Help! Casting/molding plastic parts?

[jusdrewit]

So the other day I was moving my Bandai speeder bike from my storage shed to my house and it fell and a few parts broke off. I recovered everything except one little part which appears to lost. But I have a duplicate since there were 2 parts. The part is tiny, maybe 3/4 inch long, tube shape, very thin. How would I go about recasting/molding this part so I can have a spare without buying a new kit or scratch building one? Does anyone have recommendations, tips, tricks?

I had a similar situation happen with my mini Bandai Star Destroyer where one of the little dome/shield generators fell off, but I have the 2nd one still. Since they are identical but this is even tinier, the same question arises, can I use the 2nd part at this tiny scale to mold another one?

I haven't done any research yet, but I'll start researching around as well just curious of others have done with any success. Thanks!

 

[swgeek]

Do you have a picture of the part? You could also 3D print it.

 

[TazMan2000]

Do you have a picture of the part? You could also 3D print it.

Of course you would have to 3D design it before printing it, unless the same broken part is available already as a 3D file.

TazMan2000

 

[moom1881]

You could mold and cast them quick and dirty in a thermoplastic like polymorph/blue stuff/oyumaru etc.
Depending on detail levels you can even use epoxy putty instead of breaking out resins to make the part.

Something like this:

 

[swgeek]

Do you have pictures of the part?

 

[jusdrewit]

I'll get pics tonight. It's the tube that props up the rear mud flap on the back of the speeder bike. It's honestly not very large or complicated so I could prolly make my own worst comes to worst. Also thankfully it's not noticable but it still bothers me lol

 

[SergioWebster]

First off, you’ll need some silicone mold putty or liquid silicone rubber and resin for casting. You can usually grab these at hobby shops or online. For super small parts, having a syringe or something similar could help with precise pouring.For the Speeder Bike part, you can press your duplicate into the silicone mold putty. If you’re using liquid silicone rubber, make a mold box to hold the liquid, then suspend the part in there and pour the silicone over it. For the tiny Star Destroyer part, do the same but maybe use a fine paintbrush to get the silicone into all those little details.Once your mold is cured, carefully pop out the original piece. Then mix your resin, pour it slowly into the mold, and watch out for air bubbles—maybe use a toothpick to push the resin into the tight spots. Let it cure, then pull out your newly cast part. You might need to trim off some excess with a hobby knife, but you should have a pretty solid replacement!

 

[RealDaveWinter]

I created a short post to describe how I do my casting and what materials I use. Maybe it will be helpful.

4' Falcon build

One of the big problems with 3D printing, is that they can fail in the middle of the night for no real reason. After 3 perfectly normal days of printing, I woke up to find this this morning. Somehow, the print head started to hit the part and caused the print bed to skip. And it clearly happened...

www.therpf.com

 

[BoontaModelling]

I am building the same kit right now and have lost one of these too!
I use the closed flaps now so not an issue for me.
I am based in Europe so I don't think posting my leftover piece is reasonable but let me know if you see that differently.

This does not answer your question but I think the easiest way is to just scratch build a similar part twice and use these instead.
Noone will ever notice and it is very satisfying.

Two different evergreen tube profiles should totally do the trick. A thing a lot of people do not seem to know about the evergreen styrene profiles is that odd numbers telescope into odd numbers, and even into evens. So a number 223 slides into 225 perfectly, 224 into 226 and so on (numbers are examples, all evergreen products are numbered).

Just a suggestion...
My apologies if you already knew all of this.
Best of luck!

 

[jusdrewit]

I am building the same kit right now and have lost one of these too!
I use the closed flaps now so not an issue for me.
I am based in Europe so I don't think posting my leftover piece is reasonable but let me know if you see that differently.

This does not answer your question but I think the easiest way is to just scratch build a similar part twice and use these instead.
Noone will ever notice and it is very satisfying.

Two different evergreen tube profiles should totally do the trick. A thing a lot of people do not seem to know about the evergreen styrene profiles is that odd numbers telescope into odd numbers, and even into evens. So a number 223 slides into 225 perfectly, 224 into 226 and so on (numbers are examples, all evergreen products are numbered).

Just a suggestion...
My apologies if you already knew all of this.
Best of luck!

Thanks mate! Just saw this. I never got around to replacing it, but I'll probably end up scratch building the part one day lol It's literally just the little rod that holds up the air flaps with a little flat piece on the end to notch into the speeder so it stays open.