left over sprue?

Hi:

     The ideas you've come up with are all valid.Now here's one I bet you didn't think of. I have done a 72" long ship .I framed and keeled her with sprue. Yup, I built the keel and all the frames using sprue. Just like a wood model. I sheeted her with sheet plastic cut into panels much like the welded steel panels on real ships. I R.C.d her. 

      She is now a display piece in an attorney's office. What was she?Well , Oh,  okay. A modern Twin engined Sport Fishing boat, much like you used to see in Florida when i was a kid. Outriggers and all.

I save a couple of pieces for tests for paiint compatibiliy, but trash the rest. However, I havestarted using the method of not cutting pieces off until I am ready for the piece.

I throw it all out, along with the boxart and instructions when the model is done.

John3M

What do you do with the sprue after completing your kit? 

There is a member here, his forum handle is capt-fue.  He takes sprues, melts them over low heat, and forms them into blanks for sculpting.   He sculpts figures from these blanks, mostly all American soldiers from different periods.  If you do a search on his name, you should be able to find his posts and see his work.

You could also reach out to him and see if he'd like any leftover sprues for his work.

Building race cars from boring road cars, use sprue for chassis parts, light bars, roll cages etc.

Hey!

           Have you ever thought? Take for instance the "Shell Welder" kit. Oh ,not the greatest ship kit by a long shot!  But, it is a Tanker. So carefully carve off the pipes on deck and replace with the right sized sprue. Looks one hundred percent bettter!

          I have also stretched it just a little to save money,instead of buying ready made Rods from Evergreen, using the stretched to the right size for piping on the deck of REVELL's T-2 tanker kit.It also can be used to make cargo booms etc. on larger scale ships and for the round tubing on larger non-flying models of the early Pipers and Stinsons, Beechcraft etc!

          But if you don't want to bother with that Save your empty glue bottles, Grind up some colored sprue, Green, Red etc. And Voila! you've got colored Sprue Glue!

You Know, Baron;

     That's a good idea too. I have a high school neighbor who makes art out of sprue from her brothers models. She collects some from me from time to time. Her Mother makes Tooth-pick holders and other table tools out of it too!

     All her Brother(he's fifteen) wants to talk about if Football and the Basketball "SPURS " team. He just builds models, he says, cause people give them to him as gifts and he doesn't want to hurt their feelings.

     The Husband and  Dad was killed in action, another Fallujah victim like my Brothers. They are not close but visitable from time to time. I helped Mom get the V.A. to provide a color-guard for his funeral.

     He was the only "Heavy" modeler in this neighborhood besides me.You should see his Armor collection. Mom keeps them all over the house, to remember him by!