Ok, so I bought an old AMT A-Team van kit off ebay over a year ago and I decided I was going to build it. So I took it out of the box and started examining the pieces only to see it look like the body had been stepped on (or similar at some point. Anyhow, the a pilar on the van is bent badly and has been for so long that the roof line is slightly distorted. I pushed the pilar back in place and held for a while trying to straighten it all out, it’s better than it was but not perfect. I’m hoping that when I get the windshield in place that will give it some rigidity, but I’m not positive. I thought about glueing a piece of styrene on the back side, but I wasn’t sure how that would effect the fit of the windshield. Anyone have any suggestions?
first of all, the a-team is a great show. you might want to try heating the plastic up with a hair dryer or better yet a heat gun and when its soft enough move it back into place. make sure you cool it quickly though and be careful not to melt the plastic entirely. this solution usually works for me but requires patience. good luck and let me know how it turns out.
I actually thought about that, but I’m afraid that the plastic may have become to soft in the bends and may not regain any, even when heated and reformed.
instead of pouring hot water over the post. place a small pan of water on your kitchen stove or a hot plate; bring the water up to where it sending out steam, hold the bent part in the steam for a time then straighten the part, remove from the steam and let cool holding the part straight. after it cools check for the correct fit if not completely right, just repeat the process until it is the way you want it. i use this method to even straighten warped frames, etc. less chance of melting the plastic part!!
I had a similar problem with an old MPC promo I was working on. One A pillar was broken, the other bent, and the roof had been out of shape so long it was a real bear to get back in place. I used hot tap water, bent the piece back into shape, then switched to cold water to set it. I only had to repeat this, oh, about two dozen times before the roof would stay in place long enough for me to work on the A pillars. Mine were too far gone and I ended up making new ones. Not that hard, though. I used a fine cutoff disk in my Dremel to cut an old #11 blade down to the profile shape of the a pillar. Then I cut styrene to an apropriate strip size and scraped it to shape and cut to the lengths I needed. For added security I cut a groove in the back and superglued slightly longer pieces of fine brass wire. The ends of the wire fit in notches carved into the stubs of the removed pillars and strengthened the connections.