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You could try it, but I'll lay money it'll "Fizz" even if it doesn't go brown - it's the applying heat directly thing lexan doesn't like, which only really leaves you with hot liquid (100 C water ain't hot enough) or hot gas (Steam, air etc)

I'm sure any heat great enough to melt the lexan will also cause it to lose shape ... the usual method of fixing lexan bodies is to buy a new one from Tamiya or Team Blue Groove, alternatively to put a sticker over the outside & tape on the inside - so eddrick's resin method is an improvement

This might be an important lesson for future then - Thinking about repair work to vintage ABS bodies (eg Hilux) & the rarity of the vintage Quattro, Lancia & Ascona bodies, would FJ40 etc owners be wise to NOT run their lexan bodies? - I reckon the CR series are likely to be future desirables, & what are you gonna do if you can't repair that battered lexan shell when there's no more left to buy?....

eddrick wrote:

This might be an important lesson for future then - Thinking about repair work to vintage ABS bodies (eg Hilux) & the rarity of the vintage Quattro, Lancia & Ascona bodies, would FJ40 etc owners be wise to NOT run their lexan bodies? - I reckon the CR series are likely to be future desirables, & what are you gonna do if you can't repair that battered lexan shell when there's no more left to buy?....

Bug a big bag of plaster of paris, cast a one-time buck (or a few times, if you're lucky), buy some lexan & build your own vac forming machine?

If I had the space I'd have a go - I think the basics would be an eye-level electric grill, a hoover & some plywood

I suspect there may be a bit more to it than that - my brother had a go at making his own lexan shells back in the 80's & it didn't go well - the plastic sheets do the "crisp packet in the oven" trick & wrinkle up before you get them warm enough to be pulling over a mould. Anybody got an idea of ideal vac-forming temperature for polycarbonate? Does it have to be a special type? I had the same problem trying to do a simple body for my 1/5 buggy, I gave up & fabricated it in polypropylene in the end! Some thought is required for the vac too - I've heard of people converting old fridge compressors to do the job cos they can produce a stupid vacuum, I think it's because they use piston-type which will keep going until you stall the motor, whereas a hoover uses a centrifugal compressor, which will just "stir" the air once it gets to a certain pressure, which is dependent on how many stages it has rather than how fast it's going or how much power you put in (Read up on positive displacement pump vs centrifugal pump). Interestingly, people have been tricked into thinking "More Watts = more suck" which just isn't true, it's all about how fast you can move the air to create a low pressure area & it's the then higher atmospheric air pressure that does the work - an 800w 2-stage Vax produces far more "vacuum" than a 1400w 1-stage Dyson, so basically, your posh expensive hoover is just wasting energy..... I appear to have distracted myself..... Er, industrial vacuum pumps for holding stuff down etc are usually "vane compressors" - same sort of thing as an air horn compressor (But connected backwards to suck rather than blow)