How do I make a copy of a small broken rudder off of a tiny airplane model?

[garyinco]

Going to a new Makerspace (Spring/The Woodlands, TX-USA) tomorrow to learn more. Glad I found this site. Thanks for all of the help so far. rich

I'm not a fan of SketchUp, just not my thing. To me, Blender seems better suited to art forms than precise mechanical objects. A prop is about as precise as you can get. The pitch varies across the length of the blades, unless this is some $10 toy from a convenience store. I know I couldn't even begin to recreate a propellor. ViaCad is a low cost CAD program. I believe they still have a trial version available. The math oriented kid(s) will gravitate toward that, and grab the free version of Blender for the artsy type(s). All will learn important modeling skills and having the printer will be the motivator. And you will thoroughly enjoy having a hobby to really bond with them on.

Buy a different RC vehicle. Go to a hobby shop and tap the experience of people who know what they're talking about. They won't recommend items they can't get parts for. And the object will be functional for more than an hour. Sic(sp?) the kiddos on thingiverse dot com. They will find all kinds of things they want to make. Modeling their own can come a little later.