Purple Pond Distortion ?

[Jon Haigwood]

I have been working on two Lindberg 64 Dodge Color Me Gone bodies for some time and have had numerous paint issues with one in particular. One has been in and out of the Purple Pond several times and has had a couple rounds in the dehydrator. The second one not so much. It seems that hoods are two wide back by the windshield. The area the connects the front of the fenders where the hood latch is located has a weak spot in the center and has cracked on both (to be expected).  I found that the grille is to wide to fit in place. With the the cross piece(with latch) disconnected I taped in the grille and then reinforced the cross piece. I will need to do some filling where the gap is in the center.

I also will have to file the hood edges to fit the hoods, mostly on the one that has had more pond time.

I did a search of poorly fitting hoods and Super Clean distortion and came up dry. Has anyone encountered this before ?      

 

Edited October 10, 2018 by Jon Haigwood

[STYRENE-SURFER]

Could it be the Dehydrator that caused the problem? or was that the body that that has no issues. 

How thick is the paint and how much clearance was there beforehand?

Just a thought.

Edited October 10, 2018 by STYRENE-SURFER

[Bucky]

I would suspect the dehydrator. I put a Ford van in mine to dry the paint and it just about wadded up.

It could be that the front clip on the Dodge shrunk a bit, causing both the hood and grille fit problems.

[Jon Haigwood]

I could be the dehydrator. I don't remember test fitting the hoods or the grille until now. The red one has spent more time in the dehydrator , it has more hood fitment issues than the white one but the white one has a bigger gap on the cross piece which has spent little time in the dehydrator. Paint is not thick, I sanded the hood sides and the fender side down to bare plastic and they were still to big by as much as .050" on the red one, less on the white.

[BigTallDad]

I'd blame the dehydrator.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Another vote for the dehydrator.

 

 

Steve

[Snake45]

Heat will shrink styrene. How hot is your dehydrator set? I'd think you'd need to be on the high side of 150-160*--maybe quite a bit high--for it to have any effect, but maybe the time does it.  

[Jon Haigwood]

Mine is plug and play, no settings,no temp gauge. I haven't had any other problems that I know off. I will pick a thermometer and take some readings. The heat is only regulated by the openings in the top and maybe the distance (levels) that the parts are from the element . I just checked a Lindeberg 64 Belvedere (Petty) that has been thru the same route as the red Dodge and it is fine, but the structure is a bit different so it may not be effected like the Dodge  

[peteski]

I got a cheap meat thermometer I stick through one of the slots  in my dehydrator's cover.   Mine also has no adjustable temperature but it can be adjusted by opening or closing the slots on the top and bottom of it.  I run mine between 110-120 deg. F

[espo]

I have stopped using my dehydrator all together. Used to work fine for drying paint, but I think with age the thermostat went south on it. The last straw for me was when it turned the front seats from an early AMT '57 Chevy kit into lawn chairs.  

[Snake45]

12 hours ago, peteski said:

I got a cheap meat thermometer I stick through one of the slots  in my dehydrator's cover.   Mine also has no adjustable temperature but it can be adjusted by opening or closing the slots on the top and bottom of it.  I run mine between 110-120 deg. F

That temp is about what I'd expect. This isn't nearly enough to cause any shrinkage, even long term. (I have kits that were stored in an attic that would get this hot in the summer for a decade or so, no problems at all.)

[Jon Haigwood]

Just checked mine. 110-120 deg

[High octane]

I never used a dehydrator and I really don't have room for one either. Air dry still works for me.