I’ve been chatting with Mosquito maiden about the glazing of my Modelcraft (Revell) 1/32nd Mossie, which comes with a vacformed canopy suitable for the bomber variant, but I’m going to be converting it to the fighter-bomber variant with the help of MDC’s resin gun-nose set.
I understand from her that the FB canopy had no side-blisters, and as such I’ll need to model a new one. I was thinking about making a master from the existing blister canopy, then removing the blisters from the master & push-moulding a new straight sided canopy using the revised master.
Questions pop into my mind as follows:
What material should I use as the master?
What should I use on the original canopy to act as a mould release agent?
What material should I use to create the new canopy, and where can I get it in the UK?
How should I heat it?
I think that’s enough questions for now, but if anyone has a Push-Moulding 101 to share, I’d be very grateful. [;)]
I too have encountered the need to replace/reform canopies, and the way I’ve worked around it is making a Master from the original piece using Plaster. (pour a little bit of plaster in a foam container, lay the original piece in the plaster upside down brace with spru if necessary, then pour in the rest of the plaster until it comes to the rim of the original canopy bottom) Place some wedge shaped pieces of plastic or wood in the plaster while it’s still watery, with the sharp edge pointing to the canopy but NOT touching!
After the plaster is completely set, remove the original canopy you’re done with it, then coat the female mold interior with some type of SPRAY cooking oil, ie: “PAM”.
Now pour another plaster mixture into the female mold and allow it to set completely. Now, using the “wedges” in the plaster around the female, carefully break the female mold away from the new male master. Now you should have an exact copy of the original canopy made from hardened plaster… sand away any blisters/buldges you don’t want, then smooth the finish using some type of polishing compound.
You can then form a new canopy using a desk-top thermoforming technique, as illustrated below…
I’ve bought sheets of clear styrene to use in making new canopies, but you know, the clear plastic tops used on greeting card boxes (or plastic protective seal on purchased products) work just fine, as long as one practices a little while on them. If the plastic is too hot and you pull down too hard, the new canopy will be much too thin to work with… not hot enough, and it will wrinkle… like I said, practice.
There may be other, more modern and accepted ways of doing it, but this is a cheap, effective alternative.
Hope this helps, and good luck! [:)]
Take care,
Frank
Thanks for that. Seeing as the canopy I’m moulding is a vacform already, and quite skinny, couldn’t I just pour plaster into the original (with spray oil to ensure a good release), and use that as my master once I’ve removed the blisters?
Your method is probably more suitable to styrene canopies, as they’d be too small if you took a mould of the inside. Am I making myself clear, or just rambling?[zzz]
Yes, you’d just have to brace the outside of the vacuformed original to prevent it from expanding when the plaster is poured in, which is basically what the first step does. [:)]
Then just pour the new plaster INSIDE the original canopy, allow to harden, remove original … yes, that would work.
Practice and see what you come up with. Desk-top vacuforming has saved my butt MANY times, and, it’s a great way of changing thick canopy glass to a thinner, more realistic representation. [:)]
Yes - I think that will definitely be worth a try. Next thing on the agenda is getting hold of some plaster of paris!
Am I correct in assuming that buying a proper vacforming machine is a bit on the expensive side? Bearing in mind I’m in the UK, and we get ripped off for ANYTHING that’s out of the ordinary! [:(]
You just have to look around… I don’t have one myself, because of the cost issue. If I knew I would need it regularly, or as part of a business, I would probably get one, but at my general pace, it would do little more than collect dust.
Check on ebay for listings in the UK… never can tell what you might find.
