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Instrument Panels - Gluing film and photoetch to resin


Tomjw

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Hi all.

I have a resin cockpit I am working on which had photo etch instrument panels and a plastic film for the instrument dials. What is the best way to glue these to the resin cockpit? Some of the pe bits and their corresponding dials are tiny.

Many thanks in advance.

Tom.

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Ah, the film sandwich! No doubt there are many favoured solutions for this; my 'works for me' process is to dip the instrument film in Future/Klear/Pledge or whatever it's called now, shoot some white (Tamiya white primer?) on the resin surface that it will sit on, cut the film to shape and place it face-up on the sticky bit of a Post-It. Then you can fix the etched panel (painted and Future-dipped first) to it with Micro Kristal Klear or similar transparency glue, used very sparingly. Some folk swear by using Future for this; I've never found it holds well enough. Belt and braces bit: when it has set, run a (very) little liquid cyanoacrylate glue around the edge of the sandwich.

Once all that is set, fix the sandwich to the resin with Kristal Klear, Gator's Grip or any strong PVA or acrylic adhesive -NOT cyano (it will mess up your lovely white background!).

And you're done.

As a PS, I'm experimenting with thin white PVC electrical tape to back the film bits -sticks by itself and the absence of paint means you can use more aggressive adhesives (as long as they don't melt the tape, 'course!). This seems to work well so far...time will tell.

HTH.

Edited by AngstROM
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Ah, the film sandwich! No doubt there are many favoured solutions for this; my 'works for me' process is to dip the instrument film in Future/Klear/Pledge or whatever it's called now, shoot some white (Tamiya white primer?) on the resin surface that it will sit on, cut the film to shape and place it face-up on the sticky bit of a Post-It. Then you can fix the etched panel (painted and Future-dipped first) to it with Micro Kristal Klear or similar transparency glue, used very sparingly. Some folk swear by using Future for this; I've never found it holds well enough. Belt and braces bit: when it has set, run a (very) little liquid cyanoacrylate glue around the edge of the sandwich.

Once all that is set, fix the sandwich to the resin with Kristal Klear, Gator's Grip or any strong PVA or acrylic adhesive -NOT cyano (it will mess up your lovely white background!).

And you're done.

As a PS, I'm experimenting with thin white PVC electrical tape to back the film bits -sticks by itself and the absence of paint means you can use more aggressive adhesives (as long as they don't melt the tape, 'course!). This seems to work well so far...time will tell.

HTH.

Excellent, thanks for this. There is clearly a lot more to it than I was anticipating.

Cheers,

Tom.

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Ah, the film sandwich! No doubt there are many favoured solutions for this; my 'works for me' process is to dip the instrument film in Future/Klear/Pledge or whatever it's called now, shoot some white (Tamiya white primer?) on the resin surface that it will sit on, cut the film to shape and place it face-up on the sticky bit of a Post-It. Then you can fix the etched panel (painted and Future-dipped first) to it with Micro Kristal Klear or similar transparency glue, used very sparingly. Some folk swear by using Future for this; I've never found it holds well enough. Belt and braces bit: when it has set, run a (very) little liquid cyanoacrylate glue around the edge of the sandwich.

Once all that is set, fix the sandwich to the resin with Kristal Klear, Gator's Grip or any strong PVA or acrylic adhesive -NOT cyano (it will mess up your lovely white background!).

And you're done.

As a PS, I'm experimenting with thin white PVC electrical tape to back the film bits -sticks by itself and the absence of paint means you can use more aggressive adhesives (as long as they don't melt the tape, 'course!). This seems to work well so far...time will tell.

HTH.

Just wanted to say thanks again. Worked a treat on my Aires Tornado cockpit.

Cheers mate.

Tom.

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You're most welcome, Sir -pleased it worked to your liking.

There is as much to these processes as you care to make; as I'm a fussy, faffy git by nature, it does get a bit drawn out!

Have fun with the Tornado.

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