I KNOW STYRENE IS CHEAP BUT

[CrazyGirl]

i am sitting here with not much to do but wait for parts and pluck on guitar , but my mind is always thinking and i know styrene is cheap and all but i look at the parts trees and think what a waste of plastic and thought hey if i took a bunch of the long rounds from the tree and chuck it up in a drill and run a piece of sandpaper you would have nice round stock to use , so i tried it and sure enough , nice round free stock but i am sure you guys have done this already

Edited March 19, 2013 by CrazyGirl

[dmk]

I always save the long straight sections of sprue and any decent clear sections.

Good for scratch building and making stretched sprue.

Also save the plastic center section from Q-tips. Just cut the cotton ends off. You can stretch this also like you can sprue and make hollow tubing of various thickness.

[Swamp Dog]

i do save the good ones..but never thought of that trick..thanks for the tip.. :D

[Gothic Kustomz]

Wonder if I could do the same with a dremel, I have more then a big box of sprues, great idea, I'm on it...

Edited March 19, 2013 by Gothic Kustomz

[CrazyGirl]

thats me , always thinking

[george 53]

What woman ISN'T?!?

[disabled modeler]

Good tip...I have used them for years to make things like a rail dune buggy or other items.

[LoneWolf15]

What woman ISN'T?!?

The ones that I was married to ! Lmao !

[Foxer]

I cut pieces of sprue off with a hook at one end and put an alligator clip on the other. To hang those other pieces of painted plastic.

[MikeyB08]

How do you stretch styrene and such?

[2002p51]

I use pieces of sprue to stir paint but beyond that, nothing. Like the title says, styrene is cheap and I like using Evergreen.

[CrazyGirl]

go green , use old styrene !!!!! save the oil for your cars

[southpier]

http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/search/web?fcoid=417&fcop=topnav&fpid=27&q=stretching+sprue&ql=

[MikeyB08]

http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/search/web?fcoid=417&fcop=topnav&fpid=27&q=stretching+sprue&ql=

Thanks Joe...

[Ramfins59]

And I always just throw all those sprues away... I had once thought the same, in that "look how much wasted plastic there is." I wondered if there were any feasible method of returning the sprues to the manufacturers for them to re-use all that plastic to make more kits... might help to keep kit costs down a little. However the logistics of getting all that plastic back to the mfgrs. from all the varied kit buyers would probably be nearly impossible to do. Good idea though...

[Gothic Kustomz]

tryed it with the dremel, works great, like i said killer tip, thanx....

[Cool Hand]

Cant take credit for the idea.Found it somewhere on the net years ago.

I used some sprue tree's to make an engine stand,which I use to hold the engine when assembling and adding plug wires etc.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Cool Hand

[vintagercr]

Cant take credit for the idea.Found it somewhere on the net years ago.

I used some sprue tree's to make an engine stand,which I use to hold the engine when assembling and adding plug wires etc.

[img=http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh69/freakshow666_2008/Model%20Cars/braceposition2t.jpg]

[img=http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh69/freakshow666_2008/Model%20Cars/bracepositions.jpg]

[img=http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh69/freakshow666_2008/Model%20Cars/completedenginestand.jpg]

Luke that's a great idea.

[pandamonium2112]

The sprue's I will never throw away are the one's that head and tail lights come on. They get stored in a separate tote. That transparent (colored) plastic can come in real handy when you loose that one tail light lens to the carpet monster or scratch building some tail lights.

Chuck it up and spin out a new lens. After you get it to shape, touch it with some 00 steel wool while spinning to bring it to a glass finish.

[Guest G Holding]

Nice motor stand!

[wisdonm]

I use sprue to make fire extinguishers and tachs. It's usually too big for roll cages.

[george 53]

Oh, mix it in some liquid glue(cut it up first) and let it set. it'll become liquid again, really thick and rnny, and you can actually use it as filler! i've done it quite a few times and it works great!

[Guest G Holding]

Oh, mix it in some liquid glue(cut it up first) and let it set. it'll become liquid again, really thick and rnny, and you can actually use it as filler! i've done it quite a few times and it works great!

That is my body trick also.....Great filler when chopping or sectioning, gives the area more strength, although it sure is ugly when putting it on !

[Rockie]

Back in the days we take the left over sprue and stretch them with a candle to make cars attenna. They are more realistic than the one you get now. we could bend then and they act just like real one..

[joemac]

My brother scratch built an entire motorcycle model using the leftover sprue trees from various kits.

I'm stretching the rear body of a kit of a fire truck. The trees are very useful in bracing and connecting panels from the inside, where it won't be seen.

The trees come in handy when making all sorts of small parts,

I haven't built that many models, but I have an entire box full of trees.