Profil HO proužek 1,1 x 2,8 mm

A beam of four by ten inch section

Behind the designation 8410 is a beam that in a real building would measure four inches wide and ten inches deep. Converted to the railroad ratio that gives 1.1 by 2.8 millimeters. Within the group of four-inch thicknesses it is one of the most robust sizes offered.

A section like this is used wherever a structure is meant to look as if it can carry something. The roof trusses of a warehouse, the stringers of a wooden bridge, the ties of a siding or the beams of a crane runway gain the right shadow and depth from the depth of the profile. It gives the model a play of light that a flat strip can never create.

Working with white polystyrene is comfortable. The cut is made by pressing the blade rather than by a sawing motion, so that the edge is not left crushed, and the mating face will take liquid cement along its whole length. The ends can be sanded flat at an angle, so that corner joints sit together with no visible gap.

Each piece is 35 centimeters long and sold separately. For a longer bridge or a hall it is sensible to take several profiles at once, because all the beams in one structure should come from the same size and the same shade of white.

Imitating a roughly hewn beam is a chapter of its own. Once cut, it is enough to run a coarse abrasive along the sides lengthwise and to nick the edge with a knife in a few places. A dark coat then soaks into the grooves and a light pass with an almost dry brush pulls the high spots out, so that the result stops looking like molded plastic and starts to resemble saw-worked wood.