A6 Intruder - windshield cover

[lesthegringo]

All, I had a big facepalm moment, entirely of my own creation. While painting my HB 1/48 Intruder (which I have to say I have really enjoyed building) I didn't properly mask off the cockpit, and so the front transparency now has Tamiya's finest white primer in a light dusting on the inside. To make matters worse, I had paid particular attention to making sure that part was really well glued to the fuselage, so now there is no hope of getting it off to give it a rinse in Gunze thinners.

 

I was going to make it with folded wings as a parked bird so now I suppose the only way to hide my faux pas is to make a 'fabric' cover to go over the windshield. A look on the internet hasn't thrown up any photos, and although I am not really looking for real accuracy I would like to see how a cover would have been used on something like this. Do any of you have any details or pictures as guidance?

 

Cheers

 

Les

Edited April 2, 2022 by lesthegringo

[Finn]

An alternate to the cover is having crewmember with a rag and cleaner (the overspray) cleaning the windows as these examples on a Prowler:

 

 

Jari

[lesthegringo]

Interesting idea!

 

Les

[SouthViper]

Hi,

Another possibility  

 

https://cdn.planespotters.net/36660/155713-united-states-navy-grumman-a-6e-intruder_PlanespottersNet_502919_6f997b9871_o.jpg

 

From https planespotters.net

By Jan Seba,

reproduced here for illustration purposes only.

 

SouthViper in Brazil 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2022 by Julien
no copyright photos

[lesthegringo]

Is that paint, or some kind of sticky plastic?

Cheers

 

Lse

[SouthViper]

On 04/04/2022 at 06:02, lesthegringo said:

Is that paint, or some kind of sticky plastic?

Cheers

 

Lse

Hi,

This cover material is called cocooned,  I don't know  from what it is made, perhaps plastic Rubber. 

Aircrafts are stored in deserts due the weather be dry and  over they are applied layers of that material called cocooned .

SouthViper from Brazil 

 

[Jens]

36 minutes ago, SouthViper said:

Hi,

This cover material is called cocooned,  I don't know  from what it is made, perhaps plastic Rubber. 

Aircrafts are stored in deserts due the weather be dry and  over they are applied layers of that material called cocooned .

SouthViper from Brazil 

 

 

No, it's not! The A-6E in the picture is from a museum and is not in storage like the ones you call 'cocooned'. 

Aircraft in open storage are sprayed with Spraylat - a rubber cover that is sprayed on (but it becomes hard, at least after some time). 

 

I would either look for a new windscreen or go the 'canopy polishing crew' route.

 

Jens

[lesthegringo]

Hi all, thanks for the answers.

 

In the end I sort of whimped out; I was driving to work, and saw all the Qatar Airways A350's parked up on the pan outside the hangar, the ones involved in the spat with Airbus. They were all taped up, engine covers front and back, all sensors taped over or with dedicated covers, and for me the most important bit - all the windows and windscreens covered. From a distance it looks like they used beige plastic sheeting, presumably some kind of UV proof stuff, held in place with high speed tape.

 

So as mine is wings folded, I am going to use that as a guide and stick RBF tags and other covers around the aircraft and be done with it. With the canopy opened you are still able to see the cockpit (done old school, no aftermarket, which thanks to the kit parts looks to me as good as any PE equipped cockpit as I have ever done) and it hides my little faux pas.

 

I was amazed at how much of the primer made its way inside, but then remembered the tamiya Uhu and mosquito I did, where despite the cockpits being (apparently) fully closed up, the inside of the canopies seemed to have overspray. I'm starting to think that it is static electricity that is causing the paint mist to find its way inside: real aircraft being painted are negatively charged and the paint being sprayed positively charged so that the paint is attracted to the aircraft rather than dissipating and causing wastage any unwanted overspray.

 

The unwanted primer on the A6 was only on the transparency, nowhere else. If that is indeed true about the static, I have no idea how to get around it. I thought the models were fully closed up, but presumably they weren't air tight. I assume bare plastic like the transparencies is more susceptible. 

 

If anyone has any ideas on that I would appreciate your thoughts

 

Cheers 

 

Les

[dov]

Hallo

Oh you poor guy!

I can imagine your frustration. I had such an issue with a Ju-88 and a He-111. It was a foggy situation by CA glue. 25 years ago.

Today I changed the asembling process. Glasses, also from jets are glued as the last steps. 

In most cases canopies of jets are not integrated in the fuselage.

In your case, I would glue it at the end. CA with tiny needles filled into. Than grinding with sanding strips of 5mm width. Before please masking the glass. After grinding spraying the seam. 

If you take a close look on many of them you can see it. Modeller often think on a jet is all seamless and polished. No. It is opposite. S Bf-109 has often smaler gaps as a jet. I havr so many fotos from IAF jets in service! Here I changed my way of modelling. 

Happy modelling 

[alhenderson]

You could model it as being stored on the flightline, perhaps having been robbed of some spare parts to keep her brethren flying?  I visited NAS Fallon back in 1992 and there were a few a/c in a 'stored' state like below.  

 

 

 

So maybe some foil and black tape?

 

Al.

 

[lesthegringo]

The top pic is similar to the Qatar A350's

 

Cheers

 

Les

[72modeler]

@lesthegringo,

 

You might try this: they make very tiny flat  cotton  pads that are attached to small plastic handles that are used, IIRC,  to clean the optical heads on VCR's and record/playback heads on cassette recorders. If the Tamiya primer you used is acrylic or water-based lacquer, you should be able to put a few drops of Windex or some other ammonia-based cleaner on the pad, and rub  on the windscreen's inner surface to remove the overspray. I forget what the little beggars are called, but you can get them at electronics stores or online.

 

Failing that, find some photos of aviation charts and maps and reduce them down to 1/48 scale, and plaster them all over the top of the instrument panel shroud, especially in the corners, as so many aircrew do when flying cross country. That should help break up the reflection on the inner windscreen surface enough to hide the overspray.

 

Failing that, you could always make a 1/48 scale airsick bag and place it on the BN's seat and blame him for barfing all over the inside of the windscreen! (Yes, I know- I am one sick puppy, but that'ls what you get for gluing that windscreen on so well! 

Mike

[lesthegringo]

On 4/11/2022 at 2:55 PM, dov said:

Hallo

Oh you poor guy!

I can imagine your frustration. I had such an issue with a Ju-88 and a He-111. It was a foggy situation by CA glue. 25 years ago.

Today I changed the asembling process. Glasses, also from jets are glued as the last steps. 

In most cases canopies of jets are not integrated in the fuselage.

In your case, I would glue it at the end. CA with tiny needles filled into. Than grinding with sanding strips of 5mm width. Before please masking the glass. After grinding spraying the seam. 

If you take a close look on many of them you can see it. Modeller often think on a jet is all seamless and polished. No. It is opposite. S Bf-109 has often smaler gaps as a jet. I havr so many fotos from IAF jets in service! Here I changed my way of modelling. 

Happy modelling 

 

I have actually changed my methodology for attaching transparent parts since I started this model. I got it back in 2017 if I recall correctly, and started it shortly after and so it inevitably got overtaken by the fad builds that came after. However by the time I had cooled on it temporarily I had got to the point of attaching the windscreen, using the Tamiya Extra Thin wicking method. As I recall the shape was not exactly right, requiring some sustained pressure to spread the part slightly during drying of the extra thin, but as a result the bond was quite a bit better than most builds, and was virtually invisible. 

 

However these days I am using UV cure clear resin ( I believe it is intended for nails?) which means I can place the part after applying the resin, and after checking that there is no excess and how well it is seated a short blast with a UV LED pointer cures it within seconds. Since then I am able to leave the transparencies until later in the build as there is little to no clean up. Great for landing lights and so forth too

 

Didn't help me with the A6, however

 

Cheers

 

Les

[spruecutter96]

If I remember correctly, the white, spray-on canopy covering used at the AMARC facility has a trade-name of "Spraylat". It's used to reduce the very high temperatures the Arizona sun would produce in closed cockpit compartments and cut down on damage to the cockpit's equipment. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

[72modeler]

15 hours ago, spruecutter96 said:

If I remember correctly, the white, spray-on canopy covering used at the AMARC facility has a trade-name of "Spraylat". It's used to reduce the very high temperatures the Arizona sun would produce in closed cockpit compartments and cut down on damage to the cockpit's equipment. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

Yep- Chris is correct!

Mike