I have a (major) problem with my Tamiya Famo. The large flatbed piece is warped, bending up at one of the corners. I thought it might straighten itself out once I glued all the sides onto it, but it did not, compounding my problems most likely. Does anyone know how I can fix this? It's pretty madening when this happens with a $200 model

Nic

Bad news Sorry to hear about that.
I would definitly experiment on spare parts and styrene sheets.
What I would do is get a sheet of styrene the same size and thickness and try to heat some water, I wouldn't go to a boil. The try and sandwich it between a stack of books after heating it in the water for a few minutes.
Either that or a hair dryer. Try and apply gentle heat to loosen the plastic a bit. Then put pressure on it with heavy loads.

Maybe heat and resin in place. Heat it up and then glue it in place with resin to give it a bit of extra hold (assuming there is something to hold it with)

Thirdly - Call Tamiya - I once had a problem with thier 1/32 F4 and they shipped me a replacement part, no questions. Look on thier web site for a 1800 customer service #. What can they do - say no? You're no worse off and if they say yet the Yahoooo.

Good luck.. if I think of anything else I'll post again.

I did come up with one idea: Put some fuel barrels in the back and fill them with lead or something. The weight should flatten things out a bit. What do you think of that?

Nic

Hey Nic,

If you can wait, contact Tamiya USA and ask for a replacement part.

Dave

If you can still get the part loose the hot water will usually work. You said it's a flat part so maybe you can clamp it between two pieces of wood, dunk the whole thing in hot water to soften, then cool in place. Also if you have a part that's impossible to clamp it works to dunk, reshape, then quench in cold water...this sets it in place immediately....worked like a charm when I tried it.

The lead barrels will probably throw the whold model off I would think. I would try the water or contact tamiy for a replacement part.

Up here in Canada ,all you have to do is call Borgfeld(the distributor) I did this with a set of decals and recieved a new sheet the next week ..I think the # is on thier sticker if not ask your hobby shop for the # ,he'll give it to you if you ask...

Rick

Boil a pot of hot water on the stove. Dipthe piece in for ten seconds, the take ot and bend back to place. It usually works. Be careful, or ele you will be screwed out of a flatbed Melting being the result.

-Chip :-)

The hot water followed by cold to set it did the trick. The part is just about perfectly straight now. Thanks for the advice guys.

Nic

well, I learned something from that. I usually glue the hell out of it and then sit there and hold it in place for an hour or so. Dummy me

Yesterday I used hairdryer to shape up a warped part. It was rather big and it took some time but I did it... You just need to be patient and not try to do it all at once as you could melt the plastic easily; couple of sessions in the "beauty parlour" and you part will be perfectly shaped.

Mario M.