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Fixing a warped wing...


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I have a 1/48 Revell B-1B (1983, original boxing, white plastic) that has a wing problem.

One of the wing halves is warped badly. I tried to bend it by hand but was afraid it would snap in half.

I have heard that soaking the wing in hot/boiling water helps. (?)

This is my last hope right now. If this does not work I may have to bin the kit for parts.

Has anyone done this to fix a warped wing? It sounds easy enough to try...

Scott
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Yes but I did not put it in boiling water. I have my water heater set quite high so I ran the tap till it got hot then held the wing under the water for a few minutes until the wing was quite warm  then gently twisted and shaped it. It took a few times, it was the old 1/72 Revell B-17F from the 1960s boxing. It worked quite well.

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Thanks for the info jonwinn.

 

I have always though that the hot water from the tap is not hot enough to soften the plastic...

 

Because the wing is very long, I was thinking of laying it down in a pan/tray and weighing it down flat with a piece of wood or something. Then add the hot water....

 

Scott

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On 11/20/2022 at 4:18 PM, F-16 said:

I have a 1/48 Revell B-1B (1983, original boxing, white plastic) that has a wing problem.

One of the wing halves is warped badly. I tried to bend it by hand but was afraid it would snap in half.

Has anyone done this to fix a warped wing? It sounds easy enough to try...

 

A more subtle method is to make a 'jig' in which the wing is carefully forced in the correct shape, or maybe a little past that point. The jig could be just some books and some kind of weight at the wing tip, you'll have to improvise. Then heat it for a long time (an hour?) with a hairdryer, aimed at the area that you want to change shape. That will make the part 'creep' to a new shape. It might take a few tries to get where you want it, but better slow than fast I think..

 

Rob

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I saw something online a while ago and I think it was a guy correcting the wing warp on his 1/48 B-29.  He placed the two wing halves together.  Then he placed an architect's scale on top of the wing.  He then clamped the whole works together so the scale acted as a splint to keep the wings straight and warp-free.  He then applied extra thin liquid cement along the wing seams to glue the wing halves together.  After everything had set for several hours, he undid the clamps, removed the scale and the wings were perfectly straight.  When I built my big B-29 a couple of years ago, I used this method and it worked wonderfully.

 

PS.  I just found the article where the guy shows how he fixed his wing warp.

 

https://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/5843-building-revells-148-b-29/

Edited by echolmberg
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