(This may be old news to some, but for those it isn't...)

I'm into clamps. I've got some small spring clamps that are great for holding glued pieces in place. The problem is, I only have 10 of them, their throat is extremely shallow, and they're relatively expensive, considering I'd like to have about a hundred more of them.

I decided to try clothespins, but my grocery store was all out. But I *did* notice something in the same section. Enter the bobby pin.



They're dirt cheap, they're slick so that glue doesn't stick well, they have extremely deep throats (quiet, you lot in the back), and they actually look better than black paperclips for Clip-It walls. But it's their versatility as clamps I love.

First, the humble boxfold. Perfect for the long edge.



Holding together sections of chunky walls.



Gluing Clipit Walls.



Crazy strange inside tabs, like the one on this fireplace from P&I



Making multiple shelves temporarily into a single unit, strenghthening them as well (these are keg cabinets from P&I)



I'm sure I'll discover more as I go.

I have a whole slew of clamps too. And I vastly prefer using the longer narrower bobby pins for clip it walls.

But for props and things I use brief strong pressure rather than clamps. I have a pair on long thin jewelry needle noose pliers that work great for this. Square dowels are good too for the very hard to reach places. Just lay the piece so when rubbed with the dowel the tab is between the wood and the cutting board.

Thanks, that's a good tip about the bobby pins. I'll pick some up.

Luckyjoe

Ah, bobby pins! I love the idea; thanks for the tip!

So many times I've looked down inside a small box fold and thought. "OK so how am I supposed to hold that tight?" Even with my long needle nose I end up getting them glued to the cardstock and making a mess.

Will be trying these for sure!

I am going to second the motions, bobby pins are super sweet.
There is another type of cair clip that works well as a clamp, but not so much for joining walls.

I am thinking specificaly of C004 and C002, as I know they are flat and the others are curved slightly. But I imagine with a little willpower and a judiciously applied hammer, you could make C001 and C005 flat as well.

C003 is just dead to me.

Yep, Bobby Pins are awesome. I just recently started to build and found that not only are they good for helping hold stuff while glue dries, they do great at holding the tunnels and corridors together instead of paperclips. And you definitely can't beat the price of them!

Finally got to try this. With two girls in the house there are plenty of these laying around.

Was not hapyp with the results. The pins just didn't hold tight enough to make a strong bond. They would barely hold two glued surfaces together enough and didn't apply enough pressure to make any sort of good bond. Even putting two of them on a single small section did little more than hold them in place; again no realy pressure applied.

Much happeir using needle nose plyers to clamp down for 5-10 seconds. This would set a very strong, lasting, bond. I picked up a pair from harbor freight for less than a buck. Made sure to find some that had flat, smooth surfaces on the inside edges.

I don't use it for gluing, but for holding bits together while playing, its great! Not that I've used it while playing...but in my builds just messing around, it worked wonderfully.

I think this one deserves a sticky. Its a pretty handy tip

Hmm, I haven't tried using bobby pins to hold awkward glues, but I have tried 1/8" neodymium magnets!!

The hold is strong and even, and such small magnets are recoverable (you just slide the one outside the model towards the paper edge). The drawback is you only get to hold one point with it, unless the glue area is very large, because they smack into each other. I'll hold the opposite end of one with a pair of relax-to-hold tweezers.

www.kjmagnetics.com is a good source

Finally have some pictures of magnets at work!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25140352@N ... otostream/

The inside of that looks like so..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25140352@N ... otostream/

If you're a little careful you can get them closer, like this..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25140352@N ... otostream/

Bobby pins are fabulous for gluing Terrainlinx - especially for the narrow 2- and 3-way corner pillars, and for getting the middle part of the braced 6" wall glued together cleanly.

Bobby pins are great. I tried paper clips at first but they were too wide in some instances and sometimes scratched the print.

I read this thread right before buying my 1st set and i'm so glad i did. My posts would have turned out horribly w/o the bobby pins holding them in place to dry. Great tip.

Bobby pins is an awesome idea for build assistance.

Halcy is a builder after my own heart, with a love for magnets. Any excuse.

I also have had fantastic luck with binder clips.

Its really amazing thing you share here.. I like to see that process and stunned for a while...

I love using bobby pins for building models

Bobby pins and magnets are both good ways of holding awkward paper joints, and I have also found that map pins are fantastic if you are gluing foamcore together. Just remember to give them a twist before you pull them out to break the glue seal (otherwise you can pull away more than you intended!)

There are also very short bobby pins for sale at places like CVS.
Every single build I make has bobbypin clamps...