Profil půlkruh 2,0 mm

Half-round of 2.0 mm diameter

A halved circle solves a situation that solid rod cannot manage. Whenever something is to look like a pipe run tight against a shell, like a handrail bolted to a wall or like a rounded edging, you need a shape that sits down over its whole area underneath and keeps its curve on top. A solid rod touches the surface along a single line, holds badly, and a gap remains between it and the surface that every shadow then gives away.

A diameter of two millimeters is a middle caliber with wide use. On armored vehicles it becomes cable runs and cable guards, on ships the edging of decks and the rounded surrounds of superstructures, on aircraft covers over control rods, and in dioramas gutters, thresholds and the rounded edges of low walls. Cutting the end at an angle creates a transition that disappears into the surface, so the profile need not end bluntly anywhere. In 1:35 scale the diameter matches a pipe about seven centimeters thick.

Gluing is comfortable. The profile is laid flat side down, held with tweezers, and a drop of liquid cement is released between it and the surface, which runs by itself along the whole length of contact. Do not hurry with pressure, as softened styrene deforms easily. Short offcuts serve as rounded corners or as raised details on a surface.

Keep the leftover pieces sorted by diameter, because with halved profiles in particular the size is hard to judge by eye and a mistaken caliber hits the eye more than it does on angular shapes. The rod measures 35 centimeters, is bought individually and in ordinary work lasts a very long time, because only short sections are taken from it.