Tamiya

Fine Drill Bit (0.4mm)

Stock Number: 74082

Reviewed By  Chad Richmond, IPMS# 10346

MSRP: $4.50 Website: www.tamiyausa.com When Dave Morrissette said he had a .4mm drill bit to be reviewed, I imagined a hair fine drill bit that would be the ultimate answer to rigging for biplanes and triplanes. I did not stop and do my math, however, until the bit arrived. The drill bit is packaged in a typical Tamiya clear envelope with instruction sheet and the product inside. There is a tapered, clear plastic tube with stopper end that is supposed to house the drill bit, but mine was loose in the envelope. It took a while to get it to come out of hiding. When it finally did, that's when I started doing my math. The bit looked like a number 80 bit. That's when I realized I needed to convert .4mm to inches to find out what size this bit really was. A number 80 is .0135 in. A number 79 is .0145 and a number 78 is .0160. Unless I am terribly wrong, .4mm is .0157. So, this bit is somewhere between a 78 and 79 bit. I wasn't about to see how much punishment this bit would take before it broke, as I am so capable of doing with these three sizes of bits. It is very sharp and drills a very clean hole, however. Tamiya also offers a .3mm bit for $4.70 and a .5mm bit for $4.50. These may be ordered from Tamiya America's web site at www.tamiyausa.com. Thanks to Tamiya America for the bit and to IPMS/USA for letting me review it.