Anybody got a list of start up tools? Beyond the knife and sandpaper. Got some 1/4 ply I need to cut. Every one go small table saw/jig saw/hand cut? And what about sanding, by hand, belt sander etc??? Thanks. Scott

You might check here Scott: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1752811

My power tools are a drill press, 18" jig saw, disc sander, cordless 3/8 drill, and a Dremel tool. A 5" vice is also handy.
Then there are several soldering irons and a propane torch.

A 12 volt cordless drill is good,but I just replaced my worn out one with an 18 volt larger one....It's still easy to do model stuff,but it doubles for household chores also.
A band saw is never outdated,and a Ryobi is decent quality at $120.-Look for ball bearing "Guides" as a buying tool.
A jig saw is put to use around here for cutting 'inside' holes...
A dremel tool with sanding drums.
Make several sanding blocks...I fold sandpaper length wise twice,tear it,then cut blocks to fit,for shaping.

I use one of these a good bit too: http://www.harborfreight.com/power-t...ool-67537.html

But I build a lot of SPADs (airplanes built out of plastic downspout and corrugated plastic sign material) so I have a lot of big cuts. These oscillate instead of turn like a dremel so they don't throw up NEAR the dust a dremel does, but I couldn't live without my dremel. That's probably my #2 tool right behind my #11 xacto.

Earl, my 18V drill is big and clumsy for most of my model work. When the battery crapped out early on my 9.6V smaller drill, I made a pack out of those 2200mah LSD NiMH batteries. Brought the wiring out the side of the drill and put a Dean's connector in there. Now I just charge it on one of my airplane chargers and that has worked really well so far for me. I found another cheapy drill in my shop with no charger and I'm going to convert it too.

Oh yeah, they have a cordless model of that multifunction tool at Harbor Freight too.

Doggone it,John'spop, that's a good idea-you could put the battery in a belt hangar,if it needed to move around with you.
Good idea.

No it's self contained. I just soldered the batteries together and let the wire with charging connector hang outside. I did that because it I wasn't sure the charger that came with the drill would charge the batteries correctly without overloading them, so I just put the Dean's on there so I could charge it with my Accucell 6 charger. The batteries are the 2200 mah "low self discharge" type and last a surprisingly long time. I don't use it for driving screws or anything, mostly just drilling holes and it's plenty strong but much lighter than my 18V cordless. Oh yeah...... I use HO scale model railroad nickle silver track joiners as the jumpers for my battery packs. They take solder well are easy to hold in place with flux.

A balsawood building board -

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXVZ62&P=7
http://www.guillow.com/workboards.aspx

Though they are getting hard to get. I have the Guillows boards in 36" and 48" and dread them ever wearing out and not being able to replace them. As well as building 'flat' on them, I've hinged them to build dihedralled wings in one piece, starting from the dihedral braces in the centre.

Pins! Not very romantic, but unless you want to spend a staggering amount on a magnetic building system (I do, but I'm inherently very tight-fisted!), no-one's come up with a better way to hold balsa structures onto a building board.

http://www.guillow.com/100packoft-pins.aspx

D