"Star Wars Starship Battles - bent TIE fighter help please!" Topic

Picked up a few singles for the game, and of course I had to straighten out some of the bent plastic. The usual method – dip in hot water, straighten, then dip in cold-water – worked for everything except the hexagonal panels on the TIE fighters. These straighten up well initially (I used a piece of plastic to hold them flat while I cooled them off), but 12 hours later every one has warped again.

I can play with TIEs with "wavy" hex panels, but I'd prefer not to – any thoughts or tips?

They're aaaaaaadvaaaaaaanced! ;)

Did you try rebending them with the Hot Water method again?
I've seen that happen sometimes with the figs. Some times they take a couple trys at the dipping to get them fixed for good. I've seen some that just won't stay even after multiple dippings.

Yup. Those TIEs are really bad. And did you notice that they pack them in a little square of cardboard in order to minimize the problem? Shame on them for knowing they had a problem like this and chose a half-baked way of dealing with it.

Try this. Hot water -> Ice cold water -> Freezer.

I understand that popping them in the freezer for a while sets them much more permanently. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm going to.

Good luck. Let us know how you do.

Freezer+ plastic=VERY brittle! If you just place something in the freezer for a short time this will work. If you actually freeze cheap plastic (like gaming miniatures) they will become brittle and never set back to normal. Plasticware for food is higher quality plastic, so this doesn't happen. I did the freezer trick with a plastic Godzills kit, and I destroyed it. Be careful.

Thanks for the suggestions. Tried dipping them three times already, and they still won't stay in shape.

I'll give the freezer a go and let y'all know how I got on with it.

I've learned to be careful with the freezer since I put a bottle of wine in there to chill it for 30 minutes, and forgot about it for a couple of days…

When I first saw the official pictures of these from WOTC I thought that if they cannot even find a tie fighter that is straight enough to photograph for their promotional material we'll never find one in the ones that we purchase.

There's always the hair dryer…

I'm guessing, but I think they weren't in the hot water long enough.

Plastic is not a great conductor of heat (duh) and a couple minutes in hot water might not heat them all over, all the way through, or high enough. The result was that some of the tension in those super-long molecules was released and reset, but not enough.

The water shouldn't be hot enough to damage the paint, but hot enough, and enough of it, so that as the plastic absorbs the heat the water doesn't cool too much, leave it in ten minutes (water hot the whole time) to make sure all the plastic is heated. Then let it cool in the right shape.

Also, I think cooling slowly is better. I have a friend who is a glass artist and to make his little glass critters and creations strong they go into a digitally controlled kiln and are slowly reduced in temperature from 1200 over many hours. Cool it any faster and you don't get all the tension out of the glass. Like taught rubber bands, the tension in the glass will give at a slight tap and break. In the same way, you need to give the plastic enough time at temperature for the giant strings in there to get happy in there new position, then bring it down slowly.

But I haven't done this.

Andrew

The warped TIE fighters have turned me off to this game entirely. It's a real shame -- I was so interested in this, but I just can't stand to look at the TIEs all bent up. The TIE fighter is my favorite Star Wars ship, so…I just can't let it go.

I really don't see how they let the figures come out that bad.

I have worked in blown glass, and I can tell you that glass is cooled gradually because if allowed to cool naturally, the outer surface cools more quickly that the inside, and it cracks (or even explodes).

I have tried the proscribed method, and I can second the statements that some minis simply will NOT stay 'fixed', no matter how many times you try. I have particular difficulty with SWM lightsabers; being thin, they almost always come warped, but for some reason, I can only permanently straighten about one in four. Also, form my experience, I have used long submersion in scalding hot water, and yet to note any damage to the paint. Damn, that's good stuff!

I have yet to get any SWSSB minis. I was waiting for the local bookstore to get them in (I have no local game store), but it seems the big retailers shipments are being horribly delayed for some reason. I am now hesitant to purchase any, if I don't feel I will be able to fix the bent ones.

~Mike

Don't dip, drop.
I drop them in boiling water for three minutes.
Straighten, then drop in a container of ice water while holding them.
Worked well for me.

I took a good look at my tie before taking it out of it's little sleeve. Looks to me like it's the cardboard it comes in is causing the warping.

Mine seems to be holding the correct shape after many tries.

Good tips people. At least one of the "carriers" from my latest Heldensagen vom Kosmosinesef purchase is a little too bend for comfort… Them ships are a little thicker than the TIE fighter wings tho (what I think anyway), so I would probably need to soak them longer, right?

I guess I won't be buying any of this product range then…

Some of the ship in the Legend of Galactic Heroes sets are bent just like the TIE fighters? I don't like the sound of that as all. Is it any wonder I don't like CMG. Also I was expecting the fighters in the Star Wars game to be grouped into small elements, not individual fighters. How much can they do as a lone fighter?

Blow up a Death Star?

Sargonarhes 02 Dec 2006 6:51 a.m. PST
"Some of the ship in the Legend of Galactic Heroes sets are bent just like the TIE fighters?"

The Alliance "carriers" (don't know what it is really) indeed do seem prone to this problem. Its mold is possibly somehow oddly designed so that when the plastic cools it tends to warp. The other ship don't suffer from the problem as categorically, although IIRC one of the Imperial cruisers I have is a little warped as well.

That said, I have dozens of the things already so it's not a massive problem by any means.