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.

A few weeks ago I made a big order from Forgeworld consisting of a Sicaran Battle Tank, a Storm Eagle, and a Fire Raptor, and while I've been using FW's guide for resin, I'm still having trouble getting rid of warp in some pieces. While the Sicaran's only issue was a warped heavy bolter and a light curve to the cannons, both the Storm Eagle and Fire Raptor have fairly severe curvature on their main hulls. While it doesn't seem severe enough to warrant trying to get a replacement part (especially since I hear this issue is common in these kits), the standard hot water soak doesn't seem to be getting the job done, and this is made worse by the pieces having enough natural angles to stop me from simply placing a weight on top of the piece and letting it fix itself over time.
Does anyone have advice or experience for solving this or should I just keep doing what I have been?

I had the same problem with my Raptor.

I tried the hot water trick, the hair dryer trick, but all to no avail. I made it better, but not perfect or in fact anywhere near good enough.

So, I had a word with the Manager at my local GW store and he built it for me. Top guy!

Sorry that isn;t much help :-(

On another note, there is a thread on here somewhere about a guy who built up a Storm Eagle and did an absolutely STELLAR job on it! Run a search, you won't regret it

The last episode of the Independent Characters podcast had a big segment on working with FW kits, especially big ones like Titans. The buy they had on also had his Storm Eagle (I think) heavily warped, and it seems to be a trend. Anyway, he basically sandwiched some pieces between sheets of metal and heated them to get them into shape.

I had a feeling this was going to be the situation, I'll give hairdryers a go next, and then check out that podcast. I'm also tempted to do a low bake in the oven or nearly boiling water, but I feel like those would probably go very very terribly.
Either way I'm definitely glad I jumped on getting both at once, since this means I don't have to do the same process two separate times.

Not all of the stuff he says will be applicable/feasible to you (at one point he talks about building a metal framework inside a thunderhawk, which is light-years above what you'd need) but some of it could be adapted or simplified.

OK, so let me first say that I haven't tried this (at least, not with any thick pieces of resin).

There are plenty of places to buy small 'hobby' clamps. You might try getting some of those, and either clamping the warped pieces together (and heating them) or heating the pieces and clamping them to something else flat. This worked great for me with some warping of large, flat pieces of the Battlewagon kit. I dunked them in a hot water bath, then clamped them to a thick cutting board. They cooled nice and flat.

Also, for heating, you might try something that I (used to) see optometrists doing: use heated sand. You could get some sand and heat it in an oven, then use the sand to heat the resin pieces. You can control the heat pretty easily by removing the piece from the sand tray, and you aren't gonna get the sand hot enough in a normal oven to cause any problems with the sand.

Some people say you should use warm water, but you want boiling water. Boil a large pot of water, hold the piece in the water until it softens (a few seconds to a minute or two, depending on the thickness of the part), and then bend it back into shape. The boiling water gets it hot and soft enough that you'll have some time to work with it before it sets in the new position, and you can always just put it back in the boiling water if you're not fast enough. Then once you've got it in the right position put it in cold water to make it sets completely.

And I strongly suggest not putting it in the oven. You have no control over the heat, you'll probably get hot spots and damage the part wherever it touches whatever you're using to hold the parts, and it would be very easy to leave it in too long and ruin everything.

Also remember if it's too knackered to use and you bought it from Forgeworld they will replace the faulty parts

(you may need to send them a photo, or very occasionally return the faulty bit)

so if you can fix it fine, but if not complain and request a replacement

Okay, so I followed the advice of you folks here with great success. I put the water at just under boiling (so bubbles were collecting on the sides of the pot) and let the parts soak for 30 seconds to a minute based on their thickness. After that they were fairly easy to work, and I put them in room temperature water after they were in good shape.
Results aren't perfect, as to be expected with these kits, but they are certainly looking good enough to work with.
Thanks for the tips everyone!