Warp Factor Woes!

[astrodoc]

Hi everybody,

 

Well call me a glutton for punishment but I do have this "thing" going for making 40 year old models based on even older tooling. Crazy I know! Of particular interest to me in recent months has been Revell's History Makers series, basically a 1980's re-issue of Cold War rockets, missiles, X planes and spacecraft based on models first introduced in the 60's and 70's. I was lucky enough to get my hands on this beauty recently: the Thor and Jupiter C  IRBM going for half the price of what other sellers were asking for on a well known auction site.  Here it is...

 

 

 

The box was factory sealed as was the poly bag, so I cannot blame the seller for what followed... On opening the box and examining the contents, here's what I found for the Thor missile's launch platform:

 

 

WOW!!  That particular piece is supposed to be totally flat!

 

 

Now I've come across a few warped aircraft fuselages before, but never something like this. "Warp Factor 3 Mister Sulu" does not do it justice!  As I said, I can't blame my seller since the contents were factory sealed, but clearly the box and contents must have gone through some heat cycling in their long history - sitting in a sunny shop window for years and years, perhaps?  Or maybe forgotten on the back seat of a car in direct sunlight?  One can conjecture ad infinitum on how this piece became so twisted. One of the Thor missile's fuselage halves is also slightly warped together with a couple of the launch gantry struts. But the base is by far the worse affected. I cannot see this as a manufacturing problem (although perhaps more knowledgeable people in this forum can correct me on that assumption). Otherwise Revell's QC department leaves much to be desired, even by 1980's standards.

 

The challenge for me now is how to correct the problem and make the part usable, so any help from far more experienced modellers would be greatly appreciated (I've only recently got back into modelling after a long absence of 40 years!). I know that clamping the piece in a rig while soaking in 90-100C water to raise the styrene close to its glass transition temperature may gradually bring the plastic back to its original shape, but does anyone have any better ideas?  A hot soak is something that I will try if there are no other ideas, but in view of the severity of the warping I may never recover the original shape.  

 

Or should I just discard the piece in my junk box and order some Plastruct?

 

Cheers

Steve

   

Just another thought as an edit  -  if the box had been in a shop window for years the cover art would have become bleached and faded. In fact, apart from a few dents and light wear and tear, the box and colours are well preserved - like new.  Adds to the mystery.   

Edited May 1, 2018 by astrodoc
Added comment as afterthought

[Gorby]

That is a bit of a mystery. I was also thinking that the box would have been very faded if it had been in the sun long enough for the part to have warped that badly. If the box had been exposed to significant heat I would have thought that most of the parts would be warped to some extent.

Although I have never had need to do it myself, my go-to option would be the clamp and hot water method.

[goggsy]

Christ on a bike. Break out the plasticard I’d say. You could try hot water I suppose but you’ll never get that completely flat.

[azureglo]

Thus proving that there is no such thing as a free launch...

 

A

[Mike]

11 minutes ago, azureglo said:

Thus proving that there is no such thing as a free launch...

 

Seriously though, you could try clamping it between two flat things and leaving it on the radiator overnight (forever?) to flatten it out.  Just get a template of all those scary pin-holes and the general size of the part/layout of details before you do in case it goes a bit Pete Tong

[Stalker6Recon]

On 5/1/2018 at 6:46 PM, astrodoc said:

WOW!!  That particular piece is supposed to be totally flat!

So.............what ever came of the launch pad? I am newly returned to modelling after a thirty year lapse, and as such, I am trying to devour as much intel on modelling as humanly possible. So I started on page one, and I am only now reading your post after a week of going thru every item trying to learn what a can from people that are true artists in this field. I am just glad the modellers seem to be a very friendly, sharing type, without the competitive secrecy you might get in other "hobbys".

 

Anyway, that was some minor twisting, I would love to see what your ended up with and how you got there. I may never have a piece warp that bad, but if I do, I will know what to do about it from your experience.

 

Can't wait to see the pictures,

 

Anthony stalker6recon D'Agostino