Like most new modelers I watch tons of full build videos. I build mostly aircraft and like assembling canopies in an open position. The modelers in these videos show the canopy glued in place (I assume its glued) as it covers the cockpit. This makes for an easy mask over the cockpit instead of using tape. Then in the final reveal the canopy is open. So here’s the question. Is this just magic of video and editing? How do you glue the canopy to paint the fuselage and then not break it to open? Won’t it leave messy glue residue? You would have to seal the canopy so no paint gets inside. Seams to me things can go terribly wrong trying to get it off.
Tack glue the masked canopy hood in place for painting with a low strength glue like Micro Krystal Klear or Elmers white glue. Once the painting and finishing is completed, gently pry the tacked on hood free, remove the masking, and glue it into the open position.
I attach the fixed portions on the canopy, such as the front and rear piece. I then put tissue into the open cockpit to mask it, it needed i use small bit of tape around the edges. I paint the open porion of the canopy seperatly and add when done.
I use poster tack to hold the moveable part of the canopy in place while painting, if I want to open it later. I just make sure there are no gaps along the join, and have never had a problem with paint getting inside.
Bish I thought about the tissue thing but on this current build there is a long and narrow control stick (WW2 subject) that I’m afraid will break. I found using very damp tissue helps conform and mask wheel wells perfectly.
This current kit and a few others I noticed come with two canopies. I’ll use one to mask and one for the finished model. Next time I brave the super market for groceries I’ll pick up Elmer’s white.
The majority of my aircraft are 1/72nd WW2 subjects, i’ve not had any issues breaking off the stick. I start with a couple of small balls of tissue down in the botom and then gently add more in small pieces with a pair of tweezers.
Yes that’s considerably less space than the 1/48 Zero. Thanks for more detail. If I ever figure out how to post pictures I’ll start sharing. Sometime today I’ll go to the test forum and see if I can solve the posting picture mystery. Why won’t they just let you upload a picture from your device without the need of a third party?
I use tissue paper, too. Regarding the interior, remember that you don’t have to pack the cockpit full, you just need to block the open space. I wet the paper, too, when putting it in place, and wet it again to remove it. Makes it easier to work with.
As a followup to Stik’s advice about tacking the canopy in place, if you use white glue, you can also use warm water to dissolve the glue, too, to remove the piece after you’ve painted.
Regarding this, consider that it’s a matter of storage space. The attached files have to be stored, which is a cost to the forum. Requiring participants to host their files elsewhere and use links to display their images removes that cost for the forum.
I’m improving as a modeler and once I get photos uploaded and posted I’ll be excited to hear everyone’s thoughts on my builds. It‘s a great way to get better. I have pictures in a site called Imgur. I just can’t figure out how to get them from there to here. Understand I’m not the sharpest guy one it comes to these things.
I don’t use Imgur, but I suspect its features are similar to those of other hosts. So I went to www.imgur.com and looked at one of the pictures there. Sure enough, there is a feature to share the pic-you can tell by the icon:
In that picture, I have clicked the Share icon, the horizontal “V”, and we can see the menu that opens. The icon at the end of that bar is the Link icon. I clicked that, and the page printed a message, “Copied!” So that looks like what you need to do to get the link for any of your pics.
I’m pasting in the link that I copied, and we’ll see if it works…
OK, just pasting the link by itself didn’t work. I’m going to try a trick:
I entered “image tags” to the link, that is, I typed on “img” in square brackets in front of the link, and “/img” in square brackets after the link. Saving now to see what happens…
OK, that didn’t work, either. I’m not a developer, and this is about as far as I can go off the top of my head. I’ll have to break out my HTML manual. I’m sure there are others here in the meantime, though, who know better, especially if they use Imgur.
