I’m about to start on the PL 350 Enterprise and was thinking about opening windows in the hull and filling them with clear casting resin. I’ve read about this in a Don Matthy’s build article, but I’m not clear on just how to do it.
He tapes up the holes and pours clear casting resin into them. After it’s cured he sands them down, but just how he gets them to be transparent after the sanding isn’t explained. Is there an article that elaborates on this technique a bit more? I would imagine that there are others here that use clear casting resin and like it to be - well… - clear. I’ve ordered the resin already, but a tip or two in advance would be nice.
And welcome to the forums. Creating clear canopies from clear resin is an art and is probably one of the hardest things to replicate.
What to look for
make sure you purchase the clear resin, should look like water when cured. i know this sounds silly but sometimes some of the clear resin does have a slight tinge of yellowing.
I use a resin thinner so the liquid goes into the mold freely.
See the problem here is trying to get the mix without any air bubbles. The best way to pour the 2 parts into the container is to have your parts about 20cm from the container and get a very slow and thin pour, a bit like honey.
When done do not try and mix it with anything electrical as this will produce bubbles. Grab an ice cream stick and very slowly start mixing. do not rush this as you will get air bubbles.
Once mixed pour it in the same manner as the above step, but into the silicon mold.
Hey presto, once dried it should be fine.
i do stress it is so difficult not to get any air bubbles, i wold just try and source an after market if they do one. Creating a clear part should be your last resort.
There is also another thing you can try. There are machines you can purchase, I can’t remember the name off the top of my head but they suck the air out of the container. what this does is bring all air bubbles to the surface, leaving the resin bubble free. The down side to this is they are very expensive.
Hi Leo,
thank you for the welcome and for your quick reply! [:)]
Rather than making canopies for airplanes, I just like to fill in the portholes of the Enterprise. I’m hoping that this would be a lot easier. Maybe some of the bigger windows as well. Something like this:
Don is filling in the holes with resin, but I’m not sure how he gets them to be clear after sanding them to blend them in better. I guess polishing would accomplish that?
Well in that case, looking at the pic you sent, you can use a product called Microscale - Micro Krystal clear. It looks like wood glue and is great for small windows. How to apply is quite simple. grab a tooth pick and place a small ammount on it and then move it in a circular motion in the opening until it is fully covered. you might need to dip your tooth pick a couple of times. It seems very difficult, but in fact is quite easy and the results are great. i’ve tryed all sorts of different materials and have found the above is the best and clearest
I learned about this technique from that same article. Technically Envirotex isn’t casting resin and isn’t used as such…it’s similar to varnish in that it’s used for applying a high gloss protective clear finish on things like table tops.You can find it in most craft stores and is probably cheaper than actual casting resin. The one I’ve used is called Envirotex Lite and cost $8.99 for an 8oz kit. That’s enough to winderize a hell of a lot of models!
Anyway to make the windows clearer you could sand with increasingly finer grits and then apply Future. Really though, the cured product is clear enough for the purpose of illumination. It even says on the box that polishing isn’t necessary. That’s probably why Don didn’t elaborate on making the windows clearer. Once lit, you’re not going to notice one way or the other. Of course if you’re planning on super-detailing a botanic garden on that kit like some people do, then obviously the clearness of those windows is important.
The toughest part of this technique for me was getting rid of the inevitable bubbles as Don explains in that article. That can be a real pain, and got me thinking about alternatives like the Microscale product mentioned above (haven’t tried it yet though). Also, you can only do a few windows at a time so it’s fairly time-consuming given the curing time. Done right though, it makes perfectly acceptable windows for lighted starship models.
For more details on model illumination, you might check out the Model Lighting forum over at the Hobbytalk board
There are also several threads about painting and detailing the 1/350 kit, with some very amazing and impressive examples in the Sci Fi Modeling forum there.
The Starship Modeler board is also an excellent resource for sci-fi lighting projects.
To make those resin windows clear on sands with progressively finer grits to polish the surface. Given you can’t actually see through them, they only need to be transparent enough to let the light pass through to create the illusion that they are real windows.
[dto:] Exactly. Unless they need to be transparent enough to see interior detail as I mentioned above, but upon further consideration I believe the botanical garden windows are OOB clear parts so obviously making the windows wouldn’t be an issue for those, although I would Future them especially if doing any super-detailing of the interior.
Thanks for the replys and the great info everyone!
I now have a pretty good idea on what to expect and how to tackle this. Makes perfect sense not having the smaller windows totally transparent.
I ordered this stuff on Amazon ($10) since I didn’t want to spent a fortune on resin. We’ll see how this works out.
Let us know if you have any issues with bubbles when you mix and apply it. I’d personally be interested if casting resin is easier to work with in this respect compared to the Envirotex, since as I mentioned the only issue I had with Envirotex was getting rid of bubbles…no matter how careful I just couldn’t get the mix totally bubble-free, and endlessly poking holes into the poured window as Don describes is very tedious at best.
Also, I’d experiment on some plastic card or similar before actually using it on your model.
Also, I’d experiment on some plastic card or similar before actually using it on your model.
You bet! I’ve already prepped some scrap styrene that’s now waiting for its windows. And I’ll post my results here once I’ve received that stuff and tried it out. I’m really looking forward to that! [:)]
