tool review Waterline marker - Hobbyzone

[James H]

Waterline Marker
Hobbyzone
Catalogue # HZ-PW
Available from Hobbyzonefor 25.00zł (£5.21 as of 6/6/2018)

 

 

If you’re new to the hobby and setting up a list of essentials for purchase, or if you need to replace your current waterline marker for some reason, then Hobbyzone has a pretty inexpensive way of doing this. In case you’ve never heard of Hobbyzone, they are a Polish company who produce some excellent workshop workbench modules to store your tools and other items, all with magnets which lock the individual units together. This range is totally flexible and can grow as your own needs must. Maybe you have heard of Hobbyzone but didn’t realise that they now have a set of products aimed specifically at our hobby?

For our first look at this range of tools, I thought the waterline marker was a good introduction. Hobbyzone products tend to be made from MDF parts, which are CNC routed to very fine tolerances, which fit superbly. I can say this because I have been a customer of them for about 3yrs now. The waterline marker is packed into a clear plastic sleeve wrap with a couple of product labels. Opening the packet, you’ll note that all MDF parts are held together with elastic bands. A packet of hardware is included, as is a single instruction sheet. No tools re needed for this except for clamps. Clean-up of parts isn’t necessary. 

A quick test fit of parts shows that everything does indeed fit snugly, with just a little playfor the glue joints. For glue, I use Titebond III which has a relatively quick grab time and sets with an amazingly strong joint. I first glue the two upright parts together and leave for 15 minutes before then gluing this assembly to the base. Any excess glue is removed with the corner of a steel rule. One of those upright parts has a channel milled into it for the pencil unit to slide along.

Assembling the pencil holder is very simple indeed. Two MDF parts are supplied, and one of these has a V-channel machined into it for holding the pencil, and holes for the bolts. The other part has those holes, but the exterior is machined to accommodate the hex head of the bolts. The bolts are first slotted into this piece and the v-slot dropped into position. The two parts are now fitted to the slot on the upright assembly and the washers and wingnuts used to secure. Before tightening, a pencil is added to the unit, and the wingnuts tightened evenly. It’s a good idea to use a short pencil for this as you want to keep the waterline parker relatively close to your boat/ship so that there’s no flexing of the pencil.

That’s it! This tool can be adjusted for heights between 45mm and 225mm, so certainly big enough for most applications. Another real bonus here is the price. At just over a Fiver sterling, then this can’t be beat!

 

My sincere thanks to Hobbyzone for kindly sending out this item for review here on MSW.

 

Hobbyzone products can be bought directly or through one of their global distributors. Tell them you saw this review on Model Ship World

 

 

 

 

 

[Jasseji]

I can only add, i own several of their products (workshop system, paint holders) and it's always a pleasure to receive them

[gulfmedic1]

James

does HobbyZone offer the option to purchase the building plans for some of these items