Things you do different, things you do the same....

[Keef]

I still use Testors tube glue for some assembly. But I have learned the uses of CA glue(all consistencies) as well as using Tamiya liquid cement. I only use rattlecans for my paint jobs, but I have tried airbrushing. I used to cut and glue pieces together and not even give mold lines or little nibs a second thought. 
 

Now, thanks to advice I’ve received from here, I try to treat each sub-assembly as it’s own separate model. Mold lines get sanded down, each part gets smoothed and primed before paint. 
 

I also attach front and rear valance panels permanently before I paint and deal with assembly.

Online information and reference availability has made a definite difference in my building from 40 years ago when I started til now. The amount of tools and detail items and accessories that is able to be used is just amazing.

[RSchnell]

Things I still do after 36 years of building models:

-Use Testors tube glue, still use an Xacto #11 for most everything, still paint with enamel from my stock of Model Master Enamels, still use Floquil paints from bottles I've had for 30+ years.

Things I do differently from the early years:

-No longer use Nitro-Stan lacquer putty, but now use model specific putties or 2part autobody glazing products, use a lot more Tamiya acrylics, foil instead of silver paint. Instead of buying 1 or 2 kits at a time and not having a stash, I now have a decent stash of kits and buy several at a time. The biggest change for me is not going to a LHS on a Saturday morning to pickup a kit to build for the weekend. There are no LHS' around! The nearest ones are 45 miles away. Growing up we had 5 LHS in my little town of 40K people, now there are none and the town is 110K people.

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I seem to cut my fingers more often with the X-Acto blade and the saw than I used to....does that count? -RRR

[Claude Thibodeau]

HI!

Nowadays, I favor mostly mash-ups or totally scratchbuild subjects. I spend way more time (too much?) planning and preparing for any project.

As far as glues, I use CA sometimes, but to my utmost surprise, WHITE glue on all my projects. Go figure...  Paintwise, I mourn the passing of Testor's Wet Look Clear (my stock is dwindling fast!), and I now experiment with Mr Hobby super clear and TopCoat instead (after trying all the rest). Don't get me wrong: Tamya's TS-13 is fine, but since I rarely apply my finish coats in just one session, it poses some limitations.

Finally, after much experiment, Molotow's chrome (in large refill bottles) is a game changer for me, allowing much more satisfying finishes. I still use Alclad, but now on white or light blue gloss subcoats instead of just glossy black. It then reproduces more varieties of polished metals (white for aluminium, blue for SST). 

So much styrene, so little time...

CT 

[JollySipper]

1 hour ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

I seem to cut my fingers more often with the X-Acto blade and the saw than I used to....does that count? -RRR

Have you learned to not snap your legs closed when you've dropped the knife? I learned that one early on......

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

7 hours ago, JollySipper said:

Have you learned to not snap your legs closed when you've dropped the knife? I learned that one early on......

I did have the X-Acto knife roll off of the desk and stab me in the thigh. Only once.... -RRR

[Jack L]

1 hour ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

I did have the X-Acto knife roll off of the desk and stab me in the thigh. Only once.... -RRR

been there done that !

[Tom Geiger]

In the interest of saving someone from accidentally neutering themself…

Old draftsman tip.. add a little wing of masking take to your knife as shown here. It no longer rolls.  

[Rodent]

1 hour ago, Tom Geiger said:

Old draftsman tip.. add a little wing of masking take to your knife as shown here. It no longer rolls.

Mine are stuck in wine corks when they aren't actively being used. I did stick one in my foot in the early 1980s. Kinda made a bloody mess on the floor.

[espo]

 I have been using the erasers that you can buy most anywhere that slips on the end of a pencil. They are rubber and have a squire portion toward the eraser end. This is the part that keeps your knife from rolling. I have found them in colors as well and I use them to tell my different knifes apart on the work bench.  

[Chariots of Fire]

Use CA for just about everything.  When I need some adjustment wiggle room I switch to epoxy or white glue.  Most small parts I now pin on.  No more depending on just the glue joint.

Have not dropped the Xacto knife on me yet but I did forget to turn the dremel off with a cutting wheel in it when I dropped a part.  Tore up my pants leg and it took 5 stitches to close up the cut (gouge) in my thigh.

Very few kit builds now.  Mostly scratch built or heavy conversions.

[keyser]

Wound care much better. 
Use my miter box to leave tools that roll, or pen holder/ cup. Cork coaster in bottom double thick. 

[NOBLNG]

I probably built less than a dozen models in my pre-teens. I remember making an “El Camino” out of a Chevelle. Everything was brush painted as far as I recall. Then…about a 40 year hiatus. When I got back into it, I still used the tube glue, but sprung the extra cash for spray paint.? Then I discovered Tamiya thin cement and bought myself an airbrush. Lately I have been using more and more CA.

[Straightliner59]

I have gotten more patient,  and more willing to redo stuff that I may not have, earlier in my apprenticeship. I have found myself not dreading mundane stuff like sanding, etc. I use weathering,  and try to impart a sense of use.

[Paul Payne]

A couple years back I tried going back and forth on builds- 4 or 5 at a time- then last year went back to focusing on one build- and it is actually getting done! I will then go to the next one in line, finish it, then move on again........  I do more scratch building and trying things I wouldn't have dared attempt years ago- sandwiching styrene stock together with white glue, shaping, then soaking the stock apart- modifying a part into something completely different- cutting cedar cigar wrapper into strips using a jig, for boat planking- will soon be attempting resin casting from rubber molds, and finally using an airbrush (need to get a compressor). Molotow pens are a godsend.