I am (still) working on a P-61, which is pretty much FUBAR. Nonetheless, it is good practice for me.
I am to the point of putting the canopy pieces in place, and the fit is pretty horrible. I have never bought any sheet styrene to use, but thought I had read somewhere that I could fill small gaps with white glue. Is this possible? How would I get a smooth finish where I filled? Would I be better off using putty to fill gaps? Seems like sanding would be tricky when working next to the clear parts.
Most of the gaps are between the canopy and fuselage, though there are some huge gaps where pieces of canopy meet other canopy pieces.
I always use white glue–but normally a thicker craft type, thinned with water mixed with a little liquid dish detergent. How thin is kind of an art form. Too thin and it won’t fill properly. Too thick and the capillary action doesn’t work so well.
I apply it with a small (10-0) brush, wait till it dries well (sometimes it takes overnight to get it really hardened). Then clean it up with a damp Q-tip. Most times the white glue is self-leveling, so it doesn’t take any further steps to smooth it out.
Sometimes it takes multiple applications, since tiny air bubles do sometimes develop in the white glue. I find it’s also best to install the canopy before painting, since clean up from bare plastic is easier than from a painted surface, although that can work, too.
Using diluted white craft glue has the advantage that you don’t fog the canopy with superglue, it’s easy to loosen and try again if you mess up, and you don’t risk scratching the clear part by sanding close to it.
I should say that I only work in 1/72, and the technique works fine. In larger scales, it might be too obvious and noticeable.
Practice a little with it and see how you like it.
I think you might try some sheet in the larger gaps as it sands just as easly as the restof the platic. I have even used the small pieces of flat sections that are attached to the sprues if I need a small piece.
You can use normal white PVA wood glue to fill the smaller gaps, it dries clear but doesnt sand as well.I would recomend you try some 5 min clear epoxy.It doesn’t “sink in” like the PVA but you will have to get the shape correct while it is curing. Sanding it will be a problem after it is hard.
To seal fine joints I use some acrylic paint on a fine brush as it dries fast and sands well.Takes a few aplications to fill though.
Gator’s Grip Acrylic Hobby Glue - Similar to PVA glues like Micro Kristal Klear and use it the same way diluted with water. You can use it to glue the canopy in place. Dries a little harder than PVA but still a little bit too soft to sand well.
Vallejo Model Color Putty No 400. An acrylic filler a bit like bathroom sealant or tile grout. No solvents to etch the clear plastic. You can smooth it with a wet finger, dilute it a bit with water and it washes of with water. Again difficult to sand, I always find it crumbles so I coat it with CA adhesive.
Several manufactures now have an odourless CA (Superglue) in their range. It will not fog the clear parts like normal CA does. Very good for gluing the canopy in place and as it quite thick it can be used for filling gaps as well.
I had some ugly gaps in the front canopy of my 229 I just finished…I filled it with some stretched sprue…hit the sprue with some liquid cement…the thin sprue melts into the gap…almost like welding…as it dries its soft…you can trim and sand as needed…
I remember reading something about this. Thanks for the suggestion.
Do you just eyeball the size you need for the gap when you are stretching the sprue? I am still searching for way to fill gaps. I will experiment with CA glue (though not on canopies), but I would like to try the sprue.
I’ve used a number of different methods over the years… The P-61 canopy’s best done with strip, IMHO…
If you’ve already painted it however, you’ll have problems with that method… But building it up with styrene and sand, fit, sand, fit, sand, fit is, although tedious, the best way to go about that one, as far as I’m concerned…
I’ve also used Testor’s White Contour putty in there, with pretty good results… The trick is to thin the putty with rubbing alcohol after you’ve gotten it in there, to feather the edges out and blend them into the fuselage…
You can also cut strip styrene to fill the gap… Cut it in such a manner as to be able to glue it “standing up” to the fuselage, then sand to shape…
Some years ago, FSM had an article on it and said you can even use supper glue if you applied it with a pin in small amounts without clouding the clear plastic.
TEST FIT! Should be something you do often. Make adjustments in both the canopy piece or the surfaces on the fuselage it mounts to. This could require adding styrene shims.
I suggest you use canopy masks to protect your clear pieces and have all of your interior work completed.
You can use liquid solvent to attach the canopy pieces which will weld them to the fuselage. This allows you to work the mating surfaces of the frame work to the fuselage as it is on the real aircraft.
You can then fill any gaps with stretched sprue and solvent to create a weld bead. You can also use a diluted putty mixture or Mr Surfacer to fill the seam imperfections.
When you have a glass that has to match to a frame instead of frame to fuselage you need to carefully sand until you have minimal if not no gaps along the mating surfaces. Here you can use either white glue, watch crystal cement or Krystal Klear to affix the canopy to the fuselage.
Look at reference photos to see if there are any lips, ledges, panel lines or hinges where the canopy and fuselage join. Some have forward folding windscreens to permit servicing of the avionics. Even though they have this design feature, there are minimal separation (panel lines) visible.
Real aircraft:
The model:
This model need more work to get the canopy to fix properly to match that illustrated by the real aircraft! Simply filling this gap won’t do.
TIP:If your canopy has multiply pieces, test fit and assemble them together using tape or clay to hold them together before test fitting them to the fuselage. You’ll want to fit them to the fuselage as a one piece assembly otherwise you’ll find that after tweaking the individual pieces to fit the fuselage separately they don’t match each other. This is really frustrating when you are planning on displaying the canopies closed.
