Do you use a Vise or holder to mount the model to work or weather it?
Noticed NightShift of YouTube fame is a big proponent of doing so. Would like thoughts, experiences and suggestions.
Thank you
I use this vise for painting- DSPIAE AT-TV Omni-directional Tabletop Vise – The Gundam Place Store
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Yes, mostly. However, for armor models, the devices I use are expedient or something that I have made just for that purpose.
I do have a proprietary fixture for holding and working on biplane models. (And having grown accustomed to it, I say that it’s almost required.)
For armor models, I usually make a fixture to hold the lower hull while I assemble the suspension and tracks. These can be reused for models of similar types with common suspensions. After I’ve done the hull-suspension assembly work, I continue to use these alignment fixtures to hold the model during the rest of the construction and finishing.
These are really quite simple and easy to make. I use the kit parts as their own “fixtures” for the dimensions and spacing, so there’s not even any real measurements needed. (Unless I need to make spacers for things like ride height if that’s not “fixed” by the kit design.)
The T-44 required two different holding fixtures, one just to construct the suspension and a second to hold the model as I was completing the construction and finishing. This was because I wanted a low wall and canter bar to hold the road wheels vertically and axially. The kit also needed spacers under the front and rear hull to set the ride height / ground clearance.
I used the first fixture to hold the model for all the suspension assembly as well as the interior work. Once the interior was finished, I moved the model to the second fixture for the rest of the build.
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Never.
Sometimes I need to prop something up at an angle and then I’ll use whatever is available.
Shims are sometimes used to fix a tank chassis level and at the correct height.
I use a vise for soldering though.
Edit:
I prefer to work with my elbows resting on the work table,
this brings the object to be worked on a full foot above the
table surface. A vise that high becomes impractical.
I do get paint on my fingers though …
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Never. Mk1 hand or will just prop against something if needed. For armour, I usually drill a small hole in the bottom of hull and then I have a long sturdy wooden rod with a 12mm bolt epoxy glued to one end, than that goes through hull hole and a nut secures it allowing me to turn and twist to whatever angle I need the wagon to be in for spraying…
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I too use my hands to hold, but I am probably flirting with dropping a nearly finished kit on my concrete garage floor. I have been thinking of getting a vice to hold kits while I paint and weather
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I handle the model while I’m building it. When I get to painting, I use the Tamiya paining stands for the hull and turret separate. Then for weathering I place the model on a piece of cardboard on my bench, so I can rotate it without touching the model, and the cardboard absorbs excess weathering materials. Lastly I always mount the finished model on a base so that I don’t have to touch it.
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No not a vise,something similar to this,improvised.
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Handle when building. Paint on a Lazy Susan-one of those kitchen things that spins. Come in different diameters, mine is about 12 inches.
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Redneck/ ghetto method if I need something “angled up” to work on:
Otherwise I use the cardboard on the rotating platter/ stand method mentioned above
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Only when painting, and even then it is just the Tamiya stands or a Lazy Susan rotating plate.
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Yeahhhh Of course it is … 
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LOL 
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I’m considering the Octopus vise, but the chunk of money keeps me off.
Most of my models (afv) get a M4 nut on the bottom, so I can srew a handle to it, and later the possibility to fix the model with a bolt to a vignette
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I have several vices.
Oh. You mean the other kind.
Oops.
Sorry,
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Ssshhh,
we don’t mention those here …
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Yes, I use the Octopus from Sukērumoderā:
Quite useful, less chances to drop the model or hit something while painting, can be tilted for better working on sides or top, avoids fingerprints on recently treated areas, etc.
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I like the Panavise collection but I’ve never had enough need for a vise to justify the expense, as John @Johnnych01 says the Hand MKI works 99% of the time otherwise the Tamiya turn-table works for painting.
https://www.panavise.com/index.html?pageID=1&id1=1&startat=1&--woSECTIONSdatarq=1&--SECTIONSword=ww
I also like the one Dan @Dan linked from DSPIAE.
Cajun 
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