I actually cracked a window from a lambourghini, i know this is the plane forum, but people here have great expertise. How does one fix crackec clear plastic? Its a relatively flat and smooth piece, but how would i go about repairing it? Can you email me with a response?
I wonder if coating it carefully with Future, allowing it to seep into the crack, will help? I’ve never tried it, however. I am thinking that there will be small evident lines left, regardless of the quality of the repair.
Be interested in seeing results if you try it, however.
I cracked a canopy on a Mosquito. Tried to use consequetive dips of Future to repair.Worked better than you would expect, less well than I wanted. I managed to bodge up the painting of the canopy so bad that the eye is drawn away from the crack and onto the pathetic paint job so that you don’t notice the crack. In fact, it is such a bad paint job that it is now difficult to even see the rest of the aircraft! I am waiting to build up an order from Squadron or some such and will buy a replacement vacuform canopy at that time.
I would suggest contacting the makers of the kit and beg or buy a replacement window. Just be glad you didn’t crack the windscreen of a real lambo!
While you are waiting for your repacement acetate to arrive, here are a couple of possible options:
I have found that the “non-toxic” plastic cements do not mar the surface like the regular ones do, that is, if you wipe them up soon enough, they “do no harm” to the surface.
I have just begun to experiment with using Ambriod’s new non-toxic “Plastic Welder” liquid cement I got from Hobby Lobby (I like the smell better then the “causes cancer in the state of California” stuff) and although it doesn’t really “weld” like the nasty stuff, so far it looks good for use on clear plastic, especially since I can wipe up the excess quickly with no damage to the model’s finish. For clear parts I normally use Testors “Clear Parts Cement”.
I would try spreading the crack a bit and then flowing the liquid cement into the crack, closing the crack and quickly wiping any excess, letting it harden (the bottle says you got 20 seconds) and checking the results in direct light. Then of course, you might need to polish the clear part’s surface (I understand tooth paste makes a great clear parts polish), and finish it with Testors acrylic clear gloss. I have used Testors clear gloss to salvage opagued clear parts since it first came out even before the acrylics,and have always gotten great results, and I like the acrylics that much better!
If you want to try something less “drastic” you might first try using the above procedure with the Testors Clear Parts Cement since if it meses up, you can always re-seperate the parts and do it over, since it does not really bond by dissolving the plastic. I just got through “re-setting” a P-51 canopy that I did not like the position of using the Testors product, and it was nice just prying the part loose, then scraping the excess, which peeled right off.
Then if the above doesn’t work, use the replacement stuff you got on order [;)]
IF the window is flat, or nearly so, you could sacrifice a CD case that you’ve carefully polished to remove any smudges or nicks. I’ve found that this plastic is about as optically clear as you can get, for plastic. If there is not much curvature to this window, you could cut a piece of the CD case to fit and then use putty to fill in any gaps. I would dip the plastic with Future several times to give it some protection from the putty and glue fumes.