Profil 0,25 x 1,0 mm

The thinnest class of flat strips

A profile with a section of 0.25 by 1.0 millimeter is a flat strip of white polystyrene, that is of the same material the plastic parts of kits are molded from. A thickness of a quarter of a millimeter is small enough that the strip can be bent around a rounded fuselage, a tank or a boiler without heating, and once the cement has dried it keeps the shape.

What it is suited to

It is used to make riveted strips, reinforcing bands on tankers, hatch frames, edging on the superstructures of buildings, small stiffeners for dioramas and the accessories that are missing from a molding or that broke during the build. Because it is the same material as the plastic of the model, the joint is made with a solvent cement and is invisible once sanded. There is no transition edge of the kind a glued metal part leaves behind.

Working with the material

It is cut with a sharp knife against a metal ruler, best with several light strokes instead of one heavy one, so that the end does not ripple. It sands very fast, so it is sensible to finish with fine paper and to check the dimension against the part, not against a ruler. It can be painted with water-thinnable as well as lacquer paints, and the white color of the material helps with light shades. The profile is supplied in a length of 35 centimeters and it is sold as a single piece, not as a set. Anyone building a larger assembly usually takes several pieces at once, because one strip cut up gives only a limited number of short parts. It pays to keep the offcuts, as even short pieces will serve as small shims or spacing wedges when gluing.