dur Posted October 17, 2018 Posted October 17, 2018 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.
nightmareB4macross Posted October 17, 2018 Posted October 17, 2018 Take pictures to better understand what is happening and what possible solutions people could offer up.
dur Posted October 17, 2018 Author Posted October 17, 2018 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)
Sanity is Optional Posted October 17, 2018 Posted October 17, 2018 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?
dur Posted October 17, 2018 Author Posted October 17, 2018 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
Sanity is Optional Posted October 17, 2018 Posted October 17, 2018 Annealing won't help this. It won't melt the parts back together, it'll just remove internal stresses.
nightmareB4macross Posted October 17, 2018 Posted October 17, 2018 Try asking one of our resident 3D modelers to produce a printable file. The OA would then still be transformable.
dur Posted October 18, 2018 Author Posted October 18, 2018 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).
nightmareB4macross Posted October 18, 2018 Posted October 18, 2018 That 0A must have nine lives. Good to hear it worked out.
MechTech Posted October 21, 2018 Posted October 21, 2018 In the future, use Pine Sol to strip paint off your models. TEST it first on something expendable just in case. I've safely used it before. - MT
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