introduction

A month or two ago after attending a model show in Seattle I happened to find myself looking into a new razor saw based upon the recommendation of another modeller. The one that he suggested was from a company called UMM, or Unique Model Master. While I came for the saw I found myself looking at some of their other tools as well. One that caught my attention was a small parts sprue cutter or Precision Sprue Cutter.

Review

Too often I have found myself staring at the broken end of an MG barrel only because it snapped off removing it from the sprue. Even if I take extra care with my Xuron cutters, I have found that things will break as the sprue can twist under pressure, leaving me with a part that needs replacing. Not fun.

So when I noticed this little tool I thought for under $10 it seems worth it. I am already paying for the shipping, so why not? The saw I knew was going to be good, but when they arrived I found myself wanting to try the small parts cutter out. During the construction of my recent Leo 2A3/4 build I used this little cutter as much as I could. The results were even better than I hoped. For the price I got a small parts remover that is sturdy and precise. No small feat.

What is great about this tool is the way it is designed. I found that there was no place on the tree that it could not fit with some minor twist or turn. The cutting edge is nice and sharp and makes quick work of those fine sprue attachments and it fits right up against the part so you get a nice flush cut 95% of the time. I found that only every once in a while would there be a small burr that needed to be removed with a sanding sheet or hobby knife. Best part is it works really, really well on those small fiddly little fragile parts and there has been no breakage on this project as a result, woohoo!

The only down side is that it does not work on larger parts with thicker attachment points, but then again, its not meant to. I have no idea if this is old news to all of you or if this is really a great find that other have yet to discover. Either way I am sold and I may order another one or two for my kids. They are that great, the tools not my kids. UMM has many other tools available on their site including that awesome razor saw and many different tweezers and scalpels. They also have some great punch and die sets as well.

Outstanding design and construction. Works flawlessly. Cheers.

UMM Unique Model Master