Advice on replacing weak/broken weapons

[Kikuchiyo]

I've a number of 40 to 54mm metal figures and what I've noticed is the weapons are more to scale and therefor fragile. I'd like to swap out the blades for another metal before I end up snapping them off

I've seen mention in the past of using brass but are there grades of softness to brass, I repaired a couple of old pocket knives some time back and the brass was way to hard to easily hammer flat or shape into a blade

[Tom Dulski]

 If it's say a sword I've always had more success gluing on a plastic replacement part rather than another metal bit. Also plastic pieces are usually easier to come by as spurs often contain extra bits.

[Merlon]

Plenty of places sell brass or nickel silver sheet that can be cut and filed into all kind of shapes.
I buy mine from Macc Models https://maccmodels.co.uk/ because they are fairly local to me.

You would still need to figure out how you attach them to the figure. Soldering is probably a no go, so that leaves drilling into the hand and gluing into place. Quite likely you would cause more damage to the figure than you would cure, potentially a good chance of being stabbed by the figure in the future  as well.

[Kikuchiyo]

The main figures I'm looking at fixing are the Steve Barber Samurai along with a 54mm Sharpe figure that has a sword made out of cooked spaghetti

I'm sure someone on here replaced them with hammered flat brass rod but can't find any info

[Tarnegol]

Anneal the brass by heating and cooling (either in water or just leave it). This will soften it. Subsequent hammering will go some way to hardening it again.

[Kikuchiyo]

Anneal the brass by heating and cooling (either in water or just leave it). This will soften it. Subsequent hammering will go some way to hardening it again.

thanks that sounds sensible

I remembered where I saw the detail now

https://carmensminiaturepainting.blogspot.com/2013/05/42mm-samurai-next-group-under-way.html

Just no mention of diameter used

[Merlon]

Just no mention of diameter used

3/64 inch (roughly 1.2mm) per the blog entry comment
https://carmensminiaturepainting.blogspot.com/2009/12/dropping-hammer-making-your-own-swords.html

[Kikuchiyo]

I thought I'd scoured the site for that very post, thanks

[Cubs]

I use hair grips (the flat kind) sometimes known as kirby grips or bobby pins in the US. Then I grind it to shape with a mini-drilling disc, leaving a thin tang that can slot into a hole drilled in the hand. For curved stuff, underwired bra wire is good, but if you don't want to lose teeth, I'd only try to rescue wire from bras being thrown out!

[2010sunburst]

When I’ve done this I’ve used nickel silver strip.  Soft enough to easily shape with a needle file, but hard enough to be robust.  A lot less work than flattening wire