PHOTOETCH BENDING TOOL (2 SCREWS)

AK Interactive photo-etch bending tool (2 screws)

Photo-etch is a thin metal sheet with etched parts. To turn a flat silhouette into a real part it has to be bent, often to an exact right angle. But bending thin sheet with your fingers or with tweezers means a crooked, rippled fold, and on long parts such as railings or fenders a hand bend is practically hopeless. This bending tool from AK Interactive has two steel jaws: the part is clamped between them exactly on the bend line and folded sharply and straight along its whole length.

What the tool can do

• A working length of 140 mm — the length of the jaws is the one genuinely important figure here, because it determines how long a part you can bend at once. 140 mm covers even long railings and side panels.
• A 128 mm blade (pressing bar) is included; you make the bend with it, not with your fingers.
• Sixteen shaped cutouts for bends into V, L, Z, P and U shapes, plus a long straight edge for forming fenders and shields.
• Bends can be made up to an angle of 135°.
• All-steel construction. Two screws hold the upper plate: once they are loosened a spring lifts it, you place the part and tighten the screws again.

How to work with it

Cut the part from the photo-etched fret, loosen the screws, slide the fret under the upper plate so that the etched bend line is flush with the edge of the jaw, and tighten the screws gently, because overtightening can deform thin photo-etch. Then fold the part to the angle you want with the blade provided; on long parts push evenly along the whole length rather than at a single point.

Who it is for

• Modelers who regularly build with photo-etched sets: railings, grilles, fenders, interiors.
• Builders of vehicles and ships, where long straight bends are an everyday matter.
• Anyone who is tired of straightening out bends botched with tweezers.

A note on choosing: AK also offers a smaller single-screw variant. The two-screw version is the larger one, and what you are choosing is the length of the jaws. If you bend only small parts, a shorter tool will do; for long parts, though, a shorter bender will not be enough.