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Monday, April 1, 2019

Tufts Enuff

Tajima1 Miniatures' tufts are one of the products that I have grown to love.  The self-adhesive tufts are superb.  28mm figure basing would not be the same without these tufts especially when building large, Impetvs style stands. I discovered Tajima1 a little over five years' ago and, now, would be hard-pressed to do without them.  Being a UK product, shipping can be expensive to the USA.  Fortunately, Tajima1 offers free shipping with a minimum order size (BP75).  Of course, I try to order up to the minimum boxes to attain free shipping.   

While I try to maintain an inventory of the little, self adhesive tufts in the correct proportions, sometimes, my planning is not so good.  Typically, the large gold, brown, and green tufts see frequent usage and burn down at similar rates.  Depending upon the project being worked, one of the three colors can be consumed faster than the third.  
The box from Tajima1
Such was the situation recently.  Working on a number of arid-set projects (rebasing Peninsular War cavalry, Punic Wars, Assyrian Wars), I ran out of the gold tufts and was running dangerously low on the brown.  Green was still in good supply.  To prevent a complete work stoppage, I fired off an order to Tajima1 Miniatures.  I have always had terrific service with good communication.  Turn-around is typically one week or less.  This time was no exception.   

In addition to my regular order, included were three sheets of Wild Grass tufts for a web-only promotion.  I have not used these before but they look quite useful.
Wild Grass tufts
For now I enjoy the luxury of having Tufts Enuff.
   
Are The Fabulous Thunderbirds extolling the virtues of having plenty of Tajima1 Miniatures tufts?  
Tuff Enuff...

32 comments:

  1. I agree, I rely on these heavily for my own projects. I also use the specialty shrubs to help specialty units stand out. Great product.

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    1. I have not tried the shrubs. Great product, for sure.

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  2. Very good Jonathan. I have never indulged on premade, self adhesive tufts so far - many (at least ten) years ago, I invested in two sheets of similar product originating in Germany - approx. 300mm x 300mm - one a brightish green, the other golden yellow - I cut small pieces to size for some of my bases and still have a bit of this product left to use up!

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    1. Keith, if you tried these little bits, you might like them. They are easy to apply and they really stick. I tried making my own before stumbling upon Tajima1. Tajima1 is the way for me.

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  3. In a moment of weakness and impulse buying, I recently bought the Woodlands Scenic tuft maker. A rather high spec static grass charger / sprinkler. There is a learning curve to using it, though I think in terms of my use, staying with bought tuffts may have made more economical sense for me. The jury is still out, but If I can do something large, like. A portion of a mat, or some hills or river systems etc, then the utility may make my purchase feel a bit more justified as to my own limited needs.

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    1. Norm, I have yet to try a static grass applicator. My ground coverings are more simple. A hi-spec static grass applicator sounds beyond me. I envision the HUGE mess I could make with one of these!

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    2. Not as bad as you think. I will try to remember to bring mine over one of these times.

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  4. I made my own tuft maker from a battery powered fly zapper, a small steel sieve and the tin lid of a Christmas gift box. It cost me $8 to make and I was able to buy flock in bulk bags, enough to make several thousand tufts in clumps of varying sizes. I make a batch up once or twice a month. Best investment I ever made

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    1. Given your creativity and ingenuity, this does not surprise me. For those less talented (me!), pre-made, self-adhesive tufts are the way to go.

      Perhaps you should make these commercially available?

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    2. I got the idea from The Shed Wars blog and it was very simple to make. I put out a blog post about it here https://stracmark.blogspot.com/2016/03/making-thingsagain.html

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  5. Good service! Can't say I use them much to be honest but I can see they're useful, I'm just too tight!
    Best Iain

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    1. Good service, indeed! Tajima1 ALWAYS delivers promptly to USA.

      They are very useful if you like tufting up your bases.

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  6. Always a good investment. I have a supply of my own around here...somewhere. 😀

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    1. I think so! The self-adhesive characteristic is a real winner for me. Hope you find your AWOL tufts.

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  7. A very useful purchase. It is always surprising how the basing of units, especially skirmish ordered units, can really show off the models.

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    1. The addition of these tufts improves the overall all look of the stand. Tufts make all models look better, I think.

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  8. That must be a lifetime supply of tufts.......

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    1. Hi Mike! Not a lifetime supply but one or two years unless I go down the road to rebasing a collection. A rebasing project makes short work of even a large supply.

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  9. That’s a good looking product Jonathan...
    I tend to do my own thing with regards to basing...
    Probably because I must have about two kilos of flock in a big box in my cellar...
    One day archeologists will find it and be very confused...

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Aly, archaeologists will be likewise puzzled when my game room and contents are unearthed after centuries of entombment. It will be like rediscovering the Terracotta Armies of Qin Shi Huang!

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  10. I have mainly used Silflor tufts for my 28mm figures and larger 15mm bases, but will have to have a look at these.

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    1. Give the Tajima1 tufts a try. A great product for me.

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  11. Well you shouldn’t run out for a while...but at the rate you paint figures you never know

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    1. You never know! If another rebasing project catches my attention, I can go through these quite quickly.

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