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Hello to all, I can finally present you my last work: it's a Su-25m1 in force with the Ukrainian aeronautics in 1/32 scale Trumpeter kit. We found a really grueling job for a lot of reasons, the Trumpeter kits are always revealed for what they are: toys designed by people who saw the real aircraft only on photos found on the net. Without dwelling on the dimensions (they are not one of those that compare the scale drawings to verify the truthfulness) and on the details sketched or completely missing, the real problems are in the joints and in the brain-splitting decomposition of the kit; a clarifying example are the gondolas that house the engines and the very long air ducts divided into two parts that leave a line in the middle that has been eliminated. The changes have been innumerable and in each area of the aircraft, the wpp monograph on the Su-25 has been fundamental in trying to reproduce the details that the manufacturer has omitted. To make this operation easier, I have also given background to everything that the market offers in the form of aftermarket. For the coloring I used the dedicated set of the Russian firm Akan with self-produced masks with the cutting plotter. The decals are a mix of the dedicated set of Foxbot (completely wrong, I think they are about 1/25 scale ...), of the Trumpeter decals and something cannibalized by the sets dedicated to the Su-27 and Mig-29 of Begemot, especially for armaments. It took nine months of hard work. Here are the pictures:

I bought the Fisher Patter 1/32nd F-9F Panther in 2003 when it first appeared. This was my first resin model. It was a great experience and I used Vallejo Model Air for the first and only time as the paint was so fragile it just scratched off way too easily the end result being the shelf of doom. Roll on 2018 - the Panther is rolling around on my shelf of doom and I decide to take another look. Woe and behold I find that my lovely wife has thrown the box out with many of the kit parts in it (U/C, doors, wheels, canopy, weapons, PE sheet etc). I contact Paul Fisher and send him a photo of what I have and ask him if I can pay for the missing parts. 7-10 days later a box arrives in the post with all of the missing parts completely free of charge including the shipping to the UK. How is that for customer service! Roll on 2019 and inspired by a post in LSP discussion I decide to finish the model. If you notice the less than fine panel lines in places this was because back in 2003 when I build the major assemblies I had bought a Tamiya scriber and went a little mad with making trenches. I also lightly weathered the model and the large "silver walkways" as can be seen on footage of the real aircraft. Please note that I have fixed the hanging pylon that I only noticed when I took the photographs. The Panther was such a pretty plane.

Here are the final set of shots taken outside on a cloudy day. Glad this one is over - largely my own fault having dropped it and that fact that Trumpeter and the UK distributor off now spares parts service whatsoever (I tried several times with both and received no response). The kit had the very extensive Eduard series of sets, Aires cockpit, exhaust and wheel bays, Avionix cockpit etc There are a number of mistakes - small tanks, early exhaust when it should be the later one. I am sure there are a bunch more. I also noticed post photographing that I have knocked the fuse extenders so that are not all equally spread. I was pleased with the effect of reducing the pin cushion divots that Trumpeter wanted to pass as rivets.

hello and thank you so much for such positive words. I'm really glad that that different approach gets a touch on some of you ! i did some more general views and started a bit of experimenting on how i'll varnish that with an adequate ratio satin to gloss. next progress will be after summer holidays ! bye Fanch

Recently a new page appeared on Facebook called Revell USA and a photo dated 26 June 2019 shows Ed Sexton, who used to work for Revell USA when it was part of Hobbico, in front of a Revell USA stand at NIMCON. Interestingly, the photo shows a "Revell USA boxing" of the 1/32 P-51D-5NA Mustang. This may mean that there may be a Revell USA again. :-) See this: This is the Facebook page https://m.facebook.com/RevellUSA/?tsid=0.2038522442464057&source=result HTH Radu

The canvas is done... The resin part from Dnepro models with a layer of paper tissue and white glue. The back of the truck is opened. Thanks for looking: Kent

Pushing it away for a long time I finally got around to get the metal parts done for this. After trying different approaches, this is what I ended up with... Cover, fuel tank, ammo boxes and cowling in unpainted aluminium. After some trials and tests to find a way to achieve a decent metal surface, this is the procedure I ended up using: First a layer of Tamiya flat aluminium, then a coat of future. Pattern made with a sharpie silver pen and finally everything has been brought together with some AK True Metal Aluminium wax paint, applied very sparingly. The fuel tank with the two filling caps and some 'scratched' brackets for the mount. It may sound complicated, but it isn't. It ended up being 'a walk in the park' . Cheers: Kent

Haven't had a single moment of modeling time since the wedding, but now that we are back and unpacked, I had a chance to look at the base that finally arrived for the F-104. This is from the same company I used prior that worked out so well for my Extra 300 (base was partially ruined by my own hand, but no fault of the manus). Anyway, this is a custom made base, 3/4" top beveled 6" x 12" in heavy black acrylic. Its quite heavy, and should work well for the 104 since most of the weight will be toward the middle/back of the model. I had the company I purchased the base from drill a 7/8" hole (same exact size as the clear support rod) at a 40 deg angle in the base before they ever sent it to me. I was not sure it could be done cleanly by a professional let alone myself, so they agreed to try to have it drilled prior to payment, and it worked out wonders, as they shop they had do it, obviously did it with some precision, as there is no scaring, scratching or any other obvious blemishes from the drilling (dirt and oil from my hand of course, that wipes off easy): The clear rod that I will use to support the model once done, fits like a glove into the hole they drilled. This also gives you a decent idea of what the AOA will be on the finished model: The clear rod of course will be cut off flush with the bottom of the base as dictated by the F-104s fuselage and how much of the "exhaust" I want showing, and how tall I want the overall model when finished. It wont be short that's for sure!! I'm really anxious to get back to the bench and have a go at a full lighting test with the 9V. Cheers till your older!!

OK - so I've masked and sprayed the five sections of the Harvard's canopy, inside and out. I'm using AlleyCat's resin AM set AC32033C, which is the correct configuration for my Harvard. However unfortunately there is a fit issue, and I think I can understand why largely based on the thickness of the resin and the build-up on the three sliding sections. As can be seen from these examples on the Harvard at Yeovilton, the pilot's section of the canopy is the widest, the second section slightly narrower and the third narrower still: However due to the moulding thickness constraints the narrowest section of the resin canopy has to be considerably narrower than scale in order that the succeeding sections can be slightly wider, with the widest forward section being the same width as the fuselage sides. This solution however leads to some ugly gaps on sections 2 and 3: I think I'll be able to overcome this with some strips of thin card at the canopy/fuselage interface, perhaps a double thickness on 3, single on 2 to bring it all flush. I was hoping to have the forward section open but I can't see how this is going to work sadly due to the same issue with resin thickness. Any thoughts or further advice always very welcome chums!!

Here is my Revell F-102 in Naca markings. I used the wolfpack exhaust and quickboost pitot and seat for aftermarket. Fundekals provided the NACA markings and Caracal decals were for the rest. I would like to have seen more stencil data provided, as this airplane was covered in them. also there is a red arrow going from the intake to the rescue handle that is not included in the decals or the instructions. I am assuming it was added at a later time from when the decal sheet depicts. paint is GSI #73 mixed 2:1 with white. humbrol #69 is a perfect match for the yellow band on the tail and was used for touching up the areas that don't get covered by the decals. the Revell molds are really showing their age , it would be nice to have a new tool kit in 1/48 for the F-102. I am looking at you Meng.

Howdy Ladies and Gents, It's been a while since I posted pictures of my battleship. I thought I'd update you on where it stands now so I got out my tripod, cranked up the f-stop on my camera, and took some decent pictures for once. NO, I didn't do all this since my last post! This series of pictures (26 in all) will bring you up to date to where I currently am. From now on however, my posts will be a lot less frequent because a) it took me 2-1/2 years to get this far, and b) I AM working on my Monogram 1:48 B-17 at the same time. I just don't have anything interesting to post yet. So, here is my "Plastic Toy Boat" as it stands today. Hope you find it worthy: Here it is - 4-1/2 feet of pure enjoyment. At least for me. I love doing this. My big thrill is building models. Once they're finished, yeah, I take pride in them, but sitting there looking at them isn't like the work of building them, right! There are (2) 20mm antiaircraft guns and a flagstaff that are supposed to be at the very bow of the ship. Because I keep the ship covered with plastic for dust purposes, I haven't mounted these yet for fear of knocking them off. Note the railings along the hull are also missing. They won't be added until the ship is almost complete. In this next photo You can see where I made a big mistake. There is supposed to be a ladder made up of individual grab-irons up the hull at the stern. With the handling and messing around, half of them have been knocked off, reglued, and knocked off again. I'll fix this, but I'm going to wait until near the end so it doesn't get damaged again. The screws are real brass and the silver rectangles are anti-corrosion plates. On the Iowa Class battleships, the inboard screws were 5 bladed and the outboard screws had 4 blades. Also, the starboard screws turned clockwise while the port screws turned counterclockwise. You always thought a battleship was gray, right? These are the actual colors of the USS Missouri in September 1944, when Japan surrendered on the deck of this ship The chain hanging down from the bow is called a "Paravane" chain. Paravanes are towed from the ship and are used to bring floating mines to the surface where they can be detonated by gunfire. A view of the foredeck up to gun turret #1. The deck in front of the capstans is steel and the remainder of the decking on the ship are teak boards. OK, that's 10 pictures for this post. More coming on post #2 of this set.

Well that worked rather well! 10 thou card; for those interested the settings on the Silhouette were: depth (of blade) 4, speed 4, force 33 (that's the max. on my machine), passes 4. The "windows" snapped out very easily, the framing is less than 1mm in width and I know for sure that I couldn't have done this as neatly or simply using a knife. This little exercise has opened up a whole range of possibilities to enhance models. I'll put a few rivet marks on then paint it up shortly.

The plan is to launch the kit in Telford this year. Radu

Hi guys, I‘ve started with some assembly and initial layers of detail. The following photos are the left side of the nose landing gear well. This detail is primarily the hydraulic tubing, and insulated environmental system tubing. As a proof of concept idea I chose to try to print sections of tubing. The aft most lines are laterally offset and have connectors that needed to be rendered. Doubting my ability to bend and fashion identical parallel line by hand as well as keeping future production in mind a printing attempt was justified. So the tube sections were modeled in CAD with portions tubing clamps at each end and sent off to my Photon. I did print three copies of each section, as it turned out, all printed successfully but one of the three was perfect. The remainder of the tubing was fashioned from lead wire. Printed fittings and CNC milled tubing clamps were placed on the side wall using a paper template made from a 2d drawing exported from my CAD software. Hours of studying photographs and tracing one line at a time, I managed to get all the pipes in what I think is the right place. That is to say, every tube end landed on a connection point, no loose ends. I know they are not 100% correct but, without a maintenance pub that shows a trace of each line....I’ve achieved a, let’s say, 98% accurate result. Here are a few more printed parts. I finally invested in a proper macro lens with a ring flash. I think the photos are much better...two problems though. 1. You can see every microscopic flaw, even though I build with layers of magnification from my cheaters down to 10x jewelers loop. ....and.... 2. I’m working on my f stops for depth of field. So far my shots are hand held, maybe a little less laziness on my part and I should use a tripod and focus merge multiple shots. Irregardess y’all ort git the gist of my progress. Thanks for checking in! Timmy!

FINALLY finished with the cockpit (except for a matt coat and the control columns). Added seats from milliput, eduard photo etch for the general cockpit and 'corrected seats' as well as seat belts. I repainted the fuselage interior in a color i liked more, washed it and highlighted the frames. Now I need to add ammo boxes and belts and a little more before I can close it up. Will be a big day

Well kids.... I started all over again... New thread because the old one was just devolving into a endless stream of do overs. THIS THREAD SHALL NOT BE WHAT CAME BEFORE...THIS ONE WILL BE A FINISHED PROTOTYPE MODEL!! So a few months back my good friend Paul Fisher lost his home and wonderful workshop to fire in Paradise, CA. I am so happy he and his family escaped and in that light the mention of what comes next seems so trivial. Paul was in possession of the masters I had completed at the time of the fire so an opportunity to build a better model arose. Considering the magnitude of the work I previously completed, I started thinking about how to speed up the build. As many of you know I have turned to CNC and SLA type 3d printing to augment the hand building of the model. Until recently I had eschewed the use of FDM type printers due to the inaccuracy of the prints, and significant post processing required after printing model parts. Cost also was a factor, nothing was worth the investment versus the risk of poor parts. Enter the Tiertime Cetus MKIII. This little printer was cheap, precise and worth a gamble. The main feature that attracted me to the printer was the linear guide rails and bearing blocks. These almost guarantee accurate movement of the axises of the printer. With a price in the $300 US range it was worth a try. With the printer in hand and after some tweaking with the assembly of the printer I managed to print dimensionally accurate parts. One inch cubes were printed and were measured by digital caliper only a few ten thousands of an inch from true, and square adjacent surfaces measured with a machinist's square. So I ordered up 7,000g of PLA filament and started a-printing. On a similar journey I ordered up an Anycubic Photon MSLA printer, though this journey was much longer because the Photon required much more significant modification to get true parts. Out of the box it made fantastic parts in terms of detail. However, they parts didn't fit with others, they were skewed in the Z or vertical axis. The modification was much too complex to detail in this post, suffice to say the machine was disassembled, parts were machined true, linear rails and bearing blocks added and a new parts were machined to make it all work. Parts that came out of the machine post modification were exceptional! Now that I have three machines working simultaneously part production has definitely accelerated the pace of this build. I have also made some design changes. Outside of getting another chance to improve the model's accuracy, simplifying and streamlining the build has been a chief consideration. So the model will still be "skinned" in aluminum sheet but only where there are removable panels, the remainder of panel detail will be scribed in to a layer of primer paint. PLA is a difficult material to sand and also hygroscopic and needed to be well sealed. I'm using 2 part automotive epoxy paint (paint and hardener) to fill and "glue" the PLA layers together. The result is a surface that is much easier to sand and finish. You can see a few of the PLA parts were the black primer has been applied and finishing has started. Lastly my machining skills have improved to the point where the acrylic parts now have machined in details, rivets and reinforcing layers etc. Here's a shot of the parts so far. These parts represent the main components of the fuselage from the nose to the engine faces. More detailed photos coming as assembly commences. This will be a prototype model, so I will be finishing this one as I go, so you can look forward to finished assemblies going forward. Thanks for checking in! Timmy!

Engine seems to be going together OK here - pic below is mostly just press fit together. Did remove some flash and sand the seam on the crankcase but nothing dramatic...

Evolution Miniatures, they are larger than most 1/35 figures, almost 1/32 ;-) The truck driver is this fellow - Stalingrad Miniatures. Kent

Like I said some time ago, this is one of the coolest things i've ever seen! I simply live it, and I am inspired to try it.

Buttoned up the fuselage last night with no problems, I wasn't really liking the stitching on the lower fuselage so I sanded it back followed by masking a strip and spraying with Mr Surfacer. When this had dried I added Archer resin stitching decals and under a coat of primer Much happier with the results compared to the kit supplied plastic insert. Regards. Andy

I disagree. The "recipe" of zinc chromate was spelled out in AN-TT-P-656. The natural color of zinc chromate primer is yellow (for lack of the exact term for the color). Jennings has already said that the coloration (untinted zinc chromate) was based on its chemical makeup, not because pigmentation was added. What's being discussed is the green color of tinted zinc chromate versus the MM color "zinc chromate green". I've already stated that the color of tinted zinc chromate varied with each manufacturer. Per Boeing B-17F E&R manual (T.O. 01-20EF-02 page 439) and B-17G E&R Manual (T.O. 01-20EG-02, page 422) "Wherever carbon black tinted primer is specified, it shall consist of or be equivalent to, 8 ounces of carbon black tinting paste (Fuller's No. 790 or equivalent) per gallon of zinc chromate primer." Carbon black tinted primer = interior green, Boeing style. Per Northrop P-61 E&R Manual: "All exposed interior surfaces of the gunner's, pilot's and radio operator's compartments shall be finished with Northrop Cockpit Green (12 oz. of black camouflage enamel AAF 14109 to one gallon of zinc chromate primer Spec.No. AN-TT-P-656)". Interior green, Northrop style. P-51D E&R manual (AN 01-60JE-2, pages 403-406): Various structural members: "zinc chromate primer per AN-TT-P-656". "Interior green "spec no. E-7 flat black to be used." Interior green, North American style.

I met a guy at the VA hospital several years back. He walked with a limp and was wearing an 8th AF baseball hat...had WWII gunners wings on it with a purple heart...air medal and a silver star on it. I asked what airplane he crewed...he was a B-17 waist gunner in 1942-43. His airplane had an 88mm round go off under it and the blast shredded the fuselage and the wooden catwalk he was standing on. Had shrapnel and wood in his legs and was bleeding out pretty good. The other gunner gave him a morphine shot for pain and they continued the mission to target. They were high enough that the blood froze the wounds and that kept him from bleeding to death. I was like..."yeah...I've got nothing to complain about now" Cheers...Ron

A little more progress today, first up I completed the fuselage side frames ready for final cockpit assembly. Instrument board and fuel tank assembly also built up and painted as well. I also managed to complete the cockpit assembly today, did I mention I'm enjoying this one? Follwed by a quick test fit in to the starboard fuselage half Very happy with progress, will get the fuselage halves together and hopefully with no nasty steps in the final fit. Regards. Andy

Ok I have masked off the bottom and have done a little preshading. That is all, carry on. Happy 4th! Dan

I bought the Fisher Patter 1/32nd F-9F Panther in 2003 when it first appears. My first resin model. It was a great experience and I used Vallejo Model Air for the first and only time. The paint as so fragile it just scratched off way too easily. Roll on 2018 - the Panther is rolling around on my shelf of doom and I decide to take another look. Woe and behold I find that my lovely wife has thrown the box out with many of the kit parts in it (U/C, doors, wheels, canopy, weapons, PE sheet etc). I contact Paul Fisher and send him a photo of what I have and ask him if I can pay for the missing parts. 7-10 days later a box arrives in the post with all of the missing parts completely free of charge including the shipping to the UK. How is that for customer service! link to the RFI. Thanks for the inspiration.

We both know you wouldn’t be! Thanks for the support everyone. I’ve closed up the fuselage, it went together quite well in the end, but I was conscious of potential issues. Again, I don’t think there’s anything at all wrong with the kit - just that you have to be ‘fit aware’ - ie paint on the mating surfaces, constant checking etc. It’s quite a hunk of plastic on the bench!

we now have two airframes, i'm more working on Lou IV these days ! source pics: the leading edge overlapping will be done with top wing's paintwork !

Evening all, I think I’m calling the cockpit done. Not my best effort, but looks ok. I’m not really adding a great deal in terms of detailing, I haven’t quite got the enthusiasm somehow. The Airscale set is great as are the ‘wrong’ seat belts. They really lift it a notch. I’m looking forward to seeing what the master builders do with this kit though - it has great potential. Note the masked areas on the mating surfaces. Thanks Guy

Hi Nick With regards to the color - What I understod was Bronze green in the cockpit and interior green elsewhere. The 'elsewhere' picture is quite a bit darker than in real life... I can see that I accidentally put up the wrong second picture of the cockpit. Yes it was etch galore - actually a bit too much, but I couldn't turn back :-)

Got more work done with the top layer 3/4 finished. I still have more surfacing to do but I'm hoping to knock out a fair bit tonight (if World of Warships doesn't interrupt me) I won't go to crazy on the roof though but you can see a clear difference between the kit surface and mine. Some might say that's not a good thing but I like it. Besides, once the paint goes on the busyness will disappear. I've glued on the sidewalls and then will drill out the remaining windows. The roof is just sitting on there until I have threaded through the fibers - a task I am not looking forward to. I still have to drill out that center bit on the nose of the lower layer. I'll run some piping into it to make it more interesting. That's all I have but thanks for looking Si

Going to have a go at riveting the Heinkel. Well, the half Heinkel with a quarter wing. Practicing on the surplus parts with the RB 0.75mm rivet-r. Just following the natural panel lines as practice. Then a Flory Wash and Dullcote the bring them out. First off was bare plastic on the wing, then primer on the stab before running the rivet-r along the lines. I lack a bit of consistency in pressure so that is a learning point. Not that you need much, just consistent: The Eduard PE sits slightly proud of the plastic if just glued on top. I got a small set of drills to remove some material (about 1mm) in a circular pattern and the PE just drops into place and sits flush: Rivet plans for the P are very scarce so it will be a rudimentary rivet job. I have a set that Ralph used in his build a couple of years ago to assist me, so stay tuned! Regards,

I've been slowly progressing this build with a bit of weathering, using Flory's Dark Dirt applied over a couple of coats of MRP Super Clear gloss varnish (which isn't very gloss at all, but that suits me right now!). I like the flexibility of dark dirt, it dries very quickly (especially with some help from a jet of air from the airbrush) and I can easily take off just as much dirt as I wish, or re-apply and repeat where necessary: As can be seen from the lovely photo of the balbo shown elsewhere, these flying school Harvards were real workhorses and whilst no doubt carefully mechanically maintained it appears their cosmetic appearance was less important. I'm trying to get the Harvard and the Stieglitz finished asap because my fingers are itching to start a "Hawker double build" shortly that I'm rather excited about!

No details yet, but it's getting there. I completely forgot this little gem... Zoukei-Mura's 'Anlasswagen' This was fun, added a little extra weathering, rust etc... Kent

Day 1 opening the CMK box, numbering parts and start cockpit assembly. Then dry fit to check that everything is well aligned.

Nice looking base Brian, your 104 will look pretty cool when mounted. Regards. Andy

Vallejo is pretty fragile. It scratches off easy on plastic, too.

Great!

Pit looks great!

new 1/24 seatbelts desgined for Airfix Hellcat available on HGW website https://hgwmodels.cz/en/seatbelts/1000-hellcat-seatbelts-124-124511.html

Really liking your Harvard Max, bloody shame about that canopy but have to agree with you idea of a fix though. Regards. Andy

You can trust these ZM announcements. Radu

There was a nearly zero chance they would fix anything from the previous kit. I’m not surprised at all.

OMIGAWD... it was real!!!

Hello again! I’ve been busy printing and prepping parts. The skeleton and first layers of detail are ready for final fitting and assembly. Everything received a coat of black epoxy primer, for two reasons to seal the FDM printed parts and fill machine marks and layer lines on the CNC cut, and resin printed parts. I mixed up some chromate color with Tamiya yellow and green and sprayed a base color layer. A few days later I received some MRP paints...I've been looking a paint solution since the demise of Floquil. Great paint, and I super happy with the results. Anyway, I sprayed a thin layer of MRP chromate over the Tamiya color and I was pleased with the mottled effect and overall fidelity of the base color. Details were painted in their appropriate colors, then the parts were sealed with Future. A layer of lamp black and burnt umber oils, thinned with Japan dyer was applied, then promptly wiped away. This dirtied up the surfaces and created a good back ground for the details to come. Assembly is underway, with some printing successes I'm looking forward to share in the next installment White parts CNC cut acrylic and styrene, green/blue parts are resin printed, and the dark gray part in the middle was CNC cut, top and bottom halves the make up the cockpit floor and nose gear well overhead. The nose gear well half had a printed detail appliqué added. Primed parts Base Tamiya color Weathered parts Detail composites This stuff is coming up. These are the console panels that were cut from 0.040” styrene on the CNC mill. Thanks for tuning in! Timmy!

I've been getting on with my Harvard build in my few spare moments, nothing spectacular but I'm almost at the priming and painting stage. The first hurdle that had to be overcome however, as I mentioned above, is the tailwheel configuration. As supplied by KH, the tailwheel fits directly into the fuselage, as here on this fine build (I'm not sure who's it is but I hope he doesn't mind me using one of his pictures!): The actual arrangement is shown in the previous post, but since my model is going to be airborne the rear shock won't be under pressure so there's a very distinctive look about it: I started making mine by carving out a piece of resin left over from the Brassin Mustang wheels: and measuring it against the clearest photo I could find which I reduced to about 1/32 scale. My research also showed me the structure of the whole arrangement: and it soon started to look reasonable. A couple of bits of shaped 10 thous plastic glued to a piece of channel and some plastic rod quickly produced the end result: I'm rather pleased with the look of it all. Priming next then I'm going to try the "Scotchbrite" black-basing method.

Thomas, there's definitely a floor in the back. I think Ray was commenting on the kit not having included one. Yours looks great. When I did mine, I glued on some fine grit sandpaper to replicate the nonslip surface. Carl

Work progressing on painting Sgt Pilot (under training) Toby Williams (Dad): and making sure that he fits into the cockpit and can reach the rudder pedals: He must of course have his seat belt on: Fiddly!

Hi everyone. Thanks for the kind words. Answers to questions: Texas: I used regular superglue to put the brass and aluminum tubing together. I insert the tubes and position them at the depth desired, then place superglue drops at the edges. Capillary action draws the glue down between the tubes. For the plastic parts (white), I glued them on the brass tubing with gel superglue. The gel also acts as a space filler between the brass and the plastic, and can be sanded/filed down as required. Big Kev: I cut the tubing one of 2 ways; with aK&S tube cutter (available at any good hobby store) and with a sharp x-acto blade. You can get other tube cutters at hardware stores or home DIY stores, but as far as I know no one else but K & S makes them in the size to cut small diameter tubing that we use. You role the tube cutter around the tubing, tightening the knob (and therebye pressing the blade into the tube) after each pass. When using an x-acto blade, make sure the blade is sharp, and roll it slowly back and forth across the tubing. Regardless of which method, you must be careful not to apply too much pressure or you will deform the shape of the tubing. As well I "nick' the tubing with a small file around the outside; it helps the blade stays in the same location.