Whether you are an accomplished master craftsman big shot or a green, wet behind the ears beginner, there is no better time to be a modeler. Every possible material, art medium and resource is at your fingertips in a world that is ripe with some of the most creative technology, always developing products and the immediate ability to deliver it to the artist. You.
Today there is nothing as a modeler you can’t recreate in scale, and make it look as realistic as your minds eye and dexterity of hand would physically allow. Be it a vehicle, structure, figure of a living being, landscape, or vegetation, it can be had. You name it, it is probably already available, and if not you can find what you need to do it yourself with a high degree of realism and authenticity. Something that not too long ago in history would have been a much more tedious and often expensive endeavor. But now with the internet available to nearly anyone and at any time for information and photography, and a seemingly infinite array of products in a marketplace vastly worldwide it can be done with ease and on a shorter dime (cheaper). And with today’s “Big Box” arts and craft stores and the vast array of literally every supply and material available there is a lot of reasons why a modeler would be a fool to not use them to their financial advantage.
I love going to the hobby shop! Absolutely! My wife can’t get me out once I go in, and my bank account can tell you that I definitely never leave empty handed. The few near me I visit are well stocked. I’m not going to ever knock the hobby store for great quality products in model railroading. Never. But I am also practical. If there is something I see that I am pretty sure I can make myself? You can damn well bet I am going to attempt it! With that said, there are some things as I stated above that are already made, ready to go, and you would be nuts to even think of recreating it, especially if it is one of a kind, or extremely detailed and incredibly accurate such as a casting. Also is the case, for me, in things such as static grass, and specific scenery. Yes! buy it if you don’t feel comfortable attempting your own or you just fell in love with it!
A Bargain Every Single Trip
When we say “Big Box” arts and craft stores, we are talking about the three big National chains; Michael’s A.C. Moore, Hobby Lobby. I am sure I am missing one or two near you somewhere in whatever nook of obscurity that you reside. Whatever, do what you can. But with these three you have to start online.
Go to their website where you will find an opportunity to subscribe to their email coupons and specials. Fill out the blanks and submit it. Yes, they will send you mail. Pull up your big boy/girl pants and accept the fact that they will send you an email every morning before 8am. Look, admit it. You get far worse junk email everyday that you probably never signed on for. At least this one is going to pay off.EACH AND EVERY MORNING you will get a coupon with that email from any of the above three companies that values anywhere from 40% to 55% off of any one regular priced item. Occasionally the one will even have a 60% off coupon. That’s a pretty damn substantial savings fellow freaks!
You don’t have to print the coupon. just pull it up on your phone by downloading it in it’s .pdf and show it at the register when they are checking you out. It’s a pretty simple process.
Now it’s on to the store. Let’s, for ships and giggles, say you need a bag of sculptamold for your landscaping land forms on your layout. The bag is $10. They never sell this as a sale or clearance item, for which is excluded on the coupons, so this is regular priced. The coupon you have is 55% that item is now costing you $4.50. WOW huh?!
Can you get it cheaper?? Well I can buy the same sculptamold bag at the one hobby store for about $7. Yes it is cheaper than the regular price at the big box store, but with the coupon you just saved 2.50. And I picked a low price item as a comparison. There are many cool things at the art and craft stores that have prices I would normally bulk at, despite it being cool. But that no longer applies with the coupon. I wanted a good lamp for the workbench, they all have the expensive Ott Brand Lamps with the LED lights. They average about $45 to $100 at regular price. I waited until the one store had a 60% coupon and hauled butt to the store and got one of the better ones for $40. I had my wife with her coupon on her way home from work, stop by and grab the smaller one for $28. You do the math.
These are of course just a few of the examples. But even if you just need a single 2 ounce bottle of craft paint. .75 cents beats the hell out of $1.50. If you have several items, it will always take the discount off of the highest priced item! Important to remember, so you can get your big ticket item and if you have a bunch of smaller junk to get, it will take it off the big one. Nice huh? Well it doesn’t stop there.
Each of the three mentioned stores accepts the other stores coupons!! So let’s say store A has a 40% coupon that day and Store B has 50% off coupon. Just tell them at the register you have the other stores coupon, and they honor it! Now you have just increased your buying options three-fold!! Bigger menu for you! Also, when you get the one item coupon, there often, not always, a coupon for 15% or 20% discount on the total of total purchase including sale items and they will include that in conjunction with your coupon! Double Whammy! Want to take the savings further? I do…lol. Make sure at the register you ask for their “rewards” cards at these places. You will get further discounts and at A.C. Moore for example, you earn points every time you spend. In short time, usually once every two months, in my snail mail they send me a $10 paper certificate that I can take to the store and use it as you would cash. No you can’t redeem it for cash. See where we are going here?? This is why on the podcast we are constantly saying, USE YOUR COUPONS! Last way to save? Download those store Apps for your phone! Often there are extra deals on those you won’t get on your email, and what is even more amazing is when you check out at the register?? The cashier hands you enough paper receipt/coupons to drop every tree in the rain forest!
Craft Stores aren’t just for the Mrs.
So when you hear craft store, you are thinking paper crafts and popsicle sticks, yarn and picture frames. Not any more pal! I used to think they were just for the wife, and because this article will find itself in front of the eyes of mainly model railroaders and military modelers, etc. I probably don’t have to tell you how much stuff there is for us. You already know. But I’m going to tell you anyhow what I look for and items that you may not have thought of. Of course the main thing we fine scaler’s use is acrylic craft paints. They have them all. Apple Barrel, Folk Art, Cermacoat, Americana, and they all have their own brand which isn’t too shabby. Every color under the rainbow, saves a lot of mixing. Over time and many models, and the use of a lot of coupons I have amassed over 220 different colors and bottles. Insane. But there are other paints for the modeler. It is all about different paint mediums for different desired effects. So in the fine art section you will find your oil paints, pastels for making pigment powders, some cool paint additives available from all the companies, including the craft paints, that will do some really cool and amazing things! It is almost as if they are all coming out with more and more different ways to produce paint products for crafts that give the coolest effects. It is as if they have taken techniques that we have used for years with several different products and stuff them into one bottle ready to go. Blows my mind. Read labels on this stuff. All of it! Your gears will get turning and you will be thinking of ways to try it out. Hey, some of it works, some doesn’t, but for this writer, I love trying. The challenge is all a part of the learning and improving. Nothing gets me more excited than trying new product, and if I can pull it off cheaply, I enjoy it all the more.
It doesnt stop at fine art. As I said earlier, there is plaster, sculptamold, clays,, casting resin, and liquid rubber for producing molds. A million paint brushes. Some decent in packages, and some top of the line. With coupons I am proud to say I have an array of brushes that Picaso would enjoy. Looking for fine scale tools? Their Jewelry making section has a ton of cool tools for the workbench. Stare at that wall, and you will start to see how many of them will be an asset to your work. Scrapbooking supplies have a lot of cool cutting tools made for paper but they often can be applied to processes in modeling. If you go to the flower arrangement area, you will find dried flowers in bunches you can with a little ingenuity and maybe watching a few YouTube videos, you can make some amazing looking trees. You name it, it is here for you! It is up to you if you want to pay top dollar for it or not.
Other great places to never overlook but you wont get coupons but can find good prices, is walmart, lowes, home depot, any fine art supply like dick blick, and target. Do your homework and reap the rewards.
Model smart my friends and enjoy the benefits.
