Hawker Hunter F.6 of 19 Squadron, 1958 (Airfix 1/48 scale)

[CplPunishment]

58 minutes ago, DrumBum said:

I think it looks fantastic and the photography is outstanding. 

 

I too find canopies a challenge and I am interested in your comments regarding gluing the canopy on after painting?

Thanks for the comment!  Yeah, canopies...

I've seen a number of folk leave the entire canopy off until all painting is done, to the last minute, then attached with some PVa. On my Hunter I was originally going to build it with the canopy closed so in a rare move by me, I decided to leave it off until the last so that dust from the sanding stage didn't find its way on to the inside of the canopy, stuck there for all time by static. But...

For me, the canopy, and it depends on the airframe as to which part of it, is integral to airframe and should be attached and have joint lines filled, sanded and possible be no more than a panel line. For example, B-25s, B-17s and B-29s I would want to attach the canopy in full and make sure the seam between clear parts and the rest of airframe has been dealt with, is smooth and gone. On something like a Spitfire I'd want to attach the windscreen and small rear section leaving off only the centre sliding mid section. Adding the canopy at the build stage means I can fill any gaps etc and deal with it and flow paint over it in the same process as the rest of airframe - it really does make sure the that canopy frame looks like part of the rest of the machine. If there's any issues of fit with the canopy after paint etc then to fix it is just going to undo loads of work.

On my Hunter, the closed canopy part didn't fit perfectly so I masked/painted the open sections to use instead. The front windscreen part is not a perfect fit still. The net result is that at certain angles the windscreen does not look like it's integral with the airframe and I don't like that. On the real thing the joint is at best a faint panel line. Next time I will revert to my normal practice of attaching the windscreen with poly cement (avoiding using too much) and treat the joint with filler if needed. Once attached, I'll fill, sand, mask, and then spray the internal colour of the frame before cracking on with the normal airframe paint process.