So I’m building this 1/144 727 from Minicraft. Overall these kits are pretty nice…but, those annoying one-piece clear canopy sections are driving me nuts! the one I’m working with seems to be just ever so slightly out of scale leaving a ridge around the whole seam. This is making sanding and filling difficult because the seam line is so close to the actual cockpit glass. Anyone run into this problem or have any clever solutions?
thanks,
Spitsilver
I have built several of the Mini-craft airliners and I have run into the same problem that you describe. The only solution that I know of is too apply putty in small amounts and as precisely as possible in the joint line, then VERY careful sanding. I actually prefer this to having just the cockpit window frame because the joint line can be made to coincide with a regular panel line and the windows appear to blend in better.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
Spitsilver, Have done 3 of the Minicraft 737 Kits you mentioned with the clear windshield section. No problem even though they are a little above the fuselage line. I first covered the window section with BareMetal foil to shield the windows. The foil is so thin it conforms to the window frame lines. Press the foil down with a Q tip than trim along the frame line with a new # 11 blade. The frame lines show up real well. I than sanded down the part of the clear plastic section that meets the fuselage with different grades of sanding sticks and wet sanded it also with different grades of wet & dry sandpaper used wet. Use a fine grade. Any filling of the seam which may be needed is done with ACRYL BLUE thinned with 70% denatured alcohol. Mix it up good pour off the excess alcohol and paint in on and let it dry. Sand again using finer grades of sticks and wet or dry paper. When the seam is feathered in with the fuselage, prime the area ( I use white primer, MM )let it dry good and apply your color. The ACRYL BLUE feathers so beautiful you wont even see the seam. Take you time and be patient and let the filler dry good . If needed apply it in thin layers. You can paint it on depending on how much you thin it. Leave the foil over the windows till your completely done with painting then lift the foil off with the tip of a #11 Blade. It comes off easy and leaves a sharp line. Works every time. If you send me your e-mail address i can send you some pics of my airliners if your interested. They turned out great. Make sure your e-mail address is in the body of the message. Contact me at dsc070744@wowway.com if interested.Dennis
Another approach is to “black out” all the windows. I’ve been building the Minicraft Presidental planes in 1/144 and some of them have black decals for the windows, while others did not, so I did all of them with blacked out windows - just cut black decal strips to fill in the windows. At that scale, it looks pretty good. On one, I had to fill in the window opening with putty when building so I could black them out during decaling.