at the risk of being banned from the forum for a query regarding that other scale


1:72 / 1:76

my only defence is that it is NOT re railways, but wargames.

I've got some resin castings of afv stowage, but would like to fit them to vehicles other than the vehicle intended.

this means I need to fit them to a curved surface rather than flat, so at long last I get to the question .....

any suggestions on how I can curve a resin casting of a cam net / tarpaulin to fit to the rear of a turret when it is intended to fit to a flat hull surface ?

hangs head in shame and hides in corner 

My only experience of resin was in using fibreglass to repair my first couple of cars and I don't think it is very flexible, once it has set.

I have read on other forums (1/35 military modelling, I think, did you try searching britmodeller or one of the military modelling forums?) that you have to heat the resin in hot water or with a hair-dryer, bend it (a bit further than you need it) and hold it there till it cools.  You will need to try it a few times increasing the temperature and the degree of bend before you end up at the desired shape. Don't go too hot to start with in case you melt it!

It depends on what type of resin it is. Some types do soften slightly when heated, particularly the types of resin that tend to be used for kits.

Best thing to do is immerse the part in boiling water for 5-10 minutes. When it comes out, try gently bending it. If it will bend with a little pressure (not too much!) form it to the shape required & hold until cooled.

If it's a type that cannot be treated this way, the heat/water won't affect it, so no danger of damage to it (other than if you're too ham fisted & snap it trying to bend it too hard!).

I used to do this occasionally to straighten warped parts.

many thanks for that, I'll have a go with the boiling water method, and see how it goes.

I used boiling water to bend the curved sections of resin walls for St Michael's churchyard [see Tintern: St Michael's Church]. About 30 seconds to a minute of soaking was enough and they stay soft for about 2-3 minutes. They are also easy to cut to size in the floppy state