RC BATMAN cowl shrink....would it work?

[Mod Style]

We know that the RC BATMAN cowl is sort of a loose fit.Could acetone shrink it down to a more snug fit?
I've never done an acetone shrink, so you guys that have,tell me if my idea would, or wouldn't work.

Here's my plan:
1. Take a repro RC cowl and soak it in acetone.
2. Take it out of the acetone, and put it on a resin Bruce Wayne head.
3. After it shrinks to the shape of the head, remove it, wash off any trace of acetone, and put your new, tight fitting cowl on the actual rubber Bruce head.


Sound good in theory? You guys let me know what you think.

Joe

[Meule]

I've never worked with acetone, but it sounds good

[Mod Style]

I've read that after soaking the item, it swells, and becomes fragile before it shrinks.I wonder if it regains it's strength after it shrinks, and dries?

[Bizarro Amy]

You would just have to be careful removing the shrunken cowl and putting it on another head, because sometimes acetone soaks leave the shrunken item stiff or brittle. In addition to losing that extra room, you also would no longer have the flexibility.

[Mod Style]

Do you suppose giving the item a post-shrink soak in Armour all /Tire Wet would return some of it's elasticity?

[thunderbolt]

Del's got it right, as it goes thru the shrinking process, it looses the flexability. And yes it expands when soaked in the acetone and is very fragile.

[Meule]

You would just have to be careful removing the shrunken cowl and putting it on another head, because sometimes acetone soaks leave the shrunken item stiff or brittle. In addition to losing that extra room, you also would no longer have the flexibility.

Really? In that case the cowl will probably break trying to remove it from the resin head or putting it on the rubber head. You'd need to be very careful

[thunderbolt]

It won't be that brittle, just not soft like it was before.

[Meule]

I keep learning. So this will be possible then?

[thunderbolt]

yep, it should work.

[Meule]

RC Batman with a tighter cowl, looking forward to seeing the result

[Bizarro Amy]

Do you suppose giving the item a post-shrink soak in Armour all /Tire Wet would return some of it's elasticity?

No, because when I use Tire Wet before degraying heads with PlastiDip, it doesn't make them flexible, just shiny and slick. I don't even know if the Tire Wet actually absorbs, or if it just sits on the surface as a release for the PlastiDip.
When I shrink vinyl heads, they expand in the acetone and get flimsy as they expand, because the material is stretching out. As they dry and shrink down, the heads get stiffer. I'm sure they also thicken, but the acetone leaves them somewhat brittle as well - the level of that has varied in my experience. You could probably get a temporary increase in flexibility after the item is shrunk by boiling or otherwise gently heating it, but once the item cools, I'm pretty sure it would get hard again.
In the long run, you might not be able to take the cowl off and put it back on again if you shrunk it this way, so it kind of defeats the purpose of having a removeable cowl. If you're just looking to for an improvement from the molded cowl Batman, you could either sculpt your own cowl in a style you like, or paint the resin Bruce head and allow the cowl to shrink on it, then just leave it there. Again, there's no guarentee that the cowl will shrink exactly the way you want it, and you will have to be extremely careful pulling it out of the acetone while expanded, as it is a thin piece of vinyl anyway.

[Mod Style]

I believe that tire wet does absorb, and actually causes the degraying.The function of the PlastDip is to force the tire wet into the head as the PlastiDip dries, and shrinks.At least that's how think it works.

[Raydeen1]

Pretty sure the PlastiDip stains the head with a red hue which returns the head to a more flesh tone.

The cowl shrink should work fine. Someone did it with a DC9 Batman a few years back. The Acetone did fade the blue in the cowl though.

I believe that tire wet does absorb, and actually causes the degraying.The function of the PlastDip is to force the tire wet into the head as the PlastiDip dries, and shrinks.At least that's how think it works.

[drmego]

Be very careful working with Acetone. I tried to shrink a Ming head a few
years ago and the head broke apart in the Acetone into little pieces.