As far as tools, I use the hot wire, hot knife, and hot table from the Hot Wire Foam Factory. I do not recommend their engraving tool though. It broke after the first use. My husband fixed it for me, and then it broke again after the second use. At this point my husband, who is an electrical engineer, really examined the design, and he says the tip design allows too much melted material in, which is what was breaking my tool. So, it's a design flaw. What he gave me instead is a low voltage "princess" soldering iron that is cheaper and will stand up to heavier use. It's a little hotter than the engraving tool, but at 15 watts, I can still engrave if I'm careful. That is what I use to carve my cobblestone. To smooth out my cut out styrofoam I use a regular stainless steel spoon. I bring my project to the kitchen counter and heat the spoon up over the flame on the stove (holding with an oven mitt of course). I then drag it along any edges I want smoothed. It works nicely and it's free. I've used the spoon to melt out narrow rivers on thin styrofoam, and it works better for that use than any of the other tools I have.

I use the hot wire table when I have to slice things. I use it to make the stairs. The large, rounded stairs that you see on the the left side of the top shelf would have been very difficult without a stationary taut hot wire. Again, this tool has its drawbacks and design flaws. The wire snaps often, even when you're careful not to "pull" things through. The table uses very thin high resistance wire with eyelets on each end that have a crimp connection. If the table had been designed with a screw connection rather than a crimp connection, like another hot wire tool I saw recently, It would be easy to make your own sets of replacement wires by just purchasing spools of high resistance wire. The crimp connection makes this costly since you can't make your own and have to get them from Hot Wire Foam Factory. Also, they overlooked something very needed on this table. A protractor. The arm swings along a curved path, and a painted on protractor would have made my life much easier. 90 and 45 degree marks are sorely lacking. My stairs would be much squarer and my edges would be much tighter if these were painted along that channel.

For flat paint, I use plain old kids latex paint (such as Crayola brand). It's cheap! I mix my own colors so I only need white, black, blue, green, red, and yellow. I've since discovered another relatively inexpensive paint at Michaels that is gritty and multicolored and makes a great base coat before adding landscaping. It comes in several colors. The reddish clay color is great. I also used it to paint my cobblestone steps on the top shelf along with the gray version. A picture of this paint is in the top shelf instruction section. I still have 1/4 of the container left after all the painting I did on that one shelf. It thins nicely with water too.

Another "must have" is ModPodge. It's available at Michaels in the paint/glue section. It works as a sealer and as a glossy top coat. I paint on a layer of ModPodge before painting my colors that will go under the water. I also use a lot of spray on adhesive, matte sealer, and gloss sealer. Be careful with the last two if you use aerosol, because they will dissolve any styrofoam they come in contact with. Model railroad supply places have a matte finishing spray that you mix with water and spray on using a spray bottle. That stuff is much safer to use.