Hot H2O treatment for bent figures

[EpicRaptorMan]

I got a bent animal figure in the mail and am rather disappointed.

I've heard about some sort of hot water treatment across the forum and wondered what's the best way to go about it? Who has done it? What are the limitations of the method? Does it last? Etc


Update: I just microwaved a glass bowl of water, then place the animal figure inside for 5-20min. It worked with my Gharial's snout which was bent at almost 90° angle (no crease). And after about 30 minutes it was straight again...for now.

However, tried the exact method again on the CollectA Saola (it's horns were slightly bent) and this method did not work.

[andrewsaurus]

try using a blow dryer , on hottest setting and blast the area to be bent for a couple of minutes......check every 30 seconds or so to see how soft the area is getting.  If the part is just bent out of its natural molded position, it may well just slowly go back to where it should be, on its own.  If that happens just turn off the blow dryer and set the figure down to cool on its own.

if the bent part softens from the heat but just stays where it is, then bend it with your hands to the position you want it and hold it under a stream of cold tap water for a couple of minutes.  Set it down and check in a few hours to see if it's stayed or has started to go back crooked again.  If so, repeat process with blow dryer and maybe hold the heat on longer this time to make the plastic even softer.

Some plastics are too hard to respond to boiling water or blow dryer techniques.  In this case the only choice is to hold the bent area over a  candle flame to really soften the plastic so you can permanently bend it and have it stay put.  Clearly this is a very risky technique as you can burn or melt the plastic on the figure....it takes some practice.  I use birthday candles as they produce a smaller flame and thus make it easier to control the heat exposure to the figure.

I should note that while boiling water can be effective, it can also bleach the colour out of some figures.  Doesn't always but it can....and the longer the figure is boiled the better the chance the colour will fade.  So i would always try the blow dryer  before boiling water.