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I used toothpaste on canopies I'm my previous incarnation as a spotty teenage modeller - and T-cut as I recall - but only cos I knew no better in the late 70's :)

My more recent experience has been that with sufficient patience and making sure to go thoroughly through all the micro mesh grades I have (3500, 4000, 6000, 8000 and 12000 (and using each grade in a direction 90 degrees to the previous)) that the only further polishing I have needed after the 12000 grade is a soft lint free cloth and a dip in Klear (although I'm going off Klear a bit now).

You're right tho' that it won't do a great deal for any significant distortion inherent as a result of the thickness and unevenness of the canopy. The process should help a bit in that it is generally thinning and smoothing the canopy. But there's only so much you can do to a truly cr*p moulding :(

As to the rivets and the mick grant decals. The decals are very good but somewhat limited as a flat black dot isn't going to be your first choice to depict rivets by and large. I was happy with the look on my JP - but that's cos I was trying to replicate screws that on many JPs are very noticeable.

I plan to go to Huddersfield - it's the closest show to where I live - and I'd be delighted to bring the decals alone and say hello.

Edited by Fritag
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Those wing seals look awesome.

Sorry to hear your first canopy polishing attempt didn't work. It's really frustrating as Clear parts are always more tricky to sort out.

My Tornado has gone down my in my priorities to get finished now because of this issue. Hope you have better luck with the second canopy. Little cars do a nice Polishing set which has some micromesh polishing pads, a little bottle of Polish and a soft cloth. The set is well worth getting.

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I used toothpaste on canopies I'm my previous incarnation as a spotty teenage modeller - and T-cut as I recall - but only cos I knew no better in the late 70's :)

My more recent experience has been that with sufficient patience and making sure to go thoroughly through all the micro mesh grades I have (3500, 4000, 6000, 8000 and 12000 (and using each grade in a direction 90 degrees to the previous)) that the only further polishing I have needed after the 12000 grade is a soft lint free cloth and a dip in Klear (although I'm going off Klear a bit now).

You're right tho' that it won't do a great deal for any significant distortion inherent as a result of the thickness and unevenness of the canopy. The process should help a bit in that it is generally thinning and smoothing the canopy. But there's only so much you can do to a truly cr*p moulding :(

As to the rivets and the mick grant decals. The decals are very good but somewhat limited as a flat black dot isn't going to be your first choice to depict rivets by and large. I was happy with the look on my JP - but that's cos I was trying to replicate screws that on many JPs are very noticeable.

I plan to go to Huddersfield - it's the closest show to where I live - and I'd be delighted to bring the decals alone and say hello.

I've got a micromesh polishing kit for Alclad, so I did use that all the way to #12000, but it still had a bloom to it. The most difficult part was sanding the canopy sides, particularly on the inside. As you say I was trying to sand at 90 degrees or in circles, but theres hardly any room to do that before an obstruction appears. I was using a folded micromesh foam pad to hod the sheets of abrasive. I might try washing them tonight in detergent to get rid of any debris, and try again.

It would be great to see you at Huddersfield - I'm on the look out for cheap Tornado canopies and abrasive materials!

Those wing seals look awesome.

Sorry to hear your first canopy polishing attempt didn't work. It's really frustrating as Clear parts are always more tricky to sort out.

My Tornado has gone down my in my priorities to get finished now because of this issue. Hope you have better luck with the second canopy. Little cars do a nice Polishing set which has some micromesh polishing pads, a little bottle of Polish and a soft cloth. The set is well worth getting.

Thanks! One thing I'm fairly happy with are the seals - that method could have gone either way, but they look OK to me.

I'll order a polishing kit from Paul and pick it up at the show on Sunday. Thanks for the heads up.

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Your patience is tremendous Doc. Don't give up on that canopy just yet, the 1st attempt was looking great. The crazing across the top does look like stress fractures.

The more I watch your progress the more I'm thinking there may be a real need to have a go at crash moulding a new canopy for this kit.

Seriously impressed with how good those wing seals look too!

Keep at it, this is top notch modelling and a brilliant subject

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I hope y'all realise what will happen if this process I've been talked into, runs over into Valentine's evening...

If you want a new (ish) canopy,I've got a few in the spares box...Might take a while for me to send it tho as my cancer returned end November so I'm in & out of hossy for the next few months for chemo,but Zone19 can contact me as we're both ex Armourers.

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If you want a new (ish) canopy,I've got a few in the spares box...Might take a while for me to send it tho as my cancer returned end November so I'm in & out of hossy for the next few months for chemo,but Zone19 can contact me as we're both ex Armourers.

Sorry to hear that Spike. I really appreciate your offer; are your canopies any better than the one I posted a picture of in terms of moulding quality?

I hope your hospital experiences aren't too bad. Cheers

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]

So that leaves me with fannying about making a new canopy, which isn't strightforward. The frames on the lower edges are moulded as part of the transparency, with no step between them and the 'glass'. This means that if I make three separate hoops to fit over a new canopy, their lower ends have nothing to butt against, and will leave a step. They also have tiny fillet radii in the corners. I'd have to try to make a pair of lower rails and either mate them to the lower edges of the vacform (structurally very weak), or glue them on top of the vacform lower rails (difficult to get the correct step, in the correct position.

In other words a complete pain in the bottom.

Edited by dr_gn
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Sorry to hear that Spike. I really appreciate your offer; are your canopies any better than the one I posted a picture of in terms of moulding quality?

I hope your hospital experiences aren't too bad. Cheers

About 10 years old & never used,crystal clear.

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Feeling guilty about suggesting polishing the canopy now.....,

Perhaps I can make amends by buying coffee at Huddersfield? (assuming same is available) :)

My plan at the mo' is to get there shortly after 12.

We maybe the only two blokes not wearing jeans.....

Edited by Fritag
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Feeling guilty about suggesting polishing the canopy now.....,

Perhaps I can make amends by buying coffee at Huddersfield? (assuming same is available) :)

My plan at the mo' is to get there shortly after 12.

No need to feel guilty - after all I've got 3 to mess about with! Thanks for the offer of cofee though; PM about to be sent re. the show...

The plan is to use the cracked one to make a vacform mould.

i'll get a polishing kit from Paul at Little-Cars tomorrow and see if I can make the second one any better.

Then there's Spike's one that he's very kindly sending me - I'm hoping this will be the answer to my prayers!

As an absolute last resort I've still got an untouched (but flawed) original.

I was hoping to get this one done for the show, but now there's no chance of that the pressure is off, so I'll use it to try out new techniques on the canopy and take my time.

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Stunning work. I hope I can do mine justice. I've got the Revell kit and Airfix decals in the stash. Along with some resin Jp233's, new pitot tube and PE access ladder (thanks Airfixandy)

Ta.

Re. the brass pitot tube - I'd strongly recommend it's the last thing to be attached to the model. Very easily bent, plus it's sharp...

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Ha ha thanks! Not sure about modelling god though - it definitley has a few issues, some of which are not seen by the camera. I've made a bit of a meal of this one TBH, and it's not done yet...I'm looking forward to OOB kits from now on.

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