Post by stoiss on Jan 23, 2010 23:27:19 GMT
Hi,
After seeing gulg's very dynamic looking "spermagants" in the "Your Tyranid Army" thread I figured I would have a go at it myself.
I then did some researching and decided to try out the boiling water and salt methods.
The boiling water method did not work out too well as the plastic never became soft enough to bend. This isn't surprising when you consider that plastic becomes soft at around 90-100 degrees Celsius which may be a tad higher than the boiling point of water depending on where you live.
However the salt method did the trick!
Tools and Remedies
Plain table salt.
Thermometer which goes to 100 degrees (C) - Optional
An old stiff brush for brushing off the salt (it becomes sticky when hot)
A small kitchen pot.
Parts of sprue for testing before you have a go at your precious plastic figures.
Softening and bending
I set the stove to about 6 (goes up to 12) or half.
Once the salt has reached 90 degrees (C) stick the sprue into the salt for about 15-30 seconds or until you can feel it becomes flexible.
This is your chance to get a feel for the process.
No stress marks and no marks from the salt grains so this is neither too cold or too hot. Good to go!
Stick in the little guy for about 10 seconds at the time until you can feel the tail become flexible. Once this happens you have about 5-10 seconds to alter the shape. If you don't get it right it's back in the pot!
The result
The gant on the left has not received the treatment while the two on the right have been turned into "spermagants".
These took about 10 minutes to bend into shape once the salt had gotten to the right temperature.
All in all I feel this is a safer method as it gives you a good deal of control of which parts of the figure gets heated as well as the temperature.
"Now where's that objective?!"
cheers!
stoiss
After seeing gulg's very dynamic looking "spermagants" in the "Your Tyranid Army" thread I figured I would have a go at it myself.
I then did some researching and decided to try out the boiling water and salt methods.
The boiling water method did not work out too well as the plastic never became soft enough to bend. This isn't surprising when you consider that plastic becomes soft at around 90-100 degrees Celsius which may be a tad higher than the boiling point of water depending on where you live.
However the salt method did the trick!
Tools and Remedies
Plain table salt.
Thermometer which goes to 100 degrees (C) - Optional
An old stiff brush for brushing off the salt (it becomes sticky when hot)
A small kitchen pot.
Parts of sprue for testing before you have a go at your precious plastic figures.
Softening and bending
I set the stove to about 6 (goes up to 12) or half.
Once the salt has reached 90 degrees (C) stick the sprue into the salt for about 15-30 seconds or until you can feel it becomes flexible.
This is your chance to get a feel for the process.
No stress marks and no marks from the salt grains so this is neither too cold or too hot. Good to go!
Stick in the little guy for about 10 seconds at the time until you can feel the tail become flexible. Once this happens you have about 5-10 seconds to alter the shape. If you don't get it right it's back in the pot!
The result
The gant on the left has not received the treatment while the two on the right have been turned into "spermagants".
These took about 10 minutes to bend into shape once the salt had gotten to the right temperature.
All in all I feel this is a safer method as it gives you a good deal of control of which parts of the figure gets heated as well as the temperature.
"Now where's that objective?!"
cheers!
stoiss
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