This guy I know put together this blue box boxcar back in the 70’s, and since the instructions didn’t mention how to secure the weights, he oozed about half a tube of Testor’s model cement on the floor of the boxcar and slapped them down. Naturally it didn’t hold, but in addition, it caused the floor of the boxcar to warp a little bit and now the coupler on that end angles up too high to mate with others.
Naturally some shims could remedy the problem, but this guy prefers to address the root of a problem and wants to try and straighten out the floor of the boxcar like it’s supposed to be.
So how does one go about reshaping plastic?
Seems like warming it up a bit might allow it to be flexed just enough to undo the warp, but what’s the easiest and safest way to do that?
Dip it in hot water for a couple of minutes to soften it up, then hold it straight while it cools off. I collect Transformers, and had to do this to a part on a reissue Tracks, that was deformed do to being misassembled.
Careful, the boxcar may not be styrene, a multitude of plastics are used in cars by different manufacturers, some bend, some can be glued, some take certain paints,etc, Styrene is a very forgiving material but your car may not be made of it.
I wondered about that. I assume that heated water is the first step approach, so what’s the next move if warm, and then boiling water fails to soften the plastic enough to bend it?
A torch seems like overkill, soldering iron too much heat in too small an area, and plus I don’t really want plastic all over my soldering iron. Successive 5 second bursts in the microwave owen? Conventional over bumped up from 200 degrees say 25 degrees at a time under constant inspection and using a suitable container to prevent and molten plastic from fouling the oven?
I can’t count the number of times I’ve opened a box to find the roof warped or something.
I’ve used the water trick, but it’s a little hard to control. Get the water a little too hot, or hold the part in a little too long, and you’ve got a big problem.
I found that an oven mitt and a blow dryer were good for this type of work.
You can’t hold the dryer too close obviously, but if you hold it at say 8 or 10 inches from the part, you can control it quite well. Just work slowly and carefully.
And get your own hair dryer and oven mitt, don’t use the wife’s. She won’t take too kindly to you swiping her stuff just to goof with trains. [8D]