Hi Greg ;

 I do have to admit . Less than a year ago I did acquire another Mattel Vac-U-Form . New in the original box ! ! I just put non - oil based clay under the canopy or canopy parts , Oh I Also use that Play-Doh made for kids .

   Heat doesn't hurt it . Fill the canopy  , Stick it on the non - heated Platen and swing the hot plastic and hit that Vac lever ! Beautiful canopies , all the way to 1/24 You do have to angle the canopies corner to corner for the larger ones .The platen Is , If I remember right Only 3.5" x 4.5" . No way to enlarge it either ! Works though ! T.B.

I bought a heat gun awhile ago just for the purpose of vacuforming.  I also have one of those no-contact IR temperature sensors I intend to use to monitor the temperature while I am heating it.

Until your 6 says you killed the toaster.

Murphy's Laws of War:(can't remember which number it is, but...)

if it is stupid, and it works, it ain't stupid.

Yeah, I wouldn't use the toaster, but smash-molding is pretty useful.  I made a mold to replace the windscreen on an old Airfix Fiat G50.  I used 2-part epoxy putty for the mold, and a piece of clear plastic packaging from one of my shirts.  I heated the plastic over a candle, then laid it into the mold and smash! new windscreen.

Yeah, don't guess it matters what you use to heat the plastic- never thought of a toaster though! 

Ahah, so simple once explained.

Thank you, Rob.

Use the canopy to make a mold out of clay. Then pour resin in the mold. Let it harden. Use the solid resin canopy as your form to make the copy with no risk to the original.

Do you still have your Vac U Form? And either way, where did you get it? (ahhh, yet another toy I wish I still had so much).

So when doing a Vac U Form canopy, can you just place the original canopy right on the machine plate surface and mold it? I can't remember if that surface gets hot or not.

Plunge molding. It's surprising how much detail can transfer.

Pretty ambitious. I've gone as far as 1/72 navigator domes and the like, nothing too big.

A good source of plastic is the lids on salad tubs.