maybe paint over them.

 

If I didn't know any better, I'd think there was joke in here somewhere....



Also, I never really put much thought in these methods because of how I've understood plastic to work (aka, not the most friendly to state changes), but if you guys've had success with small blemishes, I might as well try this on my RTS Rodimus couse that fucker was like a walking case stuff right outa the package hah.

 

One more radical method someone recently used for Micron Arms Breakdown was boiling water.

Apparently it worked too.

 

Hey guys, just wanted to give a big thanks to everyone in this thread, particularly MegaMoonMan. I had two unsightly stress marks on the hood of my Continuously Variable Gears (they were entirely my fault; the figure is pretty awesome), and the hair dryer did nothing. I lit a candle, applied one stress mark against the flame for a moment, perhaps 1/3 of a second, and it entirely disappeared. The other stress mark took two momentary exposures and it was gone. AMAZING!

 

Ooh, old topic, but a good one to bring up again.

Boiling water works well. Obviously you can't ALWAYS use it, since there might be metal in there which runs the risk of rusting... but I've had good results with it.

It works particularly well getting rid of the stress marks on the wrists of Kreons you see so often. I've used it on a handful of other TFs I think... but mainly I use it to retighten the grips of modern era GI Joes or MOTUC figures. Just get some tongs, put the piece in the boiling water for a 5-10 seconds, take it out, shake it off a bit so you don't burn your fingers, and pinch the hand together a bit, then run it under cold water. This works well on Kreon clips/grips too (like the ones on wings and tracks that attach to arms in bot mode).

Sometimes just boiling water on a kettle is hot enough. Sometimes you should use a pot on the stove and keep it boiling. Depends on what kind of figure/plastic.

It seems to be less useful on older, harder plastics... like vintage GI Joes, that sort of thing.

 

It may cause discolouring of the plastic, though - I was able to remove a few nasty stressmarks from my G1 Powerglide by holding him in boiling water for 30 seconds. The plastic became lighter, however. The grey plastic of my G1 Sludge was far more resilient, as was one of the parts of my G1 Dreadwind - no discolouring at all, even though both plastics were held in boiling water for approx. 30 seconds.

Anyone who'd like to try this should also be aware that boiling plastic may cause it to warp.

 

Interesting...never had any problems with anything, but I've never used them on G1 Transformers, either...

 

I know this is an old thread, but worth resurrecting, IMO. Recently picked up a MP-12G and was surprised to see stress marks at the joint at the top of its left shin panel (at the knee). Found this thread after a Google search and decided to take a shot at fixing the issue with a Wagner heat gun I happened to have on hand. Wrapped the thigh and lower leg in a damp paper towel, set the heat gun to low and fixed the issue with less than 5 seconds of applied heat.

Wouldn't bother with candles and lighters or even boiling water. Decent heat guns are cheap, and a few seconds of your time can eliminate the issue with zero risk of warping the plastic you're trying to relieve. Just my $0.02, YMMV. Thanks to the OP for starting this thread!

 

Wrapped parts in wet paper towel? So you can be precise?

 

you need heat, and a hair dryer may work, but it will have to be on high and you'll have to be patient: point it at the plastic for a bit, then away, then back at the plastic, then away, etc.

The idea is to gradually heat the whole area; if you just hold it in one spot and heat it too quickly the rest of the plastic around it could warp as the focus area expands. It's a slow, slow process, but it can help.

Same goes for a heat gun, if you have one of those. But it'll be a bit faster since it's usually a much more focused aperture than a hair dryer. If you have a heat gun used in soldering it'll be even faster, but you have to be real careful because they can heat up very quickly and then you're back to warping plastic.

I can't suggest an open flame of any sort for this, though, as it's far too easy to scorch, bubble, melt, stain or otherwise ruin the plastic.

 

You've nailed it with the hair dryer. The gradual process is much more appealing to me as well. Sure, it takes patience, but I think I'd rather do that than take a chance of overheating a part and such. In the long run, I'd imagine that it would be better on the part being reformed. That's just my hypothesis, though. I'm just a layman chemist at best.

 

Would this kinda sprue mark or flashing be fixable with the heat method?

 

It's like a plastic toy version of stretch marks.

 

Yes. Just make sure not to overheat the rest of the area.

 

Υοu all are going to laugh your asses off now but....heres an idea for those of you that want to use hair dryers but are afraid you cant localise the effect enough:


Just use short bursts.

 

Whatever works works.

 

I have no words. Thanks for the laugh  

 

Well I was being serious, since that's what it reminds me of, but your welcome.

My Hero Masher Soundwave came with them. I didn't know there was a way to fix them until this thread.

 

Sorry - my mind just goes... there