General Tips

Instead of ruining your hobby with feelings of pressure and guilt follow these 7 steps to total hobby enjoyment »

Did you think the jewellery section of the retail giant is not for a grimdark hobbyist like you? Think again! If you search for steampunk gears you may find top quality bits that can be purchased cheaply by the bagful. »

Some models are notoriously difficult to keep clean. They have difficult to reach areas and vacuum cleaners and their brushes are either to weak to get the dust off or too strong and can damage the model. »

Unpacking all the hobby accessories can take a lot of time cutting from what you can spend on the hobby. Fortunately if you are short both on space and time, you can usually still squeeze a small, permanent console table and be able to sit and hobby any time you want »

Taking down notes seems to be a must when you have hundreds of paints to choose from. But it takes time and the notes can be easily lost over time. There is another, quick and secure way however: snapshots taken with your phone that are kept in a dedicated album. »

These lairs of cuteness are usually decorated in a way suggesting they are aimed at XIX-century girls. Don't let this fool you! They often stock strange materials and oddly shaped objects that will solve your modelling problems »

Every wargame enthusiast feels an urge at some point to participate in a huge battle. Such an event is something nice to have experience participating in but ultimately it is the stuff the dreams are made of - not something you really want or need in your life. Nevertheless I will give you a survival guide should you go for it. »

A lot of players don't realise that the vertical and horizontal scales of miniatures-based wargames are different from each other. The battlefield is highly compressed to allow playing battles on a table while at the same time designers keep model proportions normal. This creates challenges for modelling realistic yet playable terrain »

The best tool for paint stripping in my book is... brake fluid. The one used in cars. You can buy it at any gas station and at many run-of-the-mill supermarkets. It is designed not to damage metal car parts or plastic pipes but also to prevent corrosion and remove impurities. »

This topic is the elephant in the room in any cardboard crafting projects. Therefore I updated this classic article with new, detailed pictures to show you how this works in practice and what can you do about the problem »

These are the most common types of walls. Should you paint them with a textured paint? Use a texture paste? Or maybe just paint the surface using stippling? »

Modelling realistic water is easy if you have the right glue... »

To make small, round shapes out of cardboard use an office hole punch (available also with funny hole shapes nowadays) or better still a DIY punching tool used to make holes in leather belts and the like »

In most sci-fi models you will see mysterious pipes, panels, valves and free-flowing cables. This may cause some more technically-educated observers to rise their eyebrows but... »

Usually after assembling models, particularly plastic ones, we are left with a handful of spare parts. Don't get rid of them as they may one day become a glorious addition to a new terrain piece or converted model »

All my terrain and miniature bases get the "trampled grass" look. Here is how to make it »