You might want to check out the Unimat1 Classic, it's small and it has TONS of tools on it. My buddies dad is a model train junkie and he would die without the machine. Mill, drill, lathe, disc sander, jigsaw, it does everything..and it's only 300 bucks. They make a basic wood lathe that's a lot cheaper too, but I am sure you could cut more accurately with the mill type cross slides and a fixed cutter. For small scale work the little unimat machine is pretty amazing. I wouldn't cut steel with it but...it's worth a look and would probably be great for making floats. Plus it is pretty small and easily portable.
http://www.morrisandgreen.com/tl0006_detail.html
Good Luck.
