needing help

[sbeliba]

Hi all, guys.

I have bought some weeks ago at Ebay this prepainted statuette of baby Kal-El/Superman just before he leaves the doomed planet Krypton, with his parents looking at him one last time. I love this retro style diorama, and it has been a bargain, I have paid it only a fraction of its current price, but unfortunately during the shipping ( I am in Italy ) the box must have fallen and it has broken in 2 or 3 places. I have fixed everything in almost invisible way with superglue and two components glue, so no problem for that. But while repairing one of the fins of the "rocket" in which Kal-El sleeps, I noticed it is slightly bent on one side. Not an effect of the damage, it was clearly bent also before. This statue is made in white polystone, does anyone know how I can try to gently straighten this piece a bit? maybe using an hair dryer or hot water? Does the warmth soften this material, as it happens with resin kits?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Stefano from Rome

[Notfilc]

There are some resins and plastic that call themselves polystone, but the “real stuff” may be marble dust in a matrix of resin, marble dust fixed with an adhesive, etc. if it’s a STONE product feather than a plastic, you aren5 going to hurt it with a hair dryer, hat water, or heat gun. Most of those statues had a stone powder in some matrix, and are like ceramics. (Which makes me wonder how a fin could get bent!) How water for this is a wast3 of time. Try a hair dryer carefully and see if it seems bendable, then try a heat gun, but beware of burning the paint! The good thing to remember, if you’re a modeler, is that you can bring off the fin, make another out of plastic sheets from Evergreen, or others, make a groove, add some pins, fill, prime , paint. I’ve been given several broken statues like this, and they are all doable with the usual skills.
Clif