Hello Everyone, I’ve been searching through my (several of them tattered) old issues of FSM from the 80s and 90s for an article about crafting landing and navigational lights from solid acrylic. If I remember correctly, the author would glue solid clear blocks of acrylic either on a propeller plane’s leading edge or the corner, in which recesses were cut and prepared to accept the acrylic block, then I think the block is carved to shape and sanded smooth with the wing surface. I initially thought it may be December 1987, but it was not. Does this ring a bell for anyone? Would really appreciate knowing the month and year of FSM if it was even in FSM at all. Thank you.
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I don’t remember the specific FSM article you’re looking for, but I’ve seen this done using clear sprue. You glue a piece in place, shape it to match the wing, then sand and polish it back to clarity.
Here’s a YouTube video showing the technique:
These days I mostly use clear UV resin, and it works great, especially for smaller navigation lights. You can build up the shape, cure it in place, then sand and polish it as needed.
Hopefully somebody remembers the original FSM article you’re looking for, but either of these methods should get you to the same place.
Thanks, Samphoto. That process in the video looks very similar to the article I remember. The UV resin process looks promising too!
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I remember such an article, but not when it was in the magazine. I vaguely also remember that the author also was using items like translucent colored toothbrush handles as a source of clear material. Or perhaps that was another similar article.
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Hi! Yes, we’ve had a few of those tips roll through over the years. Let me see if I can run down the exact issue for you. Back in 2011, we had a thread about this on the Forum. yiu may fond it helpful.
The FSM Forum is a very deep archive, and you’ll find that just about anything that has been done in modeling has been talked about here. You can use the search feature to look for key words, or you can use a search engine and type in “FineScale Modeler Forum” before the rest if your search and you’ll come ip with all sorts of good stuff.
I’ll look for that article and get back to you.
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