If you’ve been wanting to treat yourself a little this holiday, check out these 25 hobby products we recommend to everyone for their painting desk.
Wanting to know what the Spikey Bits team uses for all of their hobby sessions? These are the supplies we recommend and use on the daily.
Amazon HoliDeals is an event where shoppers will find all sorts of money-saving deals on the website. Of course, I’ve thrown up my own hobby recommendations that you might want to look into while this deal lasts.
Amazon Black Friday, Cyber Monday
Online Deals Every Day: Over 1000 Items
What on sale exactly? Well, it changes day by day from the looks of it. Be sure to check back over the next week starting on the 28th, and into Cyber Monday for the latest!
Cyber Monday 2019 offers major discounts on electronics, tech supplies, and much more for everyone on your list. Check out options for your home, kitchen, and garden, with great deals on household appliances such as a brand-new coffee maker, blender, food processor, or toaster oven.
You’ll find deals on gifts for everyone on your list during Cyber Monday Deals Week. Fitness fanatics, movie buffs, handy men and women — we’ve got the deals you’ve been looking for.
Tamiya Cement Glue
This extra thin cement glue is a solid to keep your models together and get those tricky bit connections to stick. Perfect for those tiny plastic character models, and units.
Testors Plastic Cement
In the same vein, Testors has its own spin on plastic cement that also works great!
The Hobby Holder
This neat little contraption is easy to hold and gives you 360-degree access to your miniature while you paint.
Grex 10:1 Airbrush Cleaner
- Cleans oils, acrylics, Inks, dyes, varnish, glues, Resins, airbrush mediums and more
- Use hot for best results
- Keep airbrush clean by spraying cleaner between color changes and immediately after use
- To remove dried paint, soak affected parts with cleaner overnight
If you don’t mind doing an extra step when you use your Airbrush to paint. throw some Grex in the pot between sessions to get any kind of residue out. This will make sure the only thing that’s going through the Airbrush is exactly what you want.
WARNING: This is a super-concentrated product, use ONE DROP per bowl of water in your reservoir.
Iwata Medea Super Lube
After using the Grex cleaner above, I always add a little dab of Iwata’s lube to my airbrush needle to keep things in working order. This cuts down on your hobby time and stress from having to stop and deal with your equipment whenever you get some serious painting done. Cleaning and lubing your airbrush will make it happy. Happy Airbrush= Happy Life!
Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver
Coming in a 200mL bottle, you won’t be blowing through this bottle any time soon. If you want to make sure your paints keep coming out smooth as water, just mix a touch of this in and start spraying to prevent any future clogs!
Vallejo Airbrush Thinner
Keeping your paints thinner than normal is paramount when you’re airbrushing. Why not do it the right way with a hefty body of Vallejo’s 200mL bottle of thinner? You don’t want to put junk in your airbrush. Use it for the really chunky paints in conjuction with your flow improver. Don’t cut corners and grab a bottle of this before you start to work on your next masterpiece.
Vallejo Plastic Putty
Let’s get this out of the way. This is WAY better at filling gaps and crevices than your run-in-the-mill Green Stuff. It’s thinner and can fit into the cracks seamlessly. Definitely a necessity.
ELO Remover
What do you do when you need an eraser for things you’ve already painted (or those super e-Bay deals)? You grab your bottle of ELO! I’ve painted stuff quickly and gone back only to realize I didn’t like what I saw. A little bit of ELO later and I was able to start from square one on making a model look exactly the way I wanted.
Microsol & Set Decal Setting
Microsol and Microset are two chemicals needed for applying decals. You get a smooth finish on your decal without the plastic filmy glare you can sometimes get if you just use water.
Lusterless Flat Lacquer Clear Coat Testors
Once you get your models painted up you need to protect them. That’s where the lacquer flat clear coat comes in. You just shake the rattle can a bit and spray this onto your finished model to create a protective barrier for your paint job! Best of all you can use it in humid and dry conditions alike!
15mL Dropper Bottles or 24ml for Contrast
If you’re tired of your Citadel paints drying out in the pots they come in, you can order a bundle of dropper bottle and make sure they’ll never dry out! Another upside is that you can better control the amount of paint that comes out and you also don’t have to punish your brush by scooping globs of paint out like you normally would with the Citadel pots.
Small Wet Pallete
Keep your paints from drying out so quickly with this awesome wet pallete. It’s small, transportable, and packs up nicely for neat storage. This will save you a ton in paint.
Vallejo Chipping Medium
If you’re going for a paint-chipping effect on your models, this medium was made for it! While there are tons of technical paints out there, this is a great option for weathering and scratches.
Shapers Brushes
These brushes are a bit different from your standard-issue ones. They don’t absorb paint and are mainly used to push material around. It’s the perfect tool for helping you fill tricky games with your putty filler.
Cheese Cloth (For Camo Cloaks/Ghillie Suits)
If you’re wanting a new level of detail on your minis that don’t look like plastic, you can make your own capes, ghillie suits, and cloaks with cheesecloth and a little hobby know-how. It’s perfect for making Scout Snipers with cloaks and bringing them to a whole new level of “realistic”.
DXRacer Formula Series Gaming Chair
If you do some hardcore sitting as I do, these chairs are a great choice. The company actually makes the chairs specially designed for different body types.
You can look at the chart to figure out which one is tailor-made to you. These are extremely comfy and are meant to accommodate your back for long hours of sitting and hobbying.
Purple Simply Seat Cushion
If the chair price above is too steep, you can get one of these pads for a fraction of the price! Whether you hobby sitting down or just have a long drive to work, this thing will keep your sittin’ muscles happy with some next-level padding.
To test just how good the padding was, I took the flimsiest Nighthaunt model I could find and sat on top of it. Once I got up, I found the Nighthaunt model completely unscathed and in perfect condition. TBH I use both the chair above and the pad daily for the last 3 or so years, and it has really helped with all my lower back and posture problems I had been having.
Gunnar Gaming Glasses
- GUNNAR Gaming and Computer Glasses: GUNNAR glasses protect your eyes and enhance performance. Reduce digital eye strain and block blue light with amber or clear lens tint options.
- Patented Lens Technology: GUNNAR is the only patented gaming and computer eyewear recommended by doctors to protect and enhance your vision while viewing digital screens
Maybe you’re the kind of person that sits in front of a computer all day at work. Or maybe you just have trouble focusing on models when you’re under blue lights for hours while your hobby. Either way, I definitely recommend these. You’ve actually probably seen me wear them at some point on Stream or on YouTube. They block the harsh blue light that computers give off and have actually been recommended by Doctors to enhance your vision while looking at screens.
Sharpies (Silver, Gold, & Bronze)
Sharpies are worth their weight in gold believe it or not. If you’re wanting to do a metallic trim on something like a Titan or maybe a Heldrake, All you have to do is run your Sharpie along the ridge and watch it turn the metallic color in one pass.
Move lightly like a brush and watch the time-saving rack up almost instantly!
Ottlite Task Lamp
If you have problems with lighting in your hobby holes and want a bright portable lamp that’ll do more than enough to get rid of unwanted shadows, the Ottlite Task Lamp is a solid choice. I’ve actually been using it for around three years now. They’re on when I hobby away from home, and supplement darker hobby areas on porches and game stores. It doesn’t take up much space on your desk/table and can give you that angled light which may be awkward for some lamps to do.
Mr. Hobby Polisher Mold Line Remover
If you’ve got models with mold lines stacking up, this electric tool scrapes them off in a jiffy. while the manual tool is good, this thing gets the job done quick, fast, and in a hurry. Especially if you’ve got bit after bit to clean up.
Refilling Paint Water Pot
If you’re going to be hobbying for a hot minute and you’re using a bunch of different colors, keep yourself from having to get up and dump your water every two seconds. This refillable paint pot is awesome for giving you a clean slate for colors!
Sparmax Airbrush Compressor
Sparmax is a bit of an investment but believe me when I say this thing is a mule. With all of the painting I’ve done over the years, it has stuck by me and kept the air pressures on my paints exactly the way I intended. I still use this beast today! It’s got Airbrush stands on top of the casing, a protective metal shield around the entire compressor, on/off switch, and a handle to make everything easier to transport if you have to hobby on the go.
Whitmor 24 Pocket Shoe Organizer
In every hobby hole, there’s a lack of space. If you need to make the most out of what you got, move your storage to the door! Sure, this is intended for shoes…but who said that’s all it had to ever be made for?
For a great price, you’ve got yourself 24 slots of open space where you can put things like brushes (in a cup) to cans of Primer. It really comes down to what you need it for. But it’s a great place to add some storage where you didn’t have any before!
Like I said before, these are the hobby products that I myself and the whole Spikey Bits team swears by. I still use all these things I talked about today!
Do you have a hobby product you use that you would recommend to everyone else?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and sign up to get your free hobby updates newsletter (with discount coupon codes) each morning as well!
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About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
