These tools are traps for parents and relatives that are getting a family member into the hobby as they don't know any better and they have been doing it for decades.
Why do you think parents don't know anything about tools? My dad is an electrician, has nothing to do with scale modelling or wargaming, and yet realized that i could use a nice nipper, so he gave me one of his fine electrics sidecutters. Still perfectly fine 25 years after.
@@heretic192 Not everyones relative is a Craftsman. My Granny got me the tools when I started the Hobby. She did not understand what I was doing but she wanted to support me.
@@heretic192 plenty of dads and grandads know tools, however they also know that what they worked with, wood and metal mostly, is way to much for plastic, so they may figure there is actually something special about the product, however the more likely candidate is your grandma not knowing anything about tools, she knows kitchen knives, but she sees that exacto knife, and she knows it's diffrent enough that it's probably an important difference
In case anyone reading this doesn’t know, a lot of hand drills have a two sided clamping section the drill bit goes in. If your drill bit diameter doesn’t fit see if you can remove it and flip the clamping part around. The more you know.
Additionally you can get cheap ones just like the one in this vid that have 2 chucks (one of which goes in the cavity at the rear of the handle). With 4 different sized holes available you're usually covered for any size you need.
I meant to put that in the video, but felt like it drew the segment out to long. If you listen closesly I say "but since I am only using it to pin my minis..." the edited out part continues to explain that I don't need the second clamp and can put the drill bits in 😅
@@trovarion That makes sense. I've had one like yours that had the space for the 2nd clamp/chuck but didn't actually come with one, but I bought a replacement for that when I lost it, and it did come with two. I assumed maybe yours didn't come with the other sizes. Great review, your point about the clippers only having 1 sharp blade was really interesting!
You get the basic tools from The Army Painter for 35$. They include knippers, a hobby knife, a drill with various drill bits, a file and even some super glue, green stuff and a basic sculpting tool in the box.
@@Dave_Creates Only 3 bits in the tool set, 1, 1.4 and 1.8. Still a great set though, was fantastic when I wanted to get into the hobby and only had £40/mo to spare.
I have that, the Army Painter nippers (box set, not sure if you buy separately) are a bit crap and the first thing I replaced immediately, but everything else is still in my toolbox haha
I totally agree with any single word of this video! Especially the last part, because I also fear that these tools might be a kind of "beginner's tax" especially for those who are really not in the hobby. Going into the local GW store, I've seen many times a recurring scene: a grandparent/mother/father, completely out of knowledge about our hobby, that wants to buy something for the little boy/girl and supports her/his wish to start this hobby . The parent then is told about the miniatures price (especially Gw, they are very expensive), then colors (again, GW are very expensive) and, finally, all the accessories and tools like these new ones (prices out of this world..). At best, it is discouraging. I fear that this policy could prevent many kids to start this hobby, and this is very bad. Of course, we all know that there are plenty of way cheaper (and often more efficient) alternatives out there, but as you correctly says, it is not so obvious when we think about beginners, younglings or parents/grandparents.
When i got to a gw store, they made me buy the tools immediately, as if to prevent me from looking elsewhere... probably because they charge 10 times more than places made for selling building tools. Oh and if I wanted to paint inside the shop, my brushes, my paints, all better were citadel or I couldnt paint in the shop at all.
Shit I'm a grown ass man and I look at those prices and go "fuck, no" I might as well just get a 3-D printer and print them off myself, I'd save myself thousands of dollars in the long run
@@DurginPaintForgeMiniatures Sorry, I just meant that you used terms like boy/girl or grandfather/grandmother, ect, a lot. Easier ways to type that could be "child" instead of "boy/girl" or "grandparent" instead of "grandma and grandpa". Sorry if I seemed a bit offensive, I didn't mean to be!
I’m an experienced hobby nerd and even I’ve been suckered by these tools. After a many years hiatus from modeling I got back in a few years ago. So I needed new hobby tools. Thought to myself, “wow prices have really gone up since last I hobbied” and “well they are GW tools, surely they are high quality. They are not high quality. None of their tools or brushes are.
This is a brilliant video. More hobby YT creators need to be as honest as you about these kinds of things. We love new products from GW, but things like this just highlight how money grabbing they can be.
It is not, how money grabbing they *can be*, but how money grabbing they are. When I finally realized that their products are mediocre (all of them, including models and paints) I voted with my money. Not going to them anymore. EVER!
Watch now which YT creators comment on this specific video (OR more like avoid to death this video in case their GW overlords notice). They're usually all over each others videos... squeezing in for attention/cameos, but now... SILENCE (Ya... especially you GOOBERCLOWN)
the newbie-trap is such a true statement, i can speak from experience. a couple of years ago when i got back into the hobby after a 20 year break, i went to the GW website and bought some minis and paint. well, i also needed some clippers, brushes and a knife, i also saw the handdrill and thought it'd be nice to have. i had no idea that GW charged 2-3 times more than other companies for the same products. i didn't know about Army Painter, Vallejo or any other companies like that. oh, and the clippers i bought broke after about 50 minis. they suddenly "snapped" while clipping out a sprue and became limp and misaligned. bought a pair of clippers for a third of the price and they're still holding up perfectly after cutting out more than 100 minis so far. these days i avoid GW products like the plague. most of their products are overpriced garbage.
You used to be GW's target audience for this kind of stuff. You were a sucker who didn't do any research beforehand and now they got your money. The only real saving grace is that if you bring your broken overpriced clippers to your local GW store, they are supposed to replace them for you free of charge because GW doesn't want you parading those broken clippers around telling everyone else how crap they are.
paints and models are incredible though the former is expensive and the latter is also expensive. The rest is all trash. Oh except for customer service, those people are great
Your honesty is appreciated and to be frank, you're genuinely one of the reasons I keep trying to be both creative and productive in the hobby! Cheers!
This takes me back. Way back. 2nd edition 40k. I think 25 years ago? GW launched their own rollmeters, which cost more than the ones you could find in your local diy store. And if you peeled back the GW sticker they still read Stanley. 😂
Single blade nippers are the fire currently, because a chinese company called DSPIAE achieved a quality close enough to the japanese hand-forged equivalent for a fraction of the price, so every company started trying to make their own saying « hey look single blade! » without thinking about what makes a good single blade nipper works. As for the hobby knife, my biggest yikes about those expensive handles is that they never even bother to get quality blades; only Tamiya makes sure ALL their blades are made by Olfa, which is one of the only two high-quality brand I recommend, along x-acto. You’re paying a little bit more per blade, but they last much longer before becoming dull
I'm a user of that DSPIAE cutter (they make them for MENG Models too) and it works fantastically on scale models and GW minis alike. Couldn't be happier with mine. I get far less plastic distortion during any cut than any conventional nippers I've tried. Not cheap, but they do at least feel every bit worth the price paid.
Incidentally, that single blade "japanese hand-forged equivalent" is among the recommendations from the video (the godhand spn-120 5.0 in the bottom right, and in the links) and is the tool pictured at 3:50 to illustrate why two blades are better than one. :)
3 years later and I'm still using that AP hobby tool kit. And it's plastic case is great for closable wet pallet. It's broke some months ago, but luckily the new AP speedpaints came with the same plastic boxes, so I'm fine with the wet pallet for the next years again :)
The chap in my local GW shop said to me they only sell the mould line removers for kids too young to be let loose with a sharp blade. In that sense they do serve a purpose. But GW's pricing is absurd, as always.
sounds like a cop out tbh. GW always pushed itself to be above the competition which included complex rules and uncommon terminology (other rules say debris but GW has to say detritus) so the idea that kids who can't handle an x-acto blade can sit and handles the rules is a bit unbelievable
I thought GW dropped the idea that only kids played the game like 15 years ago. I remember white dwarves used to be filled with images of like 12 year olds in their advertising now all of GW's ads is full of middle aged people. Speaking personally I don't know a single person under 30 who plays or collects any warhammer product and my local hobby stores cliental reflects that as well. Truth be told though I haven't set foot in an official GW store since the 90s so I don't know what it's actually like in there.
Ive been modelling for decades, recently got the mould line remover on a whim and its game changing. A correct tool for the correct job. Its incredible on resin models. Not every model is by GW.....
I don't make/paint miniatures and have only been introduced to 40k via the lore which I find quite engrossing. That said, this is exactly the kind of video I would want to see from a hobbyist channel; no bs and focus on the practical applications of the end user and their resources/finances. Well done mate.
Thanks for making this video. I think it's good for new hobbyists to realize that these aren't good tools. I've been using the back of my hobby knife for 25 years to scrape mold lines. GW is shooting themselves in the foot - the best reason to sell these tools is to prevent your customers from looking outside of your business. However, they couldn't resist making a big profit on them.
Informative! I went to purchase a GW case/carrier for my models and it was $120 - Found something comparable for tools at my local Home Depot for $35.00
With christmas coming soon.... It sorta seems like they were trying to cash in on parents/relatives getting people hobby stuff. Its a real shame because things like this really turn a lot of people away from hobby stuff. Its a trap for those who are new and have the money, or a deterrent for those that are new and don't.
Thank you for having the integrity to give an honest review of these tools. It's refreshing to get a real, even-handed review; instead of just shilling.
I will spread this video as a warning to those in our community who are just getting started, as you nail the problem AND also deliver a direct solution. You've gained another subscriber!
Honestly, I think the problem here is that miniature painting as a hobby is so weirdly insular. I come from illustration and model kits, and I've scratched my head so many times in the years since I got into miniature painting at the weird names that are used in this community for things that have been common knowledge outside of the bubble for years, or at the way some people act like water-based acrylics are the only paints in existence, etc etc. And it's the same way with these tools. Like you say, anyone who has a bit of knowledge about basic hobby tools outside of mini painting is never going to spend this kind of money on GW tools. Just go to a hardware store, they have knives and drills.
Yeah miniature painting is kind of weird, it is massively dominated by wargaming, which is in itself massively dominated by GW, which had the advantage of copyright to maintain itself. That makes GW a massive trend setter in the hobby, people often get familiar with the interesting universe, want to try the hobby and will obviously orient themsleves toward an official GW seller, and will get scammed on everything that isn't copyrighted thinking the hobby is simply expensive and well the echo chamber of the community coupled with GW pricing really help spread that idea of the hobby being expensive.
It's the power of a really good marketing team. People in the hobby constantly feel that if they don't have the "right" tools, paints, etc then they won't ever be able to achieve the quality on the box. Honestly it's why I'm so happy youtubers like Torvarion, Ninjon, etc exist - to show people there are multiple ways to achieve results. Back in the 90s as kids the only resources we had were put out by GW themselves which obviously pointed straight back to GW products. Very smart but I believe unethical
The problem is GW is downright predatory. They've cornered the market so much that to a lot of people (especially kids just getting into the hobby) Warhammer IS tabletop wargaming. There are a lot of younger kids who basically see GW brands as the 'real deal' and anything else as a knockoff... and there's the classic assumption that "More expensive = better". Basically, GW is dominating the tabletop wargaming market, and they thrive on Stockholm Syndrome and the Sunk Cost Fallacy. When you've spend £1500 on an army, they know you'll spend another couple hundred to keep that army relevant and competitive...and people will go to extreme lengths to convince themselves the money is worth it.
Yeah, As someone who isn't into Warhammer (this video popped up randomly in my feed and I said what the heck) but will watch a video if it catches my eye, I have all of these tools at home due to my mother being the family handy man in her spare time and has carpentry as her hobby along with my step-dads father leaving all his tools behind (he made small wood decorations and sold them out of his shed) when he and his wife sold us the family house. I would maybe only need to get the smaller cutters and the little hand drill for a beginner .
@@benjaminparent4115 It is expensive, though. For the price you pay for something in the size range of a greater demon in AOS, like, say, a plastic Bloodthirster, you can get a PG Gundam model that's like 40 cm tall and consists literally of over a 1000 parts. GWs plastic models are top tier quality (their resin stuff... not so much) by any reasonable standard, but their pricing compared to literally any other model kit manufacturer except maybe some obscure Japanese garage kit company that makes like 20 copies of a Maschinen Krieger kit in resin, is frankly insane. And that's before you've bought any tools or paints.
Also, God Hands are amazing nippers, but the super fine ones are quite fragile, make sure you dont cut things very thick with it, and dont torque while cutting. Otherwise they are amazing and leave flawless cuts. I've been using the Blue and Red handled versions for years and love them.
Ive always found it very important when recruiting new players into the game, to make sure they are 1) not going to a local Games-Workshop/Warhammer store; 2) I introduce them to the local friendly neighborhood stores that probably offer a discount on GW products, have a place for your to game, and also likely sell just as good tools without blantently ripping you off for joining the hobby.
We thank you for your honest opinion instead of generic UA-camr paid add comment: "It's great, buy it!". You're a brave man. The only argument I see for the mold line remover is that It's a lot more kid friendly than a sharp knife.
Love my mouldline remover I got back in like ~2007. One of the benefits over an X-ACTO knife is that you won't cut into the material you're working on and create nicks that need to be smoothed out with putty. The round tip is especially useful for getting into smooth areas (faces especially) where a hobby knife risks scraping unevenly. I'll still use a blade in some areas, but I think the mouldline remover provides a much cleaner finish. The other benefits are non-plastic materials. Hobby knives go dull the moment you scrap them across a metal model. When trying to smooth out green stuff or shave a bit off, a hobby knife can take off too much, cut into the putty, or make it really uneven. Mouldline removers don't have these problems. I think a lot of people get too hung up on "this is only for removing mould lines," when really mouldline removers act more like etching/engraving burnishers used in printmaking.
"One of the benefits over an X-ACTO knife is that you won't cut into the material you're working on" what?? you drag the edge of the blade across the line. wtf are u doing to cut INTO the material?
@@henry7696 Lol. Yea a mold line tool has got to be one of the biggest scams. In many years of modeling with plastic and resin I’ve never damaged a part using a hobby blade or sanding sticks/paper. In any event I’d avoid any tool sold by GW if for nothing else than price. GW excel at treating their customers like sheep. It’s not even that the prices on these tools are high with a small brand mark up…they’re insultingly high.
@@henry7696 If you tip the blade in the wrong direction so that it's not perfectly perpendicular to the mouldline, you can cut into the material, which is something that happens when making long strokes. You can go along the mold line one millimeter at a time, but this is slow. The thickness of a mouldline remover means you're always at a perfect 90° angle and you can do it in one pass. Regardless, mouldline removers are really good at burnishing and smoothing out a surface, especially with stuff like two-part epoxy. It's probably not for everyone, but I've always enjoyed using mine for the past ~15ish years I've had it.
I have the old Citadel clippers from many years ago (the black handles, not the yellow ones) and they are sharp on both sides AND forged joints. I think they were $15 at the time
the only thing I look out for when buying a hobby knife is to check that the handle isn't completely round. ive had to many knives roll off uneven tables so its nice if they sit flat imo =)
@@Lilliathi Well, no , but you drop the equivalent every couple of years on new PC/console, so that's not great comparison... (And don't get me started on cosmetics and gatchas)
@@walkiewp The time you needed a new PC every 5 years are over. Progress has slowed. Cosmetics and gatchas aren't necessary. Most people don't buy them, they rely on whales. I'm not exactly wealthy, yet I can fairly easily afford to play games. I can't afford Warhammer any more.
As much as I love your painting videos, this 88.82$ price tag at the begining made me chuckle. I use simple, disposable snap-off utility knives for cutting the sprues, cleaning up the mold lines, polishing the model and converting. It costs under 0.50$, usually lasts a few months.
I've been out of the hobby for a good 10 years and decided to get back in recently. I got all of my tools just by heading over to Hobby Lobby and spent maybe $50 total for clippers, drill and bits, 2 x-acto knives and blades, a small saw blade (that fits into the larger x-acto handle) and a cutting mat. GW prices are insane.
my "sprue cutter" performs very similar to the GW one you showed ... but it came in a box with 4 files, a cutter knife with 5 extra blades, a cleaning cloth, a screwdriver and 2 tweezers (and of course the box itself to store everything) ... for 8,99€ including shipping
@@davidstone-haigh4880 i got mine from amazon roughly 2 years ago, the exact product doesnt seem to exist anymore but there are some alternatives that are roughly the same (alsotho prices have gone up since then, but its still around 13€ for me) i just searched something like "hobbyset nippers" and it was the first result. It has some bright blue rubber handes for the nipper, should not be too hard to find if it exists on your version of amazon
@@davidstone-haigh4880 but i also have to mention that you get what you pay for in this case. Its a great alrounder set to Start with on a budget, but it definately has its limitations. most noteably the nipper that, as shown with the GW nipper in the video, pinches the plastic more than it actually cuts and therefore you have to put in extra work by nipping further away and leaving a bit of sprue on the model that you can safely remove with the knife, kr risk damaging the model because you pinched too close to it.
Thanks to GW i found out sbout side cutter nippers from Tamiya and God Hand. As an older modeller, this will greatly reduce the time to build as they leave very little residue and only need a little sanding. For the price of GW products, these gundam japanese made nippers would be a better investment
I got my Godhand nippers for $40. Using a two step process to remove parts is how I do it. First cut is to cut the sprue away from the part leaving a few mm of plastic sprue on the part. I use larger cutters to do this. When the part is free from the sprue, it has several leftover sprue bits to trim. I trim those with the Godhand nippers. This means that the part isn't stressed when removing it from the sprue as I am not cutting near the part. The Godhands have a very fine cutting blade which makes the final cut very smooth without distorting or damaging the plastic part.
When I started, I used a cutter and sand paper that I had at home, even some small wire cutter that was around, as I did not have money to spend on those kind of things. It took really a lot of time until I bought "proper" tools. Going bck to GW quality, is quite weird that they produce such high quality miniatures, and also very good paints (more expensive than paints from other brands), but the tools they were always from a low quality (like the brushes) and still overpriced. The only explanation I have is wht you said at the end of the video: they are newbie traps. You can expect an old customer to keep buying your paints if they are good, but you don't care about the tools, as it is something that most likely you will just buy once.
Of course you know this and GW knows it as well: if they sent you a product to test and showcase, the best for anyone involved is to do an honest review
Thank you very much for being the first reviewer I have seen to not fluff up these items for what they are. Call GW out for what they are doing. Mind games with their ignorant consumers to justify their overpriced sales model. Sell overpriced tools and overpriced paint and brushes will make the uninitiated believe there hyper inflated priced model kits are in line with everything else. All anyone has to do is go to any arts and crafts store and look at the model kit section of tools to have the truth shown to them. Even the Tamiya markup is nowhere close to GW.
Nice review. Tbh I was never really sold on any Gw tools seen around in all those years. I just use the old painting handle which I still find quite comfortable, but 99% of the time you can find a better, cheaper alternative from bricolage shops or other non-miniatures oriented hobby shops. My personal shout out to the army painter drill which I was particularly and unexpectedly happy with. I comes with many bits and chucks for various sizes.
Awesome to see James Gurney getting love from the hobby community. I've been a fan of his for years, and his books are SO useful for expanding ones knowledge of art!
Thank you for having the integrity to call out these overpriced, poor quality, and poorly designed tools from a company that should know better… I would have a much more positive feeling about these tools if they were only just overpriced, but they are shamefully poor quality, and they are on top of that horribly designed tools for the hobby… You think they would at least get that part right even if they were cheaply made and overpriced… 🤦♂️ It is blatant scams like this that do a huge amount of harm to the hobby, as those buying these tools are most likely people who are just starting out… I can just imagine how discouraging and enraging it would it be to find out you have been ripped off by the same company who wants you to buy their models and products after screwing over their newest potential customers… Especially their newest, youngest, and least knowledgeable customers, it’s just gross to be honest, and no way a premium, well established company should conduct business. They deserve this fair criticism from you, and to be honest you went very light on them for releasing these horrible, overpriced, cheap, and poorly designed products. They have no shame as they know they are selling this junk to their most vulnerable customers, those that are new to the hobby, and most likely their youngest customers… Shameful…
Btw...i am still using Citadel pincers from...like...12-14 years ago, and both for plastic and small metal details - THEY STILL ROCKS! Looks like they knew something about their instruments back then=)
Honestly, the only one I have, and not really this new model, is the mold line remover, and I only have it because it came as a gift on another thing that I bought at the hobby store, it's useful when my 10 year old daughter wants to help me, and I don't want to be worried about her accidentally cutting herself.
Same here. It wasn't much and has helped me with a cleaner quick finish on plain level details. For everything else I have a set of tiny diamons files and sanding paper. The new one I wouldn't get anyways.
A nice tool that's not for the hobby, but works wonderfully for it, is a pair of pliers-style toenail cutters. I picked up a pair at Walmart, for under $9, and LOVE them. They have curved blades (looks like a bird beak when closed), which make cutting those chonky gates on curved pieces a breeze.
I've had conversations with a good number of GW store managers(I move around a lot, so these conversations have occurred in at least 4 countries, although this mostly applies to the old versions and not the current ones. Only talked to 1 manager so far about the new tools), and even as relatively casual modelers, they universally see GW tools as being pretty crap(with some borderline use cases for some pieces). My guess is that this is GW's marketing department capitalizing on new hobbyists who haven't experienced using said tools and want them on the shelf to just move cheaply manufactured items on markup for the "convenience" of getting it at GW and with some questionable aesthetic touches/"utility".
Yeah, I've been going to a single shop for almost 11 years and the folks and manager are pretty down to earth. While naturally having to show *some* enthusiasm, they on purpose don't push these tools on anyone and are somewhat honest about what they actually use themselves.
If I didn't know any better I'd say the nippers are designed to damage parts intentionally, perhaps to encourage customers to go buy replacement kits to fix their screw-ups, and assuming it was their fault the part was damaged because they wouldn't suspect the $50+ nippers to be the issue.
Well, despite your last statement of not uploading the video. I want to thank you for taking your time and still uploading it! We need some honesty about GW without filter! So thank you!
I linked to it in the description under drills/multi tools. that exact one is only available in austria/germany, but from my experience all of these tools in that price range are performing really well (I linked a few others too from localised amazon).
I found the GoGonova rotary tool available on US Amazon. However, GoGonova’s tool set (all locations) doesn’t seem to have drill bits included. What drill bits do you use or that would you recommend?
I've had my Tamiya nippers for almost 20 years (Jesus, that hurts to say out loud), and they still do the job. I can tell they need some sharpening now, but even in that state, they're still better than most of the nippers and sprue cutters in the market.
I use surgical scalpels whole life.. They are cheap, snap into place, no twisting or danger, just open the foil package, hold blade with it, snap and slide into place. You can get 500pcs for 8-15 bucks. Always start a build with fresh blade, without counting expenses... The handles and blades have only 2 sizes, they are metal and flat. Never liked round handle for knives. Also while cutting towards your thumb (every one does it) you will never slide from the model as the handle flat fits your pointer finger bend. :D
Same here, Swann-Morten you get a pack of 100 blades for a fraction of the price of a citadel knife. I have two, a sharp one and a blunt one for mould lines.
All very good advise ( round handled knives have a habit of rolling off ) . Personally I keep a fine grade "diamond" sharpener handy to re-sharpen my craft blades as I go. I find that a slightly duller blade is better for some jobs, but I'm more of a kit/trash basher than a model/miniature builder.
@@robertlocock5636 Yeah i used to sharpen mine on stones. I have sharpened ones for detail work and sculpting. Basic sharpness is fine for normal builders. Yet i would never let them do the surgery with factory edge. It is jagged and dull compared to properly sharpened one lol. :D
Use crappy office hobby knife I found at my work as office supplies. No one cared and no one used them. They had 15 lying around. Got 3 of them 10 years ago and now I'm almost through number 2. My hand drill is a DIY store cheap version whatever with some extra bits. Also bought a dremel later for house work. I used cutters from a cheap multiset for about 20 years. They got dull now (after cutting metal cords and wires as well) so I got my big spender pants on and bought the Army Painter plastic cutter. It's a nice upgrade, much more precise and clean cuts, but only works for plastic. Moral: Don't buy GW tools.
when i startet the hobby some months ago i bought the Army painter starter set. there was everything i needed to begin and do some decent job. the drill and cutter are exelent, and there was some extra tools so i dont need sandpaper.
There are so many alternative options out there. I bought a load of kit when I started getting into the hobby properly, from drills to paint shakers, scalpels, and I'll undoubtedly need (want) more, and very little has come from GW. There's no need to buy from them, it's just reinventing the wheel a lot of the time and smacking a big markup on it
I feel like you were totally fair here. Appreciate the honesty without feeling the need to sugarcoat it. GW might not like it but what did they really expect sending you these.
I use the previous GW mold liner and it is semi effective. I think most of the reasoning was to avoid handling the exacto knife so often. I also like the weight of it for me. None of these new products interest me and are over priced for what they’re selling. Very unfortunate. You’ve done a great review and I think I’ll pick up that electric drill
The thing you said at the end, this is a newbietrap. And it's one I fell into a year and a half ago when I got into the hobby. I spent a lot more on stuff that I didn't need which I now don't even use.
i guess over here every household has that blue rubber scalpel :D its just so basic and still works so good. And the machined grip doubles as a texture roller for fabric^^
Harsh, but pretty fair. As you have shown, you can get a lot of extra gear for the price difference, while not losing any quality (gaining it, even?). Thanks for the video!
I know I'm way late on this, but thank you to Trovarion for this. I'm new to the hobby and I'm in the market for some hobby tools. Not only do I appreciate the candor regarding the GS items, I also appreciate that he took the time to explain what constitutes a quality tool and what I realistically will be using the tools for.
I use the Plato side cutters, both blades are very sharp and leave minimum clean up, the best part is they usually sell multiple pairs for less than £10, ebay or amazon. I've been using the same pair for years on plastic parts and 3D prints and they are still as good as day one
Black GW van pulls up at front door near midnight .... and the door bell rings .... ominously. Three months later Torvarians YT fanbase is still waiting for a new video!
Thanks for showing the base feature on the mold line tool. ever since I saw it drop I have been straining my brain to figure out what the v notch would be used for....
Being disabled I look at things from a disabled accessibility perspective. The knife is smooth where the main grip would be on the handle. If one has weak hands, which I often do, this is actually a dangerous design as it's now easier to slip.
Absolutely agree with the point of trash tools being a newbie trash. It's actually blatant disrespect to the customer. Giving them the sense of convenience by offering objectively inefficient tools.
Thanks for your honest reviews Trovarion! One other tool I'm in love with is a woodburning iron with X-actoblade shaped cutting blade. It should have an adjustable heat level. A little heat cuts plastic, foam and many materials without jagged edges and so clean like surgical cuts. As an avid cosplayer and prop-making-kitbasher, a heated blade is my go-to for clean cuts. Oh, also a nice ceramic blade sharpener like a hand-held knife sharpener extends the life of blades many times over and makes blades with broken tips into useful micro-chisel tips.
Thanks for another great vid! 3:56 Tamiya nippers are so good you have to put 2 of them on the same screen! xD Model number typo and jk aside, these are by far the best cost/performance nippers I've used. They don't cost arms and legs and also the cutting edges are pretty durable. Mine is about 10 years and still kicking!
About those nippers, and please note I'm coming from a Gunpla builder's perspective. God Hand SPN120 nippers (or the ultimate) is the one you'll want to use as a "finishing" cut to remove any sprues from your desired parts, while the Tamiya ones are used to cut the sprue, still attached to the part from the runner. Even if you only use Tamiya ones, its still easier to cut this way since no runners obstructing your way for a finer precision cut. The God Hand SPN120 (ultimate) is used for finishing cut due to the fact that it cuts clean and leaves very minor nubmark if any, but somewhat not beginner friendly since you have to know how to cut first in order to get its full potential. Also you've mentioned it earlier that the plastics used for Warhammer 40K's minifigures are soft (and it is way softer than any plastic used for Gunpla), so you might want to be careful with God Hand SPN120 (ultimate) since its a single-blade nipper.
In my mind i showed the double bladed ones as an example for a suitable cutter and the single blade as a picture to illustrate the "the sharper/narrower the angle blade the better the cut. But maybe i mixed them up.
Being a multi hobby kind of guy I realized to just buy normal tools. Most tool brands that are hobby specialized are often overpriced and not particularly great in the first place. Another benefit is the option to spend more on stuff where quality matters or for a better user experience and purposely skimp on stuff that doesn't.
Thanks for this. Honest reviews are important, especially when the product misses the mark as completely as these do. A well-run company will take honest feedback like this and use it to make better choices and better products. Time will tell if GW will do the same.
This did come into view when Duncan Rhodes did eventually leave GW and their painting channel. The tools he used became so much more diverse and cheaper. Example being a piece of bathroom tile that he used as a pallet instead of the pallet that GW officially sells. Personally I have never really enjoyed using scalpel blades, I prefer using break away blades when it comes to cutting, as they have more rigidity and easier to use. Blade becoming dull? Break a piece off and continue cutting.
Dspiae also makes interesting tools for Gunpla, which carry over to our area of the hobby. For scalpels, only Olfa for me. As for drill bits, PCB drills. I have 0.1 mm to 1mm and 1.1 to 2.0 mm packs, 0.1mm breaks if you sneeze on it, but they you have a nice center punch to mark for drilling. Bits are paired with Army painter vice drill.
So true! Very good video! We are all hocked on buying expesive plastic stuff and will keep buying it. But selling people who want to get into the overprieced and bad tools is a very bad move xD
I remember I had the older citadel hobby knife that was the black and grey rubber and plastic setup and towards the bottom it was shaped to fit in your hand but when you screwed the blade into the top the blade wouldnt sit flush with the center of the knife so the blade was always at an angle. Good times
can agree with most. Looking at your handvise drill: give PCB drills a chance, it will improve your experience a lot. Tamiya is usually a good entry point into quality "sprue cutters".
the old style tools with the metal handles were actually the only thing i would recommend anyone use instead of going for cheaper options. this was purely because of the abuse they could deal with. my friends that bought these back in 2016 still have them and they're going as strong as they were new. these new ones don't look like they'd last anywhere near as long.
Much as you're dogging on single edged nipper, I just got my first pair of high quality ones, and they are fabulous! They're doing far LESS damage than even the best double edge nippers I've been able to find.
Your pin vice (drill) is the type GW used to sell in the 90s. I still have and use two of them. Say farewell to those freebies and hello to respect from viewers who like honesty.
The GW store owner and Employee both were talking about these and how "you might as well buy God hand tools at this price" while I was hanging out and painting my minis a few weeks back. Even the employees think these suck at the price offered.
I have all this for... 50 bucks total. GW tools have always been more expensive while being genuinely lower quality, but *84 fkn dollars for a basic hobby knife and pliers are INSANE.* The pliers I have used for the past 12 years were 14 bucks. What a ridiculous cashgrab. For models and unique new designs I do have some understanding, but this is just 1:1 copying an existing product, slapping your logo on it and making it 300% more expensive.
Yeah, on the drill thing I really recommend a Wowstick mini electric drill. They go for around 40 dollars US which is only 5 dollars more than the GW one. While they are more than a mini Dremel I prefer the Wowstick's narrow chassis and the fact that its a high torque but comparatively lower speed which makes it easier to control.
I looked at the wowstick, but couldn't get it without import tax and stuff, otherwise I'd have gotten one for sure! I put it into my recommendations in the description though.
@@trovarion I had the same issue, but found that the scale model community has been using electric screwdrivers for the purpose for years. Picked one up with a vice grip attachment and it works great, only thing to worry about is to check reviews for wobble. That said, mine was cheapish model and it is bang on. Drills slower than my dremel but that makes it much much much better for resin.
Yep, I bought one some weeks ago to drill holes into the weapons of myb CSM and it works wonders. I can now eaily drill holes and attach wires to make stronger bonds on my mods
I love this review. Sometimes GW really needs a gut check and this is exactly the place for it. RIP to any GW sponsorship you may have had but, from where I'm standing, worth it.
These kind of review videos are so important! It's honestly flabbergasting how many hobbyists were inducted into GW games and only know to use their product, and many think that's the only way to do it! I remember talking to a coworker who I found out played 40k and mentioned I use Gorilla Glue for assembling my models because it's cheaper and easier to work with than Gamesworkshop Brand Plastic Glue TM. He looked at me like I had grown two heads and started to berate me for using anything else! His head would have popped if I'd mentioned the generic brand acrylic brushes, snippers, and hobby knife I used lol. I had started out the same way but by the end of my first year in the hobby I'd also quickly found out about just going around the brand
There are some legit reasons to disfavor super glue, but there are great non-citadel brands of plastic weld. The narrow spout on the GW glue is nice for precision application, but it gets backed up so easily that the brush based options are better.
@@jeffreymonsell659 I've actually switched to Loctite Gel since then and I'm never looking back. For insane accuracy I just get a little on a toothpick to smudge it into tiny sockets
It's because they don't know anything else. I remember when I was getting into the hobby as a teenager and actually being told that only Citadel products work well with Games Workshop products and that everything else won't really work. That is a mindset that gets spread from some hobby shop veterans to all of the new players and they will insist you can't do as well with anything but games workshop products. It's honestly insane to me to be so brand dedicated, but people are.
The problem is that GW are used to a massive markup (+2000%) compared just about everyone else, so it's not strange that tools they sell are overpriced.
Some of the better nippers that I've used are the ones aimed for the gunpla hobby, they work really well and several are in rather cheap kits that cover a lot of things. Dollar Tree has a pretty good craft knife set that works well, and there are a LOT of other things in their craft section that I've used a lot (Their cutting mats are awesome for when you need to work in smaller areas or just for portability). But my go to knives are the smaller utility knives, if you have larger hands, several of them are a far better option than the craft/x-acto type and are more comfortable (and replacement blades are cheaper).
I would second NOT applying more force. I damn near lost the tip of my finger when a flesh blade phased through a sprue, bounced off of my desk and slid past my hand. Cut was so clean I didn't notice it until I was looking for the pot of "Blood Angels Red" I thought i'd knocked over!
thank you so much for this video, so many content creators are scared to speak the truth in fear of loosing potentail partnership. As a community we do need to speak up on their anti consumer approach.
These tools are traps for parents and relatives that are getting a family member into the hobby as they don't know any better and they have been doing it for decades.
Why do you think parents don't know anything about tools? My dad is an electrician, has nothing to do with scale modelling or wargaming, and yet realized that i could use a nice nipper, so he gave me one of his fine electrics sidecutters. Still perfectly fine 25 years after.
@@heretic192 Not everyones relative is a Craftsman. My Granny got me the tools when I started the Hobby. She did not understand what I was doing but she wanted to support me.
@@heretic192 Because that's the majority of parents don't.
A genius marketing plot really
@@heretic192 plenty of dads and grandads know tools, however they also know that what they worked with, wood and metal mostly, is way to much for plastic, so they may figure there is actually something special about the product, however the more likely candidate is your grandma not knowing anything about tools, she knows kitchen knives, but she sees that exacto knife, and she knows it's diffrent enough that it's probably an important difference
In case anyone reading this doesn’t know, a lot of hand drills have a two sided clamping section the drill bit goes in. If your drill bit diameter doesn’t fit see if you can remove it and flip the clamping part around. The more you know.
Additionally you can get cheap ones just like the one in this vid that have 2 chucks (one of which goes in the cavity at the rear of the handle). With 4 different sized holes available you're usually covered for any size you need.
I meant to put that in the video, but felt like it drew the segment out to long. If you listen closesly I say "but since I am only using it to pin my minis..." the edited out part continues to explain that I don't need the second clamp and can put the drill bits in 😅
@@trovarion That makes sense. I've had one like yours that had the space for the 2nd clamp/chuck but didn't actually come with one, but I bought a replacement for that when I lost it, and it did come with two. I assumed maybe yours didn't come with the other sizes. Great review, your point about the clippers only having 1 sharp blade was really interesting!
Mine actually came with a second chuck in the cavity in the back, so it supports 4 scales of bit.
the only thing you need to be a warhammer player is a piece of rope and a door knob!
_"And you can even polish a turd with it..."_
That was savage AF. 🤣
Brutal. Savage. Rekt. Absolutely taken down.
BEAUTIFUL!!! 🤣
that statement was funny af mate
It was awesome, i couldn't stop laughing when i saw that clip with it
That was a great laugh :D
You get the basic tools from The Army Painter for 35$. They include knippers, a hobby knife, a drill with various drill bits, a file and even some super glue, green stuff and a basic sculpting tool in the box.
And their drill has 6 bits if I remember correctly! (Assuming it's the same as the standalone tool)
@@Dave_Creates Only 3 bits in the tool set, 1, 1.4 and 1.8. Still a great set though, was fantastic when I wanted to get into the hobby and only had £40/mo to spare.
@@DarkweaveOmnom Good to know. Was curious if there was a difference in the bundle. I agree it's still a great deal.
I have that, the Army Painter nippers (box set, not sure if you buy separately) are a bit crap and the first thing I replaced immediately, but everything else is still in my toolbox haha
Or you can go to a hardware store
I totally agree with any single word of this video!
Especially the last part, because I also fear that these tools might be a kind of "beginner's tax" especially for those who are really not in the hobby.
Going into the local GW store, I've seen many times a recurring scene: a grandparent/mother/father, completely out of knowledge about our hobby, that wants to buy something for the little boy/girl and supports her/his wish to start this hobby . The parent then is told about the miniatures price (especially Gw, they are very expensive), then colors (again, GW are very expensive) and, finally, all the accessories and tools like these new ones (prices out of this world..).
At best, it is discouraging. I fear that this policy could prevent many kids to start this hobby, and this is very bad.
Of course, we all know that there are plenty of way cheaper (and often more efficient) alternatives out there, but as you correctly says, it is not so obvious when we think about beginners, younglings or parents/grandparents.
When i got to a gw store, they made me buy the tools immediately, as if to prevent me from looking elsewhere... probably because they charge 10 times more than places made for selling building tools.
Oh and if I wanted to paint inside the shop, my brushes, my paints, all better were citadel or I couldnt paint in the shop at all.
Shit I'm a grown ass man and I look at those prices and go "fuck, no"
I might as well just get a 3-D printer and print them off myself, I'd save myself thousands of dollars in the long run
gender neutral pronouns and terms be like:
@@poggestfrog sorry, English is not my native language, if you want me to be more fluent we can talk in Italian ^^
@@DurginPaintForgeMiniatures Sorry, I just meant that you used terms like boy/girl or grandfather/grandmother, ect, a lot. Easier ways to type that could be "child" instead of "boy/girl" or "grandparent" instead of "grandma and grandpa". Sorry if I seemed a bit offensive, I didn't mean to be!
I’m an experienced hobby nerd and even I’ve been suckered by these tools. After a many years hiatus from modeling I got back in a few years ago. So I needed new hobby tools. Thought to myself, “wow prices have really gone up since last I hobbied” and “well they are GW tools, surely they are high quality. They are not high quality. None of their tools or brushes are.
The last model mould line scraper was great. But that's the only tool that was good.
Ive had the same citadel wash brush for over 10 years and its still almost mint condition. But thats the only gw brush that lasted more than a week..
@mezmerizer0266 I like having a mold line remover as well as I hobby with my 9 year old nephew.
This is a brilliant video. More hobby YT creators need to be as honest as you about these kinds of things. We love new products from GW, but things like this just highlight how money grabbing they can be.
Luckily Trov is not the only one. I rembember some Ninjon videos on the topic, for example
Thumbs up, like, and this comment for your honesty. It’s appreciated.
It is not, how money grabbing they *can be*, but how money grabbing they are.
When I finally realized that their products are mediocre (all of them, including models and paints) I voted with my money. Not going to them anymore. EVER!
Literally anyone that I have seen did not like these
Watch now which YT creators comment on this specific video (OR more like avoid to death this video in case their GW overlords notice). They're usually all over each others videos... squeezing in for attention/cameos, but now... SILENCE (Ya... especially you GOOBERCLOWN)
the newbie-trap is such a true statement, i can speak from experience. a couple of years ago when i got back into the hobby after a 20 year break, i went to the GW website and bought some minis and paint. well, i also needed some clippers, brushes and a knife, i also saw the handdrill and thought it'd be nice to have. i had no idea that GW charged 2-3 times more than other companies for the same products. i didn't know about Army Painter, Vallejo or any other companies like that. oh, and the clippers i bought broke after about 50 minis. they suddenly "snapped" while clipping out a sprue and became limp and misaligned. bought a pair of clippers for a third of the price and they're still holding up perfectly after cutting out more than 100 minis so far.
these days i avoid GW products like the plague. most of their products are overpriced garbage.
You used to be GW's target audience for this kind of stuff. You were a sucker who didn't do any research beforehand and now they got your money.
The only real saving grace is that if you bring your broken overpriced clippers to your local GW store, they are supposed to replace them for you free of charge because GW doesn't want you parading those broken clippers around telling everyone else how crap they are.
I generally like citadel paints however I agree they're much too expensive.
paints and models are incredible though the former is expensive and the latter is also expensive. The rest is all trash. Oh except for customer service, those people are great
Your honesty is appreciated and to be frank, you're genuinely one of the reasons I keep trying to be both creative and productive in the hobby! Cheers!
This takes me back. Way back.
2nd edition 40k. I think 25 years ago?
GW launched their own rollmeters, which cost more than the ones you could find in your local diy store. And if you peeled back the GW sticker they still read Stanley. 😂
😂😂😂😂😂 we are getting old and I know exactly what you are talking about lol
Single blade nippers are the fire currently, because a chinese company called DSPIAE achieved a quality close enough to the japanese hand-forged equivalent for a fraction of the price, so every company started trying to make their own saying « hey look single blade! » without thinking about what makes a good single blade nipper works.
As for the hobby knife, my biggest yikes about those expensive handles is that they never even bother to get quality blades; only Tamiya makes sure ALL their blades are made by Olfa, which is one of the only two high-quality brand I recommend, along x-acto. You’re paying a little bit more per blade, but they last much longer before becoming dull
You can just get Olfa blades from them much cheaper
I'm a user of that DSPIAE cutter (they make them for MENG Models too) and it works fantastically on scale models and GW minis alike. Couldn't be happier with mine. I get far less plastic distortion during any cut than any conventional nippers I've tried. Not cheap, but they do at least feel every bit worth the price paid.
Incidentally, that single blade "japanese hand-forged equivalent" is among the recommendations from the video (the godhand spn-120 5.0 in the bottom right, and in the links) and is the tool pictured at 3:50 to illustrate why two blades are better than one. :)
@RetroShrewd prob break easy tho right
Heavy hitting but love the honesty
3 years later and I'm still using that AP hobby tool kit. And it's plastic case is great for closable wet pallet. It's broke some months ago, but luckily the new AP speedpaints came with the same plastic boxes, so I'm fine with the wet pallet for the next years again :)
The chap in my local GW shop said to me they only sell the mould line removers for kids too young to be let loose with a sharp blade. In that sense they do serve a purpose. But GW's pricing is absurd, as always.
sounds like a cop out tbh. GW always pushed itself to be above the competition which included complex rules and uncommon terminology (other rules say debris but GW has to say detritus) so the idea that kids who can't handle an x-acto blade can sit and handles the rules is a bit unbelievable
I thought GW dropped the idea that only kids played the game like 15 years ago. I remember white dwarves used to be filled with images of like 12 year olds in their advertising now all of GW's ads is full of middle aged people. Speaking personally I don't know a single person under 30 who plays or collects any warhammer product and my local hobby stores cliental reflects that as well. Truth be told though I haven't set foot in an official GW store since the 90s so I don't know what it's actually like in there.
Ive been modelling for decades, recently got the mould line remover on a whim and its game changing. A correct tool for the correct job. Its incredible on resin models. Not every model is by GW.....
I don't make/paint miniatures and have only been introduced to 40k via the lore which I find quite engrossing. That said, this is exactly the kind of video I would want to see from a hobbyist channel; no bs and focus on the practical applications of the end user and their resources/finances. Well done mate.
Thanks for making this video. I think it's good for new hobbyists to realize that these aren't good tools. I've been using the back of my hobby knife for 25 years to scrape mold lines. GW is shooting themselves in the foot - the best reason to sell these tools is to prevent your customers from looking outside of your business. However, they couldn't resist making a big profit on them.
Informative! I went to purchase a GW case/carrier for my models and it was $120 - Found something comparable for tools at my local Home Depot for $35.00
With christmas coming soon.... It sorta seems like they were trying to cash in on parents/relatives getting people hobby stuff. Its a real shame because things like this really turn a lot of people away from hobby stuff. Its a trap for those who are new and have the money, or a deterrent for those that are new and don't.
Thank you for having the integrity to give an honest review of these tools. It's refreshing to get a real, even-handed review; instead of just shilling.
I will spread this video as a warning to those in our community who are just getting started, as you nail the problem AND also deliver a direct solution. You've gained another subscriber!
Honestly, I think the problem here is that miniature painting as a hobby is so weirdly insular. I come from illustration and model kits, and I've scratched my head so many times in the years since I got into miniature painting at the weird names that are used in this community for things that have been common knowledge outside of the bubble for years, or at the way some people act like water-based acrylics are the only paints in existence, etc etc. And it's the same way with these tools. Like you say, anyone who has a bit of knowledge about basic hobby tools outside of mini painting is never going to spend this kind of money on GW tools. Just go to a hardware store, they have knives and drills.
Yeah miniature painting is kind of weird, it is massively dominated by wargaming, which is in itself massively dominated by GW, which had the advantage of copyright to maintain itself. That makes GW a massive trend setter in the hobby, people often get familiar with the interesting universe, want to try the hobby and will obviously orient themsleves toward an official GW seller, and will get scammed on everything that isn't copyrighted thinking the hobby is simply expensive and well the echo chamber of the community coupled with GW pricing really help spread that idea of the hobby being expensive.
It's the power of a really good marketing team. People in the hobby constantly feel that if they don't have the "right" tools, paints, etc then they won't ever be able to achieve the quality on the box. Honestly it's why I'm so happy youtubers like Torvarion, Ninjon, etc exist - to show people there are multiple ways to achieve results. Back in the 90s as kids the only resources we had were put out by GW themselves which obviously pointed straight back to GW products. Very smart but I believe unethical
The problem is GW is downright predatory. They've cornered the market so much that to a lot of people (especially kids just getting into the hobby) Warhammer IS tabletop wargaming. There are a lot of younger kids who basically see GW brands as the 'real deal' and anything else as a knockoff... and there's the classic assumption that "More expensive = better".
Basically, GW is dominating the tabletop wargaming market, and they thrive on Stockholm Syndrome and the Sunk Cost Fallacy. When you've spend £1500 on an army, they know you'll spend another couple hundred to keep that army relevant and competitive...and people will go to extreme lengths to convince themselves the money is worth it.
Yeah, As someone who isn't into Warhammer (this video popped up randomly in my feed and I said what the heck) but will watch a video if it catches my eye, I have all of these tools at home due to my mother being the family handy man in her spare time and has carpentry as her hobby along with my step-dads father leaving all his tools behind (he made small wood decorations and sold them out of his shed) when he and his wife sold us the family house. I would maybe only need to get the smaller cutters and the little hand drill for a beginner .
@@benjaminparent4115 It is expensive, though. For the price you pay for something in the size range of a greater demon in AOS, like, say, a plastic Bloodthirster, you can get a PG Gundam model that's like 40 cm tall and consists literally of over a 1000 parts. GWs plastic models are top tier quality (their resin stuff... not so much) by any reasonable standard, but their pricing compared to literally any other model kit manufacturer except maybe some obscure Japanese garage kit company that makes like 20 copies of a Maschinen Krieger kit in resin, is frankly insane. And that's before you've bought any tools or paints.
Also, God Hands are amazing nippers, but the super fine ones are quite fragile, make sure you dont cut things very thick with it, and dont torque while cutting. Otherwise they are amazing and leave flawless cuts. I've been using the Blue and Red handled versions for years and love them.
Ive always found it very important when recruiting new players into the game, to make sure they are 1) not going to a local Games-Workshop/Warhammer store; 2) I introduce them to the local friendly neighborhood stores that probably offer a discount on GW products, have a place for your to game, and also likely sell just as good tools without blantently ripping you off for joining the hobby.
I applaud and laud you on your honesty.
Now, we just need everyone in the community to follow your example, and be honest about things like this.
We thank you for your honest opinion instead of generic UA-camr paid add comment: "It's great, buy it!".
You're a brave man.
The only argument I see for the mold line remover is that It's a lot more kid friendly than a sharp knife.
Love my mouldline remover I got back in like ~2007. One of the benefits over an X-ACTO knife is that you won't cut into the material you're working on and create nicks that need to be smoothed out with putty. The round tip is especially useful for getting into smooth areas (faces especially) where a hobby knife risks scraping unevenly. I'll still use a blade in some areas, but I think the mouldline remover provides a much cleaner finish.
The other benefits are non-plastic materials. Hobby knives go dull the moment you scrap them across a metal model. When trying to smooth out green stuff or shave a bit off, a hobby knife can take off too much, cut into the putty, or make it really uneven. Mouldline removers don't have these problems.
I think a lot of people get too hung up on "this is only for removing mould lines," when really mouldline removers act more like etching/engraving burnishers used in printmaking.
"One of the benefits over an X-ACTO knife is that you won't cut into the material you're working on" what?? you drag the edge of the blade across the line. wtf are u doing to cut INTO the material?
@@henry7696 Lol. Yea a mold line tool has got to be one of the biggest scams. In many years of modeling with plastic and resin I’ve never damaged a part using a hobby blade or sanding sticks/paper. In any event I’d avoid any tool sold by GW if for nothing else than price. GW excel at treating their customers like sheep. It’s not even that the prices on these tools are high with a small brand mark up…they’re insultingly high.
@@henry7696 If you tip the blade in the wrong direction so that it's not perfectly perpendicular to the mouldline, you can cut into the material, which is something that happens when making long strokes. You can go along the mold line one millimeter at a time, but this is slow. The thickness of a mouldline remover means you're always at a perfect 90° angle and you can do it in one pass.
Regardless, mouldline removers are really good at burnishing and smoothing out a surface, especially with stuff like two-part epoxy.
It's probably not for everyone, but I've always enjoyed using mine for the past ~15ish years I've had it.
I have the old Citadel clippers from many years ago (the black handles, not the yellow ones) and they are sharp on both sides AND forged joints. I think they were $15 at the time
the only thing I look out for when buying a hobby knife is to check that the handle isn't completely round. ive had to many knives roll off uneven tables so its nice if they sit flat imo =)
Everything made by Games workshop is overpriced, not only the tools
@buzroy
Most video games are not that expensive. I also don't need to buy 20 video games and a bunch of tools/paint to start playing.
@@Lilliathi Well, no , but you drop the equivalent every couple of years on new PC/console, so that's not great comparison... (And don't get me started on cosmetics and gatchas)
@@walkiewp
The time you needed a new PC every 5 years are over. Progress has slowed. Cosmetics and gatchas aren't necessary. Most people don't buy them, they rely on whales.
I'm not exactly wealthy, yet I can fairly easily afford to play games. I can't afford Warhammer any more.
@buzroy You can wait a couple months from release and the video game costs 15-20€. GW sells 15 years old minis for 100+
@buzroy that's true, games are now 60/70 on new consoles. you can get them cheaper but on release there 60/70
As much as I love your painting videos, this 88.82$ price tag at the begining made me chuckle. I use simple, disposable snap-off utility knives for cutting the sprues, cleaning up the mold lines, polishing the model and converting. It costs under 0.50$, usually lasts a few months.
I've been out of the hobby for a good 10 years and decided to get back in recently. I got all of my tools just by heading over to Hobby Lobby and spent maybe $50 total for clippers, drill and bits, 2 x-acto knives and blades, a small saw blade (that fits into the larger x-acto handle) and a cutting mat. GW prices are insane.
My dad got me a pin drill, hobby knife and clippers for about £20 when I started the hobby and still using the same ones almost 3 years later
GW blacklist speedrun
Love you trov
my "sprue cutter" performs very similar to the GW one you showed ... but it came in a box with 4 files, a cutter knife with 5 extra blades, a cleaning cloth, a screwdriver and 2 tweezers (and of course the box itself to store everything) ... for 8,99€ including shipping
Wow. Where can I get one? Cheres.
@@davidstone-haigh4880 i got mine from amazon roughly 2 years ago, the exact product doesnt seem to exist anymore but there are some alternatives that are roughly the same (alsotho prices have gone up since then, but its still around 13€ for me)
i just searched something like "hobbyset nippers" and it was the first result.
It has some bright blue rubber handes for the nipper, should not be too hard to find if it exists on your version of amazon
@@davidstone-haigh4880 but i also have to mention that you get what you pay for in this case.
Its a great alrounder set to Start with on a budget, but it definately has its limitations.
most noteably the nipper that, as shown with the GW nipper in the video, pinches the plastic more than it actually cuts and therefore you have to put in extra work by nipping further away and leaving a bit of sprue on the model that you can safely remove with the knife, kr risk damaging the model because you pinched too close to it.
@Celtic Draig a what cutter
Thanks to GW i found out sbout side cutter nippers from Tamiya and God Hand. As an older modeller, this will greatly reduce the time to build as they leave very little residue and only need a little sanding. For the price of GW products, these gundam japanese made nippers would be a better investment
I started using GodHand nippers a few years ago and haven't looked back.
Been a Gundam modeler for over a decade. Tamiya nippers have always been my go to. Price to performance is spot on imo
I got my Godhand nippers for $40. Using a two step process to remove parts is how I do it. First cut is to cut the sprue away from the part leaving a few mm of plastic sprue on the part. I use larger cutters to do this. When the part is free from the sprue, it has several leftover sprue bits to trim. I trim those with the Godhand nippers. This means that the part isn't stressed when removing it from the sprue as I am not cutting near the part. The Godhands have a very fine cutting blade which makes the final cut very smooth without distorting or damaging the plastic part.
Snap :)
When I started, I used a cutter and sand paper that I had at home, even some small wire cutter that was around, as I did not have money to spend on those kind of things. It took really a lot of time until I bought "proper" tools.
Going bck to GW quality, is quite weird that they produce such high quality miniatures, and also very good paints (more expensive than paints from other brands), but the tools they were always from a low quality (like the brushes) and still overpriced. The only explanation I have is wht you said at the end of the video: they are newbie traps.
You can expect an old customer to keep buying your paints if they are good, but you don't care about the tools, as it is something that most likely you will just buy once.
Of course you know this and GW knows it as well: if they sent you a product to test and showcase, the best for anyone involved is to do an honest review
Thank you very much for being the first reviewer I have seen to not fluff up these items for what they are. Call GW out for what they are doing. Mind games with their ignorant consumers to justify their overpriced sales model. Sell overpriced tools and overpriced paint and brushes will make the uninitiated believe there hyper inflated priced model kits are in line with everything else. All anyone has to do is go to any arts and crafts store and look at the model kit section of tools to have the truth shown to them. Even the Tamiya markup is nowhere close to GW.
I started my hobby using a nail clipper and stationary cutter. The cut from that side cutter looks worse than from my nail clipper days.
Nice review. Tbh I was never really sold on any Gw tools seen around in all those years. I just use the old painting handle which I still find quite comfortable, but 99% of the time you can find a better, cheaper alternative from bricolage shops or other non-miniatures oriented hobby shops.
My personal shout out to the army painter drill which I was particularly and unexpectedly happy with. I comes with many bits and chucks for various sizes.
Awesome to see James Gurney getting love from the hobby community. I've been a fan of his for years, and his books are SO useful for expanding ones knowledge of art!
Agreed! His paintings always inspire me to break out the old watercolor sketchbook and some brushes and just go out and paint.
Thank you for having the integrity to call out these overpriced, poor quality, and poorly designed tools from a company that should know better… I would have a much more positive feeling about these tools if they were only just overpriced, but they are shamefully poor quality, and they are on top of that horribly designed tools for the hobby… You think they would at least get that part right even if they were cheaply made and overpriced…
🤦♂️ It is blatant scams like this that do a huge amount of harm to the hobby, as those buying these tools are most likely people who are just starting out… I can just imagine how discouraging and enraging it would it be to find out you have been ripped off by the same company who wants you to buy their models and products after screwing over their newest potential customers… Especially their newest, youngest, and least knowledgeable customers, it’s just gross to be honest, and no way a premium, well established company should conduct business. They deserve this fair criticism from you, and to be honest you went very light on them for releasing these horrible, overpriced, cheap, and poorly designed products. They have no shame as they know they are selling this junk to their most vulnerable customers, those that are new to the hobby, and most likely their youngest customers… Shameful…
Btw...i am still using Citadel pincers from...like...12-14 years ago, and both for plastic and small metal details - THEY STILL ROCKS!
Looks like they knew something about their instruments back then=)
Honestly, the only one I have, and not really this new model, is the mold line remover, and I only have it because it came as a gift on another thing that I bought at the hobby store, it's useful when my 10 year old daughter wants to help me, and I don't want to be worried about her accidentally cutting herself.
Same here. It wasn't much and has helped me with a cleaner quick finish on plain level details. For everything else I have a set of tiny diamons files and sanding paper. The new one I wouldn't get anyways.
I totally agree with you. Ive always "hated" that the moldline remover even exists
A nice tool that's not for the hobby, but works wonderfully for it, is a pair of pliers-style toenail cutters. I picked up a pair at Walmart, for under $9, and LOVE them. They have curved blades (looks like a bird beak when closed), which make cutting those chonky gates on curved pieces a breeze.
for the cutters - tamiya JC2. dont thank me, youll never look at other cutters.
I've had conversations with a good number of GW store managers(I move around a lot, so these conversations have occurred in at least 4 countries, although this mostly applies to the old versions and not the current ones. Only talked to 1 manager so far about the new tools), and even as relatively casual modelers, they universally see GW tools as being pretty crap(with some borderline use cases for some pieces). My guess is that this is GW's marketing department capitalizing on new hobbyists who haven't experienced using said tools and want them on the shelf to just move cheaply manufactured items on markup for the "convenience" of getting it at GW and with some questionable aesthetic touches/"utility".
Yeah, I've been going to a single shop for almost 11 years and the folks and manager are pretty down to earth. While naturally having to show *some* enthusiasm, they on purpose don't push these tools on anyone and are somewhat honest about what they actually use themselves.
If I didn't know any better I'd say the nippers are designed to damage parts intentionally, perhaps to encourage customers to go buy replacement kits to fix their screw-ups, and assuming it was their fault the part was damaged because they wouldn't suspect the $50+ nippers to be the issue.
My local GW employee sent me to the hardware store next door to get tools cause he said he couldnt recomend the GW ones. Good guy
Well, despite your last statement of not uploading the video. I want to thank you for taking your time and still uploading it! We need some honesty about GW without filter!
So thank you!
That thumbnail is top notch!!! What drill bit is that at 8:38. The drill looks excellent, it looks so centered when drilling, mine are all off!
I linked to it in the description under drills/multi tools. that exact one is only available in austria/germany, but from my experience all of these tools in that price range are performing really well (I linked a few others too from localised amazon).
I found the GoGonova rotary tool available on US Amazon. However, GoGonova’s tool set (all locations) doesn’t seem to have drill bits included. What drill bits do you use or that would you recommend?
I've had my Tamiya nippers for almost 20 years (Jesus, that hurts to say out loud), and they still do the job. I can tell they need some sharpening now, but even in that state, they're still better than most of the nippers and sprue cutters in the market.
I use surgical scalpels whole life.. They are cheap, snap into place, no twisting or danger, just open the foil package, hold blade with it, snap and slide into place. You can get 500pcs for 8-15 bucks. Always start a build with fresh blade, without counting expenses... The handles and blades have only 2 sizes, they are metal and flat. Never liked round handle for knives. Also while cutting towards your thumb (every one does it) you will never slide from the model as the handle flat fits your pointer finger bend. :D
Same here, Swann-Morten you get a pack of 100 blades for a fraction of the price of a citadel knife. I have two, a sharp one and a blunt one for mould lines.
All very good advise ( round handled knives have a habit of rolling off ) . Personally I keep a fine grade "diamond" sharpener handy to re-sharpen my craft blades as I go. I find that a slightly duller blade is better for some jobs, but I'm more of a kit/trash basher than a model/miniature builder.
@@chetmanley1885 I use sharp one for everything without issues, but i was mostly aircraft and tonk builder :)
@@robertlocock5636 Yeah i used to sharpen mine on stones. I have sharpened ones for detail work and sculpting. Basic sharpness is fine for normal builders. Yet i would never let them do the surgery with factory edge. It is jagged and dull compared to properly sharpened one lol. :D
Use crappy office hobby knife I found at my work as office supplies. No one cared and no one used them. They had 15 lying around.
Got 3 of them 10 years ago and now I'm almost through number 2.
My hand drill is a DIY store cheap version whatever with some extra bits. Also bought a dremel later for house work.
I used cutters from a cheap multiset for about 20 years. They got dull now (after cutting metal cords and wires as well) so I got my big spender pants on and bought the Army Painter plastic cutter. It's a nice upgrade, much more precise and clean cuts, but only works for plastic.
Moral: Don't buy GW tools.
when i startet the hobby some months ago i bought the Army painter starter set. there was everything i needed to begin and do some decent job. the drill and cutter are exelent, and there was some extra tools so i dont need sandpaper.
Also got the AP set. They even put green stuff in the box. :D
@@LukasEisenring oh ye i forgot that, ive not used mine yet. not went into that yet xD still basic here hehe
@@boomcat1337 It used to be much more necessary when GW was mostly making metal and resin models. Their mold quality was... not good.
There are so many alternative options out there. I bought a load of kit when I started getting into the hobby properly, from drills to paint shakers, scalpels, and I'll undoubtedly need (want) more, and very little has come from GW. There's no need to buy from them, it's just reinventing the wheel a lot of the time and smacking a big markup on it
Well I'm glad someone called out these b.s tools
I feel like you were totally fair here. Appreciate the honesty without feeling the need to sugarcoat it. GW might not like it but what did they really expect sending you these.
"And you can even polish a turd with it..." I spit out my coffee on that one. You won the internet with that one.
20 years ago they (gw) did these at about 5 pound a go. The clippers / snippers and drill set are still working.
I use the previous GW mold liner and it is semi effective. I think most of the reasoning was to avoid handling the exacto knife so often. I also like the weight of it for me. None of these new products interest me and are over priced for what they’re selling. Very unfortunate. You’ve done a great review and I think I’ll pick up that electric drill
The thing you said at the end, this is a newbietrap. And it's one I fell into a year and a half ago when I got into the hobby. I spent a lot more on stuff that I didn't need which I now don't even use.
exactly my experience as well
Welcome to the hobby sucker!
j/k
We all wish you a much better experience! For all supply things from GW/Citadel, always see if another place has it before buying it from GW.
i guess over here every household has that blue rubber scalpel :D its just so basic and still works so good. And the machined grip doubles as a texture roller for fabric^^
Same!
Wait by "over here" you mean Germany?
Harsh, but pretty fair. As you have shown, you can get a lot of extra gear for the price difference, while not losing any quality (gaining it, even?). Thanks for the video!
I know I'm way late on this, but thank you to Trovarion for this. I'm new to the hobby and I'm in the market for some hobby tools. Not only do I appreciate the candor regarding the GS items, I also appreciate that he took the time to explain what constitutes a quality tool and what I realistically will be using the tools for.
Welcome aboard!
I use the Plato side cutters, both blades are very sharp and leave minimum clean up, the best part is they usually sell multiple pairs for less than £10, ebay or amazon. I've been using the same pair for years on plastic parts and 3D prints and they are still as good as day one
Excellent review and great advice. Some might not like it, but this young man always tells it like it is.
Black GW van pulls up at front door near midnight .... and the door bell rings .... ominously. Three months later Torvarians YT fanbase is still waiting for a new video!
$50 for clippers? I can only theorize that the Gee-Dubs boardroom is a mountain of cocaine.
Thanks for showing the base feature on the mold line tool. ever since I saw it drop I have been straining my brain to figure out what the v notch would be used for....
Being disabled I look at things from a disabled accessibility perspective. The knife is smooth where the main grip would be on the handle. If one has weak hands, which I often do, this is actually a dangerous design as it's now easier to slip.
Absolutely agree with the point of trash tools being a newbie trash. It's actually blatant disrespect to the customer. Giving them the sense of convenience by offering objectively inefficient tools.
Thanks for your honest reviews Trovarion! One other tool I'm in love with is a woodburning iron with X-actoblade shaped cutting blade. It should have an adjustable heat level. A little heat cuts plastic, foam and many materials without jagged edges and so clean like surgical cuts. As an avid cosplayer and prop-making-kitbasher, a heated blade is my go-to for clean cuts. Oh, also a nice ceramic blade sharpener like a hand-held knife sharpener extends the life of blades many times over and makes blades with broken tips into useful micro-chisel tips.
cool...nice to know!
Thanks for another great vid!
3:56 Tamiya nippers are so good you have to put 2 of them on the same screen! xD
Model number typo and jk aside, these are by far the best cost/performance nippers I've used.
They don't cost arms and legs and also the cutting edges are pretty durable.
Mine is about 10 years and still kicking!
About those nippers, and please note I'm coming from a Gunpla builder's perspective.
God Hand SPN120 nippers (or the ultimate) is the one you'll want to use as a "finishing" cut to remove any sprues from your desired parts, while the Tamiya ones are used to cut the sprue, still attached to the part from the runner. Even if you only use Tamiya ones, its still easier to cut this way since no runners obstructing your way for a finer precision cut. The God Hand SPN120 (ultimate) is used for finishing cut due to the fact that it cuts clean and leaves very minor nubmark if any, but somewhat not beginner friendly since you have to know how to cut first in order to get its full potential.
Also you've mentioned it earlier that the plastics used for Warhammer 40K's minifigures are soft (and it is way softer than any plastic used for Gunpla), so you might want to be careful with God Hand SPN120 (ultimate) since its a single-blade nipper.
In my mind i showed the double bladed ones as an example for a suitable cutter and the single blade as a picture to illustrate the "the sharper/narrower the angle blade the better the cut. But maybe i mixed them up.
Being a multi hobby kind of guy I realized to just buy normal tools. Most tool brands that are hobby specialized are often overpriced and not particularly great in the first place. Another benefit is the option to spend more on stuff where quality matters or for a better user experience and purposely skimp on stuff that doesn't.
8:48 Absolutely brutal takedown. ☠
Thanks for this. Honest reviews are important, especially when the product misses the mark as completely as these do.
A well-run company will take honest feedback like this and use it to make better choices and better products. Time will tell if GW will do the same.
This did come into view when Duncan Rhodes did eventually leave GW and their painting channel.
The tools he used became so much more diverse and cheaper. Example being a piece of bathroom tile that he used as a pallet instead of the pallet that GW officially sells.
Personally I have never really enjoyed using scalpel blades, I prefer using break away blades when it comes to cutting, as they have more rigidity and easier to use. Blade becoming dull? Break a piece off and continue cutting.
Dspiae also makes interesting tools for Gunpla, which carry over to our area of the hobby. For scalpels, only Olfa for me. As for drill bits, PCB drills. I have 0.1 mm to 1mm and 1.1 to 2.0 mm packs, 0.1mm breaks if you sneeze on it, but they you have a nice center punch to mark for drilling. Bits are paired with Army painter vice drill.
So true! Very good video! We are all hocked on buying expesive plastic stuff and will keep buying it. But selling people who want to get into the overprieced and bad tools is a very bad move xD
Thumbnail cracked me up. I'll look into the other bits of kit you mentioned. Really great to see honest reviews.
I remember I had the older citadel hobby knife that was the black and grey rubber and plastic setup and towards the bottom it was shaped to fit in your hand but when you screwed the blade into the top the blade wouldnt sit flush with the center of the knife so the blade was always at an angle. Good times
can agree with most. Looking at your handvise drill: give PCB drills a chance, it will improve your experience a lot. Tamiya is usually a good entry point into quality "sprue cutters".
love the bit at the end "i shoudnt upload this video cause games workshop will fire me" *walks away from the desk* was just chef's kiss
the old style tools with the metal handles were actually the only thing i would recommend anyone use instead of going for cheaper options. this was purely because of the abuse they could deal with. my friends that bought these back in 2016 still have them and they're going as strong as they were new. these new ones don't look like they'd last anywhere near as long.
Much as you're dogging on single edged nipper, I just got my first pair of high quality ones, and they are fabulous! They're doing far LESS damage than even the best double edge nippers I've been able to find.
Your pin vice (drill) is the type GW used to sell in the 90s. I still have and use two of them.
Say farewell to those freebies and hello to respect from viewers who like honesty.
The GW store owner and Employee both were talking about these and how "you might as well buy God hand tools at this price" while I was hanging out and painting my minis a few weeks back.
Even the employees think these suck at the price offered.
Hey, if they send you some to review, they should expect your review, whatever it ends up being, positive or negative
I have all this for... 50 bucks total. GW tools have always been more expensive while being genuinely lower quality, but *84 fkn dollars for a basic hobby knife and pliers are INSANE.* The pliers I have used for the past 12 years were 14 bucks. What a ridiculous cashgrab. For models and unique new designs I do have some understanding, but this is just 1:1 copying an existing product, slapping your logo on it and making it 300% more expensive.
Yeah, on the drill thing I really recommend a Wowstick mini electric drill. They go for around 40 dollars US which is only 5 dollars more than the GW one. While they are more than a mini Dremel I prefer the Wowstick's narrow chassis and the fact that its a high torque but comparatively lower speed which makes it easier to control.
I looked at the wowstick, but couldn't get it without import tax and stuff, otherwise I'd have gotten one for sure! I put it into my recommendations in the description though.
@@trovarion I had the same issue, but found that the scale model community has been using electric screwdrivers for the purpose for years. Picked one up with a vice grip attachment and it works great, only thing to worry about is to check reviews for wobble. That said, mine was cheapish model and it is bang on. Drills slower than my dremel but that makes it much much much better for resin.
Yep, I bought one some weeks ago to drill holes into the weapons of myb CSM and it works wonders. I can now eaily drill holes and attach wires to make stronger bonds on my mods
I love this review. Sometimes GW really needs a gut check and this is exactly the place for it. RIP to any GW sponsorship you may have had but, from where I'm standing, worth it.
These kind of review videos are so important! It's honestly flabbergasting how many hobbyists were inducted into GW games and only know to use their product, and many think that's the only way to do it! I remember talking to a coworker who I found out played 40k and mentioned I use Gorilla Glue for assembling my models because it's cheaper and easier to work with than Gamesworkshop Brand Plastic Glue TM. He looked at me like I had grown two heads and started to berate me for using anything else! His head would have popped if I'd mentioned the generic brand acrylic brushes, snippers, and hobby knife I used lol. I had started out the same way but by the end of my first year in the hobby I'd also quickly found out about just going around the brand
There are some legit reasons to disfavor super glue, but there are great non-citadel brands of plastic weld. The narrow spout on the GW glue is nice for precision application, but it gets backed up so easily that the brush based options are better.
@@jeffreymonsell659 I've actually switched to Loctite Gel since then and I'm never looking back. For insane accuracy I just get a little on a toothpick to smudge it into tiny sockets
It's because they don't know anything else. I remember when I was getting into the hobby as a teenager and actually being told that only Citadel products work well with Games Workshop products and that everything else won't really work. That is a mindset that gets spread from some hobby shop veterans to all of the new players and they will insist you can't do as well with anything but games workshop products. It's honestly insane to me to be so brand dedicated, but people are.
The problem is that GW are used to a massive markup (+2000%) compared just about everyone else, so it's not strange that tools they sell are overpriced.
Some of the better nippers that I've used are the ones aimed for the gunpla hobby, they work really well and several are in rather cheap kits that cover a lot of things.
Dollar Tree has a pretty good craft knife set that works well, and there are a LOT of other things in their craft section that I've used a lot (Their cutting mats are awesome for when you need to work in smaller areas or just for portability). But my go to knives are the smaller utility knives, if you have larger hands, several of them are a far better option than the craft/x-acto type and are more comfortable (and replacement blades are cheaper).
I would second NOT applying more force. I damn near lost the tip of my finger when a flesh blade phased through a sprue, bounced off of my desk and slid past my hand.
Cut was so clean I didn't notice it until I was looking for the pot of "Blood Angels Red" I thought i'd knocked over!
thank you so much for this video, so many content creators are scared to speak the truth in fear of loosing potentail partnership. As a community we do need to speak up on their anti consumer approach.
GW Shilltubers... who can you name?
Absolutely
GW's target customer isn't hobbyists, it's jimmy-5-year-old