Howdy. I’m currently working on Monagrams 1/32 Hunter and are nearing completion of construction and filling/sanding. Upon dry fitting most of the remaining parts I discovered that the canopy (not the windshield) is a bit over 1 millimetre too wide. Sounds like nothing, but it is very noticable and is unacceptable to leave as is.
I thought that when it came time to put it on for good, superglue would be the answer, but that would of course craze it. How does one overcome this problem?
I had that issue with a kit many years ago. This is what I did. First I used two small pieces of 1/4"x1/4" wooden balsa dowel and set one on either side of the canopy on a flat baking pan. I then used a c clamp placed over the canopy so it could be used to slightly squeeze the canopy using the wood strips as a cushion to prevent scratching. Then I set my oven to warm (low) and immediately placed the pan in it. I let it sit for 6 minutes while watching very carefully. Then I just took it out and let it cool. When it was cool, it was permanently squeezed to the correct size. You might have to spray the pan with light cooking spray first so it won’t stick unless it is a tefl;on coated pan and do NOT let the temp in the oven get up over 190 degrees F. It worked great for me.
Finally, after much experimenting and amongst other builds I have found a formula that worked for me on this.
Although I ended up succeeding with a method different to the above stated tips it did involve boiling water (credit to stenscience) and creating a jig to hold the sides of the canopy whilst the heat took over (credit to sparrowhyperion).
I ended up taking out leftover (strong) double-sided tape from my failed attempt at getting into the R/C hobby and placed it onto a small block of styrofoam, got the canopy and bent the sides in farther than I wanted to compensate for definite spring back (being careful not to crack the brittle clear plastic). I then pushed the mating parts of the canopy into the D/S tape and held it down firmly yet gently then reached for the thick Tamiya tape, pulled out a long run and wrapped it around the canopy and small foam block, then stuck the bottom of that into a deep open recess (which acted as a bowl) in the large block of styrofoam with more D/S tape. Finally I boiled the kettle and slowly poured the water into the large block’s recess and let it sit for half an hour. And presto! The goliath 1.5 mm or so discrepancy closed to withing a discreet tenth of a mm. If you have a canopy that needs to be bent in a bit I hope this helps.[:D]
