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Hey, guys. I'm doing some conversion work and am needing some help. I want to put ravenwing vehicle icons onto curved surfaces. These icons are flat on the back side and meant to be glued onto rhino/land raider doors and such.

Does anyone have any tips/techniques on softening up plastic bits like this that doesn't involve melting or loss of detail on the exposed surface?

Hot water (not boiling, but hot enoughh that it makes your skin sting when you put your hand in it.).

The plastic WILL soften and you will be able to shape it around a curved surface with some care.

Alternatively, a hairdryer can be used to warm the plastic and soften it.

Practice on some offcuts or sprues before you tackle the emblems.

Great! Any estimates on how long should it take for sub-boiling water to soften the plastic enough to work with?

5 minutes should be fine.

I've made "force fields" out of clear acetate sheet using this method, as well as curving sheets for large R/C aircraft models.

Depends on how big the pieces are, but detail pieces should be 3-5 mins (at the most).

Wow. The DA ravenwing plastic icons are sturdy stuff. Even after microwaving it in a container of water for three minutes it still only barely bent. I wound up going with the hair dryer. Thanks guys.