Reinforced Straight Precision Tweezer (13,5 cm)

Reinforced precision tweezers, straight, 13.5 cm (Mirage Hobby)

This is a tool, not a kit: reinforced precision tweezers from the Polish maker Mirage Hobby with straight tips and a length of 13.5 cm. They differ from the lighter version in a stronger body, which better resists the tips going out of line. With tweezers that is the decisive property, because tips that are out of line stop holding and a small part slips out of them, usually just as you are seating it in the least accessible place.

Use

• gripping and seating small plastic and photo-etched parts
• work where more pressure and a firmer hold are needed
• shaping photo-etched parts, wire and thin sections
• carrying decals and inserting parts into deeper places

Who it is for

For modelers who use tweezers every day and have already run into tips going out of line on the lighter version. The longer body also lets you reach farther into a fuselage or a hull without having to tilt the model. Even with reinforced tweezers, though, the rule is not to lever with them: it is the body that is reinforced, the tips stay thin and their point is precision, not force.

The tips are sharp, so keep the tweezers out of the reach of children. Clean the tips after working with glues and paints; a dried residue on the gripping face reduces the precision of the hold. If the tips do go out of line, they can often be set right by carefully sanding the gripping faces on fine abrasive paper, but that is a last resort and it is better not to let it happen at all, because tips that have been set right will never close as precisely as new ones.