jacoballardtattoo Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Okay so I painted my body already but decided after the fact that I would like to dent in a fender (to mimic the all to often seen damage on a new drivers car) normally I would get out the good old bic lighter heart up the area and dent away but it's painted any suggestions? I do not have a heat gun but could steal the wife's hair dryer if that would get hot enough? Quote
Foxer Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 A dented fender would have paint damage with it. May have to work up to the right amount of heat needed slowly. Quote
StevenGuthmiller Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 How about slowly heating it from the inside. Steve Quote
jacoballardtattoo Posted January 21, 2015 Author Posted January 21, 2015 I thought about using my lighter trick that way, (from the inside). I have left myself at a bit of a advantage on this one, I have little to no experience at the moment, this will be maybe my 6th build ever and the first serious adult attempt, yet I'm going after advanced skills. I have no trash models or even good ones to practice on and to small a budget to do the practice and the build at the same time. Good hobbies cost money even if it can be done cheap I guess. I dropped more than I should have into my scale R/C crawler and put the models short for a bit. Probably a common issue with those of us with multiple hobbies, lol. Quote
MoparWoman Jamie Posted January 21, 2015 Posted January 21, 2015 Maybe use a dremel on the back side of the panel, remove some stuff and easily push the dent inwards from the outside. You could always touch up the underside more easy then the outside. Quote
jacoballardtattoo Posted January 22, 2015 Author Posted January 22, 2015 Okay again thank you everyone for all the advice, I went ahead and used my lighter on the backside of my fender, heated it up to just before really melting and pushed in my dent. It worked out great! I am going to try and get some pics posted to show how everyone's advice helped so much. Quote
jbwelda Posted January 22, 2015 Posted January 22, 2015 the problem with these sort of techniques is they generally end up looking like melted plastic that was pushed in with something (not another scale car). I have tried it a few times and my experiences were just that: not all that impressive looking. what I have read, and what I would like to try one of these days, is to get some thick aluminum foil, the really thick kind for oven broasting or something. then take a piece and form it over the fender to be dented, then cut off the fender away from the body, trim off the foil fender, being VERY careful to not bend it up too much and mount it onto the car. then take your finger or even the bumper from another car and ding it. it will look much more like metal than plastic. then I guess you paint it along with the rest of the body and then do some effects if you like. maybe you would want to paint it first and then dent it. might take some experimentation. personally that sounds kind of difficult to do without ruining the area, but I have seen it done and the results looked really great. I want to try it out one of these days on a not important build. jb Quote
randx0 Posted January 22, 2015 Posted January 22, 2015 (edited) You should use regular foil it is easy to work with, I put two part epoxy on the back of the door for strength . http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=28615&hl=%2Bnissan+%2Bbeater Edited January 22, 2015 by randx0 Quote
StevenGuthmiller Posted January 22, 2015 Posted January 22, 2015 I've used just the heat & dent method before & it works fine for small dents. If you dent it quickly after heating using something with a bit of a sharp edge to give a crease, it looks fine. When you start trying to do major crash damage, (ie. wrinkled up front fenders) with heat, then it just looks like melted plastic. This is a '55 Chevy truck that I never finished. Just a dent in the door & another at the corner of the grille. I should probably finish this someday. Steve Quote
randx0 Posted January 22, 2015 Posted January 22, 2015 I added a link to this build for better pics Quote
jacoballardtattoo Posted January 22, 2015 Author Posted January 22, 2015 Steven, I would love to see your build finished, it's looking good already. Thank you to everyone a lot of food for thought here. I do want to check out the foil idea. Randy I will check out your link right now. What I did I think worked out for the most part I hope. I shot the fender with a blue paint, then chrome, then my final color white, heated it up from the backside and used the sharp edge of the lighter for the first impact and the rounded for the filing drag. This broke up the paint where I dented it nicely and showed the chrome a bit giving the exposed metal look, the blue bar coat serves as the paint transfer from the impact. The final step will be scratching away some of the white for finger detail and rising out the edges. I hope to finally have pics tomorrow. The blue bar coat was a bit of a mistake that turned out good in the end it really gives the paint transfer effect. Quote
Foxer Posted January 22, 2015 Posted January 22, 2015 I have used heat to dent, but it's still a bit roundish. The bumper was done with heat also. I've always wanted to try the aluminum foil method for a really crushed fender. Quote
bpletcher55 Posted January 22, 2015 Posted January 22, 2015 cool both pics are of a 55 chevy truck sweet .! I use the lighter trick and even a blow dryer if I want to heat the plastic slowly . small parts can even be done with hot water . Quote
jacoballardtattoo Posted January 22, 2015 Author Posted January 22, 2015 (edited) Okay finally got some pics of my fender denting. I still have some detailing to do but wanted to get some responses first. Edited January 22, 2015 by jacoballardtattoo Quote
TheRX7Project Posted January 22, 2015 Posted January 22, 2015 Another method I used long ago is a light bulb/lamp. Get a cheap lamp and let the body part get good and hot, it will bend easily after a few minutes- and no risk of it melting or starting on fire. Quote
Belugawrx Posted January 22, 2015 Posted January 22, 2015 I was going to say ....if it's painted already try it on your next.... Doh,...too late Quote
Tom Geiger Posted January 22, 2015 Posted January 22, 2015 Be very careful with your heat source. It doesn't take much to melt a body. I find a lighter to be too wide a flame. I prefer to use a small birthday candle since the flame is small and I can direct it where I want. I mount it in the middle of my ash tray and hold the model over it. Once heated I use an old Matchbox car for the dent to give it some texture. If I don't like the dent, it's not the end of the world. I have put putty in the dent and either used the Matchbox car technique on the wet putty, or have done carving / sanding once it dries. It also helps to have a reference photo of a 1:1 car. I find a lot of photos of dents and rust on eBay Motors. I have saved a bunch of them for future reference. Another thing... when you dent fenders, things like chrome strips don't bend exactly with them. They tend to pop off their mounts and separate from the body. And know the materials that the 1:1 car would be. For instance, the trim on the 'eye brow' on a '59 Chevy is pot metal that would shatter and break off rather than dent. The grille on this one is aluminum so it would bend, but be aware that cars of the late 1960s forward could have plastic grilles that would shatter. I can't tell you how many models I've seen with bent plastic grilles! Quote
jacoballardtattoo Posted January 23, 2015 Author Posted January 23, 2015 Wow thank you everyone and thank you for telling me about the candle I see your point there very well. The light bulb is a great idea too. I am curious what you guys think about the dents I did, I love constructive criticism. Quote
Foxer Posted January 23, 2015 Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) Looks like that VW sideswiped a wall. Looks pretty good head on, but mostly like it was filed flat. An angled view would would give a better view of what you did. I'd be interested in a few more views. Edited January 23, 2015 by Foxer Quote
jacoballardtattoo Posted January 23, 2015 Author Posted January 23, 2015 Thanks Mike I see what you mean, I will try and get some more views posted tomorrow Quote
jacoballardtattoo Posted January 26, 2015 Author Posted January 26, 2015 (edited) So finally got some more pics, almost done. Edited January 26, 2015 by jacoballardtattoo Quote
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