Needed a fine thread 1/4 inch machine screw for a tool I am making. Went to three stores in the area- a building supply firm, an Ace hardware and an auto parts store. No luck at any place. No one seems to carry fine thread stuff anymore. One said to look online, which I did and found them at Amazon! Since I have prime membership ordered them and got free shipping. But still, I think do-it-yourself has become a thing of the past in this country.
Also, needed some of those dummy plastic “bolts” for some very small bolts in a scratchbuilding project. Went online to several model RR online suppliers and could not find them! Anyone know if any place still sells them? I do seem to notice fewer scratchbuilt models showing up at meetings and contests these days.
Based on my own limited observations many of our younger generations inhabitants don’t know which end of a screw driver to hold and don’t care. When it breaks just throw it out and get another one.
Last year, my kids gave me a set of flexible silicone molds to cast my own bolt heads and rivets in resin. It’s essentially an 8x10 piece of rubber that has lines of cavities of pre-determined sizes ranging from 0.25mm up to 2.5mm in diameter. Whenever I cast pieces, I always seem to have a little extra resin mixed up in the cup and I hate to waste it, so I keep the mold close at hand. Essentially, you just sort of drizzle the spare resin over it, trowel things off to level it, and flex the mold to release the pieces once the resin has set.
I don’t have the literature that came with it, but I think that the manufacturer was Greenstuff World. They do a lot of similar molds to let you do bricks and masonry, as well as structural bits and greeblies for sci-fi builders.