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Hey, I have been working on the F-51 mustang from Tamiya for a few years off and on now, and made a serious botch when gluing the canopy on, by getting a huge glue finger print on the middle of the canopy, and have been unable to clean it up... I have tried several methods, i.e. sanding it, polishing it, tape, etc. It is so bad it wrecks the entire model, so if you have any other ideas on how to rectify this situation, or a source for a replacement canopy, that'd be greatly appreciated! I look forward to all the responses! https://www.scalemates.com/kits/tamiya-61044-north-american-f-51d-mustang-korean-war--122762

It comes up now and then, whether it is possible to duplicate vac-u-formed canopies. The answer is yes! I will show you how I do it. First off, the canopy you wish to replicate has to be closed at both ends. If it has already been cut out of it's plastic sheet, you are going to have to devise a way to make it hold a runny sort of product. One way might be to glue plastic pieces to the part that needs to be sealed off, using a glue such as G-S cement, which can later be dissolved with 91% rubbing alcohol, without harming the plastic. BEWARE -- THIS METHOD WILL NOT WORK ON ANY SORT OF "UNDERCUT" CANOPY!!! -- but then, I don't think the vacuform process would either! Next, I dip the canopy into a paper cup full of Future or Pledge or whatever it is now, wherever you are. I do this twice, dipping into the cup, holding the part with tweezers, and allowing to dry on a paper towel for an hour or so between coats. After each dip, I pour the left-over Future/Pledge back into the bottle, then place the now empty paper cup upside down over the canopy, while it dries, to deter any dust. The reason for the Future is twofold. First, to help make certain that the surface of the cast part will be smooth, and also because later on, if the casting doesn't want to come out of the canopy (mold), you can dissolve the Future with Windex with Ammonia D, as it is now called. Don't know why that call it that, but they do. You can also use plain or diluted ammonia, but it will smell really bad! Anyway, except for the Future and ammonia product, our needs are simple: The canopy we wish to copy, and a can of Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty. What it was used for originally, I don't know, but it works great for this. I got mine at Home Depot, you mileage may vary.. I just dump some of the Durham's fine powder into a plastic cup, then add a few drops of water, and stir with a cocktail stick. The stuff stirs much like Plaster of Paris, but dries harder (and yellow). You want to mix it until it has a consistency somewhere between chocolate syrup, and pudding. That is, you don't want it too runny, as it will take forever to be dry (and be weak), but also, you don't want it to be so stiff that you have to scoop it into the mold (canopy). Fortunately, it's cheap enough to experiment with! Anyway, just make sure that your canopy will hold water, but your putty mix is more like pudding... Next, mix up the putty and pour it into the mold (canopy). Make certain that the canopy is level. I usually make sure to fill the canopy a bit above level, as the putty will shrink slightly as it settles. I also run a cocktail stick back and forth, to make sure that no bubbles are left against the canopy surface. Getting the right consistency will go a long way toward that goal. Here is what mine looks like, after drying, usually about two or three days: Usually, the Durham's will just pop out with a tiny bit of prying, preferably in an area that is not critical, as the stuff WILL scratch. If not, here is where the Windex D is your friend. Run a few drops along the edge between the canopy and the Durham's, and after a few seconds, you should be able to pop it right out. Lastly, the finished product: Note that any fine rough edges (arrow) can be sanded right off, and the bottom can be sanded flat, if need be. Note the perfectly smooth surface of the molded part, which is of course, a perfect copy from the inside of the canopy, so that after you vacuform it, should create a copy perfect to use -- plastic thickness being about the same as the original copy. If there is a little Durham's residue on the original canopy that you copied, again, the Windex D and a toothbrush will get it right off! Duck Soup, as they say... Now, where did I put that Vac-u-former? Ed

Just a small gripe but I wish when a manufacturer produces a kit that has the canopy in its constituent parts so that it can be modelled open that they would also always provide a fully closed example as well. I know moulded canopies are now getting ever finer but I've never come across one yet where the assembled 'open' canopy, when modelled in the closed position, looks realistic and to scale. For example the new-ish tool Airfix Me 262 which is a fine kit but just looks wrong when the 2 part canopy is modelled as closed. Regards Colin.

I have noticed on my last few builds, this nasty habit of some sort of smudging or fogging occurring inside the canopies of my jet models, most recently an F/A-18 and the huge greenhouse on a 1/48 scale Lancaster, CH-53D, and 1/32 F-4J. I have no idea why this is happening. But once the canopy is removed and cleaned with an ear bud, it easily wipes away. My normal build process is to mask the canopy, and glue it to the fuselage with Micro Crystal Clear or white glue, once it has dried, I then paint the aircraft with Model Master enamels or Tamiya acrylics, coat with Pledge Floor Wax cut with 10% isopropyl alcohol, decal, setting solution, spray again with Pledge and alcohol to seal in the decals, weather, then seal with Testors dull coat. My work shop is in my basement, constant dry but cool temperature. What am I doing wrong? (My cousin, a biochemical engineer thinks the problem is with the wax coating and alcohol due to its high water content, that somehow manages to get inside the cockpit and releases moisture as it dries. Its not the paint, as there is no overspray inside the cockpit when I remove the canopy. He suggested moving the model to a warmer place while letting the wax cure for 48 hours.)

Well...., I've recently started a P51 Mustang build 1/48 scale & going to do Roscoe Browns 'Red Tail'. Not built a model aircraft since I was a kid & boy, how things have changed during my absence. Not going too bad, a few hiccups here & there. One bad spot was the small 'chip' I somehow got on the front canopy window grrrrr. Anyway, I thought I'd tryout something that card makers use for rain drops on flowers called Liquid Glass. As soon as I received it, I made a small 'teardrop' on some paper. It was not unlike pva at first...., then it dried hard & clear like glass. Carefully, I made another small drop on paper & even more carefully, I used a cocktail stick & gently applied some of the liquid to the 'chip'. When it dried, it looked way better. Of course, a small difference can be seen but it's so much better now than the horrible chip that was there before. The one I used was called DecoArt Media Liquid Glass. I Hope this helps anyone who falls fowl this curse. Regards to all. 😀

Evening all! So it has come to masking my Airfix Dornier Do17 and all has gone well except for the dome shape underneath the airframe just before the bomb bay. As said, it is dome shaped and I really have no idea how I should takle it. Any suggestions? Happy modelling! Adam

Hello Anyone have a Photo of the Intake duct on an F-102 ? I know the forward sections are aluminum skin/paint but i need the deeper areas right by the J-57 face ? The instructions call for Zinc chromate green on the bulkhead ? But im thinking aluminum/lt gray/white in this area ? Dennis

Hello everyone I'm having the same persistent problem with my latest builds, and I'm getting very irritated! On each occasion, I've used either an Eduard or E-Z pre cut mask on the canopy that has already had the Klear treatment. Then it gets the normal interior colour followed by the exterior colour, usually a couple of coats of the latter. Paints used are Xtracolor enamels, Humbrol enamels and Xtracrylix acrylics (not used together, of course). When it's finally time to unmask the said canopy (which is, naturally, at the end of the build), I find that some of the frames have ragged edges and in some areas, the paint has hardly covered the frame at all, leaving a miserable back-tracking effort to get some semblance of an acceptable canopy. I should add that when I came back to modelling a few years ago, my first three or four builds had plenty of errors but the canopies were pretty fine! So, kind and knowledgable people, what am I doing wrong? (By the way, I do use an airbrush...) Paul