I wanted to put it out there to see if anyone has had any experience with polishing compounds and the squadron canopy plastic. I want to omit a raised section on a windscreen that doesn’t belong, but I naturally don’t want to damage my part.
Any ideas??
BV - I have only done a few vac canopies, but they were all formed with the frames raised. That left a corresponding relieved area on the opposite side, (the interior.) If the material is actually thick enough to sand down the frame, and still leave enough for the surface to remain intact, then you’d be OK. I guess it would depend on how prominent the frame was formed, if just lightly raised maybe enough material would be left to let you sand it away.
For polishing I use Novus, after the very fine polishing pads, 6,000 to 12,000 grit.
Good luck with it, hope it works.
Patrick
I’ve read that once you scratch those vacuform canopies you can’t repair them. I would practice on a piece you can sacrifice before I used the one i was planning on using.
Ah! You know, I hadn’t actually considered that there might not be enough plastic on the underside of where I’d be sanding. That’s some good food for thought. Thanks!
But you do believe I could get away with sanding the surface of the vacuformed canopy and bringing it back to a polish?
Well, Brandon…I’ve not had the best luck with these vacuformed canopies lately. It’s either a hit or miss. But I just don’t have any real experience with them either. I’m unaware of how for I can push them before ruining them. For instance, I’ve found out that 91% Isopropyl will ruin the plastic. I might stick to something more like water for spot cleaning. =[
I hate them. They’re a royal pain to cut out too. One slip with the Exacto and your screwed. Thats why they give you two…lol. The only time I’ve used them is for the sliding part on the Tamiya P-51 (because the kit example is lousy) and when a kit only offers a closed option. The Hasegawa Hurricane comes to mind. To clean, I would just use soap and water, or maybe Novus polishing cleaner.
Joe
HA! I think we must’ve all had that thought about why there’s two. lol. I think I’ll look into the Novus as a solution. After all…I do have a back up. =]
Novus will polish, but it won’t really remove material if you’re trying to make a molded-in piece of frame go away. If the piece isn’t too thin I would use novus after sanding. Also, Novus and future don’t get along, so if you use one, don’t use the other.
Groot
Any time you do that kind of sanding, mask the surrounding areas well.
Hi, BV - Yes, I do believe with CAREFUL sanding you can remove small amounts of raised area from vac form. I have had to sand away some flaws and some shmutz that was embedded in the surface at manufacture. I masked the areas outside the frame, like G Morrison said, first used some well worn 600 grit, then used ultra fine grit pads. It’s best to wrap the sandpaper around something firm and level, I use popscicle sticks, then you have much better control of the sanding surface.
Novus does a really good job, also Meguires Plastic Polish. I don’t usually cement the canopy so it can removed for display, thus I rarely use Future. But you might be able to if you wash it well before using Future.
Hope it works.
Patrick
Has anyone tried this product?
http://www.innovativehobbysupply.com/featured-products/ultra-restore.html
Excellent Patrick! Thanks. =] I’ll definitely give that a try. I do plan on masking everything off. I had a nice refresher from this month’s FineScale edition. So I’ll give that a go. =]
Jim, I certainly haven’t heard of it. That’s the first I’ve seen of that particular product. I would probably test it out on something similar first. The plastic from Squadron might be to weak and thin for certain “hotter” brands of plastic renewal kits.
For testing, you could always try using the surrounding scrap from the squadron canopies. Just get them smooth enough through regular sanding and you can try pretty much anything on it. I haven’t used the squadron ones specifically, but I imagine the scrap is textured; with some quick sanding…
Groot