beverage on it!   I love shellac for all sorts of purposes, but the polyurethanes do have their advantages on furniture, particularly table tops.

In case you were asking what the modeler gets out of a more expensive kit, I'd say the answer is, "It depends." The very expensive kits generally contain better instructions, more historical accuracy, more detail, more complexity, more castings, and better quality materials. Mind you, though, that I have never bought a very expensive kit model. In my mind, it's something of a "Catch-22." I'm convinced that there are far more kits sold than are ever built. I really don't know why many modelers "build a stash" of un-built or half-built models. That said, buying a model you intend to build before you will have time to build it may make sense if the price is right, but, frankly, for some it appears to be something of a hoarding disorder. Few beginning or even intermediate modelers have the skill and experience to do justice to a $1,700 model. (And I'm sure somebody will say, "I do!" which is exactly why the manufacturers keep churning them out.) Those who have the skill and experience (not to mention the tools and machinery necessary to supplement "what comes in the box" of any kit to even begin to match the glossy colored picture on the kit box) will generally have long since abandoned assembling kits for building models, anyway. Kits have their place. They are ship modeling's "gateway drug" and some of the less challenging high quality kits (e.g. anything from Syren) are the very best way to gain skill and experience and at the same time end up with a beautiful model if it's done well, but it's generally the newer modelers who lust after a Victory or a Constitution and if ship models were restaurants, Victory and Constitution would be McDonald's and Starbucks.
 
As for the value of the finished product of an expensive kit, I doubt there are many who would pay $1,700 for an assembled ship model kit under any circumstances unless they were really conned into paying that much. In any event, people who are not knowledgeable collectors don't pay $1,700 for anything to set on their mantles and people who are knowledgeable collectors have no interest in paying much of anything for a model that is not a scratch-built historically accurate unique one-off example made by  a known top modeler to state of the art archival standards. (And more often than not such models are commissioned directly from the modeler.) 
 
Fine models are like fine art in terms of their value to those who might buy them. Kit models appeal to some who build for their own satisfaction alone, and that's fine, but unless they are done with a high level of skill, they are pretty much in the same category as paint-by-numbers oil paintings. They may look like the Mona Lisa if they are really done well, but most are just "Elvis" on black velvet in terms of monetary value.
 
By these comments, I certainly don't intend to denigrate those who build kits. I've built many, as everyone has over the years, but given the limitations of selling ship model kits as a business model, particularly with the inroads made by foreign "pirates" who steal the kit designers' intellectual property, it appears to me at least that the way the ship modeling game is trending over the long haul, the momentary impetus provided by "pandemic boredom" notwithstanding, is increasingly towards scratch-building a far less numerous output of unique "fine art"-level models. Kit manufacturers are struggling to realize a profit and the "aftermarket" vendors of pre-milled wood and fittings have been dropping like flies in recent years. Maybe that's why the smart kit fans all have "stashes," come to think of it!  
 
P.S.: If you want to see what can be done with a relatively simple quality model that's not particularly expensive... if you add after-market blocks and rigging line, etc., check out this beautiful job: 
 

In case you were asking what the modeler gets out of a more expensive kit, I'd say the answer is, "It depends." The very expensive kits generally contain better instructions, more historical accuracy, more detail, more complexity, more castings, and better quality materials. Mind you, though, that I have never bought a very expensive kit model. In my mind, it's something of a "Catch-22." I'm convinced that there are far more kits sold than are ever built. I really don't know why many modelers "build a stash" of un-built or half-built models. That said, buying a model you intend to build before you will have time to build it may make sense if the price is right, but, frankly, for some it appears to be something of a hoarding disorder. Few beginning or even intermediate modelers have the skill and experience to do justice to a $1,700 model. (And I'm sure somebody will say, "I do!" which is exactly why the manufacturers keep churning them out.) Those who have the skill and experience (not to mention the tools and machinery necessary to supplement "what comes in the box" of any kit to even begin to match the glossy colored picture on the kit box) will generally have long since abandoned assembling kits for building models, anyway. Kits have their place. They are ship modeling's "gateway drug" and some of the less challenging high quality kits (e.g. anything from Syren) are the very best way to gain skill and experience and at the same time end up with a beautiful model if it's done well, but it's generally the newer modelers who lust after a Victory or a Constitution and if ship models were restaurants, Victory and Constitution would be McDonald's and Starbucks.
 
As for the value of the finished product of an expensive kit, I doubt there are many who would pay $1,700 for an assembled ship model kit under any circumstances unless they were really conned into paying that much. In any event, people who are not knowledgeable collectors don't pay $1,700 for anything to set on their mantles and people who are knowledgeable collectors have no interest in paying much of anything for a model that is not a scratch-built historically accurate unique one-off example made by  a known top modeler to state of the art archival standards. (And more often than not such models are commissioned directly from the modeler.) 
 
Fine models are like fine art in terms of their value to those who might buy them. Kit models appeal to some who build for their own satisfaction alone, and that's fine, but unless they are done with a high level of skill, they are pretty much in the same category as paint-by-numbers oil paintings. They may look like the Mona Lisa if they are really done well, but most are just "Elvis" on black velvet in terms of monetary value.
 
By these comments, I certainly don't intend to denigrate those who build kits. I've built many, as everyone has over the years, but given the limitations of selling ship model kits as a business model, particularly with the inroads made by foreign "pirates" who steal the kit designers' intellectual property, it appears to me at least that the way the ship modeling game is trending over the long haul, the momentary impetus provided by "pandemic boredom" notwithstanding, is increasingly towards scratch-building a far less numerous output of unique "fine art"-level models. Kit manufacturers are struggling to realize a profit and the "aftermarket" vendors of pre-milled wood and fittings have been dropping like flies in recent years. Maybe that's why the smart kit fans all have "stashes," come to think of it!  
 
P.S.: If you want to see what can be done with a relatively simple quality model that's not particularly expensive... if you add after-market blocks and rigging line, etc., check out this beautiful job: 
 

In case you were asking what the modeler gets out of a more expensive kit, I'd say the answer is, "It depends." The very expensive kits generally contain better instructions, more historical accuracy, more detail, more complexity, more castings, and better quality materials. Mind you, though, that I have never bought a very expensive kit model. In my mind, it's something of a "Catch-22." I'm convinced that there are far more kits sold than are ever built. I really don't know why many modelers "build a stash" of un-built or half-built models. That said, buying a model you intend to build before you will have time to build it may make sense if the price is right, but, frankly, for some it appears to be something of a hoarding disorder. Few beginning or even intermediate modelers have the skill and experience to do justice to a $1,700 model. (And I'm sure somebody will say, "I do!" which is exactly why the manufacturers keep churning them out.) Those who have the skill and experience (not to mention the tools and machinery necessary to supplement "what comes in the box" of any kit to even begin to match the glossy colored picture on the kit box) will generally have long since abandoned assembling kits for building models, anyway. Kits have their place. They are ship modeling's "gateway drug" and some of the less challenging high quality kits (e.g. anything from Syren) are the very best way to gain skill and experience and at the same time end up with a beautiful model if it's done well, but it's generally the newer modelers who lust after a Victory or a Constitution and if ship models were restaurants, Victory and Constitution would be McDonald's and Starbucks.
 
As for the value of the finished product of an expensive kit, I doubt there are many who would pay $1,700 for an assembled ship model kit under any circumstances unless they were really conned into paying that much. In any event, people who are not knowledgeable collectors don't pay $1,700 for anything to set on their mantles and people who are knowledgeable collectors have no interest in paying much of anything for a model that is not a scratch-built historically accurate unique one-off example made by  a known top modeler to state of the art archival standards. (And more often than not such models are commissioned directly from the modeler.) 
 
Fine models are like fine art in terms of their value to those who might buy them. Kit models appeal to some who build for their own satisfaction alone, and that's fine, but unless they are done with a high level of skill, they are pretty much in the same category as paint-by-numbers oil paintings. They may look like the Mona Lisa if they are really done well, but most are just "Elvis" on black velvet in terms of monetary value.
 
By these comments, I certainly don't intend to denigrate those who build kits. I've built many, as everyone has over the years, but given the limitations of selling ship model kits as a business model, particularly with the inroads made by foreign "pirates" who steal the kit designers' intellectual property, it appears to me at least that the way the ship modeling game is trending over the long haul, the momentary impetus provided by "pandemic boredom" notwithstanding, is increasingly towards scratch-building a far less numerous output of unique "fine art"-level models. Kit manufacturers are struggling to realize a profit and the "aftermarket" vendors of pre-milled wood and fittings have been dropping like flies in recent years. Maybe that's why the smart kit fans all have "stashes," come to think of it!  
 
P.S.: If you want to see what can be done with a relatively simple quality model that's not particularly expensive... if you add after-market blocks and rigging line, etc., check out this beautiful job: 
 

In case you were asking what the modeler gets out of a more expensive kit, I'd say the answer is, "It depends." The very expensive kits generally contain better instructions, more historical accuracy, more detail, more complexity, more castings, and better quality materials. Mind you, though, that I have never bought a very expensive kit model. In my mind, it's something of a "Catch-22." I'm convinced that there are far more kits sold than are ever built. I really don't know why many modelers "build a stash" of un-built or half-built models. That said, buying a model you intend to build before you will have time to build it may make sense if the price is right, but, frankly, for some it appears to be something of a hoarding disorder. Few beginning or even intermediate modelers have the skill and experience to do justice to a $1,700 model. (And I'm sure somebody will say, "I do!" which is exactly why the manufacturers keep churning them out.) Those who have the skill and experience (not to mention the tools and machinery necessary to supplement "what comes in the box" of any kit to even begin to match the glossy colored picture on the kit box) will generally have long since abandoned assembling kits for building models, anyway. Kits have their place. They are ship modeling's "gateway drug" and some of the less challenging high quality kits (e.g. anything from Syren) are the very best way to gain skill and experience and at the same time end up with a beautiful model if it's done well, but it's generally the newer modelers who lust after a Victory or a Constitution and if ship models were restaurants, Victory and Constitution would be McDonald's and Starbucks.
 
As for the value of the finished product of an expensive kit, I doubt there are many who would pay $1,700 for an assembled ship model kit under any circumstances unless they were really conned into paying that much. In any event, people who are not knowledgeable collectors don't pay $1,700 for anything to set on their mantles and people who are knowledgeable collectors have no interest in paying much of anything for a model that is not a scratch-built historically accurate unique one-off example made by  a known top modeler to state of the art archival standards. (And more often than not such models are commissioned directly from the modeler.) 
 
Fine models are like fine art in terms of their value to those who might buy them. Kit models appeal to some who build for their own satisfaction alone, and that's fine, but unless they are done with a high level of skill, they are pretty much in the same category as paint-by-numbers oil paintings. They may look like the Mona Lisa if they are really done well, but most are just "Elvis" on black velvet in terms of monetary value.
 
By these comments, I certainly don't intend to denigrate those who build kits. I've built many, as everyone has over the years, but given the limitations of selling ship model kits as a business model, particularly with the inroads made by foreign "pirates" who steal the kit designers' intellectual property, it appears to me at least that the way the ship modeling game is trending over the long haul, the momentary impetus provided by "pandemic boredom" notwithstanding, is increasingly towards scratch-building a far less numerous output of unique "fine art"-level models. Kit manufacturers are struggling to realize a profit and the "aftermarket" vendors of pre-milled wood and fittings have been dropping like flies in recent years. Maybe that's why the smart kit fans all have "stashes," come to think of it!  
 
P.S.: If you want to see what can be done with a relatively simple quality model that's not particularly expensive... if you add after-market blocks and rigging line, etc., check out this beautiful job: 
 

I was originally thinking Binz, which is a shellac based primer, but decided to give the Tamiya spray primer a try. I don't currently have an airbrush (and these parts are a bit small for my HVLP setup 😀), so I will brush on Tamiya flat black. I only have a few small parts (one cannon, 2 anchors, and a few other small parts).
 
If anyone is interested in seeing the kind of finish you can get with good old shellac, look for a video on applying "french polish". This is essentially a process of wiping on many, many, many super thin coats of thinned shellac with a linen pad. The end result is a deep gloss that will put any modern polyurethane finish to shame!