Ahhh, yes , the "it's all mrpogies' fault " inspiration syndrome
Some of these guys really do give us inspiration now don't they
Assinnipi, I think you really could add the dup. to your lathe without too much trouble if it is mounted firmly to a bench. You can mount the dup. to the bench also and fashion some kind of bolting device so it can be removed easily.
It is very hard to take the time you would need to take to get duplicates by eye and by constantly measuring. Those bottle swimmers and darters are 2 of the plugs that seem to be critical to have them close to exact duplicates.
good luck