Opening Up the Kit / Cross-sections

[Lewis95]

Hi all, 

 

Say for example I'm building a C130 (I'm not so feel free to use whatever example you like) and wanted to make a cutaway to show cargo inside. Is it as simple as paint everything (inside and out) and then simply cut a section out or is there more to it than that? 

 

Second question. Opening up compartments/access panels. Again, is it as simple and straightforward as cutting out the panel, scratching the inner compartment with plasticard and painting? Obviously, if I want to keep the panel attached, I should probably PVA/Blu Tac the panel back in place for the painting process. 

 

Can anyone link me to any builds that utilised any of these methods? 

Thanks all! 

[Shin]

My approach would be to make all the cuts you can before painting, scratch build and paint the interior, close up, mask the hole(s), and paint the exterior. Cutting after painting seems like it would need unnecessary cleanup and touchup painting. Also doing the cutaway cutting before assembly (closing the fuselage halves for example) would allow you to not have any surprises in visibility, as you can dry fit everything and see what the inside will look like before committing. 

[ckw]

You will need to be careful of the structural integrity of the model - don't cut away too much or across critical joints

 

One bugbear I have with opening up panels and doors is that the kit parts are not scale thickness. In the majority of cases I think this will require both thinning the opened door/panel and in many cases adding some structure to the inner facing surface. Ditto for the visible area surrounding the opening. 

 

Cheers

 

Colin

[hendie]

I removed a few panels and cut off the nose in this build

 

 

 

 

if you've got time to read through it you'll find how I did each section

 

 

[Lewis95]

Thanks for all the above guys. Given me some much food for thought.