Scale Hardware

photo from Scale Hardware web site

I saw these tiny nuts and bolts in a recent magazine I get, and ordered some the very same day. They were mailed out to me the next day, and I received them just 3 days later. Shipping is just $3 for all orders.

They are really good! What more can I say! As a former journeyman machinist, I can say they are correct in size and proportion, and are nicely turned with no burs. The ones I have now are Brass and Nickel-Plated Bolts, Nuts with Studs, Rivets and Washers -- 2 to 4 sizes of each.

Most products come in solid brass, nickel plated brass, and stainless steel. The bolts come in threaded and straight shank versions. The straight shank ones are perfect for gluing in place. I have not tried the threaded parts, but I think they would be great where you need more strength in the joint. There are square bolt heads as well as the more common hex heads.

The 0.85mm bolts are perfect for installing 1/24 Eduard Photo-Etch auto seat harnesses, both 4 and 6 point sets. They look just right to anchor the harnesses to the walls and pillars. I had previously figured out a way to do that with brass wire, and these make it a LOT easier, and look better!

I can personally see more uses in 1/12 to 1/24 scale, but they will also be great for larger bolts in 1/32, and 1/48 scale. Even the smallest may be too large for 1/72 and smaller scales, but those would have to be SO small you would never see the shape anyway. I would think it would be good to keep some of these around for those situations where they fit in to your needs.

There are also some tools available which look to be very useful if you get the threaded nuts and bolts -- I have not tested these. There is also a 0.50mm tap!

The ONLY negative is that the washers are so small and light, they can be a little difficult to get out of the zip-bags. And that's not a very bad thing.

It appears new products may be coming along as well. I can only hope... One product I would like to see would be scale pulleys to replace the molded in pulleys on model engines. These molded parts never look quite right on the model. This would look a lot better for fan-belts etc. Hint... Hint...

Another potential product would be plain nuts with no threads. These could be glued in place, and partially filled to look like nuts holding parts in place.

Also, larger bolts and nuts would be better for 1/12 scale models -- motorcycles are usually 1/12, so are some Formula 1 models. A 2mm bolt would be about 1" in 1/12 scale. So larger nuts, bolts, and washers would be nice.

These parts are turned out on Swiss made bar feed machines to maintain consistence. These are high quality machines that produce a nice product.

This company also sells Sherline lathes and mills. I used to have one of each and found them to be of very high quality.

NOTE: The manufacturer did send me a free pack of stainless steel rivets. I am not sure if that is related to this review.