I think I forgot to do this last time, but if you’re interested in seeing a picture of a Truck Pit check out this page on the Adventurous Child’s website.

So… back to building a Truck Pit…

The next step in the process is to Bend the roads and tunnels.  To do this we have two 4 foot long heating elements that are spaced out to match the “crease lines” that are required for the tunnel.  The heating elements gently heat the Plastic until it is workable, however working out the heating time can pretty tricky and it takes several flips of the plastic to get it evenly heated.

Once the tunnel was fully heated I would simply bend the tunnels along the “crease lines” at 90 degree angles and then run the tunnel under the sink to quickly cool down the plastic.  When the plastic had cooled off enough so it wasn’t able to bend anymore, I would repeat the process on the other 2 tunnels, and on both ramps. While it’s a little more complicated and risky to bend plastic vs. just building a tunnel with three pieces of plastic and some screws; bending the plastic creates a much stronger finished product t and it also looks better.

Well that’s about all it takes to make those tunnels and ramps.  I know it seems pretty daunting to bend and work with plastic, but it’s actually quite easy once you apply a little heat.