BAN005 torx convex head Ducati 0,7mm

The middle size of the bottom three

0.7 mm is the step at which the use divides. Below it they are dots; above it they are elements whose shape can be described in a photograph. In 1:12 scale it matches a real head of around eight and a half millimeters, which on a machine fits the mounting of mirrors, the windscreen brackets and the holders of the front turn signals. In 1:9 scale the same element works out at just under six and a half millimeters.

Six lobes against a cross

The difference between a star-shaped and a cross recess is not merely a matter of looks. A cross has four narrow grooves converging on a point that gets filled by the first coat on a scaled-down model and all that is left of it is a blot. Six lobes make a more open pattern with a larger area, so it keeps its shape under paint. If a model is to show that a joint is screwed at all, this profile is the more reliable choice.

Setting it in without breaking the paint

The hole is drilled to 0.6 mm and rather in two passes: first lightly with a marking point, then to full size. A bit biting into finished paint tends to run off to the side, and the scratch around the head then shows more than the element itself. The glue is dosed from the point of a needle, not from the bottle, or the excess will be drawn by capillary action onto the dome.

Anyone who needs larger and smaller pieces at once will find the whole range in tenths of a millimeter in this line, without a single step left out.

During a build it works well to prepare more holes than the number of elements you finally fit. A spare recess can be filled, whereas drilling between heads already in place is work in which one of them usually gets knocked off.