Can This Be Salvaged?

[CT05 Nose Cone]

Bought a Tamiya R33 GTR on Ebay, unfortunately "as new condition" turned out to mean a bent roof




Beyond turning it into a roadster, is there any way of trying to get the roof back into shape? I did get a refund, but still feels like a shame to bin the entire kit.

[Jim H]

Oh I’d say so.

Have you got an electric heat gun? Like the one you may use for stripping paint?

From a distance, on its lowest setting, gently moving in in ever so slowly.

You’ll have to be careful mind, just really direct and ever so slowly - working in and using fingers to massage it back to shape.

Maybe some decent thin cotton cloves to be worn.

[Jim H]

Have you tried immersing it in a bath of boiling water?

From the kettle - first? That might give you an idea how malleable the plastic is. Before distorting it completely.

Again, gently, with gloves on.

[dr_gn]

If it’s the usual Tamiya assembly with a one-piece window moulding, you could use that as a former.

Run hot water over the bent pillar, and coax it back into shape using the transparency as a guide.

You might need to fill the plastic if it’s kinked. I’d say with patience, it could be salvaged.

I wouldn’t go anywhere near it with boiling water, let alone a heat gun. A hairdryer might be ok, but it’s risky - you’ll not get any warning that the plastic has lost its integrity - it’ll just deform and that will be that.

If you have any sprue of similar section, you could use that as a test to see how much heat it will take.

[CT05 Nose Cone]

Thanks for the replies, I've tried hot water which seems to have helped slightly, although the windows are one piece so with a decent adhesive I think it can work. Although not sure what I can use to stick it, don't think clearfix will be strong enough and super glue will cause it to fog up

[dr_gn]

CT05 Nose Cone said:

Thanks for the replies, I've tried hot water which seems to have helped slightly, although the windows are one piece so with a decent adhesive I think it can work. Although not sure what I can use to stick it, don't think clearfix will be strong enough and super glue will cause it to fog up

I think you need to re-shape it pretty much perfectly before assembly.

[gruffgriff]

Does the glass moulding have a full 'headliner', i.e. a big surface area that snugly fits the underside of the roof?
If so, I'd paint the shell up now (keep away from those thin pillars!) and assemble with quality thin double sided tape. A big panel of it in the theoretical sunroof area to align the two parts and a thin strip inside each of those pillars to take out the wavy bends using the glass moulding to pull everything straight.
Might need some epoxy blobs on the out-of-sight lower edge of the glass to tie it in to the door tops/scuttle to really lock it solid.
Good luck!

[dudleybloke]

Glue in supports to pull it straight but make it look like a roll cage.