Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

What would happen if I were to melt down an unpainted RT era rhino or two (the ones molded in that off-white colored plastic)?

Would I get an off-whitish plastic slurry that I could then pour into a mold? Or would I have just ruined a pair of vintage rhinos?

I seriously doubt it will melt into like a usable plastic.

Why do you want to melt them? You know you can safely paint strip plastics now?

Those old ones might be worth something on ebay.

No.. You'd end up with an expensive pile of plastic slag and a roomful of toxic fumes. Just buy casting resin.

How would you even inject the plastic into the mold if it was to work?

Plastic can't be melted down and reused that way. It's why GW no longer has a bits service - in the past when most of their line was metal they could cast up a model for a bit and then any bits not used were just melted down again. Today they don't do that because they'd have to either throw away or store the waste plastic - which would quickly become quite the mountain of waste material product.


So if you melted them down all you'd have done is melted them down. You'd get nothing for it save for a pile of melted plastic goop. As said old models like that might well have some value to collectors so if you don't want them I'd suggest selling them on. If you want to paint strip there are methods out there to safely strip most paints off.

 Overread wrote:
Plastic can't be melted down and reused that way. It's why GW no longer has a bits service - in the past when most of their line was metal they could cast up a model for a bit and then any bits not used were just melted down again. Today they don't do that because they'd have to either throw away or store the waste plastic - which would quickly become quite the mountain of waste material product.

That's true for whatever resin finecast is made from.
Though thermoplastics, like ABS and polystyrene, what lego and citadel model kits are made from, are utilized in part because they're reusable in manufacturing.
Miscasts can be chopped up and blended back in the hopper to be melted down for future injection molding, cutting back on waste costs.

But I will agree in part if the old RT rhinos were made in polystyrene, they'd likely be a particular blend (with a certain melting point), even with controlled conditions those models are old enough that the plastic properties may have changed; especially if they've been unpainted this entire time.

OP, what others have said, you'd be better off selling them to collectors and/or buying new materials to work in.

Okay. Listen very carefully.

This is the only thing other than food that you may put in the microwave. Okay? Just because I endorse putting a Rhino in a microwave on high for 15 minutes doesn't mean you should put anything else in there. Maybe a Land Raider.

Don't play with microwaves kids. If you are under 10 ignore everything I just said.

Yes, in theory polystyrene (which is what plastic models are made of) can be ground up, melted and re-cast.

In practice, it requires injection moulding equipment. It can't be just melted and poured into a mould, and is not something the average person can do at home.

ccs wrote:
What would happen if I were to melt down an unpainted RT era rhino or two (the ones molded in that off-white colored plastic)?

Would I get an off-whitish plastic slurry that I could then pour into a mold? Or would I have just ruined a pair of vintage rhinos?

Alternatively, I could order some casting resin and have it delivered to your house. You mail me those sweet, tiny Rhinos. Win/Win! I get the aforementioned sweet, tiny Rhinos and you don't get poisoned and/or burned.
Hit me with PM if interested.

Oh I've no intention of passing these surplus complete-on-sprue Rhinos on to anyone. It's not a matter of me not wanting them anymore. It's a matter of me wanting to preform an act of alchemy.

do you have photos? i dont know the type you mean.

ccs wrote:
Oh I've no intention of passing these surplus complete-on-sprue Rhinos on to anyone. It's not a matter of me not wanting them anymore. It's a matter of me wanting to preform an act of alchemy.

Sorry but if this counts as an act of alchemy, I perform alchemy on a daily basis by putting water in the ice cube tray and putting them in the freezer.
All you're actually doing is heating a substance up to its melting point and re-solidifying it. Not alchemic at all.

As insaniak pointed out, you need a mold injection machine.

With but only plain boiled water and roasted coffee beans I shall perform stunning displays of alchemy, the likes of which shall make the world tremble!!