Most modelmakers own a few clamps. Those cheapo plastic ones sold in pound stores and every cheap tool stall at an exhibition are popular. More traditional types will prefer the Bulldog clip, preferably in a size that once gripped memos on a civil servants desk and painted black, trendier types opting for smaller colourful versions.
Me, I've got the lot and sometimes I need them all.
You see, when clamping bits of wood together you often have to fight the material. When I usually want it to form a curve, it wishes to stay a flat plank. Except when it wants to warp but that's usually the point I wish it to remain flat. Stupid stuff.
Anyway, the photo illustrates a typical situation. Bending the roof over the formers on the Groudle coach involved me working along clamping the two bits together. During the process, I grabbed clamps as I worked and at no point did I wish to run out.
Today's lesson therefore: when you see clamps, clips or anything else that grips two parts of a model together, buy them and keep them to hand near the workbench. If you don't, one day you'll be wishing you had.
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