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1/72 B-26 Canopy Masks


walkerccw

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I am just getting back into modelling and I am looking at building a 1/72 B-26. I am horrible at painting canopy frames.

I can buy the Airfix kit but there is not a mask made for it. Or I can spend more (a lot more), and buy the Hasegawa kit that Eduard makes a mask for.

 

I do not want to build the Airfix kit and get mad when I try to mask and paint the frames myself.

All comments appreciated.

 

CCW

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You'll never get any better at masking frames if you don't keep working at it!

 

One possible way is to use something like  strips of Tamiya tape, mask all the canopy, leaving just the frames exposed in one direction, say fore-and-aft.  After painting and drying, remove the tape and re-tape, exposing all the frame lines that go side-to-side only, then paint them.  If you have trouble with tape lifting paint on  the frames that have been painted, another method is to use Parafilm "M" . Put two layers over the whole canopy and surrounding area, then cut the masks off the frames using a sharp #11 Xacto blade, leaving the rest of the film to protect the glass areas as well as the nearby fuselage.

 

Also, you could paint some decal film with the correct color, cut into appropriate sized strips, and the use the decal to cover only the frames, after the rest of the model has been painted.  These are just some of the ways I do it; just depends on the particular model.

 

Good luck,

 

Ed

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Thanks Ed.

 

I was afraid someone would say all of that. HAHA. I have done the decal film painted the color I need (a P-61 years ago). It worked OK but I had a lot of overlapping strips. Most of my problem is being impatient!

Do you use Future before you paint? I also brush paint, will that make any complications?

 

Thanks,

CCW

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I do usually dip canopies in Future before painting.  Brush painting the canopy frames can be problematic, because brush painting normally results in a thicker coat of paint, which can be very prominent when the masks are removed.  Add that to the fact that many cockpits have a different interior color than exterior, ie. usually as a first coat, I paint the black interior color (usually on the outside of the canopy), then then next coat of paint is the exterior color, such as grey or tan or whatever.  This is so that when you look through the canopy, you can see the interior and exterior colors as different.

 

All that being said, it all depends upon what you are trying to achieve as a modeler.  Most of us started with brush-painting canopies, and lived with that quite well, until deciding to up the game as we became more experienced.  Do what pleases you for now, and don't try to hit the ball out of the park on every build.  Somewhere down the road, you may decide to add that airbrush, which, believe me, is a game changer.  If not, as long as you are enjoying what you build, that's all that matters right now.  If you ever decide to do it differently, you will know when it's the right time.  After 65 years (on and off) of building models, I STILL don't build perfect models!  But, to me they are better than the ones that the other guy didn't build at all!

 

Ed

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I picked up one those Canopy Survival Kits from Maketar. Comes in very useful if I can't be bothered to cut up bits of Tamiya tape to fit as you can cobble together most shapes from this set. Still darn fiddly though. I've started relying on Eduard mask sets a little to much myself. I think advanced senior modellers lazyitis may have set in.

 

Linky: https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/MMS014K

 

Steve

Edited by fightersweep
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Some fair points above. I always try to use Eduard masks although I think you might have answered your own question. 

 

If I was re-starting the hobby, I wouldn't pick a B-26 canopy and nose as my first attempt at masking without using a masking set. Better to go for something simpler. How about a P-51 or Bf 109?

 

I've built the Hasegawa B-26 fairly recently and I found the whole tail area tricky. Hasegawa decided to make that transparent - not just the small see through bit - and that transparency plastic is brittle and not fun to work with. They did the same with the B-24 nose and I also struggled with that.

 

Good luck.

Mark

Edited by MarkH206
Mixed up transparent nose and tail on B-24 and B-26
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Read thru all the answers and they all offer good advice. I am looking into ordering some parafilm when I get some money, hopefully before the century ends.

 

Anyway, since you are brush painting, it is so much harder to keep the paint from being sucked up under the mask from capillary action (same principle as the glue looper and Tamiya extra thin cement. I am afraid that the thinner the paint is, the higher the chances of it leaking onto the glass.

 

What I would maybe think about is using a liquid mask instead. Depending on the canopy, with enough surface tension and careful brush work, you can move the liquid mask right up to the edge of the frame, and it should create a nice line all on its own. Again, surface tension and a nice boundary line probably required.

 

These guys are the guru's though, and their word is far more weighted than mine, my experience is as a painter, and I used this technique when ever I ran into a tricky problem on the job. How it will do via models is an unknown, I use an airbrush anyway.

 

The one good thing about the airbrush, as long as you don't load up too much paint, it pretty much stays where you spray it, as it is nearly dry by the time it hits the plastic. You also want to make sure you stay perpendicular to the frame, if you spray at an angle, it can quickly build into the edge of the mask (if taped) and then get pulled under via that capillary action.

 

On one hand, capillary action is really helpful and beautiful, specifically when it comes to glue. On the other hand, it's a nightmare, specifically when it comes to canopies.

 

One thing that might be the perfect liquid mask (mind you, I have not tried this) is Elmer's white glue, shaken up nice and thick. The white stuff for school. Anyway, it has great surface tention and might be a great way to get a nice sharp line. If it does work, when dry, it will peel right off leaving nothing but shiny glass behind.

 

If you do try this and it succeeds, I take cash, money orders, even checks! If it fails, we'll I wrote this while 90mgs into morphine and oxycodone, so I am not responsible for the results!

 

Cheers,

 

Anthony

 

PS. Update us on the progress of the canopy. Even Edison said after failing a thousand times trying different filaments, he had not failed, he just found a thousand ways not to make a light bulb, then he probably stole the idea from Tesla! Yes, Edison was a politician!

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7 hours ago, TheRealMrEd said:

here's a link to another useful technique, as long as the frame lines are prominent enough to use: 

  

Now that was very cool, I never even considered painting the inside before, but without lines to guide me, I figured it couldn't be done. Thanks for that lesson, I will have to try that out when the time comes for me to paint my first canopy. Just out of curiosity Ed, have you tried Elmer's white glue as a mask, or no anyone who did? If so, what were the results?

 

Thanks, Anthony

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Elmer's white glue will work, but it's even better if you add a little food coloring (I used blue). This makes it easier to see when you come right up to the edge of a line, or if you have to trim it.  Sometimes tales 2 or more coats also.

 

These days, I generally only use a liquid mask for the top of a canopy where the edges have been taped,  or sometimes for a navigation light.

 

Ed

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