Recommended Tools
Everything beyond paint and brushes that makes hobby life easier
Good tools make painting more enjoyable and your results better. You don't need everything on this list to get started, but each item here solves a real problem that most painters run into sooner or later. We've listed them roughly in order of how quickly you'll wish you had them.
Brush Soap
The single most impactful tool purchase you can make. Brush soap cleans paint out of the ferrule (the metal bit), conditions the bristles, and restores the point. Without it, even expensive sable brushes will splay and die within months. With it, a good brush can last years. Use it at the end of every painting session.
The Masters Brush Cleaner & Preserver
The industry standard. A single pot lasts most painters over a year. Cleans, conditions, and reshapes bristles.
£13.60 on Amazon → Painting Handle
A painting handle holds your miniature so you don't have to grip the model directly. This prevents fingerprints on wet paint, reduces hand fatigue during long sessions, and gives you a stable grip for detail work. Once you paint with a handle, you'll never go back. Even a wine cork with blu-tack works, but a proper handle with spring-loaded clamps is a big upgrade.
Painting Handle with Magnetic Base
Spring-loaded grip with magnetic base for easy swapping. Fits standard 25mm-40mm bases.
Painting Handles on Amazon → Cutting Mat
A self-healing cutting mat protects your desk from hobby knife cuts, spilled paint, and superglue. The grid lines help with measuring and cutting straight edges. Get at least A3 size so you have room to work. This is one of those things that seems unnecessary until paint stains ruin your dining table.
A3 Self-Healing Cutting Mat
5-ply, self-healing surface with grid lines. Protects your desk and lasts for years.
~£14 on Amazon → Hobby Knife & Mouldline Remover
A sharp hobby knife is essential for cleaning mouldlines, trimming sprue gates, and precise cutting. A dedicated mouldline remover is less aggressive and less likely to gouge the plastic. You'll use one or both on every model you build. Keep spare blades — a dull blade is a dangerous blade.
Precision Hobby Knife Set
Multiple blade shapes for different jobs. Essential for model prep and assembly.
Hobby Knives on Amazon → Magnifying Lamp
A desk lamp with built-in magnification transforms detail work. You'll see things you never noticed before — and your eyes will thank you after long sessions. Look for one with adjustable brightness (dimmable LED), a large lens (at least 12cm), and a clamp or weighted base that stays put. 2.25x magnification is the sweet spot for most miniature work.
Neatfi XL Bifocal LED Magnifying Lamp
18cm lens, 2.25x/6x magnification, 1600 lumens dimmable. The most popular choice in the hobby community.
~£27 on Amazon → Paint Storage
Once you have more than a dozen paints, a storage solution saves time and sanity. Being able to see all your paints at a glance makes colour selection faster and stops you buying duplicates. Wall-mounted racks are the most space-efficient; tiered desktop organisers work well if you can't drill into walls.
Paint Rack Organiser
Tiered storage that fits Citadel pots, Vallejo droppers, and Army Painter bottles. Keeps everything visible and within reach.
Paint Racks on Amazon → Painting Clips & Spray Sticks
When priming or batch painting, you need a way to hold multiple models at once. Alligator clip holders on sticks let you spray prime a whole squad without touching them, then stand them up to dry. Cheap, simple, and they pay for themselves the first time you prime more than three models at once.
Painting Clip Holder Set
Alligator clips on sticks with a base for drying. Essential for batch priming and painting subassemblies.
Painting Clips on Amazon → Wet Palette
A wet palette keeps your paints workable for hours instead of minutes. It's a shallow container with a damp sponge and special paper that lets moisture through without waterlogging the paint. If you're thinning paints or doing any kind of blending, a wet palette is transformational. You can also close the lid and come back the next day with your mixes still usable.
Army Painter Wet Palette
50 hydro sheets, 2 foams, and brush storage. The most popular wet palette in the hobby.
What You Don't Need (Yet)
Resist the urge to buy everything at once. These are great tools, but they're not essential for getting started:
- •Airbrush — powerful but expensive, steep learning curve, and requires a compressor, ventilation, and cleaning supplies. Master brush painting first.
- •Lightbox / photo booth — only needed when you're ready to photograph finished models for social media or competition entries.
- •Pin vice / hand drill — useful for pinning heavy models together, but most push-fit and plastic glue assemblies don't need it.
- •Green stuff / sculpting tools — for filling gaps and sculpting custom details. You'll know when you need these.
Got your tools sorted? Check out our brush guide and gift ideas, or head back to search for paints.
As an Amazon Associate and Wayland Games affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.