I’m not longer going to apologize for going off-topic and posting everything on the Aircraft room. I simply don’t get enough people checking the tools and decals and other areas to get answers, so I go with whom I know.
What I’m wondering is, I lost two of my favorite, those least used tools in my bag in my now overly-mentioned fire. First, it was a small tubing bender, which bent the tubing without kinking it. It was a simple box of small springs, about three inches long, that were skinny in the middle and conical at the ends. The other was a micro-tubing cutter, perfect for making gun barrels from lengths of really fine tubing. It looking just like the big ones plumbers use, with the cutting wheel, and the tightening screw. I was just wondering if anyone knew where I cold replace these things. As I recall, they weren’t very expensive. Just didn’t see them too often. They were among those tools that, though you don’t use them often, when you need them, you really need them and want them there in the box with the other stuff you rarely use, like all that steel wool and bottles of fingernail polish remover for taking superglue off your fingers and…well, you get the idea.
Tom
Tom:
K&S makes both the tubing cutter and bender sets:
http://www.ksmetals.com/Accessories/default.asp#tubetools
I’m not sure you can order from K&S direct, but Walthers (Walthers.com) also shows them both in stock.
Greg
Hey Tom!
Let me do some checking. I bought a box lot at an auto parts store I used to work at and there were a bunch of small tubing cutters in it. I’ll have to do some digging, but if I can find them I’ll send you one and save you a little money.
Thanks a lot of both of you. I do remember that the bender I had was by K&S, but the cutter, I don’t remember. I was like the large one shrunk down to about three inches square (though it is not a square shape, but irregular) and was made of a tough, nylon-like plastic, except for the business end parts like the cutter. I’ve found, finally, a source for stainless tubing that is at least small enough to replicate fine 20 mm cannon barrels, thought the guy charges me 50 cents apiece for every one-inch long tube I get. I’ve used them in sizes that seem accurate for about 30 mm and 37-40 mm. But, as everyone knows, the brass tubing (K&S mostly) that is most readily and cheaply available to us, is pretty thick-walled 1/16-inch, and too big for most 1/48 a/c guns, so I’m willing to pay because the tubing looks so much better than a piece of plastic that is blank on the end.
One more question: when I finally get to my AcMin B-25G, what would be the best thing to replicate the 75 mm cannon barrel on that sinister machine? Was it heavily rifled inside? And what diameter would it be in 1/48? Any guesses?
Tom
Tom,
I bought a set of those tubing benders at my local hobby shop. The manufacturer is K&E. Several years ago, I bought a mini-tubing cutter at an autoparts store. It is all metal and was designed for cutting tubing in cramped areas. I believe you can still find them. 75mm at 1/48 scale would be 1.6mm. Hope this helps.
Hello,
That reminds me:
I just saw both of those tools advertised in the Micro-mark catalogue and made a note to myself to remember where I had seen them. Not very expensive, either. You can check Micro-mark on-line at:
Take care,
Mark
I would recommend Micro Mark at the web address www.micromark.com They have the benders and cutters as well as many more hard to find tools that are very useful to the modelers. Many are unique tools that you can’t find in the giant, we stock everything hardware stores and many are also much smaller versions of tools found in normal stores. They put out a 5" X 7" catalog that shows pictures and has descriptions of everything. It is much easier to browse through than trying to find something in an on line catalog. [8D] [^] If you order something from them once, you get on their mailing list and they send you a catalog free about 3 or 4 times a year.