Advice on using a hair dryer for fitting issues.

[Ikki]

I have a slight fitting issue on one of my Prime 1 statue portraits.

Prime 1 support suggested that I might be able to fix this by heating up the slot with a hair dryer.

The statue also has 3 other portraits that fit perfectly and I don't want to risk damaging the way those fit.

Would heating up the slot to get this portrait to fit properly risk changing the way the other 3 portraits fit?

Would anyone be able to give me tips on how to properly heat up the slot without damaging the statue?
If anyone else has had experience fixing an issue like this, I'd really appreciate some advice. Thanks!

[qz33]

Statues are just plastic with stone powder. Yes heat can fix fit.
Just be gentle, don't use more than you need. A space heater on low may give more consistent results. 1500W+ hair dryer on high will get the plastic too hot too quick.
Heated up many statues without issue but like anything in life results are not guaranteed.

[Ikki]

Originally Posted by qz33

Statues are just plastic with stone powder. Yes heat can fix fit.
Just be gentle, don't use more than you need. A space heater on low may give more consistent results. 1500W+ hair dryer on high will get the plastic too hot too quick.
Heated up many statues without issue but like anything in life results are not guaranteed.

Would heating up the slot risk making the other 3 heads stop fitting correctly? I'm very new to statues and haven't dealt with anything like this before.

[Silas Loki]

Originally Posted by Ikki

Would heating up the slot risk making the other 3 heads stop fitting correctly? I'm very new to statues and haven't dealt with anything like this before.

Without seeing the specific issue, and just by your description, technically, it seems like you plan to modify the wrong part!!! If you have 4 headsculpts, and one doesn't fit correctly, then it seems clear that the neck slot isn't the problem, the problem is the "peg" on the ill fitting headsculpt.

Leave the slot as it is, and use a super fine grade of sandpaper to gradually rub down the sides of the neck post on the headsculpt until you get a good fit.....once this is achieved, you can use any acrylic varnish spray to provide a layer of protection to the area you rubbed down on the neck post (just remember to mask off the head where you don't want to apply varnish).....job done. No need for any hair dryer

[jedi_don]

These statues are made from polyurethane epoxy resin and not thermoplastics like polystyrene, ABS, PVC, etc. Heat will work on thinner parts only when dealing with warped parts.

If the issue misshaped keying, I agree with Silas Loki.

[Asgard]

I agree with Silas Loki

[qz33]

Originally Posted by jedi_don

These statues are made from polyurethane epoxy resin and not thermoplastics like polystyrene, ABS, PVC, etc. Heat will work on thinner parts only when dealing with warped parts.

If the issue misshaped keying, I agree with Silas Loki.

Most of these are made of polyester just like fiberglass. Polyurethane is higher quality but China goes with the cheapest unless the producer pays extra for parts like hair, extended pieces, etc.

However thermosetting resins will respond and can be reshaped with heat much like those thermoplastics.

As far as the hole vs peg: Yeah if the other sculpts fit perfect then it is just the one but it's usually an imperceptible difference. I have never sanded a finished statue and hope never to. On many I have put the 2 pieces together as they do fit GENTLY warm both and over 30 minutes to an hour the pieces slide right together. I've set many full figures in their bases this way and then they go in and out perfectly even after cooled.

[Ikki]

Originally Posted by Silas Loki

Without seeing the specific issue, and just by your description, technically, it seems like you plan to modify the wrong part!!! If you have 4 headsculpts, and one doesn't fit correctly, then it seems clear that the neck slot isn't the problem, the problem is the "peg" on the ill fitting headsculpt.

Leave the slot as it is, and use a super fine grade of sandpaper to gradually rub down the sides of the neck post on the headsculpt until you get a good fit.....once this is achieved, you can use any acrylic varnish spray to provide a layer of protection to the area you rubbed down on the neck post (just remember to mask off the head where you don't want to apply varnish).....job done. No need for any hair dryer

Thanks for the info. I'm very new to statues though, and I'd have no idea where to sand the peg to make it fit correctly. It attaches to the magnet just fine and doesn't move at all around. This head is perfectly with where all the other heads are too. There's just that small gap, and I'm not sure why it's there or how sanding it would fix it.

As a side note, if it matters, this head was a replacement. My first came with noticeable paint issues on the front of his helmet and face. This one has way better paint, so I'm hoping I can figure out how to fix it.

[Silas Loki]

To be honest, my advice was given "blind"....so take it with a huge pinch of salt, if you value your statue.

Firstly, you NEED to understand or set your baseline condition. It's madness to modify both the head AND the main body, as you're more likely to mess up both parts and be left with an expensive paperweight. From your description of the situation...my advice is to focus on the head. That way, in the worst case you at least have a "working" statue with 3 good heads.....and one not so good head.

Now you need to understand the type of fit problem....if it's a problem related to excess material somewhere where the head joins the body, this is where you need to focus on material removal - e.g sanding. It's not hard, you just need to be very patient, you rub a little, try the join, rub a little more, try the join.....and so forth, you get the picture....until you get a reasonable fit.

If the problem is too little material, e.g. the headsculpt fits into the neck join reasonably well, but a visible gap is left....well, at this point you have a REAL issue - adding material to a visible part of the statue, is magnitudes more complex then sanding a neck post.

I would suggest if the gap is due to "not enough material".....then either go for a partial refund, or credit note and keep the statue and the remaining 3 heads. You could try to comission an artist to fix the one headsculpt so the gap is removed, but this could be costly, and might not make economic sense when you consider the price you paid for the statue....

But I don't see at any point using a hair dryer as an appropriate fix.....based on your description.

[Ikki]

Originally Posted by Silas Loki

To be honest, my advice was given "blind"....so take it with a huge pinch of salt, if you value your statue.

Firstly, you NEED to understand or set your baseline condition. It's madness to modify both the head AND the main body, as you're more likely to mess up both parts and be left with an expensive paperweight. From your description of the situation...my advice is to focus on the head. That way, in the worst case you at least have a "working" statue with 3 good heads.....and one not so good head.

Now you need to understand the type of fit problem....if it's a problem related to excess material somewhere where the head joins the body, this is where you need to focus on material removal - e.g sanding. It's not hard, you just need to be very patient, you rub a little, try the join, rub a little more, try the join.....and so forth, you get the picture....until you get a reasonable fit.

If the problem is too little material, e.g. the headsculpt fits into the neck join reasonably well, but a visible gap is left....well, at this point you have a REAL issue - adding material to a visible part of the statue, is magnitudes more complex then sanding a neck post.

I would suggest if the gap is due to "not enough material".....then either go for a partial refund, or credit note and keep the statue and the remaining 3 heads. You could try to comission an artist to fix the one headsculpt so the gap is removed, but this could be costly, and might not make economic sense when you consider the price you paid for the statue....

But I don't see at any point using a hair dryer as an appropriate fix.....based on your description.

The hair dryer idea came directly from Prime 1 CS saying it might fix it, although I have no idea why they'd say that. They also offered me a third replacement head, but I asked for pictures first considering there were paint issues on my original head and honestly, the pictures they sent almost seemed like one that shouldn't have passed QC (ie: one of the eye prints was warped). I'm still in communication with them, so maybe they can offer a better solution.

I'm assuming this is a case of too little material, as the head fits fine into the slot and doesn't move around at all. Nothing seems to be pushing out anywhere, it's just not slotting flush to the collar like my other 3.

Unfortunately, this had been the head I always wanted to display with. I didn't think the gap was particularly bad or TOO noticeable upon display, but I get the sense that other statue collectors might consider this a bad gap?