This message could be subtitled “Finescale Modeling…NOT.” My nine year old son is building an old, very inexpensive, and very poorly designed model of the Titanic. He is using the model for a book report, and it’s important to him that the finished product look good. The piece representing the promenade deck is long (approx twelve inches), flat, and relatively narrow. It is also warped and twisted as hell, to the point where it is going to be extremely difficult to get a good fit. Is there some way to straighten the piece before gluing it in place? Can I “re-set” the piece in hot water? Any help would be appreciated very much by me and my son.
murrill
I’m not a ship modeller but is there a way that the deck can be reinforced to straighten it out with something like brass rod. It’s just a thought.
I’ve used warm water to straighten out upper and lower hulls of tank kits. It’s best to use a container that is long enough to hold the piece you want to fix. Avoid any open flame!! (I learned this the hard way… [V] )
get a piece of wood slightly bigger then the warped peice. Using water that is as hot as you can stand to put your hand in, and using the piece of wood as a straight edge, hold the warped piece flat against it, letting the warped piece get soft. Once it has got soft and is straightened out enough, still holding it firmly against the piece of wood you can plunge it into cold water, and this will make it stay straight.
order new parts.
What about making a new one using thicker stock? What ever you do, don’t use a hair dryer, heat gun or an oven…so I’ve heard[;)]
Darren
A variation on Darren’s comment;
Buy some thicker stock styrene, I’d say no less than .040" gauge and snug it to the underside of the warped piece with c-clamps (use some paper towel between the clamps and the plastic to avoid scuffing the plastic. Once the pieces are snugged together, the warped piece should be generally flattened out and you can run a line of super glue around the junction of the warped part and the stock sheet, leave the clamps on overnight for fullest curing of the glue.
As your piece is a flat ship deck, that should solve your problem.
Good luck, hope your son gets a good mark on his report.
A small addendum to what upnorth had to offer previously: Use the superglue and bracing, but use some “superglue” accelerator. Speeds up drying time considerably. Most hobby shops and builders’ supply stores have it. -Ed
I got a model of an AMT KC-135 and I had the same problem. The way I corrected it was by putting the warped wing (in my case) on the floor and using a hair dryer set to hot. Place the hair dryer about 4 inches from the plastic and move it side to side. This method worked great for me but (Be very, very careful!!!)
don’t let the dryer stay in on spot for too long.
Good Luck!