Gear

Gear brings together everything build-related that isn’t a kit or a paint itself — accessories, literature, and Topics. None of these three areas have their own AI feature; searching Scalemates is plain scraping, not AI, and link previews in Topics only read a page’s public meta tags.

Accessories

For Accessories, the app offers search by name/manufacturer/catalogue number plus a type filter (Detail sets, Decals, Masks, Figures, Other) — this combination is offered only here, not for Literature. The card gives you a quick status toggle, opening the link, and type/scale/kit badges.

A new accessory can be searched straight on Scalemates (filter by category/manufacturer/scale plus text) — clicking a result pre-fills the form, and the Own/Want buttons save it immediately and close the form. Manually, the app offers a form with name, manufacturer, catalogue number, scale, price (free text, not a number), type, status, kit assignment, and a link. Assigning it to a Topic is only offered once the item is already saved.

Chemistry

Chemistry (glues, putties, masking tapes and fluids, decal solutions, cleaners) is no longer part of Gear — it lives in your Paints stock right next to the paints. You add it from the Paints catalogue (the Catalogue tab, Kind chips) as I have it or I want to buy, and you find it in the Paints list and in Shopping under the Kind filter in the Filters panel (Glues, Putties, Masking, Decals, Cleaners). Instead of a colour swatch it shows a type icon. The chemistry detail shows the name, kind (read-only), manufacturer, status, a note, location, price and a link. Chemistry counts toward the paint limit.

Literature

For books, the app shows Own/Want counters and a card with a status toggle, author, publisher, ISBN, and cover type. Unlike Accessories, the app offers “Search Scalemates” for an already-saved book too, not just a new one — and the “+ Add” button on a result doesn’t close the form, it stays open.

For a searched book, the app also pulls in related titles from Scalemates, with their own preview and Own/Want buttons.

Topics

A Topic acts as a shared container across kits, paints, and Gear items — a single topic (say, a specific diorama or a collecting theme) can group items of several types at once, with a shared gallery, notes, and links.

Create a new topic through the “+” in the app’s header (only while you’re in the Topics view) — the app asks for a name (and checks it doesn’t clash with an existing one) and one of 12 preset colours. Inside a topic’s detail, the app lets you rename or recolour it any time; deleting one is confirmed first, and the app tells you exactly how many items will lose that tag.

Items sub-tab — the app shows a breakdown by type with counts, and an “Add items” button that opens a panel with three tabs and search; assigning or removing items is a single click.

Gallery sub-tab — you can upload photos here (the app automatically shrinks them, even straight from a high-resolution phone) and view them in a grid with a lightbox. The app also supports importing from Pinterest: connect your account, the app shows your boards, and you can have more than one board connected to the same Topic at once. Before importing, the app shows pin previews so you can pick specific ones (it respects however much capacity you have left), or choose the “Import whole board” shortcut instead. Photos are permanently copied into the app, but each one keeps a clickable link back to the original pin. A “Sync” button is offered per connected board, through the same picker panel as the initial import; “Delete collection” also deletes the matching photos, freeing up capacity for another import.

The app keeps a shared cap on topic photos — 60 per topic with a subscription, lower on a free account (see the sign-in, registration, and guest mode chapter) — shared across every connected Pinterest board and any photos you upload by hand.

Notes sub-tab — a Markdown editor with an Edit/Preview toggle, an optional title, and a confirmation before deleting.

Links sub-tab — after you add one, the app checks it’s a valid web address and fetches a preview itself (a title and thumbnail for YouTube, otherwise the page’s public meta tags).

Looking from a single item’s side, the app shows Topics the other way around too — on a kit, paint, or accessory, it offers a row of assigned tags you can remove, or add/create a new one, once the item itself is saved.

Items marked “Want to Buy” across both Gear areas (Accessories, Literature) are automatically pulled into the Shopping list too.

Gear brings together everything build-related that isn’t a kit or a paint itself — accessories, literature, and Topics. None of these three areas have their own AI feature; searching Scalemates is plain scraping, not AI, and link previews in Topics only read a page’s public meta tags.

In the left-hand menu, under the Gear item, you’ll find three sub-items: Accessories, Literature and Topics. The page title at the top shows which one you’re on (for example “Gear · Literature”). The page has an “Own / Want” summary, search, and an Add button in the top bar. The status filter is in the left-hand menu, and for Accessories there is also the Accessory type group.

The detail of an accessory, book or Topic opens in the main area to the right of the left-hand menu, not over the whole screen — the menu stays visible and Gear stays the active item. The Accessory type filter is hidden while a detail is open and comes back in the same state afterwards, as do the search, the sub-item in the menu and the scroll position. Close a detail with Cancel (Close for a Topic), the Esc key, the “Gear” link in the header, or by clicking another menu item; with the header link and the menu, the app asks first if the form has unsaved changes. Accessories and books are saved with the Save button in the header — there is no autosave here.

Accessories

For Accessories, the app offers search by name/manufacturer/catalogue number plus a type filter (Detail sets, Decals, Masks, Figures, Other) — this combination is offered only here, not for Literature. The card shows a preview, the manufacturer, catalogue number and scale, the assigned kit and the status, and clicking it opens the detail.

A new accessory can be searched straight on Scalemates (filter by category/manufacturer/scale plus text) — clicking a result pre-fills the form, and the Own/Want buttons save it immediately and close the form. Manually, the app offers a form with name, manufacturer, catalogue number, scale, price (free text, not a number), type, status, kit assignment, and a link. Assigning it to a Topic is only offered once the item is already saved.

Chemistry

Chemistry (glues, putties, masking tapes and fluids, decal solutions, cleaners) is no longer part of Gear — it lives in your Paints stock right next to the paints. You add it from the Paints catalogue (the Catalogue tab, Kind chips) as I have it or I want to buy, and you find it in the Paints list and in Shopping under the Kind filter in the Filters panel (Glues, Putties, Masking, Decals, Cleaners). Instead of a colour swatch it shows a type icon. The chemistry detail shows the name, kind (read-only), manufacturer, status, a note, location, price and a link. Chemistry counts toward the paint limit.

Literature

For books, the app shows Own/Want counters and a card with a cover preview (when the app pulled one from Scalemates as you added the book), the title, the author, and the status; clicking it opens the detail, which also holds the publisher, ISBN, language, and page count. Unlike Accessories, the app offers “Search Scalemates” for an already-saved book too, not just a new one — and the “+ Add” button on a result doesn’t close the form, it stays open.

For a searched book, the app also pulls in related titles from Scalemates, with their own preview and Own/Want buttons.

Topics

A Topic acts as a shared container across kits, paints, and Gear items — a single topic (say, a specific diorama or a collecting theme) can group items of several types at once, with a shared gallery, notes, and links.

Create a new topic with the Add button at the top (only while you’re in the Topics view) — the app asks for a name (and checks it doesn’t clash with an existing one) and one of 12 preset colours. Inside a topic’s detail, the app lets you rename or recolour it any time; deleting one is confirmed first, and the app tells you exactly how many items will lose that tag.

On desktop a topic’s detail is a page in the main area: on the left the name, colour, and item counts; on the right, one under another, Items, Links, Notes, and Gallery — instead of sub-tabs. Each section’s action (Add items, Add image, Add note, Add link) sits in its heading.

Items section — the app shows a breakdown by type with counts, and an “Add items” button that opens a panel with three tabs and search; assigning or removing items is a single click.

Gallery section — you can upload photos here (the app automatically shrinks them, even straight from a high-resolution phone) and view them in a grid with a lightbox. The app also supports importing from Pinterest: connect your account, the app shows your boards, and you can have more than one board connected to the same Topic at once. Before importing, the app shows pin previews so you can pick specific ones (it respects however much capacity you have left), or choose the “Import whole board” shortcut instead. Photos are permanently copied into the app, but each one keeps a clickable link back to the original pin. A “Sync” button is offered per connected board, through the same picker panel as the initial import; “Delete collection” also deletes the matching photos, freeing up capacity for another import.

The app keeps a shared cap on topic photos — 60 per topic with a subscription, lower on a free account (see the sign-in, registration, and guest mode chapter) — shared across every connected Pinterest board and any photos you upload by hand.

Notes section — a Markdown editor with an Edit/Preview toggle, an optional title, and a confirmation before deleting.

Links section — after you add one, the app checks it’s a valid web address and fetches a preview itself (a title and thumbnail for YouTube, otherwise the page’s public meta tags).

Looking from a single item’s side, the app shows Topics the other way around too — on a kit, paint, or accessory, it offers a row of assigned tags you can remove, or add/create a new one, once the item itself is saved.

Items marked “Want to Buy” across both Gear areas (Accessories, Literature) are automatically pulled into the Shopping list too.