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Help! Undoing enamel thinner on plastic embrittlement?


dur

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Sooooo I was stripping down one of my Arcadia VF-0A's for repainting using mr. thinner instead of my usual rubbing alcohol (since it works so much faster... sigh...) when I noticed that the gerwalk joint spontaneously started exploding.    Turns out you're not supposed to use that on straight plastic and this is a well documented effect for modelers.

 

So I stopped, I repaired and sanded the fissures I saw with CA, and now I'm wondering if this toy is now compromised.  Is there anyway to "undo" the embrittlement?  Should I just glue this together in fighter mode?  The rest of the fig seems fine.

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Well, as I said, I sanded and repainted the component, so it looks like a painted brick... I could take pictures if something explodes again, and if it doesn't, I guess I don't have to worry about it.  It looked like mp03 starscream after trying to transform it, if that helps... (cracked abs plastic around a hinge)

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2 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

If your plastic is already compromised, you're pretty boned. You're not getting that material strength back.

You could glue the affected pieces back together and resin cast them?

Well, crap.  I guess I've got nothing to lose by trying to anneal the plastic in the oven then!  If it goes really south, I'll leave it as a static fighter mode model- I guess that's why I got three of these things anyways :)

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I couldn't stand not knowing what would happen so I went ahead and transformed to gerwalk and back 2 or 3 times.  It seems to be holding up (though I developed another crack right next to the leg-to-fuselage connector on the back of the leg).  I have nearly FILLED the intake pieces with CA (going around the gerwalk joint of course)- I think that might be why it's ok right now as it's like a brick with a candy shell instead of a hollow part.

Thanks for the replies: I guess I'm thankful that I got lucky this time!  I also tried the hip extension gimmick and it still works (I know that's kind of a taunt with a VF-0A, but count me lucky).

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