A pair of Airfix Hawks in 1/72. Finished.

[Shalako]

2 minutes ago, Fritag said:

 

 

Is that a "water-pistol" on the upper side of the photo???😁

[Terry1954]

11 minutes ago, Fritag said:

And here's one test fitted.

 

 

That looks the biz to me!

 

I'm often so displeased these days with kit canopies, this could be the main way forward with many for me. Just adds even more man hours to my already very long build times!

 

Terry

[Brandy]

That windscreen looks just about perfect, you won't get better than that! Lovely job!

 

Ian

[Fritag]

1 hour ago, Shalako said:

Is that a "water-pistol" on the upper side of the photo???😁

Oy.....That's my canopy polishing toy tool that is 

 

 

 

[perdu]

You probably don't remember but I used a casting from the inside of my Airfix Scout canopy so the moulded part didn't sit on the model with an overlap

 

Your canopies are really the bizz these days, lovely work Steve

[Fritag]

Just now, perdu said:

You probably don't remember but I used a casting from the inside of my Airfix Scout canopy so the moulded part didn't sit on the model with an overlap

 

Yep.

I remembered.

And tried copying it for the Hawks.

But the Airfix canopies are so thick that a casting of the inside was (i) too small! and (ii) a slightly different contour/shape to the outside - especially the front of the windscreen where it meets the fuselage.

 

Its been a bit of a bu**er actually......

[CedB]

17 minutes ago, Fritag said:

Its been a bit of a bu**er actually......

Looks like you've mastered it though Steve  

Must get one of those polisher thingies…

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

2 hours ago, CedB said:

Looks like you've mastered it though Steve  

Must get one of those polisher thingies…

Ced in “must get new tool” shocker!

[keefr22]

6 hours ago, Fritag said:

P'raps the dental plaster sets harder?

 

I'd think that's probably the case Steve, as if you're taking about myriad incompetencies I'll hold my hand up too! It's certainly harder than normal plaster of paris. 

 

But, looking at that lovely windscreen/canopy you have no need of the stuff anyway! 

 

Keith

[Terry1954]

5 hours ago, CedB said:

Must get one of those polisher thingies…

One more for the list @Courageous 🛠️

[perdu]

26 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

One more for the list @Courageous 🛠️

Tool tarts the lot of ya!

 

 

 

[hendie]

8 hours ago, Fritag said:

 so actually a precision fit is probably not vital.

 

but you'll do it anyway just to make the rest of us feel inadequate!

 

Very nice canoping Steve, and great to see some movement continuing on this. 

[CedB]

4 hours ago, perdu said:

Tool tarts the lot of ya!

 

 

 

Ha! Guess who it was who started me looking for a router/polisher. Name begins with ‘B’...  

[giemme]

I like them canopies, Steve

 

Could you please take a pic showing the final thickness, after vacforming? TIA

 

Ciao

[Courageous]

14 hours ago, giemme said:

Could you please take a pic showing the final thickness, after vacforming? TIA

...and did you use 0.5mm or up it?

 

Stuart

[Fritag]

On 7/11/2019 at 10:24 PM, giemme said:

Could you please take a pic showing the final thickness, after vacforming? TIA

 

Wilco.

 

 

On 7/12/2019 at 12:31 PM, Courageous said:

and did you use 0.5mm or up it?

 

 

I think it’s 0.5mm.  I say think cos it’s old stock I had and it didn’t the thickness printed on it.  To make matter less clear - it was c.0.7mm when I measured it with the callipers, but I was foolish enough to measure it with the protective film still on both sides........not very bright.....

 

With trial and error I’ve found that I get better results, by which I mean more consistent and less thinning of the plastic, if I heat the sheet for as little time as practicable, i.e.  until it’s just capable of stretching/forming around the master. 

 

 

 

 

[giemme]

Thanks Steve

 

It's quite thicker than what I use, but I can see the benefits of it - one being that you don't need to add an internal framing for a more realistic look.

 

Ciao

 

 

[Fritag]

I haven't gone awol again   I've been enjoying myself albeit wasting time down a modelling blind alley; so there hasn't been anything to report.

 

The blind alley was to do with the framing on the canopy.

 

The working assumption was (and frankly still is) that I'll simply mask and paint the framing on the canopy.  The dimensions for the width of the framing I've taken from a side-on photo printed at 1/72 scale.

 

[BTW that diagonal cream colour line...it is on the inside of the canopy isn't it?  Presumably something to do with internal blast screen?  I don't know from memory whether it's inside or outside.  It's not really something that I paid any attention to at the time.]

 

 

Anyways.  I started wondering if it would be neater/simpler to create the framing by cutting it out of a vac-form.

 

Well the jury is still out as to whether it could be done as neatly - let alone more neatly......but the verdict is back that it certainly ain't simpler  (altho' I could have predicted that...)

 

One thought was to build up the framing on the resin master and then vac form over that with white card.  As here:

 

 

And then cut out the raised framing, trimming it so that it was flat (i.e cutting away the sides of the frame to leave only the top).

 

 

And (once painted) fix that to the canopy.  Here's a proof of concept test:

 

 

It looks neat enough but the problems are these:

 

(1) As achieved it's overscale in 1/72 (framing is too thick)

(2) If I used thinner (say 0.3mm) sheet to get a thinner frame it becomes too thin to work with easily.  What I mean is that it's not really possible to trim the framing perfectly with scissors or a knife and so to get a really neat finish the edges are best sanded/finished with sanding sticks various.  But if the framing is very thin it becomes difficult/impractical to sand it.  And if the framing is thick enough to sand to a neat finish it's probably over scale in 1/72.

 

[BTW - if your wondering why I don't just mould in the framing on a clear canopy it's principally cos the framing just doesn't come out sharped edged enough.  There's an inevitable rounded look to it.  Plus it means that you don't have any margin for fettling the canopy to the perfect shape/size.

 

Second thought was to (i) mould a canopy for use as a template over the top of a spare clear canopy itself on op of the resin master (so the template was large enough) and (ii) then shape that to be template that I could scribe/cut around.  As here where a template is sitting on top of a white vac formed canopy (which itself was vacated over the top of a spare clear canopy):

 

 

And that worked pretty well:

 

 

Although I'm not yet convinced I can get the framing accurate enough/thin enough/neat enough to be better then simply painting the frame in 1/72.

 

So it's been an enjoyable but probably not very profitable cut-de-sac of modelling.

 

But hey.

 

I can't actually recall ever getting anything right first time....or second time....or third time.....

 

Some of us a just stubborn slow learners  

 

 

 

 

 

[Terry1954]

Although you feel like its a blind alley, some useful learning and techniques there.

 

Hope you persevere and get a result ............. we are all banking on it!

 

Terry

[xffw45343tg]

1 hour ago, Fritag said:

[BTW that diagonal cream colour line...it is on the inside of the canopy isn't it?  Presumably something to do with internal blast screen?  I don't know from memory whether it's inside or outside.  It's not really something that I paid any attention to at the time.]

 

Yes it is. The canopy transparency is actually 2 separate parts  and the cream is a seal between them where, as you say, the dividing screen is located. I believe it is possible to eject the front seat and for the rear seat pilot to continue to fly the aircraft (albeit depressurised) & vice versa. You know more about this than I though - remember that ejection switch with "Command" mode?

 

Modelling is superb even if (I agree) the separate frame looks a little over-scale. Maybe paint is the way to go after all...

[perdu]

As one who used the white plastic over clear canopy method on my Sherpa I have to applaud you taking on the mantle of double mouldery.

 

The thinner version looks ideal to me, as in "go for it" you need depth of plastic round that.

 

Nice to see you meandering down the paths of experimentery. 

[Brandy]

If you mould the frame with the same internal measurements as the clear part, could you remove the frame part from the clear canopy and glue the clear bit onto the frame, instead of the frame onto the edge of the canopy? That may give you better scale thickness versus the canopy glass as you should be able to sand the outside of the frame as required, and a frame thickness you could work with....

 

Ian

Edited July 28, 2019 by limeypilot

[CedB]

Clicking 'Like' is not enough oh mighty one - great work, as usual!  

[hendie]

I was going to mention BMF but that may not give any more definition than a good layer of paint.

What about using bog standard household tinfoil?   Could you use one of the frames you have molded as a template to cut out a new frame in tinfoil, or wine foil? and use that instead of plastic?

 

[would write more but am typing this with one finger left hand due to rotator cuff deciding to ruin my week]

[robvulcan]

brilliant !