How the hell can I get that big seam line off of a canopy without damging the clear plastic?
Ok! I found the answer on the aircraft forum. Wet sanding with very fine sandpaper and a dip in Future.
One thing you may want to try before you start sanding is run some masking material along the edges of the seam on the canopy. This will help protect the clear plastic around the seam and will keep the sanding scratches to a small area. If you use fine sticks. Make sure you graduate up in grits. This will polish the plastic and keep the scratches to a minimum…
Good luck
Who cares about damaging the plastic. Just sand the seam. I used 600 grit wet and dry…
To fix the damage you have caused, get yourself some ‘Autosol’ www.autosol.de
from you local automotive shop.
Just keep buffing with a rag till you get the result you want.
I used this to clean a canopy that had a turpentine accident. I was so happy with the result, i polished all my other canopies.
Try sanding the seam flush with the finest sand paper you can. Then sand the area with a couple progressively finer papers be fore using a buffing stick or buffin cloth. Squadron makes and sells a tri-grit sanding stick that has two very finds sanding surfaces on one side and a buffing pad on the other side. This combination of sanding and buffing works great on clear parts, works for me.
You can also try polishing with a little Turtle Wax after removing the seam. Although, I haven’t tried this method yet, I read that it too works very well.
Once the seam is removed and clarity restored, coat with Future.
Hi Yann, …You may want to run (scrape) a very sharp # 11 blade over the seam to get it down, then wet sand with…400 (just a little)…600…1000…1200…1500…2000.
Sounds like a lot of work but really isn’t. The sandpaper is quite inexpensive at an auto body store.
this is my technique…and then Future of course.
Not to hijack the thread, but this might help you out to. Meguiers makes a clear plastic polish that is designed to take out fine scratches and make the plastic all shiny. I used some on a canopy that I got overspray one and it worked quite well. Check the automotive section at walmart or try a auto store. Its called Plastic-X.