Unboxing the New Citadel Drill

Citadel recently released a new range of hobby toys, including this fancy hand-held drill for £16,-. The sticker-price is obviously a huge issue. Similar products go for 1/3rd on Amazon, probably less if you look around.

So what do you get for your money from Games Workshop?

Price aside, it is a nice, well/made tool, designed for easy use and with the hobby in mind.

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#1 – The Citadel Drill & Box

Nothing screams premium-product like a fancy box. The Citadel Drill certainly comes in a very nice, sturdy, well-designed (over-designed) cardboard box, complete with a plastic inlay.

I am almost reluctant to simply chuck it into the tools box with the rest of my tools.

That said, I suppose the box in itself would make the drill (and the other new Citadel hobby tools) a more appealing Christmas/birthday/etc.. present for people gifting these to their children/better half/hobby friends.

I also like the red metallic finish of these tools. Again, it is pure aesthetics and doesn’t improve the function of the drill in any way. But it is pretty.

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#2 – The Drill Bit Mechanism

What I do like about this drill is the quick-change mechanism for the drill bits. There is a double-sided bracket for the drill bits, one side for the larger two, the other for the smallest.

It can be removed completely from the drill itself. Once placed inside the handle, complete with a drill bit, the front-most red part is screwed over it, holding it in place and the drill bit tight.

It might not be the most creative mechanism ever invented, but I found that it works very well for changing drill bits quickly, and securing them tightly.

A huge, huge improvement over the often wobbly old Citadel drill.

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#3 – Making Holes

Irritatingly, Games Workshop does not give you a metric (or imperial) diameter for the drill bits. According to GW, the Citadel Drill comes with drill bits in…

I drilled a few holes into a sprue (see 1, 2, and 3 above). I assume they are ~1mm, 2mm and 3mm (?). Or industry standards thereabout?

It is definitely nice to have a variety of sizes, including (but not limited) to drilling out gun-barrels. While I like the idea of naming them “bolter sized” to hint at their purpose, it wouldn’t have hurt to include the actual size somewhere on that huge, fancy box.

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#4 – Drilling Out Weapon Barrels

Either way, since drilling gun barrels is a big selling point, I gave the drill bits a try on a sniper rifle, a bolter and a lascannon from a Razorback. They do their job marvelously.

The mechanism also makes changing the drill bits quick and easy. Definitely not a bad product for this. I did not (yet) try how they would deal with pewter models.

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#5 – Thoughts?

Is it expensive? Yes!

Is it too expensive? Probably!

But it still is a nice drill. I didn’t feel like Games Workshop was selling junk for an inflated price. It is a well designed and sturdy tool, made with the Games Workshop hobby in mind. If you do put down the money for the Citadel Drill, you do get a nice piece of hobby-equipment.

The fancy box is like superfluous, if you buy it yourself, but it does make the Citadel Drill a nice gift for other hobbyists. Not unlike some of the limited-time paint pot collections from Citadel, I feel that GW believes that these kind of products are often bought for hobbyists by others, who may not be able to tell the difference between Space Marines and Tau Firewarriors.

Have you tried some of the new Citadel hobby tools? Some of their old ones? Do you get your tools from a hobby craft store instead?

Let me know what you think and leave a comment below!

Z.