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Tossing this question out to the members to see if anyone has had success in restoring the thermoform (vacuform) plastic inserts that were used in gift sets. I recently purchased a G-4 Race Track Gift and the inner plastic sleeve is in need of some repair. I've thought about warming the plastic with a hair dryer and trying to work it that way but don't want to cause any reversible damage. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, John

I think heating it, even in a controlled manner, risks doing more harm than good. If it's cracked, the I would suggest the way forward is to provide some kind of strengthening (an adhesive film?) on the hidden face

John, any chance of some sort of picture showing the damage and I would agree with Hugh and would keep any heat away for now until we can see it.

Ghosthunter.

The plastic was designed to be discarded and as such, thin and of no particular quality. Heat will likely shrink or warp them beyond use. Certain glues will stain them. Age is not their friend and some of them may eventually go the way of some of the Lesney plastic interiors and self destruct. Trial and error may find some possible repairs that extend their life and appearance. But the error part of that equation will cause heartbreak for the unlucky. Years ago, I made a personal decision to enjoy these sets via archived photos and not waste my money and suffer the anxiety of trying to preserve and collect them.

As 3d printing becomes more available I suspect that new inserts could be created, and would be viewed as "reproductions" just to be a placeholder in the cardboard box for the enjoyment of the collector.

Now there's an idea! Use 3D-printing to create a support for the original moulding!

Tinman wrote: Years ago, I made a personal decision to enjoy these sets via archived photos and not waste my money and suffer the anxiety of trying to preserve and collect them.

Exactly what I did when all the various personal collections I owned got out of hand.Morgage problems meant selling off all my railway collection..I realised then that I could actualy own everything I had ever wanted as long as I then sold it on after photographing it.Luckily digital images had just come in so I invested in a little Fuji and have never looked back..As for the molded inserts I go with Joe and would personaly try the wooden stirer and pva route ..

Here are some pictures of the gift set. I had asked them to package the cars individually but they did not do that. The packaging was adequate but the weight of the cars and our wonderful postal service saw fit to shake things up a bit. I did get a refund from the seller as they didn't know much about Matchbox and really didn't know how to ship such an item. I am going to repair and flatten the original cardboard insert and out box as well. Once that is done I would like to tape the tray down again as it originally was. The first two photos are from the original listing and the rest are how it arrived. Let me know what you think.

If it were mine I would have no problem laying in a fine spread of glue on each surface of the crack, masking tape to hold it in place until stuck fast.

Some underneath support which was mentioned in earlier posts would help in preventing further damage as the support will take the strain and the original plastic inner tray would be stress free.

Ghosthunter.

Well, it took a while and a lot of patience but I finally got the gift set back to looking like it should. I still want to upgrade the models and shrink wrap it like it originally was sold. I am quite happy with the way it turned out after what I got in the mail. Hope you enjoy and Thanks for looking.