Hi, although I’m an old guy. I’m really new to attempting to build really fine models. I need to know a good way to paint these very small canopies; heck, I can barely see the framework lines! I’ve thought about white glue and then trimmed with a new razor knife blade, but at this point, I’m all ears. Thanks in advance!
My best luck with 1/144 has been painting a patch of decal the canopy color and then cutting tiny strips with a single-edge razor blade (for straight sections) or a #11 blade (for curved sections). It’s probably more time-consuming than painting, but it gives me more control and cleaner edges.
What I do in situations like that is to mask one or two frames at a time and paint. After the paint has cured repeat the process of masking one or two frames and painting until the canopy frames are all painted. It is a bit tedious, but by doing that you reduce what seems to be a very complex masking situation into something a lot more manageable.
For tape, I use Tamiya Yellow tape which is extremely thin, seals well, and is low tack so it does not peel up any under lying paint. I cut the tape usin an exacto knife with a no.11 blade with the tape laid down on a self-healing cutting mat. I also make good use of my magnifier/light because the parts are so small.