the best place ive been to so far for affordable building materials are the doller stores,popsicle sticks 200 in a bag $100,acid brushes 50 in a box $100.local hobby stores sell them 5 for a doller..........also the metal clamps butterfly type and cloths pins,christmas wrapping paper makes for a good dropcloth turned on its backside.paint brushes ect.im not cheap but when i can find the same thing for pennies go for it.try to find most of your ca;s and epoxies in the hardware stores also white glue and fiberglass cloth and resins.some things can only be bought in hobbyshops,but half of the building materials they sell can be found at hardware and doller stores ect.even the art supply stores have good deals expecially for exacto knife blades,you can find heat sencitive vinals there and a slew of decals.there are a few basic tools i wouldnt scrimp on like a good dremel tool set a decent monocoat iron,and exacto knife handles,i have been building balsa models for 30 years and lerned the hard way on the how to's.read read read the instructions on your building materals and paints.join a decent rc club that is the best resorce for tips.when i got into rc we didnt have places like rc universe.i lern something new everytime i read these posts,the good bad and controverisal posts will make me think,so heres a thank you to the novice and experts.....