Profil 1,5 x 4,0 mm

Plank with a 1.5 x 4.0 mm section

Four millimeters wide and one and a half high give a profile that can already look after itself. It does not need support along its whole length, it can bridge the gap between two supports and it will not ripple doing so. That is exactly what sets it apart from thinner strips, which have to be glued onto a finished surface, because otherwise they follow the shape underneath.

So it naturally ends up on items that have to carry something on a model. Loading ramps of vehicles, piers and walkways over water, pallets stacked from crossed layers, the seats and backs of benches, the shoring of a trench, grating floors in a hangar or the walkways around a boiler. In 1:24 scale the width works out at a plank around ten centimeters and the thickness corresponds to roughly three and a half, that is, a board that does not move underfoot.

Splitting it lengthwise is easier on this size than on thin profiles. The plank is laid on a flat surface, a sharp knife is run repeatedly along the same line against a ruler and finally it is divided into two narrower strips. That gives you a size which does not exist on its own. True the ends after shortening with a coarser file; fine abrasive comes only after gluing.

When building from a larger number of identical pieces it pays to cut them all at once and only then start gluing, because a difference of half a millimeter between neighboring planks is clearly visible on a finished ramp. The plank is 35 centimeters long and is supplied one at a time, so you can size a build according to how much area you need to cover.