FAQ Answer 15   Luxury Tools
  There are many tools that are not essential but can make working easier and will really come into there own as you progress onto more sophisticated kits. A couple that I would recommend considering are:
- Mini Drill -
  Precision Mini Drill, once you have one you will wonder how you ever worked without one. Useful for not only drilling holes but with slitting discs for cutting down the back shafts of motors, grinding wheels for shaping metal etc.
  There are many types available to suit all budgets but I would recommend going for the best you can with a keyed chuck and a variable speed transformer. The one I use is Squires code MB8571S.
- Rivet Forming Press -
  Bolt Head and Rivet Forming Tool. Although a very reasonable job can be done with a scriber point, a rivet forming tool is very desirable if you are going to do a lot of kit building.

  These are produced by a number of different people but I use and would recommend the one produced by Dick Ganderton, Graskop, Dewlands Road, Verwood, Dorset, BH31 6PN, Tel 01202 822701. It is available with a number of different sized punches and anvils but if you were only going to get one size then I would recommend the 7mm scale 1½” diameter.

  I have got ten years hard use out of mine so far so this is an ideal tool to put onto your Christmas present list.

- Folding Bars -
  You will find a set of folding bars very useful and here are details of the set that I have made for myself, in fact I have made three sets of different sizes.
  The dimensions or materials are not critical so make yourself a set to suit the materials you can get hold of. The important thing is that you can clamp the part along its entire length, with the etched fold line just above the front bar.
  Then clamp the bars in the jaws of your vice, a couple of 1” G clamps are also useful for long folds, and laying a steel rule at the back of the part to help transfer the pressure from your fingers evenly, pull forward to make the fold. Once the fold is close to 90° you can finish by pressing down on it with a block of wood and moving the block along the fold with a stroking action or by giving gentle taps with a small hammer on the wood block.
  Occasionally it is necessary to emboss bolt heads onto a part before folding, by lining the face of one of the bars with two or three layers of masking tape, you can still clamp the part without crushing the bolt heads but you wont get such a tight fold, so deepen the fold line with a triangular file.
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