Bent Verticle Stabilizer

[Joe]

Hey Guys!

I have been working on a Special Hobby Mirage F.1 This model is pretty good and I haven't had many fit issues except for the ejection seat in particularly and the cockpit in general. The fuselage is complete as well as the main body and is now ready for more PE. Except for one thing... I noticed my rear vertical stabilizer is slightly bent. I used my wife's blow dryer with the hopes of heating the base of the stabilizer and bending it back to the right position but it still wouldn't budge I am out of ideas at this point. Have any of you had this issue? What did you do to fix it?

Joe

[Matt58]

Is it bent at the attachment point ? Can you post a pic ?

[Twokidsnosleep]

Ya let's have a look at it
Warm water soak maybe. Don't try a flame you will kill it all

[Joe]

Hey- It's Joe again. I have not included a picture because, for some reason, the stabilizer always looks straight in the picture. The reason it is bent is my fault- I did not keep an eye on it as the glue dried and it was to late when I noticed that it was leaning a little to the right. So, it is bent at the attachment point where it is glued to the fuselage.

Joe

[Matt58]

If you used TET you can try to soft it back up with lite coats of TET. You have some seam work to do just don't flood it you don't want to melt the surrounding area. You wouldn't happen to have a tail wheel where you could access the stabilizer from inside the fuselage

[Joe]

No. There is no rear wheel or well on this bird...

[Matt58]

Joe how did you make out with it

[GollyPo]

Plastic weld, which is basically DCM, softens the plastic and then evaporates clean, literally leaves nothing but the plastic behind, and if you are very sparing and careful with (i.e.: apply with a face-detail brush and keep testing, making sure there is no puddling as it will dissolve the plastic if there is enough of it) straightening a join like you describe is not a problem. I only use glue now to position very small plastic parts that are light enough to wick onto the brush. I let the thin cement dry and then apply DCM which wicks into any gaps, it's super-thin, and then disappears. I recommend getting half a litre of DCM (about £4) which should last years and having an experiment on spare parts or scrap styrene. It's allowed me to correct many goofs, and enables you to use stretched sprue like welding rod, for visible seams and as gap filling. Oh, and the joins are much stronger than any cement too, it really is the styrene analogue of welding. Tiny amounts will give shallow surface joins, but using grooves and sockets, or drilled holes, enables you to basically make two pieces of plastic into one.

Sorry, finished prosletysing now. Ahem.

[Joe]

Amen Brother! I am very new to this hobby. I think I have heard of plastic weld but what is DCM?

I fellow model builder said he thought the angle of the stabilizer is so minimal that most people won't notice it unless they are specifically looking for mistakes. So, I have decided to leave it be... unless I can find some of this DCM. Then I might give it a try.

I might give Matt's suggestion a go as well...

Joe

[GollyPo]

I bought the Plastruct Plast-weld (About £8 for 57ml) and really liked it, so looked at the label, it's pure Dichloromethane (Methylene Chloride) which is a chemical used in dry cleaning because of it's ability to dissolve oils and such and then evaporate at very low pressures/temps. You can get it off Ebay for £7 a litre, and that's lab grade. The safety precautions are the same as a solvent-based glue, in that you must have ventilation, although you want to decant some into an unused nail polish bottle so that it's not evaporating while you're using it.

My only advice about whether to leave the stab as is or not... if it bugs YOU, then fix it, but I expect your friend is in the right of it.

[digger303]

Amen Brother! I am very new to this hobby. I think I have heard of plastic weld but what is DCM?

I fellow model builder said he thought the angle of the stabilizer is so minimal that most people won't notice it unless they are specifically looking for mistakes. So, I have decided to leave it be... unless I can find some of this DCM. Then I might give it a try.

I might give Matt's suggestion a go as well...

Joe

Don't worry I had to google it cause I couldn't remember.....DCM is Dichloromethane or just Methylene Chloride

[digger303]

I bought the Plastruct Plast-weld (About £8 for 57ml) and really liked it, so looked at the label, it's pure Dichloromethane (Methylene Chloride) which is a chemical used in dry cleaning because of it's ability to dissolve oils and such and then evaporate at very low pressures/temps. You can get it off Ebay for £7 a litre, and that's lab grade. The safety precautions are the same as a solvent-based glue, in that you must have ventilation, although you want to decant some into an unused nail polish bottle so that it's not evaporating while you're using it.

My only advice about whether to leave the stab as is or not... if it bugs YOU, then fix it, but I expect your friend is in the right of it.

I had the delux materials version of that. It comes in a glass bottle unfortunately when sent to me it had a small crack in it. Still it didn't appear to be leaking so I didn't worry. After some time had passed and I went to use it, there was narry a drop in it....very volatile stuff.