A simple question, will Testor’s Dullcoat adversely affect clear styrene? The label says it drys “crystal clear” and many how to articles seem to imply you an apply DC to canopies. Thanks for any response
Dullcote is a Lacquer & will badly fog any clear styrene.
Regards, Rick
[#ditto] to that. It will severly haze and fog clear plastic. Mask your canopy BEFORE spraying on clear dull or flat coat.
Never use matt varnish on clear plastic. If you do, it will end up looking like the windscreen on this model.
This is only a very light spray of Mattcote, done deliberately to show the windscreen wiper arcs.
Cheers,
Chris.
At least for aircraft, there’a protocol that I try to remember, although it gets a little harder each year.
What clear parts you install, dip in Future and let dry, which takes a day in a warm house. If there is CA (superglue) in the model anywhere, they’ll get foggy unless you do this. I hava friend in forensics- they’ll put a tablespoon of CA in a box with evidence and voila all the fingerprints show.
Mask as usual before painting, but know those masks will be on for a long time, so use non-depositing tape (Tamiya)
Paint, sand, paint, toss down a kipper milkshake, sand, paint.
Gloss coat for decals.
Decal.
Future coat for sealing, or not. Depends on the quality of the decals.
Dull coat for final finish, weather etc.
NOW remove the canopy masks.
Chris the little nippers must be hungry and looking for squid.
Here’s a sad story. I serve on an icon commitee for airport signage, as my firm is a leader in the field. A new icon has been proposed for “No Freezing”
A crime, an offence against Spheniscus humboldti and friends.
Write your alderman, call your priest, do not show this image to your buddies.
It might be funny?
What Bondo said - except that I leave Future’d clear parts three days to cure. Future-ing the clear parts, if it has any, is always the first thing I do in any modelling project.
Bondo - I’ve seen that symbol before. It’s also there to remind any penguins about to board a plane not to travel in the luggage hold. They won’t be served calamari canapes there if they do!
Cheers,
Chris.
What if airport security approach you with weapons drawn and shout “Freeze!” while you are looking at that sign? What do you do?
Besides…who would want to freeze a penguin anyway? In fact, can you freeze a penguin?
I don’t put anything on canopies… I paint the frame work with the same paint as the fuselage, (usually free-hand) and let it cure. A simple wiping off of fingerprints is enough, IMHO… Unless you’re doing just-washed aircraft with brand-new plexi installed, they’re never “crystal clear”… Operational birds have canopies with all kinds of scratches and dings, except for the flat panels in front of gunsights… But that’s just my own gig, I don’t like a pristine canopy on a beat-up warbird, lol… As far as far as spraying or dipping canopies in anything, I blow that off… It’s just my personal opinion, but dipped canopies look too thick to me, especially if they’ve been painted then dipped…
One thing I do is, if the paint needs to be “flattened” to match the fuselage, I hand-paint the frames with acrylic clear flat over the color…
Thanks for the replies. I have it down now.