Turned parts for aircraft models are the small change that tells a judge whether the builder was in a hurry. A brass pitot tube has a perfectly circular section and a tip finer than any injection mould can reach, and it will not bend when you dust the model or carry it to a show. The range covers pitot tubes, angle-of-attack probes, refuelling probes, aerial masts and intake lip rings, each one turned from brass for a named aircraft type. How to pick the set that belongs on your airframe is explained below.
1:72 Boeing B-17E/B-17F/B-17G Flying Fortress - machine gun set - Browning M2 aircraft .50 caliber b
16.76 €
1:72 A-6 Intruder - Pitot Tube, Angle Of Attack and Refueling probe
5.16 €
1:72 US WWII Pitot Tube -
3.96 €
1:48 US WWII Pitot Tube -
4.76 €
1:48 A-6 Intruder - Pitot Tube, Angle Of Attack and Refueling probe
5.96 €
1:48 Sukhoi Su-34 (Fullback) - Pitot Tube
4.76 €
They are machined from brass rod on a precision lathe. The result is a part with a truly circular section, crisp changes of diameter and walls a few tenths of a millimetre thick, geometry no steel mould will give you. On the model they take over everything long and thin: pitot tubes, angle-of-attack probes, refuelling probes, the aerial masts of night fighters, the intake lip rings of early MiGs. The styrene equivalent is thicker, carries a mould seam along its length and usually snaps the first time a sleeve catches it. Brass does none of that.
The range splits into 1:32 turned parts, 1:48 turned parts, 1:72 turned parts and other scales, which gather 1:144 and 1:24. Scale matters more here than almost anywhere: a pitot half a millimetre too thick looks like a broom handle on a 1:72 fighter.
Turned parts are designed for one airframe, often for one specific kit, and the set title always states which. Be careful with sub-variants: the MiG-21F-13 and the MF do not share a pitot, and an early Skyhawk refuelling probe is not a late one.
Some sets combine brass with a resin adapter or an etched bracket, others are the bare tube. The description says what you get and whether you will be drilling a locating hole first.
A turned pitot tube is the cheapest upgrade with the largest visible return you can give an aircraft model kit. The rest of the brass and steel armoury sits in metal detail sets for aircraft.
