Milling machine or vertical slide for the lathe, which should I buy?
However, given a choice in the matter, a vertical mill is the way to go. The available tooling would be the driving factor in terms of size. A huge 52" mill purchased for pennies does no good if it requires oddball tooling that is scarce or expensive by nature. The 'X*' series of mills are fine for most modelers, I prefer the BP machines myself ...