"Broken Sword replacement in metal?" Topic

Hey Guys:
I moved and shipped myself some minis. Unfortunately, a metal officer's sword broke off. Can anyone recommend any replacement because the I believe the sword's width won't take any pinning. Thanks for your help.

Jorge

Take some brass wire. Hammer it flat. Cut the length you need for the sword blade. Cut off the stub of the broken sword. Drill a hole in the hilt. Epoxy the brass replacement blade into the hilt. Voila.

I've used straight pins for replacement swords for 25/28mm figures. I got the idea from Der Alte Fritz. You can either leave them round (as I did) or try to flatten and shape them. DAF recommends drilling out the hand and leaving a round portion (like a hilt) on the end of the pin before flattening and shaping it. Use either super glue (CA) or epoxy to glue them into the drilled out hands.

Jim

P.S. I see that Zippy beat me to the punch.

Yes, as Zippy and the Colonel say, common sewing pins work nicely. Snip off the flat head of the pin, place pin stub in pliers, then smash that sucker flat. Now file off the plating at the end that gets glued into the hole for a better bond. Or, if you are handy with a soldering iron, solder the pin in place.

Augie

Shameless self-promotion -- How to hammer out your own swords: link

If I had a hammer …

Got any hard plastic? Like a blister pack?

Easy to carve a new one, and a little dab o superglue.

Thanks everyone for the input. I'll try one of the methods posted.

Jorge

STOP STOP STOP! Forget this absurd blacksmithing in miniature.

Besides, the pins won't work- no matter how hard you try unless you drill a tiny hole in the hand to receive and glue the pin, they'll snap off just the same.

I'll tell you how to do it. Don't use metal at all. Use Plastic. Go to your garbage or recycling and take out the plastic milk jug you just threw away. Wash it out and cut out as much of the flat faces you can. Now get a steel rule and some very sharp Xacto knives and cut out the width of strip of the sword you wish. Now pin and rill the hand and fasten to it with expoxy. This will be a firm mount and hold the sword fast.

Unlike blister packs which are often too thin, or styrene which will react to paint and itself gets brittle, milk bottles are made of poly-ethelene and are of a guage to take very rough handling and or flexible. If you touch the sword, it will bend (no amount of blacksmithed pins or wire will do that) and you can straight it alter or even better, – replace easily and cheaply.

If you don't trust your hand you can go to Evergreen Plastics which makes scale stripping for model railroading in plastic. that's even better if you don't want to develop the skill in slicing the plastic, but it is more brittle.

Otto

Actually you can make pretty damn good metal swords flattening wire or pins, but it is insane, and potentially hazardous! Plastic replacement is the best idea.

Yeah, I don't know what metal Otto is talking about. My swords have some "give" and then snap back (I'm using brass rod.) They've been bent, bumped and dropped, but I've never had any of them actually break.

As Major says, though, they're hazardous if you sharpen them too much. I like mine sharp because it forces players to be careful when handling my pretty minis. (though, I'm afraid of paint chipping more than weapons breaking.)

Brooklyn, how did you do yours, and how'd they turn out?

If your officers can't be more careful with their weapons they should be broken to the ranks! Give that man a musket.

Seriously, I like the flattened brass. It's easier to work than a straight pin. For 28mm figures you can drill a hole, for 15mm I end up cutting a notch in the hand instead and folding it around the new sword with needle-nose plyers.

For 28mm figures I use women's hair pins (bobby pins). Cut to length and with a dremmel put a point and tang on them. Drill a hole in the figures hand and clue the new blade in.

Used to game with a guy who had replaced on the swords with needles (figure was holding the sword straight up) made for an interesting time moving them.

Am I the only one that thinks he should cut off the hand and replace it entirely?