| Parting
Line Scraper
Alexen Model Reviewed by Devin Poore, April 2020
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| Ever build a ship or a tank with a gun barrel that comes
in two pieces, split down the length of the barrel? Then after glued, you
have a seam that needs sanded, giving all sorts of opportunities to make
a flat spot on the cylinder? These scrapers are made for just that. A simple
tool for what is sometimes not a simple problem. These are machined or
etched out of .5 mm/.020" thick stainless. I've seen them available in
other metals such as brass, too. I ordered three of these, one stated to
be for tanks, one for figures and one for... something else that I don't
recall. It doesn't matter what they're made for, as the only difference
is in the radius of the cuts.
In the photo I've shown my first use for them, the troublesome main cannon body on an X-Wing kit. There wasn't a radius that matched the body of the gun exactly, but close enough, and what had been a grueling task of scraping with a scalpel blade and sanding with blocks and sponges -- it was such a hassle that I had lost interest and put the kit away for several years -- one of these scrapers made it so I was able to knock out all of the cannon seams in an hour or two. |
to enlarge |
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| These tools aren't perfect, due to their size, if there
are tight areas, you're still going to have to resort to sandpaper and
scraping with a knife blade, but they do make the bulk of the work much
easier. I picked these up via eBay, just search for "model parting line
scraper" and you'll get a ton of options.
Review samples courtesy of my modelling fund. |
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