canopy painting

With some kits its neccesary to fit the canopy wind shield to the aircraft to get a good fit by sanding it to fit so there is no gaps when it sits on the body this would all be done prior to masking and painting.Make sure the canopy fits with no gaps around it , dip in Future floor wax mask and then attach the wind shield to the aircraft and fair any gaps with filler.The wind shield can be attached with CA glue after being treated with Future.Other glues are available for clear parts also.

Step 1 : Dip the clear canopy in Future floor wax and wick off any drops with a paper towel and place in an air tight container to keep the dust off. Leave for a day to dry.

Step 2: mask the canopy frames with Tamiya masking tape an rub down the edges with a blunt tooth pick , you can do the vertical ones first and paint ,then do the horizontal ones afteror vice a versa or do all together .You need a new scalpel or a hobby knife blade and carefully trim the tape along the frame edges ,dont go too deep and scratch the canopy then use a tooth pick to pick up the tape you want to remove.

Step 3 : Paint the interior cockpit colour on first ,and when dry , paint the exterior colour.Also a clear coat would be next either gloss or matt which ever the finish on the aircraft is to be. As far a paint type is concerned , enamel or acrylic will work fine.

Step 4 : With light pressure and your new scalpel blade gently cut along the edges of the masking tape and remove the mask.All things being equal you should have a perfectly finished clear part ,with nice sharp frames.

With regards to the masking, here's a tutorial on 'Canopy masking with Cheap Chocolate Foil':

I always install the clear parts before painting, treating them almost as normal plastic parts. Use filler and sandpaper to make them fit the model, otherwise they will look like parts added afterwards, spoiling the appearance.

Rob

My models:

Cool trick.

In the photos, the open canopy seemed to have tape across it to stop the paint from getting inside. I've tried that and it always leaks. How do you get a good seal?

Neil

Rob de Bie wrote:

I don't think I'm using any special technique. I do check the tape just before spraying, making sure that there are no leaks. Guess I have been lucky so far!

Rob

Boy, did I just screw up a couple of canopies. I am building that ASV or whatever it is, the Sailplane from RG. The wings are plug in, and I was painting the fuselage with the wings not attached. I carefully masked off the canopy, including sealing the edges (it opens). I forgot that the holes the wing spar plugs into open to the interior :-( I now have a white frosted pair of canopies, frosted on the inside (I was painting fuselage white). I have removed the overspray with paint thinner, so now the canopy is merely frosted, not frosted white. I hope Future will remove the frost, but I haven't done it yet.

I have put the model up for awhile to work on something else. The wheels must be put in place before sides of fuse are glued together, so I painted them first, then masked with masking film. While trying to remove masking film I pushed too hard on wheel, it popped inside of fuselage, and I can't get it out :-( No end of problems on this model!