I'm in the middle of one of my most ambitious scratchbuilding projects ever (Aurora's old 1/48 MBT70), and in addition to buying a ton of Evergreen styrene strips, tubes, channels, and L-beams, I've also invested in "The Chopper II."
Excellent product! (I've never seen "The Chopper I," however!)
For those who don't know, it's a platform with a razor-equipped arm for making precise cuts for single or multiple pieces. In addition to cutting the myriad of tubes and other things I've needed on this build, it's been a lifesaver cutting the 300 pads for the MBT70's tracks. No way I could have gotten 300 consistant pieces cutting with an X-Acto!
It cost about $90 USD here in Japan, but I suspect it's much cheaper overseas (i.e., outside of Japan).
If you do even a small amount of scratchbuilding and need accurate, clean cuts, then you should really consider getting one of these babies.
Forgive me if I'm the last person to have finally come across this thing and you've all had one for years, but man, it's great!
![Big Smile [:D]](/FSM/CS/emoticons/icon_smile_big.gif)