Old Sprues and Parts

I have heard some guys on here who keep there box lids stored flat. That a nice idea because there is some really nice box art and its a shame to throw it, but i thnik we would end up inundated. t bad enough trying to store the stash and display the completed models.

I have all my spare parts seperated into boxs depending on catergory. German aircraft, US, Brit etc. For vehicles i have a box for each vehcile type i have a lt of kits of. But some of my boxs are gettinbg full and i might have to sub divide a bit further. Either that or be realistic and throw stuff i know i won't use. But where is the fun in that.

Sounds perfectly OCD to me!  I like it! :)  I would probably end up doing the same thing... One thing I did with my extra sprues was cut it up into 2 sections... long straight bits, and nibs.  I'd look on each sprue and see what areas had the longest, straightest parts and I would cut them off.  I would try to keep the long parts above an inch or so (great for stretching later) and put all them into a box.  Then whatever was left I cut into little bite size kibble for melting down later.  I heard of someone a long time ago that used the plastic and some kind of chemical to break down the plastic into a moldable clay.  I thought that might come in handy someday!  For the life of me I can't remember what that chemical was.  But you never know when something like that might come in handy later! :)

LrdSatyr8 the chemicals are Methyl Chloride or Methyl Ethyl Ketone (sold in hardware stores as MEK). Or you can use any of the "hot" hobby glues like Tenax, Pro-Weld, etc. which are essentially those chemicals. The beauty of using melted sprue as a filler is that it can be as thick or thin as you prefer, and it behaves just like the surrounding plastic, 'cause that's what it is!

Mike

mrmike

LrdSatyr8 the chemicals are Methyl Chloride or Methyl Ethyl Ketone (sold in hardware stores as MEK). Or you can use any of the "hot" hobby glues like Tenax, Pro-Weld, etc. which are essentially those chemicals. The beauty of using melted sprue as a filler is that it can be as thick or thin as you prefer, and it behaves just like the surrounding plastic, 'cause that's what it is!

See... that's why I love our  community!  If you don't have the whole answer someone does! Thanks Mike... gonna add that to my shopping list and start experimenting!  I wonder if it could be thinned down enough to pour into a mold?

Ah , Those sprues !

    I always clip off the good parts into their appropriate containers . Then - I take the sprues and save the roundest or squarest and clip them into long straight pieces . If I see a curved one that will serve later I put it in a different box .

 I know , I know , it's O.C.D. but ! When I want to do a cutaway I have something to use for pipes etc. plus all that stretched sprue for rigging . I take that and hang it in notebooks for storage .

   Tanker - Builder

hell i'm lucky i have 3 boxes i put the leftovers in regardless of sorting. i do need to be better especially with figures

So I was thinking of getting some MEK this weekend... but gotta know before I do... will it work to melt down the sprue plastic enough to be poured into a mold?  Anyone know?

I throw the boxes away after completion of a build and keep the leftover parts, otherwise I will end up with tons of more stuff. I have to go thru all the sprues and remove the parts then put them by category into sandwhich sized zip lock bags to save storage space. Those sprues take up a lot of space.

LrdSatyr8, MEK's pretty hot stuff - it will probably melt the mold material unless you have a metal mold. But please don't let me discourage you from experimenting - it would be great to have a new casting technique.

On the original topic, I like to keep useful lengths of sprue in plastic bags marked by the kit they came from. That way when I get into a stretching session, I can identify which plastic is working best and keep going.

Happy modeling!

Mike

I have several spares boxes.

4 boxes for decals (Modern, U.S. WW2, German, and everything else)

Parts are also organized by...small parts(stuff useful for cockpits, gear bays etc)...ordnance/stores...figs....clear...wheels...and a big, non OCD, clutter box for just about everything else.

I used to save every box along with it's spare parts and inst. sheet. I'm over that! That was fine when I only had 15-20 builds...now, with close to 1000 under my belt...NO WAY! Aside from any remaining useful parts, everything goes in the trash, without sentiment.