Simon Platt

Final post on this, hopefully helpful to someone else in the future. I have tested WD40 over the paintwork of an old model finished in Mr Hobby Aqueous paints with a Tamiya X-20 gloss over the top - in other words tested over acrylic paint. I rubbed the paint quite hard with a kitchen towel sprayed with a bit of WD40 and then dried off most of what came off on the model using a fresh piece of kitchen towel. At this point I could barely perceive any oil on the surface but went one extra step and used a bit of dishwashing soap to degrease and remove what might have been left on the model anyway. To save spending any more looking for some sort of holy grail I think, for now, I'll standardise on removing the residue on my canopies at both pre-paint and post-paint stages with WD40 and follow up with a little soapy water to remove the little bit of oil that WD40 leaves behind. Works for me

Been doing some digging through MSDS and what I find intriguing is that the naptha used in humbrol enamel thinners is the same as that used in WD40 which does not harm the plastic at all. Well, they may not be exactly the same batch etc. but the CAS number of the main ingredient (64742-48-9 - naptha (petroleum), hydrotreated heavy also known as white spirit type 3) is the same. The difference is in the extra ingredients: WD40 contains propellant gas and the oil, of course, and Humbrol thinners (on a Rustin's letter headed MSDS interestingly) contains up to 30% 2-methoxy-1-methylethyl acetate which is another solvent. This is assuming that the MSDS I have, dated 2012, matches the sample of humbrol of thinners I have. I think I will have to try another thinners based on white spirit type 3 that doesn't contain this chemical to find out if it is the culprit.

I find tamiya tape difficult to use as a canopy mask so I am trying bare metal foil as recommended by a number of old hands. I found it much easier to use than tamiya tape and would like to continue using it but it leaves a small amount of glue residue that needs to be cleaned before and after painting. On my test pieces I cleaned the residue off successfully with Mr Color lacquer thinners and also WD40 but I know I cannot use either of these to clean the residue after painting since they will also remove the paint from the canopy frames and leave a thin layer of oil behind respectively. The BMF instructions say to clean the residue with turpentine, and Paul Budzik's video on the technique shows him using a hardware store grade of mineral spirits. Mineral spirits are a turpentine substitute so that makes sense. I know that humbrol enamel thinners are mineral spirits and assumed they'd be safest to use on my kit since that is what they're designed for and, since I plan to paint the canopy frames with acrylic or Mr Color 'lacquer' based paint, I hoped that later in the process the enamel thnners would be able to clean the glue residue from the painted canopy without attacking the paint on the canopy framing. A small bottle of humbrol enamel thinners was duly aquired and a cotton bud slightly wet with the stuff easily removed the glue residue from the canopy framing just as promised but I watched in horror as the canopy frosted over inside and out within seconds after removing the BMF residue. I am at a loss, since I followed the instructions and recommendations to the letter and find this result particularly surprising since humbrol enamel thinners are designed for use on plastic. The kit is the hasegawa hellcat in 1:72 just in case the manufacturer makes any difference to the result. Yes it was rather stupid of me to test two products on a test piece and then use a third unknown on my actual part. I doubt I'll be able to polish out the frosting since it feels very rough and the canopy framing is represented by finely engraved lines which will surely be removed in the process. I suppose I now have a kit on which to test these sorts of new techniques. Should I have used a different grade of mineral spirits? What product can be used to remove the BMF residue but won't attack the dried acrylic or laquer paint? Paul Budzik says he does not Klear or Future his canopies before using this technique instead preferring to polish them, but, perhaps that might have some bearing on the outcome of this technique? BMF really is nice to use as a mask so I feel that it is worth persevering and finding a way to make this work but perhaps others out there have already figured out what works and relay their findings to me?

Hi, I have not been modelling in scale for quite some time now but retain a small quantity of prized kits, and after market accessories for those kits including some nigh on irreplaceable decals. In my experience decals are the first to show signs of old age. I remember opening a pack of decals I bought when I was a kid and clearly being able to discern yellowing on those that had been exposed to the light. So my idea is to revisit my decals and stash them in an archival manner, something that will slow degradation to a minimum. I've read that, in addition to temperature and lighting controlled environments archival libraries use well fitted heat sealed silver mylar covers to keep their documents in good condition. I wonder if the same techniques may be used to good effect on decals. Do you have any other ideas or tips to share on this subject?

Great to see this model completed Gary Well done!

Nice one, Wayne

but then you WOULD say that wouldn't you? Nothing like a little bit of pressure eh Gajman? Suddenly quite a lot of interest in this one!

There is a reason I never built this set, and that is because it seemed well above my experience level. It looked like a lot of work to me. With enough patience I reckon it will turn out a lovely model.

I reckon this will be a tasty build! Thanks for letting me know about it Gajman.

That's a really great model. Especially in 1/72! I must admit that for a SAAF fan I know very little about the Canberra but this model sure drew me in. Loving it. Cheers, Simon

Hi Dean, I realise I'm late in posting, in more ways than the obvious - I should have commented long ago on some of your previous builds but I've not been visiting the forum very regularly lately. What I'm building up to is a serious gushing of admiration for your work. There are a select few modellers who, when they've posted a ready for inspection post, I open it up like a kid at Christmas who still believes in Father Christmas - you have become one of those modellers. I haven't seen all your work but what I have seen has been of a consistently high quality and, on occasion, like this model, seriously breaks the mould and lets a little more light into the prison I call my brain. I am simply in awe. Bravo Sir! Simon

I'm sure that most of us keep our cyano glues in the fridge or some other cold place to extend their shelf lives. Well for some time now I've had a bottle in the fridge with a slightly dodgy lid. The lid had become gummed up with dry glue that I could not extract and did not screw onto or sit properly on the bottle anymore. Never the less I balanced it carefully on a shelf in the fridge door and thought nothing more of it. Fast forward a few days and I need to make a repair using some super glue. I find I have glued pretty much everything that was sharing that shelf space with the super glue bottle. I have got a bottle of maple syrup that is permanently attached to the fridge shelf. Quite amusing and I laughed when I first saw it but after trying to clean it up I realised it was not really possible to undo the mess and I've had to place an order for a new shelf with a spares supplier. Moral of the story is we can keep our cyano in the fridge but make sure it's lid goes on tightly and if not then wrap it inside something, a resealing sandwich bag or some other container. Though I wouldn't buy anything for the purpose because it is highly likely to get ruined when the inevitable spill happens. :shithappens:

Thanks for the idea CockneyCol. I have tried some 'piano wire' which came in an old guillows model kit I never finished. It was slightly thick but I created a small jig to bend it using a flat headed screw of appropriate shank diameter embedded in some wood. Using that jig I got a near perfect fit on the shank of the pin vice I thought I was all set but I was unable to get it into the swivelling head. Even the hammer couldn't convince it. I gave it some more thought but figured that going out and buying some thinner wire of the same kind was probably a bit over the top given the price of pin vices. Instead I got out my junior hack saw and took the shank right off. Filed the rough marks down til smooth and then polished it using scraps of fine grit aluminium oxide sandpapers and WD-40 for lubrication. It doesn't swivel any more and is a bit shorter but it looks a lot better and is easier to use without the swivelling head falling off during drilling.

Hi All, Bit of a long shot, and this happened some time ago so I don't even remember how it happened, but the swivelling head of my pin vice popped off. I think I was pulling it for some reason and it came off. The body has a small shank at the top and the swivelling head has a corresponding hole into which that fits. There is a groove around the circumference of the shank and I recall that there was wire of some sort wrapped around this groove. I'm guessing that the wire compresses into the groove when the shank is forced into the head and then springs back to shape again once inside the head thus forming a joint that is difficult to pull apart but swivels freely around the shank. Anyway, long shot as I said, just wondered if any of you folks have ever had this happen and repaired the thing? I've tried a few different scraps of wire so far but none have been successful, some too thin, some too compressible. I think I might need some spring wire. Simon

That's a very neat build at that scale. Is the light on the port wing straight from the kit? It seems exceptionally clear. The aerial on top of the fuselage too must be extremely thin. Great work all around. The paint job, and your own little details. Just superb. Simon