In recent years I’ve been indulging my nostalgic side by buying and building a number of classic model car kits from the 1960s and ’70s, things I loved or lusted after as a kid. Often, the plastic in these old kits is brittle, extremely delicate, and almost impossible to remove from the sprues without breaking. I recently hit on the idea of cushioning parts with poster putty. Using a sprue cutter, I remove the section of the parts tree holding the part to be removed, making sure to leave a lot of extra framing around the part. Then, I embed the part and some of the surrounding sprue in a good-sized glob of poster putty. This allows me to apply pressure directly to the part with an extra-sharp scalpel blade; the poster putty absorbs most of the pressure, and nine times out of 10 I can remove the part cleanly. This method works equally well on modern kits.

Tip submitted by:
Jerry HawheeCantril, Iowa