Hi All,
What kind of modeling files does everyone use? I’m looking for reasonable quality files. Mine are ancient and I’m looking to replace them. Thank you in advance.
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Here you go… my 2cents. Note: Some items may be out of stock, but I’ve provided some links just to get you started with your internet shopping.
‘INFINI Diamond Taper Files’
ICT - 0007 NARROW Type 2.5mm (super fine, fine, medium grit)
IGT - 0008 WIDE Type 6.0mm (super fine, fine, medium grit)
I tend to reach for the Needle and Riffler Files for rough work and INFINI Narrow Taper Files for fine work (favorites). One way or another, they’ve all become very useful at my workbench. HTH.
Note: I have no affiliation with any manufacturers or vendors.
—mike 
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Depending on the roughness required, I would recommend Tamiya files for general work, Vallorbe for fine detail and glass files for polishing
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Sandpaper files. Either bought products or
made at the workbench by gluing suitable
sandpaper to wooden sticks or suitably shaped
bits and pieces of sprue.
The sprue-files are useful when I need to reach
into tricky corners where none of the other files
will reach.
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+1 to Mike’s @justsendit recommendations. I use those fine diamond files all the time, and have every file he listed. They are all great for their applications, but those fine diamond files are life savers.
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I use jewelers files similar to those illustrated in justsendit’s post. These are only for cleaning up edges or rough reshaping. For everything else I use Steven’s International sanding sticks in grits of 240 to 800. A good source for quality files is Rio Grande. They also sell file lubricant/cleaning materials, which can greatly extend the life of the file and make it easier to clean.
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Thanks I will definitely take that into consideration. One of the reasons I’m looking for new files is I can’t get the putty and plastic and other junk out of them when I use my crappy wire brush on them.
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Buy a new wire brush? I know, they never seem to get all of it. Might consider using an ultrasonic cleaner, which will really get them clean.
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Yeah the brush I have has very soft bristles and is almost flat. I need a new one of those too.
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lol my brush has more bristles than that guy has teeth!
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Barely …
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Thank you Mike. What do you use the Glass files for?
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I have this rubber disc and works quite nicely:
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cardborde nailfiles (relatively) cheap / flexible and you can find them in all types grades …
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Good idea Sam- I always forget about those !
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Hi Richard,
Sorry for the late reply.
I’ve only tried them a couple of times for polishing-down sprue nubs and large areas as recommended in YouTube videos. More recently, I started them on sprue scraps and they seem to do the job okay. I’ll need to give them a better go the next time I get around to working on a kit.
—mike
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Richard, that wire brush is beyond dead. Get a new one! I have found that if my files are jammed with plastic and putty, a good soak in lacquer thinner loosens all the contaminants. Also, a wire wheel in the Dremel cleans standard files good as new.
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Yes I’ve just been too preoccupied with other things to address the file issue lol. And that’s a great idea to use my Dremel tool with wire brush to clean them up!
How did I not think of that….
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