Tamiya model plastic

[gman3000]

Hi ive been building revell ferrari's. I brought a tamiya kit open it this evening and notice how soft the plastic is especially on the body, is this normal?

 

RegardsR

[Harry P.]

Different manufacturers use different chemical mixes, so yeah, it's probably normal.

[AC Norton]

Hi ive been building revell ferrari's. I brought a tamiya kit open it this evening and notice how soft the plastic is especially on the body, is this normal?

 

RegardsR

thru the 70s and 80s I built a lot of Japanese sports cars kits.....the plastic was hard, crisp, and of high quality. in the last few years, there quality in some cases have toned down just like the rest. best I can offer here, the Ace....

[Ace-Garageguy]

It is seems soft, be very careful when using "hotter" primers like Duplicolor. Some Revell kits have recently been pretty "soft" and I've had crazing issues with primers that wouldn't have caused a problem before.

[gman3000]

well the roof squishes down very easy and is out of shape to fit windows. The revell ones are nice and hard. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

well the roof squishes down very easy and is out of shape to fit windows. The revell ones are nice and hard. 

You just never know what you're going to get these days. I've had different kits from Revell of the same car be two different hardnesses,

Maybe somebody was texting when they were supposed to be monitoring the mixing of the chemical constituents of the soft batches. 

Edited June 20, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[Pete J.]

What kit is it?  You may have a reboxed Italeri.  The import and sell them in Japan as Tamiya kits, but other than the box, they are Italeri kits.

[Mike_G]

Yes, Tamiya plastic is soft- if you use a good sharp blade it cuts off the sprue like butter

[gman3000]

Tamiya Ferrari 360 yellow. Not sure how to rectify the out of shaoe roof? Or if I can!

[Jhedir6]

Tamiya Ferrari 360 yellow. Not sure how to rectify the out of shaoe roof? Or if I can!

Tamiya plastic is pretty soft in comparison to other brands. Pending on how bad out of shape it is, you can try to reshape it, or contact your country's Tamiya importer and see if you can get a replacement.

To reshape it, try removing the glass from the spur and then using some tap, hold it in place. Then using more tap, cover the entire window area/roof so to try and push the dented roof back into shape. Once you feel its back to where it should be, put it in the fridge over night. They plastic will harden up abit and become stiffer. Once it warms back up it might just hold its shape, pending on how deformed it is at the moment. I used this method on a Tamiya 360 Modena I got that had a pushed in roof due to crappy packaging from a Japanese vendor. I think I had to do it twice to get it back to almost perfect. Once the kit was build and the windshield installed there was no deformity left.

Hope this might work for you.

David

[gman3000]

Thanks jhedir 6

[gman3000]

Just a side question do you guys psint everything? As the tamyia kit is moulded in the could it needs to be ie chassis.

[peteski]

I think I get what you are asking (but it wasn't obvious). Unpainted plastic looks like . . . unpainted plastic.   If you are ok with that, then leave it bare. but f you want the plastic parts to look like the material original car parts are made of (usually metal, either bare or painted), then you paint the plastic parts too.

 

Having said that, I have seen some good looking models which had unpainted bodies (they were just polished). But that only works on certain colors (often the lighter color plastic bodues are somewhat translucent and they will look "plasticky", even when polished).

[gman3000]

Yes thats what I ment  thanks