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Hi guys, I just searched through this forum with little success, but what's the best way to bend a staff that came bent in the blister? I got the necron overlord and it's pretty delicate. The staff is like a sad face and I want it to be a straight staff.

You need hot water (not quite boiling), and cold water in tubs.
Dip the staff in the hot water; it will become very soft. Straighten it, hold it straight and immerse in cold water. Hold it there for a while. Allow to return to room temperature. If it bends back, it should do so less. Just repeat the process and eventually you'll 'train' the material to the shape you want.

It will probably take 4 or more attempts if the bend is quite extreme to begin with.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/318880.page

It's the hot-salt method. I've never done it, but check it out.

GW have done a little tutorial on finecast minis over on the official website.

from memory they used a heat gun (like what you use to strip wallpaper) to bend the resin however all safety issues apply be careful don't melt your mini etc etc

Edit: YE Gods ignore this statement imediately! hair dryer! hair dryer! No heat guns!

Heat gun for plasticard bending keep away from finecast!

I have had a lot of success with using hot and cold water tubs to slowly bend pieces back into shape. I would be very wary of using a heat gun, unless you can set it on like, ultra low.

On small pieces a heat gun is more likely to just melt the part into a puddle of useless plastic

Had something similar w/ FW, used a hair dryer. No problems since.

I have had to bend a few staff-like finecast pieces myself and something that worked just fine for me was to use hot water and nothing else.

Hot water, about 60 degrees celsius, in a bowl or on a plate. Dip the staff, just as much of it that needs bending so as to not get too much of it soft.

Then bend it to shape and hold it that way until it cools (at those degrees, the staff will cool very fast, no need for cool water really, but it wont hurt to use that as well)
It may not stay straight but just keep repeating the same process and you will reshape it in no time

Finecast is pretty elastic, which is why you cant just bend it without heat, and is also why it often goes back to the way it "remembers" how it looked.
But everytime you heat and cool it, you rearrange the molecules slightly until it will remember a different shape.

Good Luck!

I used the steam from the top of my kettle, waving the piece in and out of it then Holding it to the desired shape, this worked.