Sprue Stretching Tutorial

[StevenGuthmiller]

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Bills72sj]

Thanks for sharing!

[kelson]

I've used this technique a few times and it works pretty good,instead of always using putty.

[Ace-Garageguy]

VERY nice. Short, concise, and to the point.

I'll never wonder what to do about clunky looking antennas again, and of course there's the potential for lotsa other uses...   

[carrucha]

Very helpful video. Thanks!

[TooOld]

Well I'll be danged . Over the years I've tried to stretch sprue unsuccessfully several times and finally gave up !  It sure does help to actually see it done , thanks Steve !

[Vince Nemanic]

I always stretch sprue outside or in the garage. It has quite an odor, plus sometimes the sprue will catch on fire (easily blown out) and produce black smoke which can stain the walls and the ceiling. But it is very useful for filling seams and holes, using liquid glue. It is also great for reinforcing joints where body parts like custom noses and tails are installed- the joints are much stronger than parts attached with super glue. I still use putty, but many times it is not needed.

[1959scudetto]

Many thanks for your tutorial Steve - the simple solutions are often the best!

It doesn't get easier than that !

[StevenGuthmiller]

7 hours ago, Vince Nemanic said:

I always stretch sprue outside or in the garage. It has quite an odor, plus sometimes the sprue will catch on fire (easily blown out) and produce black smoke which can stain the walls and the ceiling. But it is very useful for filling seams and holes, using liquid glue. It is also great for reinforcing joints where body parts like custom noses and tails are installed- the joints are much stronger than parts attached with super glue. I still use putty, but many times it is not needed.

I stretch mine right in my shop in my basement.

If you do it the way I depicted above, there are no noticeable fumes whatsoever.

If you watch the above video, you'll see that I only rotate the sprue in the flame for about 10 seconds.

Not enough time or heat to produce much for fumes.

You're only heating the plastic to the point of softening.

If the sprue catches fire, you're too close the flame.

That's when the smoke and fumes come into play.

 

 

 

Steve

[ChrisBcritter]

Catching fire was the technique I used for stretching sprue, oddly enough - I held the sprue in the flame until it burned in half, blew it out, then jammed the ends together and pulled. I got some very long, thin stretches that way - antenna wires for a 1/48 B-17, using the kit's own silver-gray sprue.

[mustang1989]

I do this all the time and that was a great tute Steven. 

On a note about antenna wires/ cables on aircraft. After the ends are attached to the fuselage and rudder, the "antenna" has a tendency to sag. Heat a metal rod using a stove burner or flame from a small torch and after removing from a flame place the metal rod under the lowest point in the sag. It only takes a second or so and the "antenna" will start to sag more. When you see this happening quickly remove the rod and the antenna / stretched sprue pulls taught. Dangdest then you ever saw but it works.

I used this method on my Arado 234. The vertical antenna attachment was glued in place after the longer piece was installed. I just attached the second piece at the fuselage and put a jig in place to lower the stretched main antenna down to the vertical one and used super glue to adhere both together.

Had a little trouble uploading pictures this morning and when I did, the only way I could get this to post was with this too large of a photo. Sorry 'bout the size of this. 

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by mustang1989

[StevenGuthmiller]

Part 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[Curt]

Brilliant!  Thanks, Steve.