The Hobby Holder: Review

I’m going to say this up front: I was not paid to do this review. Now that that’s out of the way let’s get into it.

The Hobby Holder started out on Kickstarter needing only $16,500 to begin production. They made $89,348.50 and an additional $14,651.50 in the backer kit. So needless to say this is something that people wanted, myself included.

“What is a Hobby Holder?” you might ask. Well I’ll tell you. It’s a handle that provides support while you paint your miniatures. It looks like this:

It comes in two pieces, the handle and the base:

As you can see in the first picture the base snaps into the handle. There are 4 options for colors, and last I was aware, you can mix and match. I just happened to like the purple and black combo.

“But how does this hold a miniature?” There are a couple of options for this. The first one, the one I went with, are the caps and sticky tack.

It came with 5 caps (yes, I know there are 4 in the picture but I promise I got 5.) Another note, I backed this on Kickstarter so I do not know if everything I got is included in the order of the handle or if they are additional costs (like the caps and sticky tack). If the caps are not included with the purchase of your handle you can buy the add-on that includes 10.

EDIT: It is important to note that you do not have to use the caps from the manufacturer. The base will accommodate regular sized soda caps as well.

The sticky tack is okay, I had a hard time getting mine out of the bag as you might be able to tell from the above picture. The little bit that I used didn’t stick very well, it was free with the Kickstarter so no worries about that on my part, so I just used some that I had laying around.

“How does it work?” Is this your next question? Well, it’s a series of short and easy steps. There are a couple of ways to put your miniature on the holder. As previously mentioned I used sticky tack and just stuck it on the cap, screwed the cap onto the top of the base, and then snapped the base into the handle. Easy as that!

When you order a base and a handle together, as I did, they come attached to each other. I had some difficulty getting the base out of the handle but I can assume that I’ll either get used to how hard you need to pull to remove it or it will loosen slightly over time. So no big complaint there.

“Well what if I want to use cork instead?” There’s an option for that too. Instead of putting the cap on the base there is a hole to insert cork into, I don’t use cork myself but it looks like it could hold a standard cork from a wine bottle. Then when you want to take it off there is a hole in the bottom of the base that you can stick a paint brush handle through to help pop it out. They do sell “Cork Poppers”  to do this but that seems a little unnecessary.

Here is a better view of the base so you can see what I’m talking about.

 

 

“What will fit on it?” As you saw earlier I have a gnome on there but those are kind of small. Here it is with a standard 28mm miniature:

“What about bigger minis?” It also has an option for this. Now as you can see in the next picture I used an Eye Beast from Reaper Miniatures. It is a little too tall and the angle it sits is too close to the top of the handle.

To fix this there are a couple of options: 1.) Spin the handle to a different spot. Or 2.) Unsnap the base and flip it upside down then snap the base back on. Very simple.

 

 

“Okay, you’ve convinced me that these are pretty great. But I have small hands.” No worries, friend. I also have fairly small hands. These are great for adults but I can, however, see them being a bit large for kids.

Disclaimer: I don’t know how 3D printers work. But they do have STL files available for FREE! I assume this will let you adjust it to a more comfortable size for your hand if you have access to a 3D printer and know how to work whatever software you might need to make the modifications. 

EDIT: I’ve been informed that the STL files are for various modifications like a tripod mount NOT for the handle itself. Sorry about that.

Here it is in my hand:

“You’ve definitely convinced me to get one. What else can you tell me and where can I get it?”

Currently, it is still in the backer kit but you can still pre-order for their next run. The next shipment, according to the page, says will go out in February 2018. They do have various other add-on options. I don’t have any of these except for the caps and those came with my pledge so I can’t review how well those work.

Here is where you can order the handles and add-ons: Hobby Holder

So, if you’ve bothered to stick around with me this long I will tell you that I love it. I am expecting to order another one or two in the near future as well as more caps to keep more projects going at once.

I hope you liked my review and have convinced you to, at the very least, check them out.