Hi; While I was here this thought came to mind;
I was cleaning my bench the other day. I relocated some small file type cabinets. You know, the little plastic ones. One drawer wouldn't close. Well, to my surprise there a whole fret of P.E. rails in there that had somehow gotten twisted and subsequently mangled in the drawer.
I usually keep P.E. in the little drawers because it lays flat! Wel, this time it didn't and I didn't see it in time. No! I don't know for how long. Since I did the Andrea Doria and Stockholm Models in Cardstock in 1/200 scale, probably.
I thought , shoot it's ruined. Well, I looked at it and decided to try and save it. The first thing I did was grasp each railset( On the Fret!) and stretched it to straight lines.It almost worked! Then, I very carefully used a tweezers and straightened the sharper bends near the posts! Then stretched again. Don't pull hard or you will deform the rails.
I then checked for square and worked Teeny stretches in the right directions. Now for the hardest part! Getting it to lay flat again! Doing the little stretch maneuver I got iy fairly flat. Placed it under a piece of Glass ( Heavy) But not to heavy! Then drew it from under the glass in both directione in other words, I flipped it over and drew it toward me. This also included drawing it slightly up or down to compensate for the curve from doing this!
Guess What? Perfectly Restored, Usable P.E. Rails! At what they can cost today, I recommend you do this before trashing that pile of Bent brass! Also if you are having problems with 1/250, 350 and 1/400 stairs breaking off do this.The Zip ties I mentioned? Cut the Handrails and Side bolsters off and glue them to the appropriate sized Zip Tie piece side , Paint and install. They will be solid but look great! Go For It ! ! !