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humbug

Brand new lexan body squashed.

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I blame my wife 100% for this >:(

She wasn't paying attention and sat on a brand new lexan body. The front left guard has a nice crease from the side marker light, over the edge of the wheel arch and all the way down to the edge of the front lip.

Is this body now ruined? Is there anyway to remove the crease mark? Whats worse is the crease line goes straight through 2 very smooth areas which has a very gentle radius. I'm worried this will catch the light and just look disgustingly obvious...

I really hope there is a simple old trick out there that I dont know about. Just add hot water and it will spring back to its original shape from some special memory? Its a long shot lol.

Maybe a positive, but the lexan is only 0.25mm thick which is about half the thickness of all my other bodies. I'm hoping it will be easier to rework...

 

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I've had a few hard hits with some of my Lexan bodied bashers and once its creased there's no going back, its not like having a crack and using a spare piece of lexan and backing it with shoegoo

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I just spent the last 30 minutes under running scolding hot water trying to work it out with my fingers. Managed to bend it back slightly but cant get that darn crease out :(

Looks like this will become my practice body :( I'll have to order a new one... $100... :( 

Now wife is peeved because I yelled at her... She's lucky it wasn't my full scale 300zx... instant divorce lol

 

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In a last ditch effort to try and at least make it less noticeable, I thought I'd try my hot air smd soldering rework station. Now I tried to be careful and go slow... So I first tried 150 deg C but it didn't do anything. I then bumped it up to 190C. Good news is it healed the crease like magic, bad news is the once nice smooth radius now feels a bit like mild cellulitis. Might look worse when painted. Who knows.

So just a note to anyone thinking of trying this: Don't go as high as 190C and use the finest tip you can. Evenly heating it is not ideal. Controlled focus of heat is what you want. Having said that, for thicker lexan (0.5mm), you might need more heat, but I'm not sure. All I can say is it softens at lower temperatures than you'd think, so next time I'll be bumping up the temp by 10 deg C increments.

So I've accepted I need to get a new body anyway. Just wanted to try it as I have another body with a similar problem that I need to fix.

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I tried it with a hairdryer once and it seemed to be going back into shape at first but it soon became clear the whole shell was turning into a lumpy mess and it was impossible to make smooth again.

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1 hour ago, humbug said:

I blame my wife 100% for this >:(

 

LOL you put a valuable but nearly invisible object on a seat? Must be a blast being married to you :P

 

Lexan is like really thin sheet metal in some ways -- once you've distorted it, there really isn't much chance you're going back to the original dimensions. You seem to have discovered that a little heat will make the plastic very malleable, but without a form or buck to guide it, you're just going to be creating lumpy blobs.

Maybe there's a lesson in all of this? :ph34r:

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yup.
#1 lesson from this: 'trying only makes it worse'
#2 lesson dont leave valuable transparent things lying about. lol

It was actually next to a bean bag, where I was working at a desk... but yeah, last time I let something like that happen again >.< 

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Meh, sometimes trying pays off ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  At least you've learned a thing or two about the properties of sheet polycarbonate.

About a decade ago, before the Brat was re-released, I dropped a screwdriver on an uninstalled windshield and broke the mounting tab off. I was *heated* because the crack was big enough that the part was essentially ruined and clear Brat plastic was (and remains to be) on the rare side.

Couldn't tell you why I thought it was a good idea to have the body parts scattered across my work area :rolleyes: but I definitely learned that brittle plastic is unforgiving.

 

Have you considered a carefully-cut graft and glue from a TBG body? Maybe not a cheap fix, but might at least enable a salvage effort. How bad is it?

 

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9 hours ago, OCD said:

You seem to have discovered that a little heat will make the plastic very malleable, but without a form or buck to guide it, you're just going to be creating lumpy blobs.

If the Lexan is not creased you can normally fix damage to good standard by delicately applying heat from a lighter.  When heated this way it actually wants to return to its moulded form not go into lumpy blobs :lol: 

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It's a body for a toy car that will end up tattered if you play with it right. Paint it up and run it. You'll forget about that crease as soon as you put the first real scratches in it from running. 😆

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In your wife’s defence why was the lexan body in a place that she could have squashed it ?

They are easily overlooked due to the fact they are transparent , my daughter squashed one of my F1 bodies while dancing with a friend in a room where I stored my kits  - frustrating yeah .

Agreed if your going to run the car once it’s painted up that crease will be the least of your problems .

if your going to show the car in a cabinet or something just display the good side.

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I think your biggest mistake was yelling at your wife.  She would have felt bad enough and if handled right you could have milked it for a whole lot more than just a $100 body!

Also, you have a real 300ZX?  Is it a Z32?  And a turbo manual?  That was always on the list of cars I wanted.  You should really post pics of your 1:1 and 1:10 just in case, you know, like a record for insurance or something

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To be fair, I was exaggerating a bit. It wasn't a huge fight. It's not like she's going to sell all of my stuff... I hope *gulp* lol

Yup, I have a 1:1 scale zed lol. Twin Turbo Manual, naturally. ;)  It's a money pit <3 needs better wheels... But big turbos and forged rebuild takes priority
24210154_10213010302485645_1781558823405

Actually, I'm trying to get as many different scales as possible, paint them the same colour so I can line them all up in order :p 

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Did you film it ?  There are some very odd people out there, and videos of women squashing brand new car bodies by sitting on them might be exactly what someone has been waiting for all their life.

Not me I hasten to add, not even with my hatred of lexan shells.

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