# Using heat to make fender flares? Anyone tried this?



## noddaz

Has anyone tried heat to flare fenders? Just a subtle rolled look?

If so, please share!

Scott


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## Milton Fox Racing

Never tried it before but the tensile and sheer strengthen, and elongation percentage are all pretty low as is the melting point. Meaning your window of opportunity to reshape it is very narrow before it breaks (to cold and to soon) or melts away (to hot and to late).

What is current hottest temperature source you have on hand?


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## irishtrek

You could always glue a length of 1/4 round rod, which comes in different sizes from Evergreen scale models, to the fender and use putty to shape the flares how you want them to be.


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## Andy Oldenburg

I have shaped styrene sheets in 0.6, 1mm and 1,5 mm for different purposes. Every time i´ve used my hair dryer or heat gun the outcome was a disaster. Low heat of course, with different distances from 5 to 20 inches distance. You either fall asleep waiting for something to happen, or you play emergency room. The thin sheets just don´t bend, they crinkle up and shrink faster than you can react. The thicker sheets don´t get soft over the whole area, but take different steps of melting from inch to inch. Same happened when I worked an undercarriage.

Bending flat styrene sheets in a straight line or in an even curve shape is possible without applying heat. But widening your fenders with heat will probably wreak the model. If it was my challenge, I would cut an arc of 1 mm sheet styrene and by trial and error bend it into shape and keep cutting and carving until it finally fits. Use that one as a template for the other fenders. After gluing you will need a bit of putty to smooth it out. Good luck!


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## irishtrek

The 1/4 round rods do bend fairly easy but getting them to keep the bend that's another matter. I would suggest for anyone who uses them to clamp the strip down on the fender well really good.


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## aussiemuscle308

For small fender flares, i get a flat piece of styrene and curl it to fit better, glue that to the wheel arch, then fill it with filler to blend with the fender. 
kw_beechey03 by aus_mus, on Flickr
sidch_01 by aus_mus, on Flickr


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