Airfix 1/72 Lightning canopies

[Duncan B]

Has anyone else found that the clear plastic parts (sprue F) for their new EE Lightning have a flaw on them? I have just opened mine and found that there is a raised line, which I initially thought was a scratch running across the left side of both parts of the canopy.
I have contacted Airfix and hopefully they will send me out a new sprue but it is something to watch out for.

I've just checked my other kit in the stash and it has exactly the same fault on Sprue F!

Duncan B

[huvut76g7gbbui7]

Glad you pointed this out Duncan.

Just checked mine and left side of windscreen and canopy have moulding flaw.

Richard Gault.

[Duncan B]

I've had no luck trying to polish the mould marks off the canopy parts so I hope Airfix will be able to supply me with good replacements.

Duncan B

[modelldoc]

My once is okay.

modelldoc

[Duncan B]

My once is okay.

modelldoc

Did you buy your kit recently? I bought both of mine on preorder so would have been some of the first batch.

Duncan B

[modelldoc]

I bought it last month and I'm happy until today.

modelldoc

[huvut76g7gbbui7]

Mine was from first delivery. Airfix acknowledged my e-mail to the effect that they would respond within 28 days.Hope this means new transparencies.

RG

[Duncan B]

Mine was from first delivery. Airfix acknowledged my e-mail to the effect that they would respond within 28 days.Hope this means new transparencies.

RG

I got the same autobot message. I will need two sets.

Duncan B

[Darth Vader]

I pre ordered mine and are ok

[Tbolt]

Thanks for that, just checked mine and it's got the flaw, mine also goes onto the front windscreen. I got mine from Hannants in the first week of release, lets hope they have sorted the problem out in later runs.

[Duncan B]

Thanks for that, just checked mine and it's got the flaw, mine also goes onto the front windscreen. I got mine from Hannants in the first week of release, lets hope they have sorted the problem out in later runs.

I've had another message from Airfix asking which kit number so they are processing my request.

The flaw on mine ran laterally across the left hand side of the main canopy and diagonally across the left side of the front with another smaller flaw (which I thought was a crack as it goes all the way through the plastic so can't be polished out) right at the front of the left hand panel on the front piece, both kits were identical in the shape and size of the flaws.

Duncan B

[huvut76g7gbbui7]

Also got request for product code from Airfix.

Duncan describes perfectly the flaw and it will not polish out.

It appears that a few of us have been unlucky and got kits with the flaw.

Hopefully fixed by Airfix.

Glad I only bought one whilst awaiting the F6

RG

[mmaker]

Is it possible to use canopy from Hasegawa/Revell kit?

Anyone try it?

[Duncan B]

Is it possible to use canopy from Hasegawa/Revell kit?

Anyone try it?

I did check the Trumpeter kit (which I have plenty of) but it's canopy is wider and taller, no great surprise really.

Duncan B

[Nigel Heath]

How about a photo of the flaw? As we discussed on Thursday I think it sounds like a cold shut in the moulding, where two flows of plastic have come together and not knitted properly.

Faithfull PA,

Nigel

[woody37]

Checked mine that came last week and it looks fine, so perhaps just early releases were the issue?

[Duncan B]

How about a photo of the flaw? As we discussed on Thursday I think it sounds like a cold shut in the moulding, where two flows of plastic have come together and not knitted properly.

Faithfull PA,

Nigel

Yes Nigel a photo would have been the way to go but unfortunately I attempted to polish off the flaw (and failed) from one of my canopies and the other is presently masked off. If there is still enough interest by the time the masking comes off (sometime in 2015 going by my rate of progress) I'll do that.

DB

Checked mine that came last week and it looks fine, so perhaps just early releases were the issue?

I hope that is the case, I am hoping that Airfix can supply me with a good replacement anyway.

Duncan B

[Tbolt]

How about a photo of the flaw? As we discussed on Thursday I think it sounds like a cold shut in the moulding, where two flows of plastic have come together and not knitted properly.

Faithfull PA,

Nigel

I'm sure that's what it is, obviously flow mark like this don't matter in coloured plastic, but you better get it right in clear plastic.

Anyway in these photos of the flaw you can see scratches but the defect stands out as you can see the two lines running parallel from either side of the plastic, which tells you it's not a surface defect.

Edited March 24, 2014 by Tbolt

[huvut76g7gbbui7]

Thanks for saving me a lot of head scratching, Tbolt.

far better than I could have done and show perfectly what Duncan described earlier.

RG

[Duncan B]

Yes that is exactly like both of mine, thank you very much Tbolt.

Interestingly with the aid of the magnification it is more obvious that the flaws go all the way through the plastic, my old eyes couldn't see that in real life until I unsuccessfully tried to polish them out.

Duncan B

[Nigel Heath]

Yes, they are cold shuts where the two inflows of plastic from the two gates have met and created a slight optical defect. Its down to poor tool design really but maybe they could not fill the part properly with one gate. It goes through the entire thickness of the plastic so can't be polished out. The manufacturer may be able to optimise the process conditions (hotter plastic, more pressure?) to get the two flows to fuse better and minimise or eliminate the defect. Hence the same tool may be able to produce OK parts. There may also be parts produced at the start of a production run, where the tool hasn't yet reached optimum working temperature. Well in manufacturing there are all sorts of variables that can affect quality like this.

[CharlieNZ]

The Vampire T11 I've just finished has the same type of defects. I asked Airfix for a replacement, which was sent very quickly, but it wasn't really any better.

[KeithBurrage]

definitely looks like a moulding whoopsie doesn't it? I got mine about a month ago and the canopy was/is fine so maybe it is just an early batch that has the problem.

[Sten Ekedahl]

Just checked my kit. I had to look very carefully to find the lines. They're there - but very faint. I wouldn't have seen them if I hadn't been told about them. Definitely the same type of moulding issue as with the Vampire T.11 canopy.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Sten Ekedahl

[Tbolt]

Yes, they are cold shuts where the two inflows of plastic from the two gates have met and created a slight optical defect. Its down to poor tool design really but maybe they could not fill the part properly with one gate. It goes through the entire thickness of the plastic so can't be polished out. The manufacturer may be able to optimise the process conditions (hotter plastic, more pressure?) to get the two flows to fuse better and minimise or eliminate the defect. Hence the same tool may be able to produce OK parts. There may also be parts produced at the start of a production run, where the tool hasn't yet reached optimum working temperature. Well in manufacturing there are all sorts of variables that can affect quality like this.

I don't understand the ins and outs of the injection moulding process, but why do Airfix seem to have two gates for most of their canopies? Plenty of other kits with complex canopies only use one gate, which surely eliminates this problem. I would have thought if Airfix has had problems with other kits they would have changed something by now, or is there something different about the injection process they use which means it needs to be like this?