Like a lot of people I finally got hold of my Raider yesterday, however mine has a slight issue in that one of the top rear 'solar panels' is bent upwards / outwards by perhaps 5 mm. It's not a massive problem but it is something I'd like to fix if at all possible.

My immediate thoughts were to stick it in some hot water for a few seconds and then bend into shape like I did to straighten up my Armada TIE Fighter wings or perhaps use a hair dryer to heat it up, but it's clearly made from a different plastic to those and I'm not sure it's a suitable solution.

I'd love to have the modelling / painting skill to perhaps cut off the offending part and some others and make my Raider look severely battle damaged but I don't and I just know that would end up with me having to buy another.

Any advice other than just to live with it?

I would first try a stiff plate or rod of some sort and a rubber band and let it sit for a while. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I guess heating and bending measures would be dependent on what it's made of. If you can find that out, then you'll know more, but you also have paint to worry about.

I would be very carefull with heating Xwings plastics. From my experience this kind of plactics don't take heating well, its not gonna bend smoothly but becomes liquid very fast.

That's what I was afraid of.

I'm thinking maybe if I pack the space between the panel and body of the ship with blu-tac and then then strap it up with rubber bands to keep it in the correct place that might do the trick if I leave it for a while. It's going to be several weeks at least before it sees the table so it's got to be worth a try as even a small improvement would make a big difference.

If all else fails I'll have a word with the people who are into painting and modelling at the group I play with and see if anyone can help out with battle damage.

Talk to FFG customer support?

If it were bothering me, I'd superheat an ice-pick and just turn the bent portion into melty, hole-y, battle dmg!

like this:

Yeah, don't do the "Hot Water" thing...not even steam.

But, I found that a gentle passing of a hair dryer on heat a few times will soften it enough to allow you to put things back into shape. Use the same distance and passing that one would use for priming a mini with an aerosol can.

If it were bothering me, I'd superheat an ice-pick and just turn the bent portion into melty, hole-y, battle dmg!

That looks fantastic and is exactly the sort of thing I had in mind. I reckon I could manage that myself too :-)

Melt it down and re-cast it- problem solved!

All the raiders that came to our store had some oddities. Not that I was complaining, I like fixing things up anyway and I was doing some final touch paint that I came up with way back when it was announced.

First, many of the gun mounts had flash issues. All but one on mine had some and gun 4 had it really bad. A few minutes with an exacto brought then back to spec.

All of the ones we opened and even just peered in to the box also have a deviation on the ventral radiator array where the right (from pilots perspective always) fin was mounted via support peg off kilter by a few millimeters. Not noticeable unless you flip the model and look real close. Most of them are warped out and away from the hull but that suport peg they have in there may cause some complications to repair efforts.

Then there's your issue with the upper right fin. Where yours is bent away though mine is warped towards the hull as we're the rest of the ones we looked at. As this one went without suport pegs I have high hopes that a hairdryer blast or so followed by holding it close to a open freezer for a moment will resolve the issue.