Bartertown.com

...and by getting in the way I mean 'selling faulty figures'. Once I started building it, I realized that the cannon was banana shaped. So when I placed the two halves together, I can pinch either the front or the end together, and the other end has a rather significant gap. As well, if you've ever seen the figure, it's a very detailed figure at both ends, so filing it in with plasticard or greenstuff isn't an option. I've tried heating it (150 degrees F) and also tried extended compression with vices (for aprox 6 hours), with not much luck. It's also a pretty thick, so bending it by hand has only really managed to ding up some of the edges. I tried complaining to GW, fat lot of help that did. "We're sorry, problem with the mold, blah blah blah, here's what other people did."

Anyone have any advice on better ways to manipulate large pieces of pewter like this? My best idea next is to heat it up to about 250 F and see if that helps.

Return it and get another kit. If the gap is as big as you say, then it's a defect, and not a modelling issue. I've built the kit and it went together clean.

Heating it to 250o sounds like a good idea to me. Good luck with whatever you end up doing.

IF you can't return it, try a vise.

You'll need a shop vise. You'll have to pad the vise with something, like a wet towel, and then close the vise slowly AND apply heat. Low pressure & low heat.

Lead/pweter will melt very easily with heat. I know, I tried reattaching a models feet back to her legs. The half-elf female ended up looking like a hobbit.

You'll need to apply a stready pressure to SLOWLY bend the metal. low heat to slowly warm & soften the metal.

You need to pad the vise to keep from scratching or chipping the metal.