How to straighten VW Samba bottom plate / chassis

[JeroenS]

Hi all, 

 

I'm in the middle of Revell's VW Samba 1/16 and I have a slight issue with the bottom plate: it's not completely straight. I guess I should have noticed and fixed that earlier on but ... I didn't. As you can see on the pics the front right wheel is slightly elevated. Any suggestions on how to go about fixing this, now that all the paint and parts are on? 

 

Cheers, Jeroen

 

 

 

 

[s.e.charles]

if the floor pan isn't painted, you might have some luck playing a hair drier amidships and twisting it with your hands until it sits even. go past where you think it should be because the plastic may have a memory and not hold the full correction.

 

another way might be to cut a slice in the high side and wedge in a piece of plastic strip. also, in between build sessions, weight the assembly down to help it behave.

 

looks like you're too far along for the hot water dunk cure. the body might help the floorpan retain its shape, but you're wise to begin course correction as soon as possible.

 

might take a little of this and that, and in the end simply sanding a flat spot on the other front tire to bring the high side down. 

[JeroenS]

Thanks, I think I'll go for warming it up from the top as that side isn't painted since it will not be visible. I'll have to check on the paint on the underside as I go. Anyway, I need to do something about it as I'm sure the body won't fit properly if I don't. 

[JeroenS]

Hi southpier, just to let you know: the hairdryer approach didn't work out, I don't think I got the floorpan warm enough and I didn't dare to go warmer because of the paint that was already on the thing. However, there's another floorpan for the interior that goes on top of this one and I noticed it was also a little bit out of shape (next time I'm going to make sure all the large parts are straight before I start painting!). So in the end, when I put them together, worked at it with clamps and weighted it all down, it miraculously all came together nice and straight! Big sigh of relief there. 

[s.e.charles]

sometimes the Hobby Spirits reward our efforts!