Anti-static tube protection

I tend to leave these off till the end of construction - if possible attach after painting the main body.

Me too...however, these things were molded with one half of the wings.

I did however find a solution. I took small pieces of cardboard, fold them, wrap them around the tubes and the edge of the wing and tape them on. I think that'll protect them. We shall see. :)
Dana

I would go ahead and break every one of them off! You know it's going to happen eventually, so save yourself the agony of waiting!

...And in their place, attach short lengths of fishing nylon (in the appropriate thickness for your scale) with a dot of CA glue. If the tubes have a small knob at the end, put a drop of CA on the tip of the fishing line. Once dried, you can 'paint' them black with a marker (Sharpie brand markers work best) so that the finish is as flexible as the fishing line.

I think you will be pleased with the resulting effect. Not only will the new static tubes be more accurate in scale, but they will be on your model for a long time.

I've built up a number of 1/48th F-16s and added the anti-static rods on the wing's trailing edges only after the aircraft is totally complete. In more than one instance I've even glued them on after the plane has been attached to the display base just to avoid accidently breaking them off. I use stretched spu for the rods and a drop of Zap-a-Gap glue to attach them.