Spitfire help needed!

Coreyeagle48 · Post by **Coreyeagle48** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 1:39 pm

Greetings:

Does anyone have any ideas or helpful hints to get the Spitfire's radio mast straightened out? Mine has somewhat unbent from packing but won't stand straight up. Anyone know how to solve this or have an idea how to do so?

Thanks

Corey

Post by **aferguson** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 1:49 pm

best i've found is too heat it with a hair dryer than hold it straight while it cools. I've never gotten mine perfectly straight but it's better. The real solution is to use the rubbery one as a pattern to make a replacement out of thin styrene sheet.

tmanthegreat · Post by **tmanthegreat** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 2:16 pm

I've had the same problem on mine. I used hot water to straighten it out. There's two easy ways to do this:

1.) Run hot water from the tap. Remove the wings from the Spitfire's fuselage and hold the radio mast under the hot water to soften the plastic and straighten it out. You can then turn the tap to cold water to harden the plastic in the desired shape.

2.) Fill a microwave-safe bowl full of water, run it for a minute or two in the microwave to get the water nearly boiling hot. Take the Spitfire fuselage and hold it over the bowl, placing the radio mast in the hot water. It will soften and straighten out. Then remove the plane and perhaps dip the mast in another bowl of cold water to harden.

With both methods, be careful not to burn yourself. The aircraft plastic and paint will be OK in the hot water. Only steam vapor will get on the plane, and that dries off