Featured Discussion: There are lots of reasons to bend plastic: fabricating parts, fixing warped pieces, vacuum forming, etc. Tell us how you do it and be specific.
Twelve people attended. We met Steve G, the new Prez of the Hampton
Roads Scale Modelers IPMS chapter in Virginia Beach. He wants
to see how other clubs operate, especially clubs that have been around
for a long time. Welcome aboard, Steve. Hope you can join us again.
Lou reports Revell Germany's 1/32 Gloster Meteor F8/Fr 9 and 1/72 Me P 1099 are available.
We saw Vaughn's F-105 and T-34, Chuck's P-47, Kevin's Yak-36, Simon's Fw-190 and Gil's 3D printed female figure.
Acquisitions included: F-16 I, M-50 Mk2 Super Sherman, and VMFA 242 bat decals.
Because the topic was
bending plastic, Gil's dental vacuum forming machine was the featured
tool. Angelo has one as well, no surprise there. But it was a surprise
to see several people still had their Matell
Vac-u-forms, even though they don't use them so much.
The low-tech way to bend
or de-warp (is that a word?) plastic or resin is, clamp it to a board,
heat it, shape it, and let it cool before removing the clamp. The heat
source will depend on the size of the
piece and the complexity of the bend. We heard about hot water, steam, a
heat gun, an incandescent light bulb, a coffee mug warmer, and a
candle. We probably missed a few, but you get the idea. When the
discussion got to stretched sprue, Kevin offered a tip
for making pitot tubes. The plastic shafts on those cheap Q-tips can be
heated and stretched to make very small diameter tubes.
The next meeting is
Tuesday, 1/27/26, at 7:30 pm. Invites to follow. Hope to see you there.
And if you're getting ready for the big snow, stay safe.
~Russ
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