Heating studio 27 p/e before bending ?

Hello

I've read somewhere that you should heat studio 27 photoetch before you bend it. I'm planning on building a Tamiya Bmw 635 with studio 27 p/e and studio 27 Jägermeister decals. Since this will be my first time working with p/e i have no clue if this is correct. The reason why you schould heat it before you bend it would be because the p/e is made of stainless steel and the p/e wouldn't bend easily not heated.In my case i should bend the p/e around the rear taillights to get the chrome surrounding around those lights.

Greetz joris

I don't think so.

PE is metal, and metal need high temp to "soften". At this temp, you couldn't even touch it with your hand.

It's the first time I hear about that, and I really think it's unneeded.

Never heard of it. It bends easily without heating.

It's called annealing and yes it does help if you need to bend a complex part. Look here for a small how-to about the 4th or 5th paragraph. http://vodnik.net/pages/Mission/multitool.htm

Be careful as the metal will be very hot.

Annealing PE parts is very helpful when you need to bend PE parts to complex shapes like bi-dimensional bendings, like those S27 PE screens for the engine cover of the Carrera GT, or the mesh in the front and rear fascias of the Murcielagos made by AcuStion, trying to make those bendings without annealing it's almost impossible and leads to angled bends because of the mesh screen hex pattern and the hardness and springy nature of the stainless steel

Just remember that annealing PE parts eliminates the shiny metal finish, leaving the PE part black to burnt metal color.

Parts that wont be bent to complex shapes don't need the annealing at all, parts bent to simple curves may be bent easier, but there is no real need to anneal.

When I need to anneal my PE parts, I use using a cigarette lighter, and hold the PE part with some fine pliers, put in the flame and in 2 seconds the PE parts is red, then leave the part cold to the air, take the part from other point and repeat the operation, there is no need to heat the part entirely in one step, you can do it section by section, the results are the same

Hope it helps

can't you dip the PE in boil water?

No, boiling water is not hot enough. The part must get red hot then cool off.


:biggrin:

I've hard of annealing brass, I didn’t know it worked with stainless steel too. Will have to give it a go. :)

I've hard of annealing brass, I didn’t know it worked with stainless steel too. Will have to give it a go. :)

me too. CAn you in fact anneal steel?

me too. CAn you in fact anneal steel?

Oh yes, you can certainly anneal steel. But it requires a forge!

With regards to PE, don't worry, because it's not stainless steel. The shiney silver stuff is a nickel alloy. I don't know how this alloy will anneal, but if you need complicated bends, it's worth a try. A lighter or candle will put out all the heat you need. Try annealing a bit of scrap runner from the PE set, to see what it will do. An yes, it will destroy the silver finish.

Though if my experince with S27 is any indication, this kit really doesn't need much in the way of extras....

But is this actually the Tamiya BMW 320i you're considering?

No it's the Tamiya BMW 635group A like this one

http://www.hlj.com/product/TAM24061

with the studio 27 p/e set like this one

http://www.hlj.com/product/S27FP2478

It's my first time with p/e and i schould bend part 19 and 20 of the p/e kit around the taillights to get the chrome trime around those.

Just remember that annealing PE parts eliminates the shiny metal finish, leaving the PE part black to burnt metal color.

Parts that wont be bent to complex shapes don't need the annealing at all, parts bent to simple curves may be bent easier, but there is no real need to anneal.


If you use a gass cooker to anneal metal you won't discolor it so much, as there is more oxegen in the flame. I use this technique all of the time for etched seat belts and the like, anything that needs a natural curve. For hard edged bends don't aneal the metal, you actually don't want it to soft.

To be honest I've never found a photo etch that can't be anealed.

I strongly suggest that you not bother with 19 and 20. PE is a poor substitute for chrome trim. Skip 6 and 12 also. The way to do the crome trim on this kit is with Bare Metal Foil. Lots of work, but there's no other good alternative, and it will look terrific when it's done. You will almost definately be disappointed with the PE parts. And annealing them will ruin the 'chrome' finish.

If you've looked at the 635 kit, you probably know it's excellent. S27 really isn't able to improve on it. I'm opinionated about S27 PE sets, because I've been hugely disapponted by them before (read my F50 build for some details- the set for the F40 I'm building now is if anything worse :cya: ). I'll be starting a 635 myself soon, and looking at the pic on HLJ, I'd skip just about all of the S27 set. It just won't make the model any better.

Thanks for the info. When are you planning to make you're 635. I'll be watching it (just like with you're other awesome builds). It would be a great manual for me and i'm not gone start it directly because i'm working om a megaproject right now. I'm just planning on how to build it. And yes it's a great kit.

I'll start it in the next month or two- I'm going to try to build it for the 80's motorsport contest. I'll certainly add some detailing to it, but the kit doesn't seem to need much. As ever, you're welcome to follow it along!