Hobby Tip - Removing Mould Lines

Removing mould lines can be a bit of a chore, but we all have to do it to get our miniatures prepared for painting. Here's a quick tip on a mould line removal tool to help you and the best bit is, you probably already own it!

Games workshop actually sell a tool that is made for specifically removing mould lines. If you've got £10+ to drop on one these, all power to you but I've got a cheaper solution that does the job fine.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that since you are into the miniatures hobby you have one of these. A scalpel, hobby knife, craft knife or similar. You can remove mould lines by carefully scraping them away with the blade, but sometimes you can be a bit heavy handed or a slip happens and you take off a chunk of detail you would rather have kept.

Now here comes the really technical bit to transform your everyday blade into a mould line removal tool... turn it over.

Using the dull backside of the blade you can burnish away mould lines, it allows you to press and rub a little more heavily than you would want to with a blade. 

If you get a stubborn bit of plastic you can quickly flick the blade around to the sharp side, take it off, flip it back to dull and carry on burnishing. But it works fantastically and you can get a very smooth area where once was a dreaded mould line.

 I hope this has been of help to somebody and possibly saved you some money too. Take care now.